The place to ask China-related questions!
Beijing Shanghai Guangzhou Shenzhen Chengdu Xi'an Hangzhou Qingdao Dalian Suzhou Nanjing More Cities>>

Categories

Close
Welcome to eChinacities Answers! Please or register if you wish to join conversations or ask questions relating to life in China. For help, click here.
X

Verify email

Your verification code has been sent to:

Didn`t receive your code? Resend code

By continuing you agree to eChinacities's Privacy Policy .

Sign up with Google Sign up with Facebook
Sign up with Email Already have an account? .
Posts: 27

Governor

1
1
You must be a registered user to vote!
You must be a registered user to vote!
0

Q: Buying a second hand apartment in China

Hello, friends! I have a question: has anyone had experience of buying a 2nd hand apartment in China? What would be the regulations? Thank you in advance for all of your responses!

5 years 33 weeks ago in  Housing - China

 
Highest Voted
Posts: 7178

Emperor

1
1
You must be a registered user to vote!
You must be a registered user to vote!
0

https://answers.echinacities.com/question/new-visa-rules-january-1st-201...

 

You seemed to be spot on here.

 

I bought a second hand apartment in China. I bought the aprtment the company was renting for me.

 

My experience of the whole process has been blotted out. VAT. Vague aditions to the total. Confusion. Strange young guys with shiny trousers and iphones. And the previous owner missed the 5 year tax sale for second home by 1 month. I had to pay the tax that the government said he had to pay. That added a big sum the bank had to be paid in cash. I went to the bank with 300k rmb, walked out with 150 rmb. They had ppl lining up to invent charges.

 

The wife had to open a new bank account in a different bank.

 

We had finger prints taken.

 

Had to wait 6 months for the Government to release funds for the mortgage. Had to pay interest on a loan we did not have.

 

It was a total pain in the arse. I had trouble and disinterest with the whole procedure. Me being a socialist and all that, and basically opposed to private ownership of land.

 

The cunt in the shiny trousers probably still gets commision

 

However, my Chinese wife is a capitalist.

 

And guess what?  I don't have to worry about the apartment lasting the next 58 years of its lease from the Government, because the Government had just announced it is extending a metro line, and the station will be at our front door. in 2022. Gentrification all over, cruise ship terminal, a new finance center 5 miles away.

 

I am still a socialist. And when my wife sells the apartment for 4 times what I paid for it, I will refuse to touch a single rmb of profit.

 

How to buy a second hand apartment in China?  Leave it to your Chinese partner if your have one. The capitalist sort are pretty good at it Smile

ambivalentmace:

My wife just sold 2 studio apartments in Huangdao, south of Qingdao for 610 thousand that we paid 350 thousand for 2 years ago. I thought they were lousy when we bought them and can't believe somebody else bought them again. I got stuck babysitting for 3 days while she makes some money and does all the paperwork, not sure who got the best deal there, I really hate making porridge for the daughter, what's that honey, yes, Macdonalds sounds great, just don't tell mom i did not make porridge, here have a bong bong tong that she never lets you eat.

5 years 33 weeks ago
Report Abuse

leden:

First, thank you so much for your feedbacks. My wife and I are considering buying an apartment (on her name, she's Chinese) in a 2nd tier city here. However within the last 2-3 years prices inscreased so much, that  buying a new home in the central part of the city would be insane. So we're cosidering either a new place further away from the city center or a second hand home (my wife isn't really happy abot this idea, but economically this could be more beneficial). The thing is whoever I talked to about buying a second hand home (my chinese friends here) all tried to pursuade me not do that because it's not worth it and too complicated. But that's just crazy that in the city of 8 million people so few buy or understand regulations in regard to buying a second hand home. Differernt people tell me absolutely different things, most say it's too complicated, some say it might be hard to obtain the right of ownership and HuKou, which I think can't be true. Does anyone know what happens to the land lease with an old home (normally 70 for a new), is it going to be decreased proportionaly to the number of years, that the previous owner owned it? And Scot also mentioned a tax, is there a real estate property tax in China? I heard ownership transition paperwork will cost about 10,000 to 20,000, which is fine. If some of you know more info on the topic, please comment, your comments will be highly appreciated.  

