purchasing a home in China

[GZBILL]

Looks like I might have a break here. Century21 has offices in China with one of them being in GZ. I have spoken with a rep here and she has Qingyuan and Zhongshan in their system. She is working on patching me through to an agent in GZ that speaks english.

 

Why would you use a real estate agent?

 

At best you'll lose about 5% of the purchase price in fees and get their phone call spam three times a day for the rest of your life.

[rogerluli]

Looks like I might have a break here. Century21 has offices in China with one of them being in GZ. I have spoken with a rep here and she has Qingyuan and Zhongshan in their system. She is working on patching me through to an agent in GZ that speaks english.

 

Why would you use a real estate agent?

 

At best you'll lose about 5% of the purchase price in fees and get their phone call spam three times a day for the rest of your life.

 

Gotta' agree with Bill here...The more "layers" you go through in China the more RMB will disappear into a black hole...If you are looking for a used house it might make sense...But not with a new one...

[chilton747]

Looks like I might have a break here. Century21 has offices in China with one of them being in GZ. I have spoken with a rep here and she has Qingyuan and Zhongshan in their system. She is working on patching me through to an agent in GZ that speaks english.

 

Why would you use a real estate agent?

 

At best you'll lose about 5% of the purchase price in fees and get their phone call spam three times a day for the rest of your life.

 

Because I am not very smart I am trying to do all I can do as my wife has limited knowledge as how to find a good builder. She has already made one long trip only to find out the place was no good. I feel kind of helpless being this far away so I want to do all I can do.

 

I only have a cell phone so they will get in big trouble if they start spaming my phone. I have already got 2 spammers in trouble already using the no call list system

Anyway, thanks for all of your help Bill and Roger. These times are tough but you guys make it much easier

[GZBILL]

Looks like I might have a break here. Century21 has offices in China with one of them being in GZ. I have spoken with a rep here and she has Qingyuan and Zhongshan in their system. She is working on patching me through to an agent in GZ that speaks english.

 

Why would you use a real estate agent?

 

At best you'll lose about 5% of the purchase price in fees and get their phone call spam three times a day for the rest of your life.

 

Because I am not very smart I am trying to do all I can do as my wife has limited knowledge as how to find a good builder. She has already made one long trip only to find out the place was no good. I feel kind of helpless being this far away so I want to do all I can do.

 

I only have a cell phone so they will get in big trouble if they start spaming my phone. I have already got 2 spammers in trouble already using the no call list system

Anyway, thanks for all of your help Bill and Roger. These times are tough but you guys make it much easier

 

China is not like the US. You do not want to buy a new home using a real estate agent here. A used home, ok. But not a new one.

 

Call that lady in Qingyuan. She will not steer you wrong and she will definitely not take you for a ride.

[chilton747]

Looks like I might have a break here. Century21 has offices in China with one of them being in GZ. I have spoken with a rep here and she has Qingyuan and Zhongshan in their system. She is working on patching me through to an agent in GZ that speaks english.

 

Why would you use a real estate agent?

 

At best you'll lose about 5% of the purchase price in fees and get their phone call spam three times a day for the rest of your life.

 

Because I am not very smart I am trying to do all I can do as my wife has limited knowledge as how to find a good builder. She has already made one long trip only to find out the place was no good. I feel kind of helpless being this far away so I want to do all I can do.

 

I only have a cell phone so they will get in big trouble if they start spaming my phone. I have already got 2 spammers in trouble already using the no call list system

Anyway, thanks for all of your help Bill and Roger. These times are tough but you guys make it much easier

 

China is not like the US. You do not want to buy a new home using a real estate agent here. A used home, ok. But not a new one.

 

Call that lady in Qingyuan. She will not steer you wrong and she will definitely not take you for a ride.

I hear you loud and clear Bill I have called her once and she is busy so I will try again soon. Thanks for the tip Bill

[rogerluli]

To give an example of how far this trying to get into your pocket when buying a house goes I offer the following true story. We hired a taxi in Qionghai, Hainan to take us around to new developments. We went through a couple and then were supposed to go through one after lunch. But the next one was one that laopo had already contacted so we just went there ourselves without the cabbie and that was the one we ended up buying. The cabbie later contacted the sales manager and asked if a laowei and wife had bought a house there. "Why yes as a matter of fact they had"... 'Well then you owe me money for being the go-between" says the cabbie... "Get lost" says the sales manager...

