This is China! BLOG

Ningbo: Mayberry RFD It Ain’t

Betty, a European friend of mine who is a real estate agent here in Suzhou told me about some of her forays into other markets in China. The Suzhou-based service provider has been interested in expanding into other markets. Betty has been the person to travel round to some of these places to get a feel for the markets.

Her observations about the Ningbo real estate market made me laugh. She posed as a Westerner whose husband was going to relocate to the area. She acted as though she did not speak Chinese language – which she does, and rather fluently, as well as reading and writing. The agents she met in Ningbo were completely unfamiliar with the locations of most of the units to which they were supposed to be introducing her. In one instance, when they had finally found the location and looked at the rental, the husband and wife that were represented had not beforehand settled on a rate at which to rent the flat. They began arguing vociferously in front of my friend to sort out how much money they could actually leech from the Westerner.

The Ningbo story puts me in mind of another instance of the Ningbo real estate industry not quite up to international standards. Dick, an American friend who was the manager of a mid-sized, family-owned American company traveled to Ningbo to investigate the market for commercial real estate market; in particular, the company wanted to open a representative office in the city.

One of the agents among others he used in the city was from Century 21, the American multi-national agency. “She was worse than useless,” my friend explained, “she didn’t know where any of the properties were. In a couple instances we had to walk and walk to find the office building. Finally, we drove into the city, where she assured me just round the next corner was the property she was looking for. This went on for nearly a half-hour. Finally, she told me to let her out at a street corner. She would go looking for the property on-foot. She told me to wait for her in the car, at the corner. When she got out, I drove off. An hour later I got a phone call from her; she had found the property and was waiting for me at the corner. I told her she had wasted my time and didn’t know what she was doing. Another hour later, and her boss called me: I told the boss the same.”

Livability for Westerners in second- and third-tier cities in China is really more than just whether there’s a Starbucks in town (Ningbo has at least two); most of it has as much to do with the delivery of the service as the presentation. Westerners are not expecting a Mayberry R.F.D. down-home, neighborly sense of hospitality when they come to new cities in China, but they do hope they’ll work with service staff who cares – and know what the hell they’re doing.