Someone asked me a question about housing options while studying in Korea via email, but I thought I'd post my (slightly edited and reformatted) response here, too. This list is, of course, based on what I know, which may not be 100% accurate, but should at least give a rough idea...
Dorm rooms: I can't speak for other schools, but SNU has on-campus dorm rooms (where you live amongst the Korean students) and off-campus dorms available exclusively for international students. When I first came to Korea for SNU's language program, I applied for an SNU-managed dorm room. It's first come, first served, based on availability (you can live there up to 3 semesters, so someone has to move out before a room is available). The on-campus dorms were full, but they placed me in an off-campus dorm. I stayed there one semester before finding my own place. The on-campus dorm rooms are all double occupancy, but the price (last I looked) is ~USD$200/mo plus USD$100 refundable deposit. Off-campus dorms are single occupancy, but the monthly rent is ~USD$500/mo, also with USD$100 refundable deposit. I posted some pictures of my off-campus room here.
Guesthouses: These are dorm-like rooms that are good for shorter stays. They run about USD$20-30/night. In particular, the Hongdae/Sinchon area has quite a few, like http://hongdaeguesthouse.com or http://kpopstay.com, but there are probably some in every area. This might be an option for a few nights (depending on how much stuff you have) while looking for a more permanent place to stay.
Goshiwon/goshitel/one-room: Small, single-person rooms with a shared kitchen and laundry room. If you pay a bit more, you can get your own bathroom, otherwise it's usually a single-person washroom, but shared among everyone on the floor (there are separate floors for males and females). These are about USD$400-550 per month, depending on size, if there's a window, if there's a private bath, etc. They are all over the place, especially in college neighborhoods. The benefit of a goshitel is that there's no deposit up front and the contract length is variable. (More on that in a sec.) My friend found a goshiwon room after two days of intense searching.
Hasukjip/homestay: These are apparently becoming less and less common... but some are still around. This is basically where you pay to live with a Korean family and they feed you meals (and also maybe do your laundry, etc). This is the type I know least about...
Aside from these, there are also apartments (per Korea's definition, a tall 20+ story building in a cluster of similar buildings), officetels (rooms above businesses), villas (shorter 3-5 story standalone buildings), and houses (usually single family homes, but often divided like duplexes). I previously lived in a villa that I came across on craigslist. I *think* craigslist is a US-based website, but there's an entire section for Seoul, and it's used mainly by foreigners, so almost everything is in English. Most of the listed rooms are near Hongdae and Yonsei, but there are occasionally rooms posted in other areas.... http://seoul.craigslist.co.kr/roo
Also, every few blocks, you can find a 부동산 (real estate office). Housing owners list their rooms here, and you go in and tell them what you want and how much you can spend and they'll take you around to all the rooms that meet that criteria. These rooms usually have a refundable deposit, a monthly fee, and a 1- or 2-year contract, though. Most single person rooms are ~USD$5000 deposit, plus USD$500-700/mo rent. Usually, electricity, water, gas, internet, and a "maintenance" fee are not included, adding up to another USD$100/mo or so. Two- or three-room apartments are USD$10,000 deposit and USD$600-800/mo (plus USD$150+/mo in additional fees). (It should be noted you can find rooms for USD$2000 deposit and USD$400-500 rent, but the quality is questionable...) The real estate office also charges a fee for their service... usually ~3% of the deposit amount. (So an apartment with USD$10,000 deposit would require you to pay an additional USD$300 to the agent upon signing the contract.)
If you know some Korean, a website like http://oneroom.com can be useful. In the left column, under "Speed Search," it says 전세 and 월세. 전세 rooms have a huge deposit (USD$100,000+) but low or no rent. 월세 is what I described above, with a USD$5000+ deposit and rent. After that is "지역" (area), "보증금" (refundable deposit ~~ the omitted units are "만원" or 10,000 won/USD$10), "월세" (monthly rent) and optional info (for example, the neighborhood/동). (FYI, SNU's 지역 is 서울 관악구 and Yonsei's 지역 is 서울 서대문구.) For 보증금, the options are none (없음), less than 5백 (~USD$5000), USD$5000-USD$10,000, etc.. 월세's options are less than USD$200, $200-400, etc. Usually, as the deposit goes up, the rent goes down... but the standard is 5백/50만 (USD$5000 deposit/USD$500 monthly rent). You'll see this a lot in room listings.... "500/50" means 5,000,000 won deposit and 500,000 won/month rent.
It depends on the kind of housing you're looking for, but generally I'd bet you could find a goshiwon within a week of coming to Korea. Probably an apartment as well (from a 부동산), but that does have a year contract, and I'm not sure if this requires a resident card to apply for.
If anyone happens to stumble upon this and has more specific questions, I'll try to answer. My email's listed in my profile to the right.
No comments:
Post a Comment