hong_konger

Well you certainly seem to be enloying life here. Long may it continue !
One thing to remember...we all live in the best place to live in HK ;-)

Amanda2012

Yes, we're having a ball at the moment. Still very fresh off the boat but we have found the expats here so welcoming, and we are now often having dinners at friends places, sometimes on HK Island, sometimes on Park Island, and we have found a group of people we regularly mix with.

The local people are really quite nice, overall, although like anywhere you do get a person who is a grumpy taxi driver, or little things like that. We do feel very safe over here too. Life is really fun right now.

Supernoodles

Which block did you move into in the end? Welcome, glad you like the island and HK itself !

boyley

Firstly thanks for the thread, its been very informative. My wife and I, no children are moving to Hong Kong in July 13 and will be over in march to check it all out. Park Island is sounding like the sort of place we would like.

One question do the apartments facilities include boardrooms that we could hold conferences in, we will operate our company from the apartment, however we would require something a little more official for any meeting with clients etc.

Amanda2012

Hi Boyley the living environment is great for Park Island you can be sure of that. You can see lots of photos of the place here http://parkislandhongkong.blogspot.com.

Yes there are meeting rooms, conference rooms and facilities there, but I don't think its that proctical for clients to come out to meet you there. I have meet a few business people on Park Island, and what they do is rent a serviced office located in the city that has really quite affordable meeting rooms, phone service etc, and they then live on Park Island for the lifestyle benefits and the more relaxed feeling. So they might work from their home office, but have meetings actually in the city. Hope that helps.

hong_konger

An apartment in Hong Kong with a board room. Er Nope. Plus if you were wanting to impress potential Clients you would not want to be ferrying them all the way out to Ma Wan Island, even though its a nice place to live !!

There is plenty of reasonably priced office space available in not central city areas such as North Point, Kwun Tong etc.

Also, if you are intending to combine a functional office with a place to live you may run into tenancy agreement issues which will be for one or the other and prohibiting both.

ex reg

Prolly be cheaper to rent office space and live there.

boyley

Hi Amanda, yes I couldnt agree more an office in the city probaly would be more approptiate. I was just thinking for the first few months until were set and its very close to the airport which is another reason we like the idea of PI

max00

hi, I am a student looking to relocate to HK for about a year.
Does anybody know if flatsharing is common in Hong Kong? I would like to live with Mandarin-speaking flatmates..

Supernoodles

Flatsharing is more common amongst foreigners and less so with locals.
I'd advise you to prioritise the flat itself over the flatmates as apartment hunting here is more difficult than in the UK (imo) as there is just less choice.

max00

ok, maybe I can rent a 3 bedroom flat and then sub-rent the other two bedrooms?

I guess the best way to find a flat is through a letting agency. How do people usually find roommates?

Thank you for your help!

Supernoodles

Yeah you can sublet rooms in an apartment with your landlord's permission but bear in mind when going through an estate agent (the common route) you will have to pay them half a months commission, plus 2 months deposit plus 1 month in advance so if you have renting a flat at say 20k, you will have to be handing over 70k hkd before you've even moved in...oh you will also have to fork out deposits for utilities.
Normally, people find flatmates through networking, friends of friends or online through forums and gumtree etc.

Supernoodles

Forgot to add that if you just rent a room in someone's flat, then you might not have to pay 2 months deposit, maybe only 1 month (maybe less!) plus you won't have to pay commission and you won't have your name on on all the bills etc like some of the contracts will be 2 years unless you take over someone else's contract (you can get good deals if the timing is right)

max00

Thanks Supernoodles!

Gumtree is now called Kijiji Hong Kong, any other classified or forum you would recommend?

Supernoodles

You could try Geoexpat but it is an expat site, so you are unlikely to get many responses from native Mandarin speakers...why not move to China if you want to learn Mandarin ? Cantonese is the local language in Hong Kong.