Let me tell you something about Beijing realtors....

[HEyHEY]

There is a SPECIAL circle of hell reserved for just them.

So, I look on the web and see something in our budget and preferences.... I contact the woman and she said I could look at it tonight and I could meet her at a subway stop that is not near it. I said, "Sorry, there must be a mistake, I wanted to see the one at Dongsshitiao." She emailed back, "Oh, but this one is MUCH nicer."

Typical irritating shit. Her they will often take you to OTHER apartments, or they put up photos taken collectively from many apartments, and put them together in their ad and pretend they are one apartment. So, you, the client, are literally calling for an apartment that DOESN'T exist!!

So, all day now I've got this realtor/horrible-human-being trying to weasel out of showing me the property I want to see (Cause it likely doesn't exist) and wants to show me a "better" one.

Fucking hell.

[bluesbassman]

1. It's a tough trick to find good realtors in any country I suspect.

I've worked with some very honest, ethical, and knowlegeable realtors. I've worked with many more who were deficient in one or more of the aforementioned qualities. Many just seem to want to take the path of least resistance, but I suppose that's a likely condition in other commissioned sales jobs. A good realtor, one who has your interests fully in view, earns every penny they get.

My advice is to interview a realtor before ever looking at a property. If you aren't comfortable talking with them, or you don't trust them 100% you should keep looking. This may not be an option for you in the market you are dealing with however. I wish you the best of luck. It's always a stressful process looking for a new residence.

[HEyHEY]

8. Well, we had one reccomended by three different friends

He's honest and doesn't charge the renter the fee. Called him last night and he already called me back this morning with three apartments that fit my specifications exactly.

Some people here haven't figured it out yet that if you are honest word gets around in the expat community and you will make a mint off referals, way more money than just trying to chisel us. This is one of those guys, I'm told.

[Joe Fields]

2. must be a fucking baby boomer.

:eyes:

[Lucinda]

3. That's got to be frustrating as hell :(

Good luck with the search. I wonder if there is an online option for property searching that might be more useful?

[LynneSin]

4. Try working with a realtor that wants to sell to your imaginary husband and kids

I had one like that, he didn't last long. Kept saying I needed to buy bigger so when I was married and had kids. Geez, I was 40 when I bought the damn place, good chance there will be no husband and kids. So stop selling to people who don't exist.

[rug]

5. Where are the Red Guards when you need them?

[HEyHEY]

7. I bet all these types woulda been red gaurds back then

[HEyHEY]

6. So, last night

I told her I wanted to see the apartment and she assured me it existed. So, we go to it and she's standing outside and magically the owner isn't there. So, I told her, "We can just wait" and made her stand outside in the freezing cold for half and hour as punishement cause she wouldn't admit she was a liar. I was cold too, but it was worth it.