Planning a move...so many questions!

[jimbo]

To the OP, do you favor the party life of lan kwai fong on a very regular basis and don't mind living in a shoebox(it's like small area with a lot of clubs with attracts a lot of westerns and some locals), if yes, consider, a place near or on hk island

You won't save much if you live a party life in hk.

[imparanoic]

to the op

" At the moment I rent an amazing 850sq.ft. apartment in central Bristol for £970/month including council tax. Midlevels places looked a third of the size at twice the price"

it's more closer to a quarter of the size at approximately 200 sq ft ( mid levels) for twice the price.

you can't compare Bristol to HK, just car parking alone in mid levels is closer to HK$4k (300 quid) per month, hard to find any residential place car parking in uk at that rate?

Unless you plan to live in a remote village within a rural house (take you 1.30hr minimum or more to get to central) at 700 sq ft for HK$7000ish (if close to town or within 15 mins walk to train/mtr, expect to double that at least)

[Trebor]

Hi all,

I also love motorcycling. I'm aware days out riding aren't exactly going to be the same in HK, being a small island, but if I did decide to buy a bike, is it prohibitively expensive and is it feasible to keep a bike living on Hong Kong Island or would I need to live further afield to do that? For that matter should I bring my leathers and riding gear over, or sell and buy new? Would it be difficult to get kit that fits properly in HK? I don't have much in the way of family or "home" beyond my own rented place so anything that doesn't come with me needs to be sold or put into storage. Incidentally is it possible to ride/drive into China for day trips/weekends on the road?
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HK is more than just a small island, you have the whole of the new territories and lantau you can ride your bike. I think there are a lot of bike riders on this website, there is a huge thread on motorbikes.

Honestly if you get a job offer with that salary and added comission i would take it. I promised myself i would leave home before i turned 30 (my home was Guernsey and it had gotten very stale for me) and i managed to get relocated here 4 months before my 30th Birthday. I was here on a 6 month secondment in 2008 though so knew i wanted to come back and it took me 4 years.

You could consider a flat share to get more room for your $ if you don't mind sharing the common area with a flat mate, that's what i did for my first 2 years and was paying $15k for a 1,000 sqf apartment in cwb.

Edit - i should add it's very easy to spend money here and get sucked into the expat nightlife, my first two years here i was spending HK Dollars like it was monopoly money. I have only in this past year started to be a bit more sensible and put a significant amount aside each month.

[Plutark]

HK is more than just a small island, you have the whole of the new territories and lantau you can ride your bike. I think there are a lot of bike riders on this website, there is a huge thread on motorbikes.

Honestly if you get a job offer with that salary and added comission i would take it. I promised myself i would leave home before i turned 30 (my home was Guernsey and it had gotten very stale for me) and i managed to get relocated here 4 months before my 30th Birthday. I was here on a 6 month secondment in 2008 though so knew i wanted to come back and it took me 4 years.

You could consider a flat share to get more room for your $ if you don't mind sharing the common area with a flat mate, that's what i did for my first 2 years and was paying $15k for a 1,000 sqf apartment in cwb.

Edit - i should add it's very easy to spend money here and get sucked into the expat nightlife, my first two years here i was spending HK Dollars like it was monopoly money. I have only in this past year started to be a bit more sensible and put a significant amount aside each month.

That is true, same happened to me, I did not save shit for the first 2 years. Like other posters said it's very easy to spend a lot of money in HK, remember that when you're missing home you will go for comfort food like the normal expat restaurant which cost $$$.

You will need to decrease your comfort zone when you move to HK, everything is smaller, and in general because it's small you tend to spend more time outside (and spend more money!).

I believe you can still find decent flat here for not too much money, just need to look at a lot of flats to find the one, a lot of agents are rubbish here and will show you the flats they cant get rid of to discourage you!

[jmbf]

I think you need to consider the costs of living out here a bit more carefully. Take a look at this for your reference :

https://hongkong.geoexpat.com/articl...of-living-2014

With your proposed salary range you should be quite comfortable here but I don't think you will be able to hit your savings target. Some compromises / changes to your expectations are needed I think.