[chilton747]

How do I go about trying to find the SWIFT code for the bank in China that I want to wire the money too? Thanks.

[chilton747]

How do I go about trying to find the SWIFT code for the bank in China that I want to wire the money too? Thanks.

 

No matter now I found the SWIFT code for the ICBC in Shenzhen on the internet. What would we do without the internet???????????

[chilton747]

The money made it no problem. Just gave the SWIFT code, my wife's account number, her name and within 2 days it was there.

[chilton747]

Purchase complete!!!! Details to follow when I get back to the states.

[rogerluli]

Purchase complete!!!! Details to follow when I get back to the states.

 

Congratulations Charles... welcome to the ranks of happy China house owners...

[NewDay2006]

Purchase complete!!!! Details to follow when I get back to the states.

Charles,

 

Congratulations !!! on your new home. I wish you the very best.

Edited November 2, 2007 by NewDay2006 (see edit history)

[chilton747]

Well things went pretty much as GZBILL had said they would. Although my wife did all of the talking I could tell what was going on thanks to Bill. I did have to go to a Chinese city notary to get a Chinese name that I could use to sign the loan agreement and other papers with. The only thing that struck me as odd and a bit comical was that we had to get the 30% down in cash and then jump on the back of a motorcycle taxi and take it to the developer. Perhaps my wife did not understand how to do it otherwise? The bank had a lawyer there taking care of all the banks needs.

All in all, like Bill said, it was light years easier than doing this in the states.

 

The house should be complete around August of next year. It is a very beautiful complex with lots of green and a very nice park. It is also only a 5 minute walk to the new train station that they are building to serve Zhuhai, Zhonshan, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen in about 3 years from now.

 

And Bill, my wife did read over the agreement papers very carefully and made a couple of phone calls during the wait to clarify things. She did an excellent job and I am very very proud of her.

 

Hey Roger, it looks like we will be about a 12 hour bus ride away from each other. Those Hainan bananas are pretty good

 

Thanks again GZBILL. You really helped me understand a lot. I owe you!!!!!!!!!!!

[rogerluli]

Well things went pretty much as GZBILL had said they would. Although my wife did all of the talking I could tell what was going on thanks to Bill. I did have to go to a Chinese city notary to get a Chinese name that I could use to sign the loan agreement and other papers with. The only thing that struck me as odd and a bit comical was that we had to get the 30% down in cash and then jump on the back of a motorcycle taxi and take it to the developer. Perhaps my wife did not understand how to do it otherwise? The bank had a lawyer there taking care of all the banks needs.

All in all, like Bill said, it was light years easier than doing this in the states.

 

The house should be complete around August of next year. It is a very beautiful complex with lots of green and a very nice park. It is also only a 5 minute walk to the new train station that they are building to serve Zhuhai, Zhonshan, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen in about 3 years from now.

 

And Bill, my wife did read over the agreement papers very carefully and made a couple of phone calls during the wait to clarify things. She did an excellent job and I am very very proud of her.

 

Hey Roger, it looks like we will be about a 12 hour bus ride away from each other. Those Hainan bananas are pretty good

 

Thanks again GZBILL. You really helped me understand a lot. I owe you!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I never had a banana that tasted like those little suckers from Hainan before. They are the most intensely BANANAY... anywhere... Banana daiquiris here I come...

[rogerluli]

Hey Roger, it looks like we will be about a 12 hour bus ride away from each other. Those Hainan bananas are pretty good

 

 

Oh NO not from my end... I have endured 2 long distance bus rides in China and I took a vow after the last one...NEVER AGAIN... It's strictly planes, trains, boats and cars for this boy in China...But it's only a 1 hour flight from Haikou, Hainan to Guangzhou and I really want to take the train next time anyway...They load the train cars on specially made boats and you get ferried across the Hainan Strait in style...