5 years 33 weeks ago
Report Abuse

ambivalentmace:

The local government has a small fee here in Shandong, one to two percent, as far as buying in a crazy market here, well my mother in law does this and this is her strategy.

 

She looks to see were the government is putting up new train stations and buys around them as it develops, the other way is find out which school is the best in the area and buy a new development close by, or what we did 2 years ago, buy at the best high school in the city since they were moving to a new piece of land large outside the city. We bought for 2300 a square meter preconstruction in a tier 3 and now 2 years later the school is open and everything is 5500 a square meter. People pay crazy amounts to be near a good school, in beijing they buy a mousetrap studio for 40 thousand a square meter just so the kid can go the school were the address is located. Another crazy thing I notice is the government runs just like a business here in China, so they will move government offices to a new suburban area and develop a whole new area by selling off city center property to profit and finance the new buildings in a cheaper area but then the government workers who don't want to travel so far move out the area and run up the prices in the new location. The Jinan government moved everything east of the city for visas, urban planning, etc about 3 years ago and moved most universities or sold them and sent them west of the city.

5 years 33 weeks ago
Report Abuse

hi2u:

@ambi: shit, so everyone who paid crazy prices to live near the best school suddenly don't live near the best school and their house is worthless now. 

5 years 33 weeks ago
Report Abuse
Report Abuse
5 years 33 weeks ago
 
Answers (2)
Comments (4)
Posts: 7178

Emperor

1
1
You must be a registered user to vote!
You must be a registered user to vote!
0

https://answers.echinacities.com/question/new-visa-rules-january-1st-201...

 

You seemed to be spot on here.

 

I bought a second hand apartment in China. I bought the aprtment the company was renting for me.

 

My experience of the whole process has been blotted out. VAT. Vague aditions to the total. Confusion. Strange young guys with shiny trousers and iphones. And the previous owner missed the 5 year tax sale for second home by 1 month. I had to pay the tax that the government said he had to pay. That added a big sum the bank had to be paid in cash. I went to the bank with 300k rmb, walked out with 150 rmb. They had ppl lining up to invent charges.

 

The wife had to open a new bank account in a different bank.

 

We had finger prints taken.

 

Had to wait 6 months for the Government to release funds for the mortgage. Had to pay interest on a loan we did not have.

 

It was a total pain in the arse. I had trouble and disinterest with the whole procedure. Me being a socialist and all that, and basically opposed to private ownership of land.

 

The cunt in the shiny trousers probably still gets commision

 

However, my Chinese wife is a capitalist.

 

And guess what?  I don't have to worry about the apartment lasting the next 58 years of its lease from the Government, because the Government had just announced it is extending a metro line, and the station will be at our front door. in 2022. Gentrification all over, cruise ship terminal, a new finance center 5 miles away.

 

I am still a socialist. And when my wife sells the apartment for 4 times what I paid for it, I will refuse to touch a single rmb of profit.

 

How to buy a second hand apartment in China?  Leave it to your Chinese partner if your have one. The capitalist sort are pretty good at it Smile

ambivalentmace:

My wife just sold 2 studio apartments in Huangdao, south of Qingdao for 610 thousand that we paid 350 thousand for 2 years ago. I thought they were lousy when we bought them and can't believe somebody else bought them again. I got stuck babysitting for 3 days while she makes some money and does all the paperwork, not sure who got the best deal there, I really hate making porridge for the daughter, what's that honey, yes, Macdonalds sounds great, just don't tell mom i did not make porridge, here have a bong bong tong that she never lets you eat.

