The recycling programs pull in a net profit to the apartment, so some upgrades and services are paid for with revenue from those ventures. Their is usually an organization set up with the housewives that decide how to spend that money for the apartment. For example, our current apartment set up a toll gate for the apartment to catch people that park in our apartment block without living here.

Banks require a document proving a certain quality of employment with long term benefits and safety when giving a key money loan. BUYING an apartment doesn’t require quite as stringent document. I was told that if I want to put MY name on the loan, I need some sort of document, and that selling the apartment later would lead to “complications”.

I have NO idea what the process for getting a loan for foreigners is like in Korea. I’m lucky to have a Korean wife that is willing to shop around endlessly to find the best deal.

For example, if you had a group or meeting that regularly took place in your 15th floor apartment (say a daily class), you’d be expected to pay more money to use the apartment’s elevator constantly. Who monitors and complains about elevator use? Bored Korean housewives complain about ANYTHING that costs them ANY amount of won in my experience.

Never buy a first floor apartment. First floor apartments are the most expensive to heat, and share their warmth with all apartments above them while needing to heat the cold floor in winter. They also have the most problems with break ins and people annoying you at the door. You will need to bar your windows, and learn to tolerate drunk people talking late at night outside your window. Also, cars parking at all times of the day making noises is annoying.

The “penthouse” apartments require cooling in summer because they soak up the sun and get too hot. Anything you save in winter by being heated is lost in summer. Insulation is nonexistent in concrete houses, so they heat and cool with the sun more than I was used to.

Anything less than the fifth floor is bothered by traffic noise, pedestrians, and pollution from buses. Anything on the outside wall of the apartment can be affected by the weather more if the concrete is cheap. There is also the chance of water damage if the concrete isn’t sealed correctly, and mold is a serious problem in cheaper apartments.

The “Royal” floors are around 8-10 stories up, right in the middle. They get heated on all sides from other apartments, don’t have to deal with people always walking up to solicit stuff (Unless determined), and they don’t hear traffic noise. They are tall enough to be higher than the tree line, and get the most light as well. These “Royal” floors can run 20% more expensive than the less desirable floors in a complex.

I know families that will move from lower floors to higher floors in the SAME apartment complex just to say they live in the “Royal floor” area.

You could buy a lower floor apartment, but never a first floor apartment, if you want to have many visitors. If too many people come to your apartment in an elevator, the people on the elevator “line” will complain you are using a disproportionate amount of electic and will demand gifts. (SERIOUSLY).

Eh? I’m not sure I understand that… Surely if you’re on the first floor then only people on higher floors would need to use the elevator to visit you.