I Nearly Paid ₩1.5M to Upsize My Jeonse — Korea’s 2026 Agent Fee Table
Korea caps real estate agent fees by law. Here’s the 2026 rate table, the 10% VAT add-on, and why both tenant and landlord pay the same agent.
jeonse
What a Korean Family of Three Actually Spends in a Month
On the 25th of every month, my credit card statement lands. Last month I caught myself staring at the total, thinking, “Where did all of this even go?” So instead of shrugging it off like usual, I opened my banking app and broke it down, line by line — me, my wife, and our seven-year-old … Read more
Why Young Koreans Can’t Buy a Home (But Won’t Stop Trying)
There’s a Korean word you should know: youngkkeul (영끌). It literally means “scraping together your soul.” It’s not some spiritual thing — it describes what people do to buy a home here. You gather every won you can, borrow every loan you qualify for, and put your soul up as collateral too. The joke stopped … Read more
Jeonse Explained: Korea’s Wild Deposit Rental System
Three years ago, I signed a jeonse (전세, “key money”) lease on my apartment in Seongnam for 410 million won — roughly $300,000. I handed that entire amount to my landlord. Not as a down payment. Not as a purchase. Just to rent the place. Today, that same apartment’s jeonse deposit has climbed to 570 … Read more