Home sweet home for the next few months is a great 1-bedroom apartment in the Song Shan neighborhood in Taipei, Taiwan. Tree-lined pedestrian-only streets allow us to wander through the neighborhood, and we are only a block away from major bus lines and a couple blocks from the subway. Restaurants, food stands, and convenience stores are liberally sprinkled about, and right next door is a large traditional produce market.
Rent is 30,000 TWD a month, which roughly converts to $990. I think all Taiwan building complexes have a management fee, and this holds a special place in the minds of landlords. “Hey, can you include electricity in the rent?” No problem. “How about water and sewer and garbage?” OK. “Internet? Can you include Wifi in the rent?” Of course, that is included.
“How about the building management fee?”
“Oh, No, No, No, No, NO! You have to pay that yourself!” And so we pay an additional 1,500 TWD monthly (~$50), which as far as I can tell pays the salary of the guy that sits in the basement and receives any packages you may have ordered.
We found this home through a friend. The owner had recently built a new place, and it was sitting empty while they evaluated selling or not. Property prices in Taipei are ridiculously high, and rental prices are ridiculously low. Nobody skilled in math (*) would purchase property in Taipei. Ironic, isn’t it? What would our $1000 a month apartment go for on the open market? Over $1,000,000. I’ll rent, thank you very much.
Let’s check it out
The apartment has 1 large bedroom with private bath, a guest bathroom, an office/exercise room, kitchen, and living/dining area. There is also a small outdoor patio with washer & dryer and a tea room. The total size is a little greater than the 900 sq. ft. we lived in in Seattle.
The living space has great lighting and open space, and the couch is quite enjoyable to sit upon. It even does double duty as a guitar stand. Along the far wall is a 60+ inch TV, which we have yet to turn on.
Living and Dining Rooms
The traditional tea room let’s in a lot of natural light, and is a great place to store these wood carvings
Tea Room
The kitchen has all of the necessities… a rice cooker, a hot water dispenser for tea, and a range top for cooking. There is no oven, which seems pretty standard, although we won’t be baking any bread (There are some great bakeries nearby!) We purchased some plates, bowls, and glasses at the Ikea (1 block away) to fill the rest of our dining needs. Our Vitamix blender found a new home, and it still makes delicious green smoothies for us every morning
Kitchen
The Bedroom has a great King-Size Bed and enough closet and storage space to comfortably store all of our possessions (each item has its own drawer.)
Bedroom
The attached bathroom has an unlimited supply of hot water from its rain water style shower, and the heated bidet toilet seat is definitely something special. Whoever decided to risk mixing electricity and water deserves every penny they make from this invention.
Master Bath Shower
Master Bath
The exercise room has a tread mill and standing bicycle, plus additional storage. We haven’t used the treadmill yet, since walking outside is so nice, but I’ve taken to riding the bike nearly every day. I think the 1000 hands Buddha statue in the window approves. This room can also double as a guest room if any of our friends or family can make the flight across the Pacific
Exercise Room
It is often the little things that make all the difference, and the attention to detail is incredible. Just one example: the finger-print reader in the talking-door / security system. Unfortunately it speaks Korean, so I have no idea what it says, but we just swipe our finger and a cascade of locks slide open to grant entry. Never again will I worry that I forgot my key
The Gate Keeper 5000
We didn’t dig deeply into the rental market, but there are places available for less (that aren’t as nice or as well located) and there are places available for much more more. Still, I think we did well and are getting a great deal
We really love the place. It is comfortable and beautiful, and is a great place to rest our heads after a busy day in the city
* For the mathematically inclined readers, you will note that $990 + $50 ≠ $1000. I made an artistic decision to round down for the sake of a quality blog post title :)
Wow. Mind blown. That’s a steal for $1,000. Is that below market rent for the area? Was the landlord just looking for someone to occupy the place until he decides what to do (and you walked into a perfect opportunity)?
The place looks immaculate and I would never guess you could pay so little for such a nice place. Congrats, and I’m sure you’ll enjoy it quite a bit over the next few months. It’s like 1000x nicer than the lakefront Guatemala apartment you guys rented. Ha ha.
