Housing in Korea

Her and I lived in Yangsan for three months before settling down in Busan. Looking for an apartment was another interesting experience for me, and pretty different from what I was used to in France and in the USA. The first time I visited Korea, I was -like most foreign visitors, I suppose- struck by the countless clumps of apartment buildings, like these in Yangsan.

By French standards, these are not dream homes. Quite the opposite. They remind me of the French "banlieues", which are often (rightly or wrongly) associated with violence and crime.  But not in Korea,where living in such apartment buildings (aka, "아파트" or "apateu"  ) seems to be the norm (and in fact they are quite clean and very safe). So when in Rome, do as the Romans do! In each apartment complex, there are a couple of real estate agencies, so you just need to drop by and they'll show you what apartments are available, if any. Interestingly, all the apartments we visited, in different complexes and different neighborhoods were almost identical. The layout was the same, which in a way made it easier to choose, since  it all depended on location and the overall state of the apartment. Most apartments are renovated on a regular basis. The previous tenants in our apartment lived here for 15 years, which I was told is unusual. So after they left, the apartment was fully renovated, in about ten days. The building itself looks a little old (apparently twenty years is considered "old" here) but the apartment is squeaky clean, and on the 20th floor, so the view is not bad. We could even enjoy nice sunsets, if it wasn't for the clumps of apartment buildings mentioned earlier.

As for the rent, well, that was a little suprising too, as the Korean system, once again, is different from what I was used to. If you can afford it, you can choose to put down a huge security deposit, and then you'll have no monthly rent to pay. You can also put down a smaller but still hefty deposit (tens of thousand of dollars/euros) and pay a relatively low rent. Actually, you can negotiate with the owner of the apartment and ask them to lower the rent if you increase the deposit. The good thing is, the owner will return the deposit when we leave. In France the deposit is much lower and the rent is  higher, that's money you never get back.

The most amazing part for me was on the actual moving day. We (I mean Her) arranged everything with a moving company a few days before moving, and we didn't really have to pack our stuff since they would take care of everything. Still, we did "pre-pack" a little, which was not necessary, since the four movers did take care of everything. And they did it quickly... Within 45 minutes, our Yangsan apartment was empty . 

After a forty minute drive, they not only dropped off all the furniture and boxes in the new apartment (with the furniture in the right place), they also put the food back in the fridge and the clothes and shoes in the closets. When Her reminded them that this was not part of the deal, they replied that it was ok because they had time. In short, moving started at 8 a.m., and three and half hours later, the movers had left, air conditioning was installed and operational, and our internet connection was set up (the internet guy who was supposed to come at 3p.m. actually showed up at 11 a.m...). Fastest move ever!

This was the first time I moved house and I did not feel exhausted or stressed out at the end of the day! Her and I decided to have lunch out to celebrate, and we had plenty of time to finish unpacking and order more furniture, which of course was delivered in no time !