[bucky1959]

Again, thank you all for your help. I know that housing is very costly in these areas. Can you give me an idea of what a 3-bedroom place may cost? We would be renting in the beginning and I guess the main priority is that we are close to a high school.....Obviously we want a clean safe place in a neighborhood where we can meet other expats.

[carang]

ok...
first off... all of hk is safe with very few exceptions.
compared to some cities, hk is clean.(of course there are exceptions to this too)

secondly... we cannot possibly give you any idea how much a 3 bedroom will cost. it could be anywhere from $4,000-400,000 depending on your requirements.


you need to be SPECIFIC when asking these types of questions.
although hk is about 95% chinese, there are expats everywhere! besides, mixing with locals is not as bad as you may think.

as others have said, schooling is most important. once you find a school and give us at least a budget range, THEN people can offer more concrete answers.

the way you ask your question is like asking, "how long is a piece of string?"

i'm not being nasty, just trying to get you to help us help you

[finnagain]

Originally Posted by bucky1959

Again, thank you all for your help. I know that housing is very costly in these areas. Can you give me an idea of what a 3-bedroom place may cost? We would be renting in the beginning and I guess the main priority is that we are close to a high school.....Obviously we want a clean safe place in a neighborhood where we can meet other expats.

What I personaly saw a couple of weeks ago

Discovery Bay: 25K for a 800-1200 sq.ft 2 bedroom apartment, furniture only in kitchen, decent renovation without anything exclusive though, kind of sea view if you are lucky
800 sq. ft would in older houses, 1200 in newer ones

Causeway Bay (just for reference on HK downtown): same money for same size, also sea views, etc.
This is the only place to me where you can live with kids in the "downtown" - there's a park nearby, but still it is no comparison to Discovery Bay or similar places.

And a couple of general remarks: why are the bathrooms so small!! I mean, make 1 or 2 bathrooms instead of 3 in a 1300 sq.ft app, but make it of workable size. I have a bath tap in my Moscow appt bigger than bathrooms here.
And why are dishwashers so rare?

[carang]

dishwashers are so rare because most people have helpers.

$25k for an 800' place in db is a rip off! they were taking you for a ride!

in db, you could get a 3 bd anywhere from about $10-12k(800') up to $150,000/month(5168')

[timklip]

i think, to fit your comfort zone, especially at first when everything is a bit confusing, you might be wise to focus on Discovery Bay. Lots of expats (you've mentioned that a few times so I guess it's a priority), family oriented, good value for size of flat, lots of options for schools (many HK Island International schools pick up at the ferry pier in central, or you can bus to others, and there is a new school coming in 2009), western food, close to airport, beach, lots of community activities, easy to get to Central/HK Island

look at the numbers Cara gave for an idea of rental prices.

Look at www.gohome.com.hk for more prices all over hong kong(though usually on the low side in relation to current prices)

[bucky1959]

Thank you once again for your help. It's not that I do not want to get to know the locals, I just want to be with others who are adjusting as I am and who may understand my situation a bit more. As for the rental prices, I know I am being too vague. I just needed a starting point and I thing that from your helpful advice that I may begin by checking out Discovery Bay.

Thank you

[Molsda]

We are paying 50k for a four bed 2100 sq feet village house in a gated community with pool and large ground floor terrace, balconies of master bed and living room and roof terrace. We are 10 minutes from Sai Kung Town and anything approx 20 minutes to the MTR. Don't know if we are being "ripped off" but compared to what we looked at in Discovery Bay we were happy with the price.

I do understand where you are coming from re: DB - I thought it was a very good starting point for new expats, we choose not to live there as we have been living overseas for almost 20 years and are happy to live in a less expat-centric area. I really liked DBIS and the new ESF one looks like it going to be pretty impressive too.

Hope this helps.

[sallykydd]

Hi,

Some idea of prices in Tai Po. We have a 3000 sq. ft townhouse with a front and back yard (admittedly only 1500 sq. ft of yard) and many neighbors have dogs because they can go in the garden, and there are green areas not far away for them to walk on - like mountain hikes (check all this on Google world as you can get some idea of what the land area looks like.) Our house is probably now about $55000HK a month, though we got it cheaper a couple of years ago. In more built up areas, you'd be lucky to get a small apartment for that. We are 15 minutes (on our neighborhood shuttle bus - $4HK cost) or 10 minutes by taxi ($35HK fare) from Tai Po station. There's plenty of expats in most places and it's easy to get in touch with them, and quite enough here. Many foreigners are now working in Shenzhen, just the other side of the Chinese border, and it's convenient for the families to live here with access to good schools, and not far for the breadwinner to commute across the border. Public transportation and taxis here are cheap and efficient and safe.

Google World is worth checking out so that you can see the area where you will be living. If the weather is bad (sometimes in the summer) and you have to get a ferry to get to HK, they stop running.

Most expat families have a wonderful time in Hong Kong, and I imagine you will too. Also, check out http://www.wishyouwereherehk.com for bringing your dogs into HK. They were wonderful when we came.

[carang]

we live in 2100' village house. 5 big bedrooms and 4 baths. we have about 1000' garden the two balconies and a roof top. no gated community or pool or anything else besides two carparks.

we pay $15,800. we live in sai kung country park.

we used to live in db (for 6+ years). our last flat was 961', 750' garden, three bedrooms, two bathrooms, 3 minute walk to pier. we paid $21,000. however, when we were moving out, they were asking $30,000!!!! (one of the reasons we moved).

[carang]

oops, double post.