Matt and I have been apartment hunting these past couple of weeks... still nothing. We almost signed a contract today but it didn't work out. The landlord wanted more money than we were willing to pay, then we decided we didn't want it anyway because it was in a really crowded area (right above Shatin mall). The agent just called me back with a counteroffer for what we had kind of agreed on, but since we decided we didn't want it, it just didn't seem like a great deal anymore. I felt really bad rejecting it because the agent -- his name is "Mov" (appropriate!) -- has been super helpful. This is almost as daunting as the job search! (At least with the agencies you can just give them your mobile and run away, though. They don't have your whole life on paper.) So we told him no thanks, but later this week he's going to show us some other places on the opposite side of the river, which are a lot cheaper. Hopefully the whole counteroffer thing doesn't happen again.
The weird part about apt hunting here is that you have to specify that you want a NEW kitchen. Otherwise, you get a sink and some countertops, and not much else. If you're lucky you get a gas stove and maybe a fridge. But that's about 1 in 5 places. Needless to say, it's limited our results quite a bit and has made finding a suitable place damn near impossible. I guess it's just because people normally go out to eat. For Every Single Meal. I kid you not.
Oh and the apartment sizes are comically small. They mass-produced flats that are 385 square feet. Most bedrooms in the flats we've looked at barely fit a full-sized bed, wall to wall. The best test is the shower, though. Usually the showerhead would hit you at about chest level at its max height.
We tried looking for a decent village house but that seems futile. Most of the village houses look something like this.
...just kidding. Only some of them do.
