Leona and I went to a real estate
agent near the McDonald’s near Dong-Shan Road. The first place we were shown we
both like. It is 35 ping or 1,245
sq. ft (1 ping = 35.5747239272sq. ft.) In a twenty year old building complex off Dong Shan
Road not far from the supermarket we go to and all the other shops. It is on
the third floor. Leona and I used to joke about how the building had no public
space or doorman so the people living there could save money; at a condominium
in Taiwan, the residents share the cost of maintenance, including doorman and
the public space is added onto your total area. The total area of the apartment
is 52 ping which, according to Leona, is a small ratio of public to private
square footage. The outside of the buildings (there are three) is a stained and
tattered pink tile and the glass in the façade hasn’t been washed, perhaps
ever. But inside the condo, which Leona thinks we could get for five million
NT, including large parking space in the basement ($172,413us) there is a small
foyer with window and new solid wood shoe cabinet, large living room and dining
area (30’x15’?) with wide and long patio (15’x5’?) master bedroom with bay
window (20’12’?) and private remodeled bathroom with gray slate tiles and new fixtures
(7’x5’?) public bathroom (5’x5’?) tatami raised solid wood
‘guest/dressing/storage room with large deep built-in solid wood closet
(10’x8’?) home office (12’x12’) and kitchen with new fixtures and solid wood
ceiling (12’x5’?) There is long, deep patio that exits from the kitchen and
runs outside the back of the unit along the office and guest rooms. There is
where the washing machine we buy would be put and clothes would be hung. It
faces the southwest and there are no tall buildings blocking direct sunlight to
it. It looks down on a grassy private area of the condominium complex which has
a stone path that leads up to the main complex courtyard, rather nice looking
with oriental style main entrance and, yes, a door man; the entrance to our
particular building has a key and sensor security pass but not a main entrance
for deliveries or guests. The front of the building empties onto a narrow
winding slightly inclined two-way road with minimal traffic off Don-Shan Road.
The living room with patio and master bedroom face this road and look out to a
shabby lot with banana trees and other unkempt foliage and trees hedged in by
shabby two floor buildings, some the back of structures on Dong-Shan Road, and
beyond them, perhaps two hundred feet away, are two large old condominiums
which block all but a sliver of sky and sunlight. At least one of them is light
gray tile and reflects the sun back onto the condo we visited. The condo has a
few problems. First, there is no bathtub nor is there an enclosure for the
showers in the windowless bathrooms. We don’t know how well the exhaust system
works. Second, there is a watermark on the ceiling near the window in the
master bedroom. Most of the unit has new electrical fixtures and, probably new
electrical wiring including a new intercom but the two back rooms and some
outlets in other rooms are the old style two-prong outlets. The roof has no
garden and is pretty ratty looking. Sweeney-Poo would probably not go up there.
The small 5’x5’v7’ ‘L’ shaped hall outside is newly tiled but not well lit. The
unit has one reasonably clean 4’x4’ elevator and one staircase. The third floor
will have mosquitoes and some security issues. There is one other unit
next-door to ours with a shiny-clean aluminum gated door. The neighbor keeps
two bicycles outside in the public space in front of our door in the space to
the stairs that must go if we buy the unit. All in all, we like the unit and
think it is a good deal. It’s large enough, pretty, in the neighborhood we
like, quieter than the Beverly.
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