moving to hong kong

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  1. #1

    moving to hong kong

    Hi! I'll be moving to hong kong sometime in november and i would be so grateful if someone could help me decide where to live for a short commute to my office in wanchai. We are a family of 2 and I'm actually looking out for a 2/2.5 bedroom place and my budget is 22,000hkd. thanks :-)


  2. #2

    Join Date
    Mar 2011
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    Hong Kong
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    33

    With that budget you can find good places around Wan Chai as well if you want. Best is to look at a few areas and decide which one you like. Transport is a breeze here.


  3. #3

    thanks :-) i did check out wanchai but the flats available are really really small. I was looking for something between 900 to 1000sq ft . Is tht asking too much with my budget? What are the other nice areas besides wan chai tht i could check out?


  4. #4

    Join Date
    Feb 2007
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    1,561

    Flats in HK for your budget will generally be small compared to anywhere else in the world. With a short commute to Wan Chai, will be tough to get that kind of space (particularly if you want a real 900+sf). Check out areas from Taikoo Shing and east of that and maybe Kennedy Town to the west. A quick search on a site like hongkonghomes.com of HK island using your budget (add 10-15% to the search criteria) should give you an idea about what you can reasonable expect to get in different areas.


  5. #5

    thanks a million :-) i'm beginning to feel a lot less ignorant now....will check out the areas u've jus mentioned


  6. #6

    Join Date
    Mar 2007
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    Gold Coast Marina
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    Depends what you mean by "short commute". The Gold Coast resident bus here goes to Wan Chai (with one stop prior in Central) in a minimum of 35mins, max could be up to an hour. But you'd get all the space you are looking for with that budget and probably change to spare.

    Closer in, less space for more money. At the end of the day you have to make the trade-off between space, price and what else you want in your neighbourhood. Many of the "further out" places have more amenities because they have more room (we have here, for example, a football field, which is pretty darn rare in HK! as well as gym, squash and tennis courts, pools, parking etc etc) Whereas you could probably get more room closer to town by taking a walk-up (up to 10 floors without a lift) which would give you the space but possibly not the amenities you are looking for.

    You have to look around and decide what makes sense for you. HK is a VERY expensive place to get accomodation. Firstly internalise that notion, then look.


  7. #7

    Hey tht was very informative...thanks :-) By "short commute" i actually meant something 15 minutes away max. Other than the hongkonghomes website, can u recommend any other reliable tried and trusted way to search for a good place? I was thinking of staying in a service apartment for a month or so n look around myself...but are there any other good websites i can check out from here?


  8. #8

    tht "10 floors without a lift" did freak me out a little...lol.....do ppl actually do tht???


  9. #9

    Join Date
    Oct 2005
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    14,414

    Why only 15 mins max?

    You're heavily restricting your options


  10. #10

    Join Date
    Mar 2007
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    Quote Originally Posted by newintown305:
    tht "10 floors without a lift" did freak me out a little...lol.....do ppl actually do tht???
    Yes. It's not common, but it is the way to get close to the city and a decent size without paying exhorbitant rent. You are going to have to get your head around the fact you need to make a trade-off here. You won't get everything you want so you need to figure out what is important to you.

    Within 15 mins of Wan Chai (if a real 15 mins, door to door) is extremely tough for your budget/size combination. You are looking at about a 1km radius if walking; about 2 stops on the MTR max or about 2km on a bus. Which gives you Wan Chai, Admiralty, Central, Causeway Bay - none of which are cheap. I think you are going to have to commute longer to get somewhere cheaper, or go small.

    In terms of searching before you arrive - no - there are NO good websites. You really need to be on the ground here, find a good agent and walk around and see places. The websites either a) lie about the price or b) lie about the flats or c) both. There is no equivalent of "advertising standards" here - take EVERYTHING with a pinch of salt.
    Last edited by MovingIn07; 01-10-2011 at 08:34 AM.

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