So, as I wrote a few posts ago about a problem in my current apartment (mould), I was thinking that it might be time to move to another place. It’s not just the mould, but the price, too. When I first moved in the apartment cost 6200RMB per month, it’s now 6600RMB per month and, as I’ve just found out, will go up to 7000RMB per month for the next contract. That’s an extra 4,800RMB out of my pocket for the year with little to no return for myself on the apartment. So I’ve been debating whether or not it would make sense to move to a cheaper apartment, even if it’s further out of the city.
I have a few options:
- Stay in the same place and suck it up. It’s a nice area and I thoroughly enjoy having the ability to walk down the street to the American Diner or salad bar across the street, not to mention the Tex-Mex bar in the nearby mall. Oh, and most importantly, the subway station that takes me to most places I need to go. The tangent to this is that I can argue for a stay in the increase of rent… which probably won’t happen. I also like my landlord mostly because there hasn’t been any friction. She doesn’t speak English, my Chinese is terrible, I give her my money, that’s it.
- Find another apartment in the area or another nearby neighbourhood in order to maintain the niceties of the area while seeking a cheaper rent. The problem with this is that any step down in price in this area (basically downtown Beijing) comes with a noticeable drop in quality of apartment. Though mould may not be an issue right away, there might be other problems that pop up a few months into the rental contract.
- Move to another location within the 4th or 5th ring road in Beijing itself but, again, look for a cheaper apartment, possibly even closer to the areas we normally work within the city limits. If I’m willing to move out of my current neighbourhood then I could look for apartments that are cheap, good, or convenient or some sort of combination of those.
- Move outside the ring roads and into the suburbs of Beijing. A few of my colleagues have already done so mostly because rent is cheap out there, but the commute can be long. The area I’m looking at is TongZhou, which is East of the city centre and the new home of the municipal government. What that means is that, although the part of the city is still developing, it should develop more as the city government ingratiates itself into the area. The apartments here are literally double the size for half the price, but, again, they’re far away. No Western-style food here, no decent bars, no walking down the street for a Western-style salad, and delivery fees for JD or Meituan (food delivery) start to go up in this area. And take longer to arrive, too.
Looking at the various options I have, I start to piece together what it would cost.
First, most of my colleagues living downtown are paying more than me. If they’re paying less within the downtown area, then they’re living in an older building, one of those Soviet-style 6-story buildings that has no elevator and you’d need to inspect things pretty closely in order to spot where they’ve covered up problems. However, a few others live outside the city centre and out into the suburbs already.
For your reference, here’s a map of Beijing:
And the APPs I can use to find apartments in Beijing include Anjuke, Maitian, and Ziroom. All charge a “finder’s fee” equal to one month’s rent. So, if I find an apartment for 6200 RMB/mth, I have to give them that same amount to set up the contract. Further, one thing about living in Beijing is that you have to pay three months rent at a time. This can work in your favour since if you pay for the whole year then you can get a significant discount on your total rent paid.
TONGZHOU
You’ll see that TongZhou (通州) is way out to the east. Lines 1 and 6 service that area but, like most subway lines, they get crowded. I could fix this by getting up earlier in the day and getting out of my place earlier to avoid the traffic, but that’s easier said than done. Most of the places in Tongzhou are newer and modern like the apartment complex I live in now, so that’s a plus.
CHANGPING
There is Changping, northeast of the city and where I can fly my drone. Those apartments are a bit older but are much cheaper and, I’m told, I’d get a more “authentic” Beijing experience… not that I’m really looking for one. But Changping is much closer to where I work when I’m in Beijing, but if we have to travel, then getting to the airport could be problematic, especially if it’s the new airport in Daxing (south of the city).
OTHER CONSIDERATIONS
The next thing about apartment size is that I don’t really need all that much room. I guess I could find a use for it but at the current moment, 54m2 seems to be enough for me. So I don’t need more space but I know at some point it might become a necessity.
However, that being said, I don’t want to step down in size either. There are smaller apartments in the downtown area for 5000-6200RMB per month. Doesn’t sound bad until you realize that it’s for a 30m2 apartment, most likely some sort of larger apartment split into separate apartments. I’m the fourth child of five, if I don’t have to share a room, I’m not going to. Anything bigger aaand, guess what the price is? About the same as my current apartment.
Next is the simple cost of moving and potential savings. Real estate agents in Beijing take anywhere from half to a full month’s rent as a finder’s fee, even if you use an APP to find the apartment. Depending on how much your rent is per month, you can see how that would chip away at any potential savings.
Add to that 300-400RMB ($60-80 CAD) for moving expenses just because plus the full day of actually packing and moving, that would pay the current increase in rent. Do you follow? Current rent is going up 400 RMB per month yet I’ve just spent 400 RMB to move, which means no savings.
And I certainly couldn’t take a day off from work to do this or else that would all but negate any potential savings I would have kept.
Overall, taking into consideration all of the point above, it seems that 7000 RMB per month is the current cost of a modern-ish apartment in the downtown area of Beijing. Of course, one could get lucky and find a really good deal, but I wouldn’t be holding my breath for it. Worse still is that there isn’t really any other way to offset the increase in rent since my visa restrictions specify only working for one employer.
I’ll have to tough it out for another year and hopefully figure something else out, if it’s that even possible.