I dropped into an agency near my hotel and told them what I was looking for. They required a copy of my passport and for me to sign an agreement that I would pay them commission if I ultimately rented one of the flats that I saw through them, whether or not they were included in the deal. I saw a couple of 1-bedroom apartments that were nice, although a little bit small.
Everything that I saw was between 11-12k HKD, roughly $1,500. With my short term leasing requirements, the agent said that the owner would require all four months payment up front, plus a security deposit. I would also have to pay the agency commission (1/2 month's rent). The flats were about 10 minutes from the nearest MTR station and I thought that altogether I would be paying a lot to live alone in a somewhat disconnected neighborhood, but at least my opinion of apartments in Hong Kong was rehabilitated after my first viewing.
I linked up again later that day with Bosco and I saw an apartment right down the block from the Sheung Wan MTR. I settled on that apartment because it was quite cheap, clean, newly renovated and furnished, Western roommates, and month-to-month lease. It turns out that only one of the two other bedrooms was occupied and as of this writing the third is still vacant.
I think that Bosco's agency is making a killing on their apartments because this apartment is emblematic of their scheme: agency-owned property rented to Westerners under contracts for the rooms, rather than the entire apartment. The sum of the three rooms is much greater than what this apartment would rent for under one long-term contract.
As for me, I am not that crazy about my place. It's really not that bad because the essentials are covered: it's clean, furniture is new and safe, if a bit small, and there's a functioning washer and dryer. Lately there have been some problems with the services included in the contract (weekly maid service, cable tv, wifi), but overall it serves its purpose pretty well.
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