Archive for the 'Home Improvement' Category

Advice for Buying Property in China

sh-house.jpg

I can only speak for myself and my situation. After buying two houses and two commercial properties in China, I consider myself one of the lucky ones. I have not been ripped off or lied to (…yet), but I would say:

Do not by any property that is not built yet.

I did, and while the house was constructed without any major problems, I had an advantage. Specifically, we have a family friend who owns the real estate company, therefore, small problems we encountered were easily fixed. I assume most expatriates do not have this luxury.

This GoKunming.com interview sums it up quite well.

One, don’t invest in forward delivery housing – buying property before it’s finished or even begun to be built – the price may be a little cheaper, but the risk is much higher.

Why? Because you could end up with a house you cannot live in — you could lose your entire investment. Just last night, I watched a CCTV story about some Chinese families who bought into a new development and once the keys were delivered, they opened the door to their new house to see two inches of water flooding the living room, and the cement floor crumbled if you walked over it. They said no one will help them. (Where is the government agency to protect homeowners? Why do they have to resort to calling a television station to put pressure on these fraudulent companies?)

In our experience, we quickly realized all the windows needed to be replaced because they were constructed poorly. No one wanted to help and everyone started finger-pointing. Luckily, labor is cheap in China and it only cost us a few hundred US dollars to fix.

Two, make sure the area surrounding the property you’re considering has all the amenities and infrastructure you’re looking for.

We bought into the most affluent community in Chuxiong, Yunnan, called Yi Ren Gu Zhen (????, or YRGZ). Not having nearby stores is not a big problem as the community is only a mile away from civilization — but the 16-hour-a-day “Yizu” music that blares throughout the community “PA rock system” is incredibly obnoxious, playing the same tribe music, all day, every day.

Three, make sure you invest in a property that is managed by a reputable company.

This is, by far, the most important research you should do before handing over any money. And how do you check on which company is reputable? In our case, our company is reputable but the experience is still lacking.

For example, our “wu guan” (??), or property management office/team is a joke. I think it is to be expected, though, because YRGZ probably contracted out the cheapest management company available, along with a bunch of teenagers for our security patrol. The result is insubordinate behavior, lack of professionalism, and for us, no response or action to any comments or questions (and lots and lots of finger pointing). I am guessing this will be fixed within the next five years.

The bottom line is this — there are many properties that are already built in China. Go that route. You can ask the current tenants how the experience is, you inspect the quality of the property, you can talk to the property management company, and you can see the surrounding areas, the list goes on.

Yes, the value of our house went up by about 10% (but, who’s to say that is accurate?) because we bought it before the construction started — but the problems and annoyances we encountered (and continue to encounter) because it is a new development outweigh any monetary gains we may have achieved.

In retrospect, I would buy a flat in downtown Kunming, right next to that big ass mall and call it day.

The Singing Rock

speaker.jpgENLARGE

They love to play music of the Yi People at our little community 20 hours a day. It’s nice for tourists, but it’s driving us crazy.

We have spoken with the management and they have avoided our requests. Now we’re taking matters into our own hands.

The question is, how do we disable this speaker? I think if I unscrew it and clip the wires, that would turn it off. But we’re looking a more inconspicuous way to accomplish our goal. Of course, we would have to do this in the early hours of the night when the rent-a-cops are sleeping on duty.

Please advise. We don’t care that this is childish, I’m a recording musician and I can’t have that bleed into my mix anymore.

Would these ways work?

- pouring water into the speaker
- some sort of magnet
- Tom, is there a toxin I could dump all over it?

All ideas are welcome, thank you, this is not a joke!

-BOB-

Sneak Preview

forest.jpgVIEW GALLERY

I’ll post a video of the entire house soon. We won’t sleep in this house for a few more weeks because of all the fumes, but tomorrow (!!!) I will move all my music gear and computer equipment in my 430 square foot office on the third floor. Internet will soon follow.

Before I get a chance to pick up the violin, I’ll finish scrubbing the first floor. I have a special technique with involves many tools. We have literally (really, no exaggeration) scrubbed every inch of this house for the last four days (bathroom walls, floors, kitchen, walls, balconies, window sills, stairs, ceilings, everything, my whole body is sore).

By the way, the Leatherman Wave wins in the “Most Used and Best All-around Tool” category. It gets passed around constantly, so I have two strapped to my belt. Two Waves. One is not enough. Only thing is, when you gotta us the squatter Chinese toilet, they hang precariously on my belt, inching down to that hole in the ground. Small price to pay for the best quality tool. It’s like an entire tool shed on my person.

The Italian tripod hasn’t been used yet, but I assure you there will be a photo shoot soon, after the move, and when things slow down.

Bob

CXH2 Video

cxhouse2.jpgVIEW MOVIE [????]
Contains the word “sh*t” in case there are little ones around.

Another great video by Bob. If anyone wants a tutorial on how to make fast, homemade, low budget (and low quality) movies, I’d be more than happy to show you.

Interior Design

cxhouse1.jpgVIEW MOVIE [????]

See the inside of our house that is currently being redesigned. 5 minutes.

Don’t forget to turn off your pop-up blocker software.

Bob

Attic Fan

attic.gifI just heard on KGO that if you install an electric attic fan it can 1) cool your house by about 10° and 2) “save your roof”. I know you have vents, but their point electric fans on a thermostat.

Would this help with the power bill at Knowland? I remember the upper half of Knowland (or, the 1979 add-on to the house) was always warmer than the cool lower half.

Perhaps this doesn’t apply to anyone since you never use air conditioning. They’re talking about this on KGO because, I guess it’s pretty hot in the Bay right now (just heard, right now, it is 85° in Oakland.)

-BOB-