Easy steps to finding housing in China

Finding housing in the states is pretty easy, right? There are lots of options:
-newspaper ads
-online classifieds
-driving around your desired neighborhood, writing down phone numbers
-Real estate agent (a last resort, esp for low-budget students)

Unfortunately it's not the same, and more difficult, in China...

Here are the steps to finding an apartment in Shanghai:

1. Find as many housing agencies in your neighborhood as possible. There are plenty, and yes you need a housing agency- there is no open market for apartments other than two or three websites, but the selection/location there is still fairly limited.
2a. If you can speak mandarin- tell them what you want (#Bdrms, lease length, location, price range).
2b. If you cannot speak mandarin- find someone who can, ask them to help you
3. Look at as many apartments as possible
4. Decide
5. For short term leases, plan on paying all of your rent, plus 35% of one month commission, plus one month for deposit ALL upfront. For my roommate and I this was over 25,000 RMB. Writing a check really isn't an option either. Just bring cash (yikes!)
6. Move in!

This is how it went for me, and it was pretty stressful. Especially if you don't have a mandarin speaking person to help. The housing agencies are hit and miss- from really friendly, sincere, and willing/able to speak a little english...to the other end of the spectrum of unhelpful people who actually seem to make fun of you while you are standing right there. This is why you need a mandarin speaker.

I suspect that this entire industry will not last forever. Younger generations in China are beginning to use the internet for nearly everything, and once the majority of the Chinese population begins using the online classifieds that already exist, there won't be a need for the agency middleman. During my process we had an interesting situation- when we went to view the apartment, the previous tenant, apartment (condo) owner, housing agent, and myself were all present. Immediately the agent became very nervous, because it would have been incredibly easy for the owner and I to make direct contact to cut the agent out of the loop. But this didn't happen...otherwise my roommate and I would have each saved 875RMB!

Now we are all moved in, and can finally relax.