Edit - I think I misread the OP's first post - if he expects to get HKD 600K bonus per year on top of his usual salary, then things look decidedly more rosy!

[jimbo]

There's also a lot of failed London recruiters here in HK from the usual multinational recruiters.

Assuming you're better than some showers out here you'll be just fine

[jmbf]

HK$16k in Kowloon, let's say hung hom, lai chi kok, you get a 350 sq ft 2 bedroom small apartment

I'd say you can find a larger apartment in Kowloon for 16K. I would say at least 500 sq ft would be possible at that budget (of course dependent on location / condition / facilities etc etc).

[imparanoic]

I'd say you can find a larger apartment in Kowloon for 16K. I would say at least 500 sq ft would be possible at that budget (of course dependent on location / condition / facilities etc etc).

Probably get 500 sq ft in to kwa wan, kwun tong and cheung sha wan, etc

[HK2b]

Thanks all. Sorry for the late response, I wasn't at home lastnight.

Some answers:

- HK has public healthcare similar to the NHS. You can get cheap/free healthcare through that, but if you want private doctors and hospitals you need to pay or get health insurance.

- 15-25K you will struggle to get a nice large apartment walking distance to nightlife (e.g. Mid-Levels, Soho). You will definitely need to compromise on size and possibly location as well.

- You need to have a lot of self-control. You've said you have been reckless with money to date. HK can be a very expensive place with lots of opportunities to spend on food, going out, clothes, etc. You need to be sure you can resist these temptations if your plan is to save money.

- Western places (e.g. pubs, bars/restaurants with American or European food) are more expensive than Chinese places. Easy way to save money is to eat more like a local. Are you OK eating Chinese food? I know this might sound like a silly question but I've met expats who have been here for years and never eat local food.

Public healthcare? That I didn't realise. I thought HK was too laissez faire for that!

As long as it's healthy Chinese food. I hear actual Chinese food and UK Chinese food are very different things. I get fat very easily so keeping a mostly healthy diet is always a consideration. I did the going out for dinner and drinking all the time thing when I first moved to Bristol and put on over two stone in six months. Dunno how people manage to live like that without being a mess.

Have you got a job lined up? I'd be applying first and then asking questions depending on how the opportunities develop.

You may find what you expect as a salary may be lower in reality. The days of expat benefits/higher salaries for people from abroad are long gone (well not exactly true but much harder to get nowadays).

On your estimated salary figures, I honestly think you'll struggle to leave Hong Kong in 3-4 years with 6 figures £££

Just interviews lined up at the moment. I wanted to know what I'm dealing with in advance so I have leverage for salary negotiations and the like. Especially as I'm going to want a lot more than my Bristol salary over there.

Sounds very familiar

I'm from Bristol and been out here 7 years now.
I have a lot of dealings with recruiters and headhunters out here in HK particularly in the IT arena.

Don't live on HK island if you want to save cash. $16k HK a month gets you a two bedroomed apartment Kowloon side which is 20 minutes from central on the MTR.

Don't fall for the expat ghetto hype of Mid Levels is where you need to be because it isn't.

There's also a lot of failed London recruiters here in HK from the usual multinational recruiters.

Assuming you're better than some showers out here you'll be just fine

Small world!

I looked at a couple of places online in Yau Ma Tei which looked amazing! One which was 550sq.ft.odd with a great balcony and view for 23,000HKD. Possibly unaffordable on my basic salary but the possibilities look a lot better than HK Island. No interest in living in an expat ghetto, anyway. I'd want to at least make an effort to learn Cantonese as well. I looked on zeroagentproperty and saw a lot of extremely good deals...which I'm sure must be scams.

I generally try and spend as little time as possible with recruitment consultants as possible. Most of them are bellends as well as useless. Never worked for one of the big multinationals with a four letter name and I never will. High end boutique companies all the way. Incidentally are there any outfits you've dealt with that stand out as being particularly good?