I think it is below market rent, but it isn’t so far below that it is crazy. It is a win win, since the owner has somebody occupying the place short-term and we have a sweet place to live
There isn’t a single thing that isn’t nicer than our place in Guatemala. Unless you consider a little thing like the view ;)
I think I would put up with the place you rented in Guatemala just to enjoy the view. Not sure if I would be enjoying that view next to my lovely wife though (she’s too fancy for that Guatemalan apartment!).
Admittedly I’m a bit of a fancy pants myself, but it’s all relative. Our Guatemala place was the best we could find in San Pedro
So, being an uneducated American who could simply Google my question and chooses not to: what’s the most spoken language in Taiwan/Taipei?
And are you SURE you don’t miss things like April 15/Tax Day?
Jealous as always…
Mandarin is the official language and the most common, but a lot of people also speak Taiwanese. Senior citizens might also speak Japanese, since Japan held the island through WW2
I’m currently studying Mandarin
ps: We still have to file our taxes by April 15th, unfortunately. But our bill is really low :-D
Actually, as an expat you have to pay any estimated tax owed by the April due date, but you have an extra two months to formally file the return:
https://www.hrblock.com/expat-tax-preparation/articles/tax-filing-deadlines.html
Yes.
That fingerprint reader is some James Bond level technology. I guess a million buys you some pretty cool gadgets. :)
Sometimes I hum the Mission Impossible theme song while I’m opening the door, haha
Jeremy,
How are the Mandarin classes going?Did you just find a local school to enroll in? Would you mind sharing the approx cost per month?
I’ve only had 4 classes so far, but it is going well. The pace is fast, and I have about 3 – 4 hours of homework / study material to review each day. With that much time focused (and a fluent Mandarin speaker at home), I’m learning quickly. It is a lot of fun
I enrolled at National Taiwan Normal University (aka ShiDa.)
Tuition for the Intensive Class is about $350/month, which is 3 hours of class each weekday.
Thanks for the information! I may have the opportunity to live in China for 4 months next year, and I would do some language learning as well. How long do you see yourself going to ShiDa?
We don’t really plan beyond a 3-month window… So about 3 months :)
Where would you be in China? It is a massive country, I’ve only seen a fraction of it and would like to explore the rest
I will be in Nanjing. It is a fun country to explore, even better after you have 3 months of Mandarin under your belt! Although, since Winnie is fluent, I am sure it is easier. My favorite thing to do is to ride a scooter out to the small towns and talk to the people and help them farm for a few hours. We have pulled cotton and picked turnips in the past. You can get some great pictures and meet some fun people. When we hang out with people they start telling really cool stories about their life. unforgettable! Go luck with the mandarin classes!
Hey I’m looking to switch apartments soon and also looking around the Da’An/Songshan area. Do you mind me asking how you found your place? 591 or somewhere else?
Congrats on the place.
Hi Joshua
We found it via word of mouth, via a friend of a friend. We got lucky to find something we really liked so quickly
Good luck with your search! Sorry we couldn’t be more helpful
Jeremy
These apartment posts are fascinating and insightful. It is nice to see what is possible to rent around the world. Thanks for sharing and looks like a great spot.
Hi there! Just stumbled upon your website! Really nice apartment! Just what we’re looking for! :) you did mention in your post that it’s home for the next few months? Are you guys moving? If so, Will this apartment be available then? We just arrived 4 days ago and we are already tired of looking at overpriced old apartments! Any help or advice will be much, much appreciated! Thank you!
Hi Audrey, welcome to Taipei!
The place we are staying in now is going to be sold, so I think we are going to lose it before we are ready to.
I believe the most popular apartment finding tool is http://www.591.com.tw/ It is all in Chinese which is both good and bad… good because you won’t find apartments targeting foreigners with high prices, but bad because you have to sort through language challenges… something an agent can help with
Good luck! Let us know what you find
Cheers
Jeremy
would you know if they are still renting this out?
Hi Jay, it is no longer available for rent. I think they sold it too
I wrote a guest post about finding housing in Taipei that might be of help:
http://livinginasia.co/taipei-accommodation-guide/
Can Canadian kids fluent in Beijing mandarin go to the neighborhood school…there…we are a Beijing canadian couple with a 7 year old… about several mill of beijing real estate… would i need a work visa to bring us all over…Grin! … curious in Beijing … God Bless..
You would just need a residency visa, I think. The air quality is definitely better in Taipei.
Thanks :)