1. Decide which part of this massive city you want to live in. We wanted to be within a ten-minute bike ride of both of our schools and close to Grant and Gina, so that narrowed it down.
2. Decide on a neighborhood. A "neighborhood" in Shanghai is what we would call an apartment complex in the States. Of course everything here is an apartment; there aren't really any single-occupant dwellings. Neighborhoods range in size and quality. Almost all are gated with full-time guards. Some have small convenience stores or fruit stands or street food vendors inside. We wanted to live in a "more Chinese" neighborhood--one where our neighbors would be sitting around in their jammies playing mahjong all day and weird Chinese underwear would be hanging to dry from every balcony like welcome signs.
3. Decide on your desired lay-out. This is primarily a question of how many bedrooms you want. We were shooting for two, so that we could have guests. The one-bedroom apartment is rare here. They go from studios to two-bedroom, with usually a big step-up in square footage.
4. Find the nearest realtor. There's one on almost every block in a small, dirty office with a landline, a cell phone, and a water dispensor.
5. Tell the realtor what you're looking for. This is where we needed Grant. He explained what we were looking for in what neighborhood and the realtor started making phone calls. Each apartment is owned by a different landlord, so the realtor goes through his list to make an appointment for a viewing. If he finds a landlord at home (or sometimes the current tenants are home and you just barge in on them eating dinner or whatever), you head on over to take a look.
6. Follow the realtor through the streets of Shanghai on your bike. The realtor will either be on a scooter or a bike himself, and off you go, running red lights and ringing your bell to keep up.
7. Be either delighted or mortified by the apartment you are viewing. We looked at about six apartments ranging from concrete cells with running water and one free-standing gas burner to stainless steel Ikea-makeovers. Prices have gone up steeply in the past six months, but everything we looked at was between 250 and 400 US dollars per month.
8. Decide on one you like and start bargaining. Rent is somewhat negotiable. The first offer is usually about 50 USD lower than the asking price. The more rent you pay upfront, the lower the monthly installments. So 6 months gets you a 5% discount, while paying a year can sometimes get 10 - 15% off.
9. Pay your deposit and plan to meet with the landlord in the apartment to ask for concessions. Sometimes the landlord will buy new furniture or remove the ugly furniture that's already in the apartment. Ours was not so generous, but he did agree to fix the leaky faucet, the air conditioners that didn't work, and replace the half of the bathroom door that was missing.
10. Pay the realtor for his trouble. The realtor gets 35% of your first month's rent. The realtor who ended up finding us our apartment was an eighteen-year-old kid, who was admittedly hung over and who I think probably went directly to a club with the 120 USD we paid him.
11. Move in. Our place came furnished with lots of built in storage, two beds, a desk, two TVs, a table with six chairs, and a small futon. Also we aquired four and a half pairs of shoes, some dirty government-issued bedding, a bottle of listerine, a panda-shaped bug zapper, and a rain poncho left behind by the previous tenant. We paid some cleaners to come spend a day scrubbing the place spotless, bought a couch and some pots and pans off craigslist, hauled an extra desk and mattress pad from Grant's on the back of our bikes, and here we are.
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