Comparing corporate property with private property

Many people come to me with the question: what is the difference between corporate-owned property and private/individual-owned housing, I summarized as below and hope this will be helpful.

Corporate Property or Company-owned Property

Positives
-Usually have nicer interior and better quality furnishings.
-Usually located in premium areas.
-Often have full facilities, including pools, gyms and business services, tenant can use the facilities for free.
-24-hr English speaking staff
-Immediate Repairing & maintenance service
-Pre-furnished and often fully equipped
-Staff help you to handle utility bills.
-include more service: calling taxi, delivering drinking water, shuttle bus service....
-Most provide free housekeeping service.


Negatives
-most corporate properties are uniformly renovated and furnished thus giving tenants less personalized living atmosphere.
-The rental price are usually higher than private property due to the quality and service .

The big difference between the two kinds of  properties is the Corporate Property is  built and owned by one developer who does all the decor and furnishings and rents out to expatriates. All the tenants are expatriates
and you deal with only one owner/management company and they are English speaking. Private Property is
built by a developer and sold off to individuals who either live there or rent it out. They fit out the apartments/villas according to their individual taste and budget. Most of the tenants are locals who are
owner occupiers therefore there are few English speaking assistants in the management office.
This is the case with most local housing compounds.

I heard many corporate HRs only seek corporate property for their company’s employees. The theory behind this is that a Corporate Property is completely ready for move in, so an expensive employee’s time and energy need not be wasted on things such as furniture shopping, paying utility bills every month, telephone hook up and satellite TV installation. Since most Corporate Property are used to dealing with big business clients, contract negotiation and signing is also a much easier process for the expat’s legal and HR department.

For the Corporate Property, life is somewhat much easier as the English-speaking staff are always ready there to help you on anything: calling taxi, ordering newspaper, settle utility bills, cleaning apartment, arrange shuttle bus for shopping...  Often residents appreciate the onsite pools and gyms which help alleviate stress without adding another daily commute. While there is a wide variety of corporate properties, most furnishings tend to lean towards the inoffensive color schemes. While the alternative of gaudy gold-leaf trim or zebra print is not what most expats want, the tame color schemes seem to get boring for some residents after several months in Shanghai. Unfortunately customization of the property is usually discouraged - unless you plan to forego your security deposit.


Private Property or Individually-owned Property

Positives
-Locations all over Shanghai
-Come in furnished, semi-furnished and unfurnished states
-Slightly more flexibility for customization
-Often able to build your own satellite TV package

Negative
-Not always have pleasant interior and furnishings, the style completely depends on the landlord's taste.
-No English management
-Forced to take care of utility bills and hook ups yourself
-Sometimes required to deal with the results of shoddy construction
-Some landlords can be very difficult to deal with (when compared with management offices found in Corporate Property)
-Potential renovation noise from neighborhood units
-No service, tenant have to take care of cleaning work themselves.

Many of expats also ask to see a selection of  Private Property. Private Property range from older local high-rises with poor management to some newly built towers with better facility and management. Generally clients step down to private property if they are unable to find good Corporate Property that is big enough or perfectly located within their housing budget. 

The biggest detractors of Private Property are the hassles which inevitably happen. Experienced expats will be used to these problems, however for first time expats Private Property can add some more frustrations to an already stressful relocation. An experienced agent will do their best to mitigate these frustrations as much as possible.

Written by Jenny Lee on 17th August, 2007