Looking at houses

Yesterday I went to an estate agency to enquire about houses. I like the idea of getting some thing reasonably central, but Tan is keen on getting somewhere near the Guangchang (town square - the one 20x the size of Trafalgar). Today Tan and I both went to view an apartment in the block opposite where we live. In typical Chinese style, this was little more than a shell; when you buy a new house you are responsible for putting a floor in, painting the walls etc... We viewed a four-bedroomed apartment on the 8th floor. It looked ok, and costs 30k which is rather pricey for here. I think four bedrooms is best though as if I were to spend time here I would need my own study. Plus the kids won't always want to sleep in the same room. Plus we always seem to have Waipo or some other relative staying so we'd need a spare room.

Anyway, for 30k we'd need a deposit of 9k so that isn't going to happen just yet. But I'm in the house buying mood. Apparently we (Tan) could get a 10-year mortgage that would cost 250 quid a month. In the UK we'd probably need to spend that long saving up for a deposit.


A plan of the house we looked at (yes, they seem to reckon on four televisions) - sorry about the flash


The living room, and entrance to the apartment


One of the bedrooms


View from the 8th floor


A map of Pingguo (for future reference) - sorry about the flash