How to rent a suitable apartment in HK?

[blue angel]

Hello to all,

I will be moving to work in HK in Feb from Mainland China and am intimidated by the task of renting a suitable apartment.

I will really appreciate your advices on my questions below:

1.How to find an apartment exactly?Is there any website that I can find information about apartments for rent?

2.What does Serviced Apartment mean? What kind of services are attached with?

3.Where would be the suitable area if I prefer a comparatively quieter location,where is also safe for a 26 female to live?

I am also looking forward to making some good friends when I arrive in HK.Decent friendship only.

Waiting for some good advices.

[geo-seb]

1. The most common approach is to decide on an area to live first and then go to one of the small real estate agencies in that area. There are also websites like GoHome - Main , but the listings on such sites are often not accurate.

2. Cleaning service.

3. Difficult to answer without more information on budget, workplace and other preferences. Most areas in Hong Kong are very safe.

[blue angel]

Hi Geo-seb,

Thank you very much for your reply,which is really helpful.

1.I guess I need to live in a hotel for a few days until I get an apartment,right?It would be impossible to get a suitable apartment before my arrival in HK as I cannot see it in person.

How do the apartment agencies charge usually?

2.My budget is around HKD4,000 or lower.What kind of apartment can I get with this budget and where would be my target area?

3.Workplace is not decided yet as I will be the person to decide it. So it is not a concern so far.

4.What does Studio a or Studio b mean?

Thank you again.

[PDLM]

1. Letting agents normally take half a month rent from the tenant as commission. Note that you will also need to pay at least 1 month deposit (2 months is probably more common) in addition to 1 month rent in advance

2. $4,000 is going to limit you quite severely if you want a place of your own. You might want to consider sharing.

Just out of curiosity, what sort of visa do you hold for Hong Kong?

[blue angel]

Hi PDLM,

Thank you very much for your kind reply.

Is it very common for people to share an apartment?

I am from mainland so i only need to get an HK Entry Permit with our HK company as the sponsor.