Since 1990's the economy has been rapidly developing in China, more and more foreigners come to Beijing to work and live. The first thing they need to settle is to find a home and live. As an agent, we could help our client to find a suitable apartment or villa more efficiently and to save the time and cost. If you are currently looking for an apartment or villa for rent or invest in Beijing, you may need to know some basic things, which are as follows.

Location: As a foreigner, you might consider to live in the east or north east part of Beijing, since the majority of foreigners, embassies and international companies are located there. Furthermore, you need to consider the traffic condition and transportation in Beijing, as it is far different from western countries. If you choose to live in the urban areas in Beijing, you could consider having your own transportation. If you live alone or without children, it would be better to choose the downtown areas to live, since it is more convenient and cost efficient on transport. When you have children, you may consider to live in the suburb areas which towards the north east side of Beijing, since most of the international schools are located there and with a better environment when it is far from the city.

Choosing a property with a well-managed community is also important. A well-managed community means better management services, safer environment and good living standards, which would be critical for you and your family. As for kids, they could enjoy a nicer environment where they could easily find their schoolmates and friends.

Agreement and Lease Term: Typically, the tenancy agreement is in both Chinese and English, two original agreements are signed by the landlord and the tenant. Usually villas and apartments would be based on standard one or two-year contract, except for short-term service apartments. Most of the time, properties are owned by private owners and each time when they lease the property to new tenant, they will need to make some changes to the property, such like repaint the wall, check all electrical appliances or to provide some new furniture based on the tenant's requirements. The short-term lease is mostly with service apartment or some business centers.

Rental and Deposit: Usually the rental includes management fee, heating fee, cable TV fee and clubhouse fee (if there is one). Other expenses like utility bill, Internet service charge and telephone bill are paid by the tenant or tenant's company. The deposit shall be prepared before the lease start and it normally equals to two months rent, therefore with a pay-in-advance monthly rent, you may need to prepare three months rent before you officially move in the property. In some cases, company could arrange payment in USD that directly transferred from overseas account to the owner's account, this is more cost efficient for some owners from Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore, therefore your rental might be able to enjoy some discount. However for most of the local owners, they will prefer to receive their rental in RMB.

Furniture: In Beijing, most of the properties are rented out with furniture provided as well as electrical appliances, cable-TV connection, telephone connection and Internet connection. If you would like to bring your own furniture, most of the owners could accept to take away their existing furniture however it does not mean to discount the rent since they may need to rent another storage place to keep the furniture. One good thing to mention for those newly built compound is that, the landlord may accept to give furniture allowance for the tenant to choose their preferred furniture or the landlord could rent out their property without furniture needed to buy if the tenant already has furniture and therefore reflect to a slightly lower rental.

Furniture will normally include sofa, chairs, coffee tables, end tables, lamps, television set, TV stand and dining table with chairs, beds, dresser, clothes cabinet and basic kitchen appliances.

Pets: If you need to bring a pet into China, you need a health certificate provided by the National Quarantine Department of your pet's home country and a vaccination certificate that includes hydrophobia (rabies). The certificates should not be issued more than 30 days old. The health certificate should include the weight, height and length of your pet. You'll also need your passport, air ticket, work permit documents, close-up photos of your beloved and a letter from the management office of where you reside in Beijing that certifying the pet is allowed. You need to pay quarantine, examination and residence fees at the Department of Plants and Animals of Airport. And of course if you would like to own a pet while you are here in Beijing, example a dog or cat or even bird or fish, you could always find them at some local pets market.

INTERNET SERVICE: Subscriptions are available through CNC in most of the city's residential buildings and commercial areas. There is a set-up time at around 10days, and customer could choose their favorable packages referring to the usage and speed. Normally we suggest our client to choose ADSL connection at RMB120 per month for unlimited access at the speed of 512Kbps.

MAID (AYI) SERVICE: In a foreign country, nothing is more comfy than having a good maid that could help you on housekeeping and childcare. There are good maid/ayi house keeping companies in Beijing that could even provide you English-speaking maid. Or you could get advice from your house agent, management office or neighbors for local ayi who normally lives nearby. The salary could be different by the time duration and workload as well as English speaking or Chinese speaking. The standard salary would be around RMB1,000 for full time, RMB30 per hour for part time or RMB50 for half day. Most of the maids speak in Chinese but they could understand for the basic instructions in English and if you are lucky, they might be able to help you for delicious Chinese cooking as well.

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS & KINDERGARTENS: As a foreign family in Beijing, you might need to know something about the education. No matter from which country you are, we believe you can find the suitable international schools or kindergartens here for your kids. In Beijing, there are around twenty international schools and kindergartens which are made up of American School, German School, Japanese School, The France School, Swedish School, Australia International School, The British School, and so on. We also would like to provide you the service to evaluate the schools in advance. Getting more information and details, please check our website: www.wavelandrealty.com .

CHOOSING THE RIGHT AGENCY: There is no charge from client who is looking for an apartment or villa to rent or purchase through real estate agents in Beijing, the agent is paid by the owner of the property. Choosing an agency with a long history of proven recodes of accomplishments is the first important thing, and a good reputation, with experienced consultants and most of all a licensed company registered with the government are also very important.