New vs. Old

[Orrin]

Kellee and I will be closing on our new (new to us) house at 8:30 Monday morning. This will be the culmination of a process that we began about 3 months ago. During this process, however, I encountered a facet of the Chinese mentality that I haven¡¦t had to deal with before. That is, the ¡§new¡¨ syndrome.

 

Apparently, Chinese think that a house must be brand new, or else it¡¦s old and no good. I took me, and the Taiwanese real estate agent that we dealt with, over a month to convince Kellee that a 15 or 20 year old house is not ¡§old¡¨. It also took a lot of convincing to get her to realize that getting a freshly-built house into the same condition, with finishing, landscaping, flooring, window treatments, and etc., can be considerably more expensive than moving into an established and mature existing property. When the realtor showed her the numbers, in black and white, as a comparison of new vs. existing, the ¡§Chinese Thriftys¡¨ kicked in, and she saw that a house built in 1987 (the one we bought) isn¡¦t such a bad deal after all.

 

I¡¦m curious if any of you have encountered a similar situation and how you dealt with it.

[Rick-Guohua]

I'm in Deep S**T,,, My home was built in 1961,,,,,,

This house is older than my S.O. Maybe she'll treat it will respect because of the age,,, You think?

 

It's all I can afford here in Phoenix,,, with a front yard and back yard and not in a HOA,,, Which I hate!

 

Rick

[frank1538]

Exactly the same thing happened when we went house shopping. Everything had to be new - a difficult requirement when looking in town unless you've got some big bucks. The house we ended up buying was fifteen years old, but with a brick exterior and fresh paint and appliance updates, it really was hard to tell. For about a month or so, Jingwen actually thought the house was new. When she found out it was "old", she couldn't believe it.

 

She has also learned a lot about location, location, location. My brother recently sold a small house in a good part of town that appreciated fourfold in 15 years. Now, everyday, she recalculates the appreciation on our house.

[Trigg]

Awww Frank, you are too modest. what the /frankster hasn't told you yet is that his house is so big that she hasn't found all of it yet--and it gives him many places to hide the mops.

[BuffaloPaul]

This whole subject puts shivers up and down my spine. Jenny only will buy new things. Can't stand the idea of buying used clothes at garage sales and she really wants a new house. The "newest" house that I can afford to meet her specs was built in 1900 Since this is Buffalo, she will too much time inside to find all the dirt and flaws. Think she'd be happy in a double-wide??

[Trigg]

Tell her you like old houses but out of respect for her you will buy a new house but have it built to look old. It could work--maybe!!! worth a shot

[rogerluli]

The real difference seems to be that in China NOTHING is maintained properly so everyone wants new. My 1910 house is in very good condition and is BUILT unlike most of the newer homes I see. Our "little sister" from China who is now living in Sacramento said that this was one of the things her American fiance' could not understand. He expected that she would know some things about doing simple repairs around the house like painting but she had to tell him that no one in China does this. The first 2 times I flew to GZ I landed at the old airport which was a rat hole. So they knock it down and build a new one much farther out. They simply do not "fix' things. I told my SO that a real plumber could be the richest man in China. I think if you have a house of any age that is well maintained your new wife should accept that as being perfectly OK here.

[Dan R]

Remember that structures in China didn't use to be made to last. Many homes and buildings that look to us there 30-50 years old are 10-15 years old. There are two reasons for this.

 

!) Sealers and glazed brick etc. isn't used. The outside weathers rapidly.

 

2) In parts of China they still practise the seasonal element and cycles way of life. In that each twelve year cycle homes are rebuilt. I found that many people that didn't even know the beliefs (Tao, Buddhism, Feng Sui, Animism, etc.) still would say that it is the correct way if you can afford it.

 

China is a mix of many belief systems and as communist anti religous theory weakens many are returning in oddly blended and only partially remembered forms.

 

Very Interesting what influence will hit them next. The only sure thing is that frugality usually wins.

[beijingjenny]

The second hand mentality will take a long time to take off in China... too bad cuz it'd be nice to have a place to give things away for people who need them.

 

But in our case, Jack just wants a good bargain and is quite happy with the $1 bag sale t-shirts and jeans we got in the US. He was just shocked people would get rid of such nice things and that he could buy them so cheap.

[BuffaloPaul]

The second hand mentality will take a long time to take off in China... too bad cuz it'd be nice to have a place to give things away for people who need them.

Yes, Jenny has a household full of furniture. I asked her if she could sell it since it's not worth shipping it over here - no way! Who would ever want to buy it So she'll just throw it away She could probably get $1K for it here

[tywy_99]

The second hand mentality will take a long time to take off in China... too bad cuz it'd be nice to have a place to give things away for people who need them.

Yes, Jenny has a household full of furniture. I asked her if she could sell it since it's not worth shipping it over here - no way! Who would ever want to buy it So she'll just throw it away She could probably get $1K for it here

Is it made of wood?......maybe Oak? or even Pine?..........or maybe American Chestnut! Then it would be worth thousands!

[eeyore]

orrin

 

My wife is a little of the opposite. She lives in Shanghai in an old house build during the concession period, 1920's, French style. She says she likes the old French windows and raised ceilings. The house has high wood baseboards, lots of old wood trim and a really cool old wood staircase. She says the house has characteristics that modern architecture does not have. Thats something we both have in common, love of historic architecture. As I have post here before I live in a restored schoolhouse built in 1870. It does not have a lot of room but I really love it, my wife is sure to love it too.

 

T

[rogerluli]

Eeyore, please lose the little hopping bunny quickly...too "cute"...bring back the foot-stamping pig please..

[John & Hai Yan]

As a real estate appraiser, I get into lots of old houses and new houses. I've seen lots of old renovated houses that look as good as, and sometimes better than some new houses. My daughter just converted an old barn into a "new house." It's beautiful, one of a kind.

 

Appraiser's have a term we use "effective age" for the actual age that a house is especially older houses that have been renovated.

 

Depending on the occupants, not all houses age at the same rate.

[Robert S.]

There are some cultures in the world in which the people find it disgusting to even think about living in a house that someone else has lived in. Of course their buildings are just huts but they like the feeling that it is new. I can understand how they feel abouit it, especially when you step inside of a house and you can get a feeling of the vibes of the people that were living there. This is what the Chinese ladies are objecting to, I believe.