HGTV’s HOUSE HUNTERS, SHANGHAI

Welcome to House Hunters, Shanghai! Below you will see our top three choices for housing. After reading the descriptions of each, cast your vote, via a post, for the accommodation that you think we should pick. They all have their good and bad points. Since y’all are our valued family and friends your opinion matters to us! Vote soon. I know pictures would help but I still can’t get the site in English. But I will say they are all very fancy and new! I guess you will have to use your imagination. I gave the best descriptions I could without writing 4 pages on each. ☺

OPTION #1 (Century Residency)
Location: West Downtown Shanghai. 15 minute ride to grocery shopping. “Western” style grocery shopping is a 20 minute ride away.
Michael’s Commute: 2 hours (one way) via personal driver. Crazy driving here in downtown Shanghai. Would be lots of stop and go through downtown.
Apartment Specifics: Approx. 2,152 square feet. Located on the 18th floor of a 30 story building. Awesome view of downtown Shanghai. Fully furnished with stuff they pick. 3 bedrooms, 2 ½ baths, combined living/dining room, kitchen, maid room/laundry room. Washer/dryer and typical kitchen appliances. Two large HD/plasma/flat screen TV’s.
Apartment Description: You enter this one into a small entry way. To your right is the entrance to the kitchen and laundry room. To your left (from the entry way) is the dining/living room. Off the living/dining room is the hallway with all of the bedrooms and bathrooms. The master bath is attached to the master bedroom. The other two rooms share a bath off the hallway. The living room is not visible from the kitchen since the kitchen is off by it’s self. This apartment has one balcony off the living room.
Apartment Complex Amenities: Twice a week housekeeping. Indoor swimming pool located in basement, gym, tennis court, indoor and outdoor children’s play equipment. The indoor children’s playroom makes McDonald’s best playroom look like nothing. It is literally the size of 4 McD’s play sets. It’s huge! The clubhouse where all of this is located is across a busy street.

OPTION #2 (Shimao Riveria Garden)
Location: East edge of Downtown Shanghai. On the east side of the Huangpu River. 10 minute ride to grocery shopping. “Western” style grocery shopping is a 35 minute ride away.
Michael’s Commute: 10 minute ride to subway station, 10-15 minute subway ride, then a 2 hour drive via personal driver. Approx. a (one way) 2 hours and 20-25 minute commute total.
Apartment Specifics: Approx. 3,300 square feet. Located on the 41st floor of a 50 story building. Amazing view of the river, Pearl Tower and the Jinmao Tower (all major sites of Shanghai). Fully furnished with stuff they pick. 4 bedrooms, 3 ½ baths, combined living/dining room, kitchen, maid/laundry room. Washer/dryer and typical kitchen appliances. Two large HD/plasma/flat screen TV’s, plus smaller one in master bath. Has private elevator.
Apartment Description: This one has a mother-in-law floor plan. You enter this one into a small entry way. To your left are the living/dining room and the master suite. To your right is the entry to the kitchen and laundry room, also the hallway with the other bedrooms and baths. One of the guest bedrooms has a bathroom attached. The other two share a bathroom off the hall. The living is only partially visible from the kitchen since the kitchen is in the opposite direction. The apartment has no balcony.
Apartment Complex Amenities: Daily or weekly housekeeping. Indoor and outdoor swimming pool, gym, sauna, indoor and outdoor children’s play equipment, restaurant, mini golf, mini beach, squash. The outdoor pool is unbelievable! It’s actually a large wave pool with a 20 x 50 yard sand beach running along side. The clubhouse where all of this is, is at the base of the building where this apartment is located.

OPTION #3 (Green Court)
Location: Far East Shanghai. Actually in an area called Pu Dong. This area is a huge Ex-Pat area. It’s much less busy and there are actual grassy areas. Our friends that live in Shanghai live in this area. There is a huge community center close by that offers play groups, activities, cooking lessons, etc. Grocery shopping is literally across the street. Also a specialty store that sells “western” style groceries is across the street.
Michael’s Commute: In the AM it would be a 30 minute ride to a train station via personal driver. Then a 45-50 minute train ride. Then a 30 minute ride to work via personal driver. Approx a 1 hour and 50 minutes commute. In the PM traffic would be worse for the ride back to the apartment from the train station. So he would possibly ride the subway. The PM commute would be approx 2- to 2 ½ hours depending on traffic.
Apartment Specifics: Approx 2,841 square feet. Located on the 4th floor of a 6 story building. No amazing views here because Pu Dong (where this one is) is comparable to a suburb. Fully furnished with things we choose. 4 bedrooms, 2 ½ baths, combined living/dining room, kitchen with bar counter, separate laundry room. Washer/dryer and typical kitchen appliances. Two large HD/plasma/flat screen TV’s.
Apartment Description: You enter this one into a foyer area. Off to the left is the living/dining room and the ½ bath. Straight ahead off the foyer is the kitchen. Off the foyers right side is a long hallway. At the end of the hallway is the master suite and all along the hall are the other 3 bedrooms, bathroom, and laundry room. This apartment has three balconies. One off of the master suite and two of the three other rooms have one each.
Apartment Complex Amenities: Weekly housekeeping. Indoor swimming pool, gym, indoor and outdoor children’s play equipment, aerobics room. The clubhouse where all of this is located at is across the street and around the corner. So an optional membership to an outside health club is offered. A shuttle bus would take us there.

That’s it. If you have any questions post it and I’ll answer it. So family and friends…vote away!