As several people have asked me how I managed to find my apartments in foreign countries (India, South-Korea and Taiwan), I decided to make a video about it. I hope it can be some help to you. If you have more questions about housing in Taiwan, ask me in the comments ^^

Instagram: @charmlesscharmander

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Trancript:

Part 1
Hello! Welcome on my channel.
My name is Charlotte and I recently moved to Taiwan on a working holiday.
Today I want to talk about how to find a place to live here in Taiwan as a foreigner.
It’s not that easy if you don’t talk Chinese (Mandarin)
and it’s a question that several people have asked me, people who are planning to come to Taiwan in the future
So today I would like to give you some tips on how to find a place to live in Taiwan.

Part 2
The first question people have asked me is:
should they start looking before they arrive in the country or afterwards?
To me, that’s pretty simple.
I have lived in several countries before, like India, South-Korea, Sweden and now Taiwan.
I always first go to the country and there I start looking
Pictures online can be deceiving, and you only can rely on the word of the owner, so I would be careful with that.
Especially if there is a language barrier
you should definitely check out the place physically first, before you agree on anything.
So my advice: go to the country and only there you can start looking for your apartment.

Part 3
One thing that I did before coming to Taiwan was just joining some Facebook groups
I started typing random things on FB like “Roommates in Taipei”, “Expats Taiwan”, “Housing in Taipei”
Just, all these kind of random things and I saw if there were existing groups in these categories
By joining those groups and seeing the rooms that were offered in there, neighbourhoods that were popular and prices
I could have a good idea, once I arrived in Taiwan, of what was reasonable and what was not.

Part 4
When I first arrived in Taiwan, I booked a hostel for 5 nights
That way I could research some places, visit some apartments, and also get a feel of the different neighbourhoods here
and make out for myself what neighbourhoods I would like to live in or places I would rather not live.
That was a really useful time for me to explore the city
Hostels have so many other travellers, young people
so it can be perfect if you want to explore the city and you don’t have anyone here
You can easily make some friends in the hostel.
I would really recommend it for the first week. That’s what I would do in every country.
Just staying in a hostel, get to know and get comfortable with the city and visit some apartments.
You can stay there as long as you need to find the perfect apartment.

Part 5
Something else I did here was to post in all the Facebook groups that I was following
all the ones related to housing here in Taipei
I just wrote a small paragraph about myself, who I am, where I am from, what I’m planning to do here in Taiwan
I also asked them if they had any advice or tips about where to live here in Taiwan
That way I got some suggestions, some good websites where I could find accommodation
Some people where telling me
“Oh, I have a friend who is leaving Taipei soon and her room will be free. I can get you guys in touch.”
Posting on that Facebook group, if you’re comfortable with it, can be a really good way to have some good options.

Part 6
If there’s one piece of advice I want to give you
it’s not to be pressured by landowners to sign any contract right away.
They have some tactics to make you feel some kind of pressure like:
“If you don’t do it now, somebody else will take it”, cause they had so many visitors that day
and somebody will call them back, so you just have one hour to decide and sign the contract
You know, there’s many ways they will make you feel this pressure to sign really fast.
As this is a big decision, especially if like me you’re planning to stay for at least six months, maybe one year
you should really take your time.
If the apartment is gone, so be it! There are many places here, it’s a big city.
Don’t make any fast decision just because you feel pressured into doing it!