Joanna Real Estate Shanghai

Shanghai villa is typically the second home for the well-heeled upper class executives in Shanghai of China. A high quality Shanghai villa is a great place with a full staff, sparkling fountain, well manicured lawn, private swimming pool, tennis court and everything you can imagine. Chances are that if you are looking to rent an excellent villa in Shanghai, then you obviously are pretty well-heeled yourselves or your company gives you a high housing allowance.

First of all, I would like to caution you against renting a Shanghai villa directly from an owner. The reason is that the really well heeled owner does not really have the time or energy to deal with you. They delegate it to a real estate agency. Other owners who do it themselves are barely keeping their heads above water and it is likely that the pictures you see may not accurately depict its current state.

The well heeled Shanghai villa owner wants her place to be maintained immaculately for the few years in the year that she will spend there. She still wants all the trappings including a full-time cook, ayi service, gardener, etc. Renting the place when she is not there is a way to pay for all of this. Most high end Shanghai villas will have this available and we suggest that you insist on it. After all, you do not want to be cooking on your villa vacation, do you?

Transportation is another factor that you can insist that you be picked up at the airport and driven to the Shanghai villa. You should not bother about renting a car and getting lost in a strange area. A large real estate agency can have the necessary staff to pick you up and drop you off. After all, when you are paying in this price range, you might as well live it up like a queen.

Getting a good price is an art while renting a Shanghai villa. We often find that folks will try to bargain a $30K/month villa down to $25K/month or even less. Typically, this is just not going to happen because the owner does not really need the cash and does not want to rent her Shanghai villa to someone who cannot afford close to the asking price. Instead, try to get other amenities that you will be paying for bundled into the price.

POST BY : JOANNA REAL ESTATE shanghai

You may reside in rented Shanghai apartment or plan to rent an apartment in Shanghai in the near future. In such cases conflicts and issues with the landlord of a Shanghai apartment are likely and in some cases inevitable. Naturally, one would want to avoid such issues. So what are the best possible ways to do so? Perhaps the easiest solution to get over this problem is to minutely survey the apartment in Shanghai before signing a lease with your landlord. Make sure that you inspect the few prominent things in the Shanghai apartment while you have the landlord with you.

Inspecting all the kitchen and bathroom valves will be a great idea since they can afterwards create a problem. Make sure that they have enough working pressure and look for any problems with the hot water. A thorough check of appliances (if they come with your apartment in Shanghai) such as the refrigerator, microwave, stove, washer and dryer, also won't be a bad idea since you won't like it if they aren't working and getting them repaired can take much of your time especially if you are working.

You would not prefer living in a place infested with mold, mildew or insects would you? Well make sure that you do not miss any signs of such infestations. Always prefer for a clean Shanghai apartment with no signs of mold or insects. Do not miss out bathrooms since they are a breeding place for mold. Look out in the ceilings and even in the adhesive between the tiles. Molds are known for spreading serious health hazards such as allergic reactions and respiratory problems so be sure that you rule out any possibility of mold infestation in your rented apartment in Shanghai.

Rent an apartment or rent a villa? That is a question. The answer to this question is how much privacy do you need? Privacy is at a premium in an apartment building. You never know what your neighbors will do with your personal information. They have access to your mailbox, if your mailbox is fully filled, the mail will be left on a building's entrance steps or landing and neighbors can also see who comes and goes from your apartment, including the landlord.

What's more, you share a common laundry area and maybe even a common locker area although locked. The items you are storing are generally visible through the cage-like construction of the lockers. You also may share common parking areas, including a garage.

Another area of concern, if you have turmoil inside your apartment, the adjacent residents are usually privy to the turmoil. Let's face it, we all lose our cool at times. Another disadvantage is that you won't know your neighbors' history. Many landlords do not do background checks prior to renting to a new tenant. Apartments generally lack space in comparison to a villa in Shanghai. There also could be restrictions on pets.

Shanghai high-end residential property rentals are available abundantly and provide wide range of features. Renting an apartment in Shanghai can be a tedious process. Previously, many apartment finding services were available that helped in finding the apartments. However, with the advent of Internet, you can now find property deals online.

Following are the adviced steps that you need to follow while looking for apartment rentals:

Firstly, you need to consider the cost factor. Make sure that the rental charges do not rise over time. Also find out whether utility expenses are included within your rent or not. Apart from all these things, you also need to find out the deposit required.

Secondly, find out whether you can change the decorationof your apartment or not. It means that you need to find out whether you can make any changes in the apartment such as painting the walls or modifying the carpets.

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The world's fashion capitals can no longer feel secure about their dominance after Asian metropolises Hong Kong and Shanghai sashayed into prominence, this year's Top Global Fashion Capitals reveals.

The list, compiled by American non-profit group Global Language Monitor, puts New York back on top as the world's top fashion capital, reclaiming its spot from Milan this year.

But the annual poll also showed the top fashion cities seeing competition from China, with Hong Kong in second place and Shanghai 12th.

Topping the list are New York, Hong Kong, London, Paris and Los Angeles. Milan, Sydney, Miami, Barcelona and Madrid followed.

Shanghai even beat out Tokyo (14th).

Professor Bian Xiangyang from Shanghai-based Donghua University caught a hint of economic influence on the fashion list by saying "international influence is a necessary element to make sure you're on the list".

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The first auction of Expo memorabilia and props was held in Shanghai on Wednesday, achieving total sales of 1.6 million yuan ($240,000), 1.3 million yuan higher than estimated.

Items under the hammer included three motorboats and 10 sailboats rigged with flags of Expo 2010 Shanghai, which all appeared in the opening ceremony of the event on April 30.

A total of 33 people, including 14 registered and online bidders, participated in the auction, along with 15 enterprises from Suzhou, Wenzhou, Nanjing and Shanghai, according to Fan Ganping, vice-president of the Shanghai International Commodity Auction Company, the Expo's official auction partner.

The first item sold was a motorboat catalogued as D001, which had a starting price of 80,000 yuan. After successive rounds of bidding, it was finally sold for 160,000 yuan to Su Shouliang, the president of a local gardens and park company.

The Chengdu research base of giant panda breeding launched "Project Panda", an online competition seeking six "pambassadors" to spend a month at the base in the Sichuan provincial capital, at Expo 2010 Shanghai on Monday.

The competition, run with the support of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), will narrow down the list of finalists to 12 next month. They will undergo a weeklong training course in Chengdu before the six winners are named at the end of September.

The six will spend four weeks at the base and its environs, learning about panda rearing, how to track pandas in the wild, and the steps being taken to protect the wild panda population. Giant pandas, an endangered species, are seen as a symbol of international friendship in China.

Researchers at the base said much work still needs to be done to get giant pandas off the endangered list. There are an estimated 1,000 to 1,600 wild pandas worldwide and around 300 in captivity and the vast majority of these are in China. The Chengdu base houses 96.

2010 Shanghai Expo Focus

Despite organizers repeatedly appealing to smokers to allow Expo 2010 Shanghai to be a smoke-free event, smokers are in no mood to cooperate.

While some smokers endeavored to accede to the request, many claimed it has been difficult to find the designated smoking areas scattered around the 5.28-sq-km Expo Garden.

"There are no clear signs to direct me to the right places," said Zhang Lu, a visitor from Jiangsu province. "It is tough for people to walk a long way to find smoking areas, especially under the sizzling sun in such hot weather."

Some smokers also suggested that Expo organizers increase and enlarge the designated smoking areas in the Expo Garden.

There are 43 designated smoking areas in the Expo Garden, most of them situated next to the toilets.