On the ground: Apartment hunting

We've been looking at apartments for days now and they're starting to blur together.  I didn't create a spreadsheet until I'd already seen several so I lost many details.  

Upkeep, even of new buildings, isn't a strong suit in BJ so buildings only a few years old look pretty run down.  Yesterday I looked at a three bedroom at the West side of Chaoyang park, my current favored 'hood, and there was a giant crack in the plaster of the dining room ceiling that ran about a half meter down the wall.  Like a 7.1 earthquake-sized crack.  I pointed it out to the realtor and on site agent and they didn't really register it except to say they don't have earthquakes here.  No mention, say, of whether it indicated some worrisome flaw in structural integrity.  No mention at all of repairing it.  

I'd been warned that rents are very negotiable and fluid and that three different realtors might show someone the same property but quote three different rents.  I've been experiencing that and also that the landlord's "friend" is really the on site property manager and that a realtor will show me one unit when another even on the same floor is also available.   Haven't figured out the "why" yet but have noticed these things.  One of our friends from Ghana warned me not to trust anyone and I think he might be right about that w/r/t real estate in BJ.  

Since there's no employer like Chevron or Mercedes or whomever to pay our rent, our choices are necessarily pretty humble.  Also, we're looking in buildings that are not predominately ex-pat because I want to have Chinese Mandarin-speaking neighbors.  

My little handwritten spreadsheet is down to three complexes.  I’m seeing a couple more tomorrow and then expect to choose among these.  It’s a bit of a rush job but I want to get out of this service apartment and start setting up a household, buying things like sheets and towels, and getting a subway, bus and Ayi schedule nailed down.  LiLi and I had a discussion this morning about what colors we’ll want for our bedrooms.  It is fun to feel like we are starting life anew. 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, my San Francisco realtor showed my house to a prospective tenant today.  Fingers crossed on that one.