July Move: Typical Settlement Questions.

[Terreneuve]

@locust.fund right you are! Cheers

As far as housing goes from what I've seen advertised high-rise apartments for the same budget give you something like 450sqft!? That's just not workable for us, plus I loathe standing around and waiting for an elevator; when I want to go home, I want to go home and vice versa, no waiting, holding doors, visiting numerous floors. Plus our cat would be miserable in an apt, it would just whine and drive us nuts.

A 6-700sqft place with a little rooftop would be ideal but I guess we'll see what's on offer when we arrive. As far as standards go, I've lived in Korea and traveled throughout Asia so I have a good idea of the differences and don't expect a fully western place with all new finishings but some places (posted on here) do show newly renovated flats with decent decor. The "Wonderland" in Tai po seems like something between a villa and village house, looks half decent, and is close to budget, anyone know that compound?

Barking dogs seem to be a theme, so I'll take the advice and try to visit a potential home again at night? Hopefully that's doable. I'm sure there's quite a few things, good and bad, we'll have to adjust to living in a sub-tropical place.

Thanks again for all the replies!

[Mat]

@locust.fund right you are! Cheers

As far as housing goes from what I've seen advertised high-rise apartments for the same budget give you something like 450sqft!? That's just not workable for us, plus I loathe standing around and waiting for an elevator; when I want to go home, I want to go home and vice versa, no waiting, holding doors, visiting numerous floors. Plus our cat would be miserable in an apt, it would just whine and drive us nuts.

A 6-700sqft place with a little rooftop would be ideal but I guess we'll see what's on offer when we arrive. As far as standards go, I've lived in Korea and traveled throughout Asia so I have a good idea of the differences and don't expect a fully western place with all new finishings but some places (posted on here) do show newly renovated flats with decent decor. The "Wonderland" in Tai po seems like something between a villa and village house, looks half decent, and is close to budget, anyone know that compound?

Barking dogs seem to be a theme, so I'll take the advice and try to visit a potential home again at night? Hopefully that's doable. I'm sure there's quite a few things, good and bad, we'll have to adjust to living in a sub-tropical place.

Thanks again for all the replies!

you can get more than 400 sqf for 15k in a buiding w nice facilities and not a super tall one so no waiting around for lift and all

example: Centadata - Sea Crest Villa
635 sqf for 15k

[Terreneuve]

Thanks for the link! The stats give a better picture of the price range in the NT, I'm pretty much set on the Tai po- Shatin-Ma On Shan areas as anywhere else and I'll have more than a 30min commute.

[Mat]

Thanks for the link! The stats give a better picture of the price range in the NT, I'm pretty much set on the Tai po- Shatin-Ma On Shan areas as anywhere else and I'll have more than a 30min commute.

this shows real prices as it shows latest transactions - look for properties in Shatin Ma On Shan Tai Po. You wont find villages houses tho but it gives you an idea, flat wise what to expect.

[kimwy66]

Check out Facebook pages for apartments to rent in the area. There is one for Sai Kung which is all village houses (in English) and I'd assume there are others for the the area you have decided on. 15k is doable, you may have to negotiate on a newly decorated flat, but you can pay less for an older-style flat - be prepared for the kitchen and bathroom to to be 'basic'.

As for village living, it takes a bit of getting used to and a thick-skinned approach. Even though you say you have lived in Korea, I would describe HK village living as a 'unique' experience. If you find somewhere you like, my best advice is to visit at several different times - day, night, weekends. And if you are keen on the top floor, make sure the apartment has either really good aircon or some sort of shade over the roof.

Also, don't buy new furniture and appliances if you can avoid it. Waste of money when you will find lovely stuff advertised here, and on facebook. I find new furniture in HK to be either stupidly expensive, or hideous, often a combination of both. July is a good time to catch some bargains as expats with families will have waited for the end of the school year to leave.

A couple of facebook links
https://www.facebook.com/groups/276858929162002/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/saikungrealestate/

[Terreneuve]

Thanks again!

[blackwings]

Assuming payment is in local currency, it would be better to setup both a Citi account in your home country as Citi in HK. The intra-Citi transfer process is way less painful than HSBC's although it's not possible to directly link your accounts with either bank.

The customer onboarding process for Citi is also way more pleasant than HSBC. I first tried with HSBC and walked across the street to Citi when they told me it would take up to a month to open a simple deposit account. I had an account open with Citi about 3 days after walking into the branch.

I opened a deposit account in 2 hours (waiting time plus all the procedural fill in the form work plus got my card on the same day) at HSBC HQ (Queens' Road). No appointment - just walked in with my bank draft and walked out with a temp Advanced card.

They were trying to sell customers Premier but even I wouldn't want to use Premier in HK - it means transferring enough from my home country to HK for premier. You can open Premier to Premier from your home country if you hold Premier HSBC account. Big currency conversion loss.