About the large deposits in Korea

Hey cuz,

One thing that surprises people here is nobody really screens you. No credit pull. No background checks. No proof of income.

Instead, a lot of the risk gets handled another way:

How much are you putting down?

Once that is set, deals can move very fast.

Take 1000/100. That's ₩10M down and ₩1M a month.

To someone coming from a place where a security deposit means one or two months' rent, ten months sitting with the landlord can look absurd.

But look at the other side of the deal.

The landlord already has a substantial buffer sitting there before you move in. That doesn't make tenant risk disappear. And it doesn't mean every landlord will accept everyone. But it helps understand why Korean rentals can move without the formal screening ritual people expect from elsewhere.

Let's say the tenant stops paying rent.

The landlord can move to terminate after two months' worth of unpaid rent, but actually getting the home back can take months longer if the tenant doesn't leave. In the industry, we often think in terms of six to ten months of exposure.

Suddenly something like 1000/100 starts to look less random.

But there's another side to putting that much money into a deal.

It's your money that is held.

And that gives your side of the relationship weight too.

When it's time for you to leave, that money has to come back. With a large deposit, that's not a small obligation for the landlord. You're not just someone asking to stay in their home.

You're a serious stakeholder in the deal.

And when the lease is properly established, the law gives that position real protection too.

That becomes important when something goes wrong on the other side.

What if you did everything right, but the landlord didn't? What if the home gets sold? What if creditors show up? What if, when it's time to leave, the deposit isn't there?

This is where Korea's tenant protections start making more sense.

Once you properly establish your position, the law gives that position real weight--including ways to protect your claim to the deposit against what happens around the landlord and the property.

So the large deposit isn't just a strange price of admission.

It's part of what gives this relationship weight on both sides.

Which is why I wouldn't spend too much energy wishing Korean deposits behaved like deposits back home.

I'd spend that energy understanding what yours is doing--and making damn sure your position is protected.

Stay steady,

--JK