I'm once again looking at the immigration rules for New Zealand, not least since I'm now officially redundant Seems like a good excuse to go and find some clean air to breathe for the next few years.
I'm once again looking at the immigration rules for New Zealand, not least since I'm now officially redundant Seems like a good excuse to go and find some clean air to breathe for the next few years.
Sorry to hear that. Any plans yet or still taking it in?not least since I'm now officially redundant
One plan I'm working on. Still have to go to the office for the next month, and have a little bit of a payoff, so I won't be on the streets for a while. But if the plan doesn't come off then leaving town is looking increasingly tempting given the air pollution. Mrs PDLM's job is a bit of an issue though.
PDLM,
I hope your plan is a success one.
Year 2009 seems not a good year for employees.
For my first month in HK, I stayed in a very nice serviced apartment in Kowloon but it was paid for by my company. I couldn't find a place immediately so I moved into another serviced apartment which was around HKD $11k. After 2 weeks, I decided I needed a proper place because that serviced apartment was only 300 sqrt ft. I could hardly study or sit properly, just didn't feel like home. However, I didn't want to sign any long term lease as I was planning to move in with my BF when he moves to HK a few months later.
Fortunately, by working with an agent, we managed to find a 3-month contract in Discovery Bay, 590 sqrt ft for less than my 300 sqrt ft serviced apartment. And the place was fully furnished.
My suggestion would be to stay in a serviced apartment for the first month, take the time investigate for a short term contract (these days given the market conditions, some landlords are more loose with the fixed contract term given some tenants can just be unexpectedly laid off). And I would suggest you request the serviced apartment to be furnished, but if not, get some good second hand furniture on this website or http://hongkong.asiaxpat.com/classifieds. It might not be cost effective if you buy new furnitures for 10 months and have to sell them very low price when you leave the country. There are many expats in Hong Kong who come to stay for one year and sell their furnitures cheap. so, you might want to take advantage of that.
The only thing about a normal apartment is that it is not fully set up with gas, water, internet...etc. Gas & water, i believe you can easily terminate the contract. Internet and phone are tricky. With cell phone, you can do the pay as you do, so you don't need to pay a penalty fee after 10 months. For my case, as my contract is short term, all the gas and water bills are under my landlord's name. Just mutual trust and I will pay on his behalf while staying at his place.
The agent I have dealt with is really nice. If you need a starting point, I can give you the contact information and see if you can get some luck!
Good luck!
Clean, civilised, English-speaking, nice countryside, snow in the winter, great wines, good fresh local food, that sort of stuff.