House Hunters Shanghai 2.0

So our bout of real estate mania started on April 25^th when I got this text message from Chris regarding our lease negotiations with our landlord.

This was the text that started the mania!

I could not believe it!!  I would LOVE to get a 10-15% raise, but I knew it would not happen.  A 10-15% raise in rent would put us over our housing allowance, and we did not want to waste any money in rent.  So Chris and I decided to call our relocation angels and start looking for another new place. 

Meet Ben.  He and Sandy showed us all kinds of apartments this time around.

Before I show you our new apartment candidates, let me show you more homes that will be WONDERFUL for other people.

That policy would last about 2 minutes with our dogs.

The landlord of this place insisted that he leave all of these Chinese books for us to read. 

Someone missed the message that company is coming.  BTW, my house has looked like this many times, so I am not judging.

I wanted this apartment for the statue!

So...much...purple!

Really Ben?  I would prefer indoor plumbing!

And now the finalists!

Finalist #1 :   Steel My Heart

Located in the City Castle compound, this tastefully decorated 176 m² apartment has 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and a lovely scrapbooking room/ office.

The kitchen had everything we requested; a dishwasher, oven, washer and dryer.  

I could see us hosting Thanksgiving here.

The apartment was very nicely furnished.

This would be my office!

The compound has plenty of green space for the puppies.

They even have a ping pong room!

The apartment has everything that we need, but is lacking in storage space.

Finalist #2:  Park Avenue

Located in the Park View Apartments compound, this apartment has 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, an office, and a fully equipped kitchen.

This park is right across the street from the apartment.

I thought the main living area was light and airy. 

This was the guest bedroom.  The balcony overlooked the park.

It has a fancy Japanese toilet!

The kitchen had an oven and dishwasher!

We noticed the walls and floors were buckling a little.

I loved the view, but would Chris accept the buckling laminate floors?

Finalist #3:  Heaven Sent

Located in the Xi Ji compound, this apartment has 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and amenities center.

Cherubs lined the compound walkways.

The living room had plenty of shoe storage!

I really liked the Chinese style dining room table!

This built in wine rack would be perfect for my new wine brewing hobby!

Unfortunately, there was no oven and no dishwasher.

Will the lack of kitchen appliances deter us from renting the apartment?

Finalist #4 :  Metroriffic

Located in the Jing’An Four Seasons compound, this 3 bedroom, 2-bathroom apartment is on top of Metro line 2.  (If we move here, we won’t have to walk outside to catch the Metro.) 

The living room had a wonderful view!

This was the master bedroom.

With a little help from Ikea, this could be an awesome scrapbooking room/ office!

Will we move to the new convenient location?  Please take a minute to tell me which apartment we should select!  I will reveal the winner later this month!