Wan Chai Relocation Questions

[Nelle143]

Hi all,


I’m in the process of negotiating a relocation package for an upcoming move to Hong Kong and had a few questions:


1) How long did it take you to find a place in HK?
2) is it better to use an agent or can you find one on your own?
3) What is the range of rent for the Wan Chai area? (I’m researching but it’s not quite clear) Could I live here if making 51000 HKD per month?
4) For those who moved for work, would you mind sharing the relocation package you received? This is my first time doing this and I’m trying to counter with something realistic. I’m currently being offered:

—$750 relocation assistance
—2 weeks paid accommodation
—2 return flights home for the initial year
—20% salary increase

At the moment, the only things I want is one month paid accommodation and health insurance. I’m not super worried about the $750 because I’ll be starting from scratch. Does that seem reasonable?


Thank you!

[orel100x]

You will get access to the public health system, which is OK from what I hear.

You can find a place directly, although agents might have more options.

It is possible to find a place relatively quickly, but you might need to compromise.

51K HKD per month is rather modest. If you get a decent place in Wan Chai, a sizeable portion of your income will be rent. You can live farther from Central and save quite a bit, while still having a reasonable commute.

$750 is nothing

You should obviously negotiate as much as you realistically can.

I personally got no relocation package whatsoever.

[RMDNC]

Hi all,


I’m in the process of negotiating a relocation package for an upcoming move to Hong Kong and had a few questions:


1) How long did it take you to find a place in HK?
2) is it better to use an agent or can you find one on your own?
3) What is the range of rent for the Wan Chai area? (I’m researching but it’s not quite clear) Could I live here if making 51000 HKD per month?
4) For those who moved for work, would you mind sharing the relocation package you received? This is my first time doing this and I’m trying to counter with something realistic. I’m currently being offered:

—$750 relocation assistance
—2 weeks paid accommodation
—2 return flights home for the initial year
—20% salary increase

At the moment, the only things I want is one month paid accommodation and health insurance. I’m not super worried about the $750 because I’ll be starting from scratch. Does that seem reasonable?


Thank you!

Not all of Wanchai but most of it is is pretty much the red light district of HK., If that is your cup of tea fine to visit I guess but do you really want to live among it? Noisy drunk revelers, women hawking their bodies, neon flights flashing, etc.

[Nelle143]

When I worked a short stint out there, I stayed in the Star Street area—that area and along QRE was fine and that’s where I would be looking. I do agree — the Lockhart Road area would not be great.

[Nelle143]

51K HKD per month is rather modest. If you get a decent place in Wan Chai, a sizeable portion of your income will be rent. You can live farther from Central and save quite a bit, while still having a reasonable commute.

$750 is nothing

You should obviously negotiate as much as you realistically can.

I personally got no relocation package whatsoever.

Thank you for this, that’s what I thought. I’d be moving from NYC, so I’m used to commutes — I just thought I would try to stick to the areas I know.

[orel100x]

I often think of HK as sort of Asian NY, but much safer, everywhere. Even if Wan Chai is sort of seedy, it's pretty safe as long as you don't start drinking in questionable places with eager bar girls.

[MABinPengChau]

Well if you're from NY (I am from Long Island) and not worried about commutes, consider outlying islands- I used to commute from Peng Chau to Wan Chai and it was reasonable, just caught a bus in Central. The salary is not huge, decent places will eat up your budget, you get more for your money on the islands (Lamma, Peng Chau, Mui Wo, Discovery Bay, Cheung Chau, Park Island). When I first lived on Peng Chau in 2011, I was typically the only gweilo on the ferry but now there are plenty. So all the islands have plenty of expats and for under 15k you can get decent flats with nice views and a peaceful commute with a seat on a ferry.

I first lived in Wan Chai in 2009 but moved after my first two year lease to get more space. I had no issues with the red light aspect of Wan Chai. I like the Star Street area but it's outside my budget these days, Wan Chai has definitely gotten more expensive.

House28 and square foot and good websites to help you narrow your search, others may have other suggestions.

[Scousebanana]

You can get a place for as little as 10-12k in Wan Chai, but it will be a small studio, probably old and almost certainly in the seedier part of Wan Chai. Going rate for a one bed in the more residential/office area (e.g. Star Street/QRE/Johnston Road) is closer to 20k. If you take into account that you'll need to take off around 15% to cover MPF and income tax, this means you would be spending almost half your net income on accommodation. Whether you think the remaining amount is enough to live on will depend on your lifestyle. Apart from the accommodation, for most people, the cost of living is unlikely to be any more than you are used to in NYC, so if you feel 20k or so gives you the lifestyle you need in NYC, it will probably be sufficient here. Having said that, you will probably want to travel around Asia while you are here, so build in an allowance for that.

You might want to also consider Sai Ying Pun, which seems to be the go-to place for young professionals to live at the moment and the rents are slightly cheaper.

I would say it would be better to try and get a full month's accommodation paid as if you only have two weeks, the pressure will be on to find a place in the first few days of arrival as you need to allow a week to get the lease drawn up, stamped etc. Don't forget you will need pay up to 3.5 months upfront to rent a place (two months deposit, one month in advance, half a month to the agent).

[vmlinuz]

51K is a perfectly comfortable salary - sounds like you're moving solo (no partner/kids mentioned) so it should be fairly easy to control your outgoings, once your rent is covered. There's quite a large range of lifestyles represented amongst users on this site, so there are people who couldn't imagine having to deal with such a tiny budget, and others who would be quite happy to be able to get that.

You'll need to use (real) estate agents - it's possible to find stuff here directly from owners, but if you're new in town, don't have any contacts, it's unlikely to work.

Presumably that $750 is in USD? If it's in HKD, it's so small as to be irrelevant. If it's in USD... it's still not huge, but it'll help a bit.

Wanchai is a big district. There are some slightly dodgy areas, but even there things are mostly relatively tame, and there are lots of non-dodgy areas.

If you're coming from NYC, you're hopefully realistic about size/price of accommodation - just remember that HK Island is Manhattan, and the Central/Wan Chai/Causeway Bay area is the most in-demand part of the island, once you discount the off-the-scale luxury areas...

[Nelle143]

Well if you're from NY (I am from Long Island) and not worried about commutes, consider outlying islands- I used to commute from Peng Chau to Wan Chai and it was reasonable, just caught a bus in Central. The salary is not huge, decent places will eat up your budget, you get more for your money on the islands (Lamma, Peng Chau, Mui Wo, Discovery Bay, Cheung Chau, Park Island). When I first lived on Peng Chau in 2011, I was typically the only gweilo on the ferry but now there are plenty. So all the islands have plenty of expats and for under 15k you can get decent flats with nice views and a peaceful commute with a seat on a ferry.

I hadn’t considered the outlying islands. As I know very few people in Hong Kong, I want to be somewhere I can meet people. Silly question, but is it possible? If the commute is short and I could meet people, then I’ll add them to my list!