House Hunting Day 2: Have faith in Hope...

On Wed I was scheduled to house hunt with a totally different RE agency. Apparently, my company likes to get 2 agents on the hook, I guess to cover more territory and maybe not get pigeonholed in one area or a building that they are in cahoots with. I was supposed to keep this secret but each agent knew the drill right away. In general, there is not much secrecy in Taiwan and in any conversation it has taken less than 20 questions to get to the fact that my wife is bi-racial, aka "half-half". This is a BIG deal here.

But back to house hunting... Hope, the next agent, met me at my temp apartment. She brought a driver along which was very convenient because she didn't have to search for parking and then sideswipe a lamp post after stashing the car in a precarious spot (David). She quickly figured out that I had been out with David on Monday and wanted to know where I had been so that she doesn't duplicate coverage. She was very well prepared, had emailed us some listings in advance to see what we thought, and brought some printouts along with her; each had the details of the property, some photos, and some blank space to take notes.

The most restricting criteria was: location, location, location. We wanted to be near an MRT line, close to the highway, and close to the buses that Shirley can take to school. Hope focused on the neighborhood called Shilin, near the Jiantan MRT. David was focused a couple stops up toward Tien Mu and didn't really have anything that fit our criteria. The architect place was nice, but we were hoping for  more of what they call a "luxury" building which typically includes:

• lobby/lounge and 24 hour security
• some sort of gym facility
• private trash service
• underground parking

David basically told us this was out of our price range and then showed us stuff that was not only out of our price range but nasty and in the middle of a junkyard. Hope was a lot of fun to work with and I felt really comfortable telling her what I really thought of places. When she asked what the places I saw with David were like, I said, "gross". Somehow her English is quite good for someone who never lived in the States. 

After the first place I saw with Hope, I had confidence that this was going to be a much better day than Day 1. Shirley and I were hoping to find a 2 bedroom place so that we could have guests stay with us but were willing to settle for a one bedroom. We were knew the size would be much smaller than what we expect in the U.S. And speaking of size, it's measured in "pings" which is the size of a tatami mat. The first place had a lot of potential, but it just wasn't that well taken care of. If we were looking to buy a place, it might be perfect as we could remodel it ourselves and could probably get it at a discount. Even Hope steered me away from getting a place with a landlady who doesn't really take care of it.

The second place was in the same building and was very Japanese. In the rooms that had more than a tatami mat, it had some goofy furniture and Hope wasn't sure if he was willing to get rid of it. She said, "I don't know if he'll want your cat around his furniture." To which I replied, "I don't want his ugly furniture around my cat!" She thought there was potential to negotiate our way out of the furniture so we kept it in the running.

The third place quickly went to the top of the list in my mind. It had a garden/pool area out back that reminded me of Caesar's Palace and there was a glass walled small fitness center off to the side. The apartment was being remodeled and essentially brand new, the building was erected in 2008 and I don't think the apartment has ever been occupied. It was a 3BR/2BA which was a little bigger than what we needed and was a little more expensive than what we were looking to spend.

Long story, short, that's the place we ended up picking. The street that it is on has a park going right down the middle so it's a bit of an "urban oasis", as much of an oasis as you can have in Taipei. We'll only be a 5 minute walk from the MRT and it's pretty close to the highway. Shirley can take her choice of 3 different buses from the MRT station to school. My company is processing the paperwork now and we should be locked up by Monday. I'm not too afraid of jinxing it because there are 2 identical apartments, one on top of the other, owned by the same guy - and both vacant.

After the first day I was a bit worried but Hope did an awesome job and filled all of our criteria. Although it was a bit of a stretch to our budget, Hope did some negotiating and when you factor in that it includes parking and I may save some of the cost to pay for a private gym, it's within striking distance of what we were hoping to spend. At 42 pings, it's quite spacious for Taipei. 

Since Shirley is still in the States and I wanted to include her in the process, I took many pictures and notes at each place and the next morning, had a Skype call with Shirley. By sharing my desktop, I could walk her through the photos and talk about all of the apartments. At one point I had Shirley on Skype and Hope on the land-line and we were debating the options. In the end it all worked out quite well. Oh, and it has those Japanese style toilets with all kinds of crazy buttons. I'll have to seek out an owner's manual. For a toilet...