I started looking at houses around the National Day holiday this year, and made a decision by early last month. I didn’t expect to settle so quickly — I’d say destiny just had its way. Looking back at the experience, I feel it’s worth documenting, as it’s one of the biggest decisions in life.

Actually, I had been thinking about buying school district housing since the beginning of the year when my child was born. However, my current property wouldn’t reach the five-year mark until early next year, so I couldn’t get in before the Xicheng 731 policy deadline — a small regret.

Regarding whether to buy school district housing, I strongly agree with a viewpoint I’ve seen online: buying a house is essentially buying a social circle. You’re buying neighbors of a certain type and classmates for your children. At the same price point, some people would choose a better school district with a slightly worse living condition, while others would prefer more comfortable living with a slightly lower-rated school district. After some thought, I’d rather be in the first group.

So my spouse and I established our basic principle: pursue the best school district within our budget while ensuring a basic quality of living. After calculating our budget, we aimed for around 8.5 million RMB, with a maximum of 9.5 million. A small two-bedroom unit with a decent floor plan would suffice.

First, I did an initial round of screening. Most areas in Haidian were too far from both our workplaces, so they were eliminated. Financial Street had too much price pressure. So I narrowed the scope to the Yuetan and Desheng areas in Xicheng first to look at the housing situation.

During the National Day holiday, I went to Yuetan to look at houses, mainly in the neighborhoods served by Yumin Primary School — Baiyunguan, Bailu Road, Qinan, Zhenwumiao, and so on. Honestly, the gap between expectations and reality was huge. My first impression was that it was dirty, messy, and run-down — I almost gave up on this area.

So for the next two weeks, the focus shifted primarily to Desheng. I made numerous trips to Desheng and looked at almost every neighborhood there. Overall, the first impression of the neighborhood environments was definitely better than what I’d seen in Yuetan. At one point, I was almost ready to make a decision, but during a second visit, I experienced Desheng’s narrow alleys again and decided I couldn’t accept that, so I gave up. This meant giving up on most Desheng neighborhoods, leaving only Putian Courtyard (served by Yuxiang Primary School), a few buildings in Yuzhong Dongli (served by Sanfan Affiliated Primary School), and Liupukang Districts 1 and 2 (served by Xishi Affiliated Primary School) as backup options. However, all three had significant drawbacks — Putian Courtyard and Liupukang had very old buildings, and Sanfan Affiliated Primary School’s district had too many properties with high transaction volumes, making the risk of reassignment after the 731 policy too high.

After considering these points, I felt there would always be an underlying concern. Plus, Desheng’s school district premium was too heavy — unlike Yuetan, which had the added advantage of its location, the risk of being stuck with an overpriced property was also significant. So while waiting for new listings in these neighborhoods, I also added Dongcheng and Chaoyang to the consideration. Mainly the Anjiao and Hepingli areas in Dongcheng, and Chen Jinglun Zhujiang Dijing and Chaoyang Foreign Language School areas in Chaoyang. Before visiting in person, I first looked online. Among existing listings, Zhujiang Dijing units I could afford were all north-facing, so that was out for now. The other options didn’t show any major issues overall, but the living quality didn’t feel noticeably better than Xicheng, so they didn’t seem right.

So these remained as backup options — only to be considered if a very satisfactory property appeared. Then I went back to Yuetan to look at houses a few more times. Surprisingly, these visits felt significantly better than the first time. I’m not sure if it was because I’d gotten used to it or because of the agents — maybe the first time they showed me all the worst properties in Yuetan?

During these subsequent visits, I became quite familiar with the situation of each neighborhood in Yuetan. But there really wasn’t a property that satisfied all criteria. So I told the agents at each location and decided to wait for new listings before looking again.

Fortunately, at the end of October, a property appeared that was excellent in every way — nice neighborhood environment, built in 2000 (the newest in the surrounding area), close to the metro, high floor plan utilization, and acceptable orientation and lighting. Of course, except for the price. But the agent still recommended we meet with the landlord to talk. We talked from 4 PM until 10 PM that day. The owner was indeed a very straightforward and kind person, but the price gap between us was significant. Moreover, the property belonged to his parents, so he could only keep calling to persuade them. In the end, we couldn’t reach an agreement that night.

I have to say, the green agency (Homelink) was truly impressive, and the owner was great too. After we went home that night, the agent continued working on the owner, and the owner continued persuading his parents. Finally, close to midnight, he agreed to our offer. Then at midnight, we rushed back to sign the contract.

Through this process, I pretty much figured out how real estate agents work — haha. The strategy is to first get both parties to meet and talk, then wear them down. Once both sides are mentally exhausted, the price becomes easier to negotiate. ^_^

Looking back on the entire month-long journey now, I can describe it calmly. Actually, during that period, the psychological pressure was immense. On one hand, choosing a house was extremely difficult. At the same time, I was torn — afraid of buying at a peak, and afraid the multi-school policy would be too strictly enforced. Now that everything is settled, my mindset is actually okay. After all, I’ve done everything possible to minimize risks. All I can do is my best and leave the rest to fate. As long as two things don’t happen simultaneously — the property value stagnating and being reassigned to a low-quality school — that’s acceptable for me.

Of course, I’m still hoping for a good outcome ^_^.

Source: https://lichuanyang.top/en/posts/5236/