Buying a House in Taichung Series Part 1

For sometime I have been thinking about buying a house in Taichung, one that I can own and do with as I please. I have been here for long enough now that I feel that I will want to live here long term if not permanently, therefore I am thinking that I should stop living in random apartments and find some place that I can call my own. Over the last 2 years I have looked a dozens if not hundreds of different apartments and houses all over Taichung-city, which is the 3rd largest city in Taiwan with a population of 1,064,440 spread over 163.4256 sq km (63.1 sq mi).

I am not looking for anything spectacular, but I do have some strict ideas for the type of place that I am looking for. One of them being that it has to have a least 3 rooms, not because I am planning to have other roommates with the exception of maybe my girlfriend. Its more for the need for extra space, after living in several apartments before moving into a house I can tell you that the need for work space is not met by an apartment. A decent apartment is at least 15 ping (533.74 ft.²), and even though these apartments are of adequate size most of them do not have kitchens. The ones that do have kitchens only have single burners, or no oven. Why not that these are not things that I need, they are still something that I would like to have. It's not hard to find food here and cooking at home is not exactly something a common for single ex-pats, however there are times when you feel homesick you wish to eat food from your hometown.

In my research for finding out what I'm looking for an apartment or house is that Taiwanese real estate websites are more complicated than you might find in an American site. The major complication is that the whole site is in Chinese, for an American whose Chinese isn’t perfect that is a hurtle to over come. However, with good friends a good translator and some patients you can easily navigate the site even all you do is click around. Another reason is the different classifications of homes in Taiwan, such as houses that have shops in them (machine shops usually), villas, apartments that are actually designed to be permanent residencies, blah blah blah. I most of it once you learn the Chinese meanings are pretty much the same as in the US, the difference is trying to figure out an American real estate website. The advantages to the Taiwanese websites are that they have pictures taken through out the houses giving you a good view of them.

I am not too sure what else to say about this so this will be part one of the Buying a House inTaichungseries. There is still a lot of information that I need to gather and a lot of preparations that I need to make before being able to buy a house. So for the end of this one I will just show a description of the Chinese names for things on the websites.

Beginning with the Chinese navigation words:

出售for sale            出租for rent

工商租售Industrial and commercial rental
請選擇Please select
電梯大樓 Highrise building   華廈買賣mansion sale

透天厝Houses         別墅 villas

住宅 residential      整層住家 single floor of a house or building

套房 suite               獨立套房 independent suite

店面 store              分租套房 sublet suites

辦公 office             雅房 elegant room

住辦 home shop     廠房 plant/factory

辦公 office             車位 parking spaces

土地 Land               廠房 plant/factory

工商 Industrial

進階條件 advanced conditions

有冷氣>AC             有電視> tv

有冰箱>Frig           有洗衣機> washer dryer

有寬頻網路> broadband internet 有電熱水器>  electric water heater

有電梯>lift                                  屋主刊登owner published

近公車站> bus stop                    有車位 has spaces

可養寵物>Pets allowed               可開伙 may open group

可短期租賃>short term leasing option

租金 rent                                     屋齡 housing age

房屋格局 floor plan

> 1房  　 > 2房 2 rooms

坪數 ping number (total area of the house)

性別要求 gender requirement

> 男生 male　　> 女生 female

房屋型態 housing styles

無電梯公寓 no lift apts.　         > 電梯大樓 elevator tower (high rise apt. building)

透天厝 house (normal )            > 別墅 villa

生活機能> functional living (local conveniences)

便利店> convenience stores    >傳統市場 Traditional Market

近醫療機構> near hospital       >近學校 near school

近公園> near park                   >近夜市 near night market

百貨公司> department stores >近警察局 near police station

>屋主刊登 homeowners published (the owner is selling the place without a realtor)

近公車站> near bus station     >有車位 has a parking spaces

售金 Selling price
> 200萬以下      2,000,000 and under  ( 萬= 10,000)