frustration with house hunting

[carang]

why not try looking at village houses. yes, they are a bit further away from work for your hubby. but you would get a lot more space, you could renovate it so that the rooms suit you.

in our village house, we have 3 floors.

on the ground floor: kitchen, large bathroom (for the helper), large helper's room (over 100') and a very large "dining room"( we use this for the dogs, not for us~ it's about 350'.

on the middle floor: bathroom with tub, two bedrooms (same size, each about 120'), large living room (it's an "L" shape, so we use one part of the "L" for living, one for dining).

up on the top floor, we have two MASSIVE bedrooms (300' each) and two big bathrooms with tubs.

our top floor bedrooms are big enough to put: our king size bed, our son's huge racing car bed, and our daughter's bed, with room to spare, our massage chair, computer dest, tv stand, bookshelves etc!

 

[TheQuasimother]

Ctrbabe1:

That budget would get you (if you are looking for a big home) in the less rural part of N.T. (Highlighting only suburbs on the orange line to HK Island as start to end journey is 29 minutes - train frequency dependent on time of day)

- 1200 sq ft at Tung Chung - 29 minute train ride to HK Island plus bus to QMH. In the morning and evenings, direct shuttle bus (requires payment) into the city via Western Tunnel. Wonderful community and amenities for all kids. Family friendly.
- 1500sq ft at Palatial Coast (Siu Lam - not orange line, close to Tuen Mun) but longer commute - 45 min bus to Central plus bus to QMH.

You could also get a smaller unit (1000 sq ft) at Park Island (Ma Wan) - Ferry + Bus to QMH (Probably 1 hour journey in all), a smaller unit (889 sq ft) at Tsing Yi (Tierra Verde - just above the train station - 20 minutes to HKIsland station + bus to QMH)

Good Luck! You could also get a house along Kam Sheung Road but it's 'rural' by HK standards and commute is not as convenient as homes along the orange line.

 

[Shenzhennifer]

That price will get you a decent sized 800 sqft flat in a 13 year old large family complex here in tsuen wan. Not a great commute to pokfulam but still in about an hr or so.

 

[ctrbabe1]

what are some of the good real estate websites to look at? The ones I look at don't seem to yield much in our price.

 

[TheQuasimother]

I looked at Statelyhome and was appalled by their deceptive prices. It's waaaaaay more than what the asking price is for the real estate agents' displayed prices on their windows for both Tsing Yi and Tung Chung.

gohome.com.hk gives a closer picture of what prices are like. But home prices are still cheaper at the agencies' display than on the internet.

 

[Shenzhennifer]

When we were looking for flats, I found everything online pretty much sucked. We just went directly to the area's real estate agencies and enquirer within.

 

[1sttimemom]

@ ctrbabe1, Agree 100% with Shenzhennifer - go directly to agencies. Many of the English websites show very deceptive prices/postings. Go "local" and the prices will be much better.

Centaline Property has a site showing recent transactions (rental/sale) www.centadata.com. I read Chinese so usually use the Chinese site, but at first glance the English site seems up-to-date. They also have a list of properties here (but all in Chinese) http://web.centanet.com/findproperty/

I lived on Park Island, and loved it. Like Banane76 mentioned, resort living. 3-4 clubhouses with a combined 4-5 pools (indoor + outdoor), tennis courts, a beach, good play spaces for kids, restaurants, a park n shop...

@ Carang, that is my dream home if we were to choose to settle in HK.