We are into the fun and games of buying a second home here.
There is a new complex being built a block away from our existing home and we really like the idea of a much bigger apartment that is twice the size of our existing one.
Before the developer would accept a deposit from us we had to make a trip to the Tax Payers Hall and obtain a copy of my wifes tax records for the past 10 years to ensure that she was not behind in any payments to the Government!
We did this and low and behold my wife in those ten years had a shortfall in her payments of 16.40 rmb less that 3 dollars I believe. That entailed her making a payment of this amount and then when paid we received a printed statement for each of those ten years in duplicate.
A day or so later we returned to the developers sales office to find that the tax statement was only needed to show how much one earned and how much tax one had paid to qualify for a bank loan and to satisfy the developer that we could pay for the apartment. A wasted journey to the tax office as far as I was concerned as we had no need of a bank loan but without it the sales office would not accept the deposit from us! It cost more in gas, time and costs of paper and printing but it was an eye opening trip.
With the first home we bought this was a pre-lived in one and we paid a deposit and moved in and then paid the balance a month after moving in!!!
A week after signing the contracts for the new home we paid the full amount to the developer and we now have to sit back and wait for that particular block to be ready which they estimate will be sometime in September.
Then which ever company we give the contract to will go in and and start to convert the concrete shell into the apartment of our choice which will add another 2 or three months depending on what 'thank you bonus' we pay to the individual workers on site doing the fitting out.
So maybe by Christmas or Western New Year we could well be installed in the new apartment and then we will have to make a decision whether to sell or rent the existing one.
With the bank interest rate being very low here and maybe getting a 6 - 7% from renting then that may be better than selling.
Any thoughts on this. Better still anyone want to rent a home from the New Year?
Willy