5 years 33 weeks ago
Report Abuse

leden:

First, thank you so much for your feedbacks. My wife and I are considering buying an apartment (on her name, she's Chinese) in a 2nd tier city here. However within the last 2-3 years prices inscreased so much, that  buying a new home in the central part of the city would be insane. So we're cosidering either a new place further away from the city center or a second hand home (my wife isn't really happy abot this idea, but economically this could be more beneficial). The thing is whoever I talked to about buying a second hand home (my chinese friends here) all tried to pursuade me not do that because it's not worth it and too complicated. But that's just crazy that in the city of 8 million people so few buy or understand regulations in regard to buying a second hand home. Differernt people tell me absolutely different things, most say it's too complicated, some say it might be hard to obtain the right of ownership and HuKou, which I think can't be true. Does anyone know what happens to the land lease with an old home (normally 70 for a new), is it going to be decreased proportionaly to the number of years, that the previous owner owned it? And Scot also mentioned a tax, is there a real estate property tax in China? I heard ownership transition paperwork will cost about 10,000 to 20,000, which is fine. If some of you know more info on the topic, please comment, your comments will be highly appreciated.  

5 years 33 weeks ago
Report Abuse

ambivalentmace:

The local government has a small fee here in Shandong, one to two percent, as far as buying in a crazy market here, well my mother in law does this and this is her strategy.

 

She looks to see were the government is putting up new train stations and buys around them as it develops, the other way is find out which school is the best in the area and buy a new development close by, or what we did 2 years ago, buy at the best high school in the city since they were moving to a new piece of land large outside the city. We bought for 2300 a square meter preconstruction in a tier 3 and now 2 years later the school is open and everything is 5500 a square meter. People pay crazy amounts to be near a good school, in beijing they buy a mousetrap studio for 40 thousand a square meter just so the kid can go the school were the address is located. Another crazy thing I notice is the government runs just like a business here in China, so they will move government offices to a new suburban area and develop a whole new area by selling off city center property to profit and finance the new buildings in a cheaper area but then the government workers who don't want to travel so far move out the area and run up the prices in the new location. The Jinan government moved everything east of the city for visas, urban planning, etc about 3 years ago and moved most universities or sold them and sent them west of the city.

5 years 33 weeks ago
Report Abuse

hi2u:

@ambi: shit, so everyone who paid crazy prices to live near the best school suddenly don't live near the best school and their house is worthless now. 

5 years 33 weeks ago
Report Abuse
Report Abuse
5 years 33 weeks ago
 
Posts: 3025

Emperor

0
0
You must be a registered user to vote!
You must be a registered user to vote!
0

In my opinion, buying an apartment in China is a wise decision, new or used. After 7years of renting, and forced to move 3 times for either too much rent incrase at the end of 1 year lease, or owner sold the apartment, I got tired and bought a brand new 3 bedrooms one bath apartment (120 sq mt) in 2014 for 600,000 Rmb. A sea front apartment, on a 32 floor, a hell of a view. Lots of crap, bribes, etc to get the place, but after many arguments, finally went thru. Now, 4 years later, what I bought for 600K has gone up in price to 1.5 million RMB, and with further price increases because there is a long waiting list of potential buyers looking to buy. So, if I had stayed renting, I would have paid 36,000 Rmb each year from 24 to 2018. Instead, I am sitting in a potential 900K Rmb profit plus 144K Rmb rental payment savings. And, I can do whatever pleases me to the apartmnent without asking permission to no one, or be forced to move out. My advise, buy ASAP, the longer you wait, the more you will pay.

Report Abuse
5 years 32 weeks ago
 
Know the answer ?
Please or register to post answer.

Report Abuse

Security Code: * Enter the text diplayed in the box below
Image CAPTCHA
Enter the characters shown in the image.
  • Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd> <img> <br> <p> <u>
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
  • Textual smileys will be replaced with graphical ones.

More information about formatting options

Forward Question

Answer of the DayMORE >>
A:  "... through ..."?  Only "through" comes to mind is "S
A: "... through ..."?  Only "through" comes to mind is "Shenzhen agent can connect you with an employer, who's authorized to hire waigouren ... and can sponsor Z visa." It's not like every 10th person you meet in Shenzhen's hood can sponsor work visa ...  The only way to change from student to labourer visa is just a regular way by: 1. Finding an employer, who'll apply for an Invitation letter; 2. Exit China and apply for Z visa in your home country's Chinese embassy; 3. Enter China in 30-days after Z visa was stamped into your travelling instrument ...As I am aware, you won't be able to switch to Working permit by remaining in China....,so make ready for a return to your home .... -- icnif77