Odds and Ends

So as you have read, we’re in the market to find a new place to live. We’ve decided to find a place that has more kids around so the boys can get out with someone their own age a little more (and get out some of their energy that they use bugging the crap out of each other, and of course Tammy and I). Tammy has been doing most of the legwork regarding the apartment hunt and I’ve kind of been on the outside of the hunt (let’s call it delegation). Up until recently I only saw two places, both at the Chateau Regency Towers. It’s still part of the Chateau property (where we are now) but the buildings are 26+ stories high and the apartments are owned by individuals who rent them out. It seems that real estate ownership is an investment opportunity that is common to both the US and China. During the expansion of Suzhou, the government “purchased” farmland to create the Suzhou Industrial Park. Depending on the amount of land that the farmer “owned”, they would be compensated in the form of property (specifically apartments) in one of the new apartment complexes being built in the area. So they could get multiple apartments, one to live in and others to rent out as a new income source. Of course this was mutually beneficial since the government could build the new manufacturing facilities for the business’ that wanted to come into the area (expanding the tax base) and the farmer’s went from a hard life to a more “comfortable” life that wasn’t as dependent on things like the weather. Anyhow, back to the story. This weekend, Warren, Tammy and I had a look at a few more places. Where was Jacob (you are wondering right)? Jacob was at another birthday party so he was able to escape the apartment search (why can’t I get invited to a birthday party?).

So we looked at several places, including a “villa” which was very reminiscent of the Virginia Highlands area in Atlanta with the exception of the traffic. It was a nice townhome area with a backyard that actually included a pomegranate tree (seriously, there were fruits ready to be picked). I know, a backyard…..I could actually cook on a grill (hambabas and hot dogs; and yes, it is spelled correctly. Hambaba is the Chinese term for hamburger. Jacob told me this, I told him he was crazy but after I looked it up it turned out he was right [darnit!].). The problem was that the complex was kind of out of the way and there wasn’t a good way to get around to anything (and I didn’t see any indications of kids no matter what the realtor said). It looked like there was an abundance of the places being renovated which also indicated to me that perhaps the long term viability wasn’t all it should be (but it is China and it seems things aren’t always built for the long term). The place was actually very large and was bigger than our home in Stockbridge but it just didn’t feel right (you know the seventh sense). The electric blue cabinets in the kitchen and the blue toilet, tub and sink in the one bathroom also was enough to make you wonder about the place (they were freaking B-L-U-E, even the realtor got a good laugh, who chose these colors….Poppa Smurf?). It appeared they turned the place over to 7 different people and each was given a room to decorate because it certainly didn’t flow at all from room to room (seriously, one room had dark colored furniture, the next was just plain varnished wood, then light colors, of course the blue rooms and the other bathroom with the black and white checkerboard [don’t come around here no more]). So we gave this one the thumbs down and continued our search.

We walked through an apartment with a full, wrap around deck. It was on the second floor and the deck was very nice but this place also had a major drawback. The furniture and décor was HIDEOUS. I’m not certain of the specific terms used to describe the decor, perhaps modern renaissance or something like that (I’ll coin the term Amadeus nightmare). All I know is that it was awful. I felt like I needed to wear a powdered wig and a puffy shirt to fit in (but I don’t want to be a pirate). It was like something from the movie Amadeus or another film of that era. I told the realtor that it was awful but I’m not sure she understood how bad it really was. The couch, chair and loveseat were all overstuffed dollhouse furnishings (I think I saw them in Modern Decorator magazine under the story title, Mistakes that Decorators Make. Who told these people that we like that kind of furniture?). So we laughed and moved on to the next place.

All-in-all, we found 2 possibilities out of the 5 places we looked at, and this is on top of the other places Tammy has seen. One of the places had no furniture and was just completed being renovated so we really need to see it cleaned up and with the furnishings to make a final decision on that place. We talk to the realtor to indicate our interest only to find out that the owner isn’t willing to put the furniture in the place because it has been loaned out to furnish another apartment for rent. WHAT?!?!? So you want us to rent the place but you have no furnishings? Something about this story doesn’t make much sense but we’re stonewalled here meaning we keep looking. It was an okay place and would’ve probably worked out okay for us and I guess you could say we’re lucky to find out that the landlord is a little nuts before we went ahead with the rental.

It’s pretty overwhelming because there are so many places available (they say the global crisis is over here in China but the number of expats here has really dropped off from last year and hasn’t rebounded which means there are a lot of empty apartments and with all of the new apartment units being built, it’s a renters market) and many look very similar. Then there’s the negotiations coming to ensure it meets our $$$ criteria. I look forward to this being over, it’s pretty stressful. The Chateau has its share of issues but there are no guarantees that the grass is greener at any other place. Let the buyer beware is still a good motto that could be used for this situation. The most important thing is to find a good realtor and good landlord since those are the people that will be taking care of your issues when you run into problems. If you can’t get anything fixed or repaired, you are in deep trouble (you can’t just run down to the Management office since in many cases there isn’t one and they don’t speak English…or so they say). It’s tough to remember that no matter how bad things may be (from a Western viewpoint), compared to the locals, we’re still living “high on the hog” (I’ll bet that doesn’t make much sense in Chinese) where we are. We’ll keep up the search and you’ll hear more about it upcoming posts.

Other things happening, China National Day (the 60th anniversary of the rise to power of the Communists Party so this year is a HUGE celebration) and Warren’s school trip to his Outward Bound Camp and our endeavor to learn the Chinese language, there’s a lot going on. We’ll try and stay on top of these posts since it seems we’re always a little behind. Keep checking in, take care.