Sindo Apartment Coming Available

We are relocating and our 4 bedroom (59 pyong) apartment will be coming available on or around February 15th.  This link shows our exact apartment.  It is in bldg. 101 #403.  If anyone wants to see it you can contact Kevin our Realtor.

Kevin Jung of A-1 Realty
Telephonse: 031-838-7487
Email: A_1kevin@yahoo.co.kr

Loaner Furniture

It has come to my attention that the loaner furniture will only be delivered once (uless you have things on back order) and picked up once.  What this means is if you "borrowed" beds from housing while waiting for your beds to show up in your HHG shipment, and you want to return them when you don't need them any longer it is going to cost you!  So, only "borrow" thing things you don't have coming on your shipment.

What I have heard from several friends when they tried to return beds was that if housing was to do the pick up they would also pick up the fridge, washer and dryer as well. This poses a problem technically because we are not allowed to ship major appliances over here. We all had to put our washer/dryer and if we had them, refrigerators into storage.  If you want to arrange for a partial pick up of "borrowed" furniture you will hae to pay a fee.  The fee my friend was quoted for one twin-sized bed was $100!

Let's hope that with all the new family members here these kinks will get worked out. This is what I think the Housing Office should do with the loaner furniture.
1. Have plenty of furniture on hand so service members don't have to ship any of their furniture here.
2. If a Service Member has "borrowed" furniture they are not  longer needing (due to HHG) and want to turn it in they should come get it for free (see #3).
3. If all the "Extra" "Borrowed" furniture was turned in then there probably wouldn't be such a back log of people waiting for furniture that are sitting on the floor to eat dinner, watch TV, etc!

Since this area is new to having family members we need to help them get the system up and running correctly. Let's all do our part and fill out the ICE cards and let them know not just our grievances but also our recommendations to help the system work better.  Remember we can all work together to make this a great assignment for everyone coming here.

Uijeongbu LQA Drops

The U.S. Department of State has decreased the Living Quarters Allowance for Uijeongbu by about $2,000 annually, according to an e-mail sent to civilian employees June 8 by a Civilian Personnel Advisory Center official at Red Cloud Garrison. Any lease agreement signed after June 6 will be subject to the new rates. For more information, call 732-6007.

Sindo Apartments

These ones are a bit further from post, five miles out. However by going further from the city you could afford more apartment. Here are some of the pictures. There is a play ground, nice trees. There is a fitness center in the apartments but they are waiting for 50% occupancy to open that up. One picture is of the kitchen, and one is of the living room.  There are quite a few militry people moving in here now which makes me happy. This is also the apartment complex featured in a new Korea video.

Humanji Apartments

These apartments are also close to post. Here are a couple of outside pictures. Remember all Korean apartments are in high rises.

Brownstone Apartments

These are some pictures of the outside of the Brownstone Apartments. They are located close to the post. These are about a 10 to 15-minute walk to post.

These pictures show the outside of the building. The outdoor exercise area and the soccer field.

Realtors

When you go to housing they will give you a current list of approved Realtors for you to use. The Realtors are almost more Property Managers. This is the one we recommend:

Kevin Jung of A-1 Realty
Telephonse: 031-838-7487
Email: A_1kevin@yahoo.co.kr

One nice thing about using Kevin is that we pay him for our rent and our utilities. So it is just one payment a month. He set up the utilities for us so we didn't have to mess with it. He was very good to explain how to use the appliances.

He was really good to show us a big variety of apartments. He was also very easy to get ahold of. He picks you up right outside of the back gate and drives you to the apartments. However with that said use what ever one you feel is best for you. Kevin is just the one we recommend. One of the things I liked about Kevin was that he was very kind and had a great sense of humor.

Apartment Hunting

Don't think of the apartments here as being the same as in the states. In the states you go to the apartments and talk to a leasing agent and select an apartment. Here it is more like shopping for a condo. You will actually pay your rent to the realtor.
The housing office has a list of approved realtors for you to select from. Don't settle for just one realtor. The realtors can only show you the apartments they represent. So in order to see a variety choose a couple of realtors.
The things we take for granted in the states are not standard in Korean apartments. You are going to want to look for the following things:
1. Is there A/C?
2. Is the kitchen water filtered or do they supply the 10gallon bottles of water?
3. Does it have closets?
4. Does it have a stove or a cook plate?
5. Does it have an oven?
6. Does it come with a washer/dryer?
7. Ask what is included in the rent.
8. Is Internet included in rent? (It should be)
9. Is the refrigerator included?