Real Estate Terminology Guide
Most rental apartments in Beijing come furnished. You may request to look only at unfurnished apartments but doing so will drastically reduce your choices. If you find a furnished apartment you really like, you can request that furniture be removed. However, most landlords, unless they have storage space elsewhere and have no other potential tenants for the apartment you are looking at, will be loath to inconvenience themselves this way. Fully furnished apartments include all the furniture you will need for every room in the house (sofa, beds, dresser drawers, wardrobes, etc.), entertainment systems (television set, speakers, DVD player), and kitchen appliances (large and small appliances like microwave, water dispenser, etc.).
Listings are generally uncomplicated and easy to understand. Some rooms listed as bedrooms may be set up as home offices or studies, so make sure you take note when visiting the apartments. Usually, floors listed as “1” are the ground floor. Most apartment complexes do not have the any floor with the digit “4”. The Chinese word for “4” sounds like the word for “death” and in order to avoid entire floors devoid of possibly superstitious tenants, developers have usually forgone listing any floor with the number “4” in it!
