Rental lease periods

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  1. #1

    Rental lease periods

    Hello all.

    My Fiancee and i just touched down last night. How easy is it to get a short term lease i.e 6 months or less here? I have been an expat in Japan and Singapore for 10years and am fed up of blowing my housing allowance on rent. I wish to buy, probably somewhere around the Pokfulam area but can`t stand living in these over priced tiny serviced apartments while i look.

    Are six month leases common? Are there agents who specialize in this? If not advertised are they easily negotiated?..and one more for luck...i am working in central, playing hockey in HV....know anywhere for budget 14-18K?

    All responses much appreciated.


  2. #2

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    buying is worst than renting for short term.
    u are just paying more for an option that the property price will go up after you buy it.
    do your sums and u wld know why


  3. #3

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    hi,

    the 6-month period lease is common here. but you have to pay a higher rent for the same. if you take a longer lease, landlord can give some concession on rent.

    you can look for house in NT where 6-month lease is very common.

    ciao


  4. #4

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    Red face

    Have a friend that managed to negotiate a 6 months' lease. But she has to pay maybe about 5 or 10 percent above the rental rate.


  5. #5

    Thanks for the swift replies guys. Freeier..just to clarify...i am here for at least 3years..the whole idea of the short rental is to get somewhere while i look into the options open to me in buying a place...then i have time to hit the sums.

    I think NT is a little far out for me but will double check on the commute...

    Interesting to hear that you can get a shorter lease by paying a little extra. ...Is this a case of the landlords advertising 6 month leases that happen to be noticeably 10% more than norm...or are you guys saying that i could probably go to a guy leasing for 2 years and offer him 5-10%extra rent to strike a deal at 6 months?


  6. #6

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    Red face

    Baconsarni,

    If I'm not wrong, most rental lease is a year with the option of extending into the next year. When you view the apartments and if you do decide on something that you like, you can let the agent or landlord know that you're actually only interested in a 6 months' lease and that you're willing to pay 5% above the rental rate and if that doesn't work, up to 10%. Hope this will work out for you.


  7. #7

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    hi..
    whether 3 or 5 years. the idea of purchasing an apartment in hk is just weird. not sure which line u are in but if u are in finance then u'd know that rental yield lower than cost of fund is just not a way to 'buy'.
    so what you are buying is a lock in of price. it can mean good or bad, depending on how the market move subsequently...

    hk property is artificially inflated by
    1. large property developers that have reason to always assure eveyrone that prices of property is going up 6mths down the road.. and at the same time they are slashing 20% off their listed price
    2. property agents that are pushing for a quick sales and telling everyone price will continue up
    3. newspaper taking tonnes of property advertisement
    4. people on the streets that are invested in property and can't bare to see the price goes down.

    etc.etc.. if 50~70% of the hang seng index is involved in property development, u can imagine the determination of the world to push up the prices.

    so u have an artifically inflated property market supported by hypes. everything will do well in a property economy, even though investors have to subsidize the tenant renting their property.

    but once u hit a slow down or downturn, the collapse of property price will be spectacular!


  8. #8

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    hi,

    you should also whether 10% extra rent for 6 months or breaking the lease is more cheaper..


  9. #9

    Again. Fantastic input guys. Thanks very much. With respect to the property buying Freeier those are some very valid points. Facts even. From the people i have spoken to recently it seems that we are at a high price wise but it seems that it should be sustained and if not increase gradually. Of course, as with anything, the bottom could fall out also. The way i see it though is that if i am looking for a cheap place...say 600,000usd equiv and my housing allowance is 2000usd/mnth then over the first 4years i have already had 100,000 paid towards the mortgage essentially for free. So by selling the property at the buy price 5 years down the line i am still looking at a profit. So with this is mind i am looking at taking six months to talk to people like yourself and others also with experience and get a thorough picture. So thanks mate..appreciate the comments.

    As to everyone else on the rental side....i think there seems to be a clear consensus on what i should do and again thanks. I guess my Q's for the time being have been answered. I'll let you know how the short term rent negotiations go over the next few weeks. All the best.


  10. #10

    Well just to let you all know. Its pretty much as you said...about 10%extra i reckon for a 6mnth lease. When i asked most agents to show me places that would do a 6mnth lease the lists were short and pretty unimpressive. I only got the guys who were desperate to rent and the reasons for that were instantly obvious. Far better is the approach of seeing the places first and not stating how long you wish to rent then trying to haggle on the lease period. It is then far harder though to bring the price down.

    Having also met with a bunch of landlords it was a little disturbing how quick they were to offer up their place for sale when i gave the reason for my short term lease request. The apartments in Bel Air that have supposedly increased in value hugely were being offered at a tiny margin above where they had bought them.

    So Freeier will pleased to know that i have seen the light. It seems to me that the gamble of buying in HK does not seem so good in the present climes. I have opted to pay the 18k rent and put 14k into a china property fund a month rather than buy the place and pay 32k on the 15 year mortgage a month.

    Incidently i am VERY pleased with my place. Its small 775sq ft 2 bedroom but its Bel Air Phase one. The clubhouse and amenites have to be seen to be believed. Free shuttle to work, gym, squash courts, badminton, tennis, indoor, outdoor pools, sea view, park, cinemas, and a lot more.... I am amazed that they are finding it hard to fill these places... For those looking there...perhaps there was a chance i could of got the place for 17k...but i'm happy and the land lord is happy..i'll go with that...thanks for all your advice guys.


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