In Seoul's millions of homes, where's mine?

Seoul, where I have lived by myself since 2012, is by far the largest and most populous city in South Korea, and it is also where more people live alone than any other region in the country. A February 2024 government report showed that there were 1.99 million single-person households in Seoul, accounting for 44.5 percent of all households in the city.

Finding a place to live in the country's most expensive city can be a challenge in itself. Where to start? How to avoid getting ripped off, or getting stuck in a place that regularly floods and makes the tenant eat dust? -- literally, in some units offered as "semi-sublevel” or “banjiha.”

My first place in the city was a nice studio apartment, or “one-room” as it is commonly called here. It was a borderline steal considering its location, with bus and subway routes connecting it to key parts of the city. Topping it off was the unit’s proximity to a department store, a variety of famous restaurants and one of the most popular party districts in the country.

A perfect bachelor pad for a 20-something-year-old. Or so I thought.

In my first week living in the new home, the sound of drums from next door started pounding through my wall, which I only then noticed was suspiciously thin. Turns out the affordable multi-unit residence used to be a giant house, which the owner had divided up.

I don't know what the walls were made of, but it wasn’t thick enough to drown out the noise of the partying college kids next door. A fantastic opportunity for a kid fresh out of college to practice his people skills: a shouting match. Too bad my powers of persuasion could do nothing about the constant sound of pipes flowing right underneath the floor.

Inking a housing deal is much more than looking at floor area, proximity to transport and rent. Many aspects of a home are not captured in the fine print drafted by local real estate agents or in listings on popular mobile applications like Zigbang and Dabang.

In all cases, one should be aware that important information posted on apps might be fake, or it might be entirely absent. Sometimes shared homes are falsely listed as independent units. Be sure to compare the general cost of similar homes, visit the listing agent and see the home itself to check that nothing is wrong with the place.

Site visits are crucial to check all the X factors that may not show up on paper. My next home, just a stone’s throw away from the place I barely escaped from, looked to be a spacious two-room apartment that was clean and freshly plastered.

Of course, there was a reason the plaster was new.

Mold started creeping up the first summer I spent there. The problem was the humidity. The place got direct sunlight only for a short time after the crack of dawn.

Now this column is not intended to scare away would-be Seoul dwellers, but to serve as a reminder to all seeking to live here of one simple fact: a bargain is a bargain for a reason. Few home owners would rent out their properties for next to nothing without a good reason. The landlords I dealt with weren't bad people -- most never gave me any real problems, not even the saint who talked me into renting the hellhole I reluctantly called home for two years.

It's your job as a prospective tenant to find out what’s wrong with a unit before it becomes your home, and consider that before signing a lengthy commitment.

This is part of a series on tips for the single life in Seoul. It will share know-how and highlight potential pitfalls of going it alone in the city. -- Ed.