Home Shopping, negotiations

An interesting Chinese twist occurred in our home shopping negotiations.

As mentioned previously, we settled upon an apartment in Pudong. Of all of the places I viewed, I liked everything about this one - the size, the complex, the layout, the view. It felt comfortable - it felt like it could be home.

So we told our agent. This is the one. Let's get moving.

She got in touch with the manager, Woody. Woody is not the landlord, and neither is the complex. Each apartment in this complex is owned by an individual landlord, who makes financial and leasing decisions but otherwise leaves all management to someone else. In this case, Woody.

Woody got back to Sheila with news that the landlord had another offer already. A Japanese man had made an offer on the apartment. He offered a good amount of money, and was ready to move in immediately. This was better than our offer - the same amount of money, but a request for many improvements and new furniture, and a lease start date of November 1.

But rather than award the apartment to the first offer, or the best offer, the decision was made by guanxi. Guanxi literally means relationships, and in business in China guanxi is everything. Who you know, and how well you both like and trust them is paramount to anything else.

The landlord knows and likes Woody.

Woody knows and likes our agent.

Our agent, although not Chinese, knows and likes us.

This is very significant, and in the end it will get us the apartment.

Woody told us what the Japanese man offered. He recommended we offer the same, and we did. We still feel like we're getting a good deal - we're still paying under the list price.

Plus, we've had our first lesson in Chinese business practices.

So, our lease begins on November 1st. Uncle H-- needs 2 weeks to process a financial request, and we are just beginning a national holiday. So the landlord will not receive the initial deposit until probably October 22nd. Our shipment is expected to be available on October 26th. The landlord is expected to give us a few free days of access to the apartment, and so we should be able to open our container and unpack before we need to be out of the hotel. The timing will be tight, but also perfect. We couldn't expect Uncle H-- to pay for two homes at once, and this way we'll have a place to send our shipment as soon as possible and also be able to shop for the things we will need in our new home - bedding, linens, dishes and so forth - before we move in.

We're feeling very good about the entire thing, and looking forward to hosting you as guests in what will soon be our new home!