I presume HK$16k in mid levels , you get a 150 sq ft shoebox, HK$16k in Kowloon, let's say hung hom, lai chi kok, you get a 350 sq ft 2 bedroom small apartment, HK$16k in NT town, you will get a 600-700 sq ft apartment probably next to a lot of greenery

To the OP, do you favor the party life of lan kwai fong on a very regular basis and don't mind living in a shoebox(it's like small area with a lot of clubs with attracts a lot of westerns and some locals), if yes, consider, a place near or on hk island

South side of Kowloon is definitely looking like the best bet.

I like the crazy nightlife now and then (easy to fall into) but usually I prefer to go for food and some beers with a couple of good friends and keep it civilised.

to the op

" At the moment I rent an amazing 850sq.ft. apartment in central Bristol for £970/month including council tax. Midlevels places looked a third of the size at twice the price"

it's more closer to a quarter of the size at approximately 200 sq ft ( mid levels) for twice the price.

you can't compare Bristol to HK, just car parking alone in mid levels is closer to HK$4k (300 quid) per month, hard to find any residential place car parking in uk at that rate?

Unless you plan to live in a remote village within a rural house (take you 1.30hr minimum or more to get to central) at 700 sq ft for HK$7000ish (if close to town or within 15 mins walk to train/mtr, expect to double that at least)

Ouch.

HK is more than just a small island, you have the whole of the new territories and lantau you can ride your bike. I think there are a lot of bike riders on this website, there is a huge thread on motorbikes.

Honestly if you get a job offer with that salary and added comission i would take it. I promised myself i would leave home before i turned 30 (my home was Guernsey and it had gotten very stale for me) and i managed to get relocated here 4 months before my 30th Birthday. I was here on a 6 month secondment in 2008 though so knew i wanted to come back and it took me 4 years.

You could consider a flat share to get more room for your $ if you don't mind sharing the common area with a flat mate, that's what i did for my first 2 years and was paying $15k for a 1,000 sqf apartment in cwb.

Edit - i should add it's very easy to spend money here and get sucked into the expat nightlife, my first two years here i was spending HK Dollars like it was monopoly money. I have only in this past year started to be a bit more sensible and put a significant amount aside each month.

Good to know about the biking. I had a scout round the New Territories on streetmap...looks just like Welsh roads but with more tropical scenery! Awesome.

Yeah I can imagine it is. As I mentioned above I got sucked into a similar lifestyle in Bristol...great fun while you're doing it but putting on loads of weight, being hungover at work and losing your weekends to sleeping all day tends to make me quite depressed. So best avoided!

That is true, same happened to me, I did not save shit for the first 2 years. Like other posters said it's very easy to spend a lot of money in HK, remember that when you're missing home you will go for comfort food like the normal expat restaurant which cost $$$.

You will need to decrease your comfort zone when you move to HK, everything is smaller, and in general because it's small you tend to spend more time outside (and spend more money!).

I believe you can still find decent flat here for not too much money, just need to look at a lot of flats to find the one, a lot of agents are rubbish here and will show you the flats they cant get rid of to discourage you!

Looks like there is so much to do outside as well. I despise the cold and tend to become a bit lazy and reclusive in winter, but never stop moving in the warmer months. I think it will do me a lot of good to be in a warmer climate.

I'd say you can find a larger apartment in Kowloon for 16K. I would say at least 500 sq ft would be possible at that budget (of course dependent on location / condition / facilities etc etc).

You know if I could find somewhere decent in Kowloon at 500 sq ft preferably with a gym in the building I think I'd be pretty happy with that.

[Plutark]

Looks like there is so much to do outside as well. I despise the cold and tend to become a bit lazy and reclusive in winter, but never stop moving in the warmer months. I think it will do me a lot of good to be in a warmer climate.
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Yeah thats one of the reason I moved away from London too, the Winter is terrible. Here it's fine the coldest it gets is around 10 degrees but that's ok really.

One thing though, when it rains during the monsoon you won't be able to do much outside, cause it rains like crazy. But you can always sip a beer in a bar and watch the rain haha