Does anyone know a reliable site to look for housing before leaving the USA?

Thanks

I don't know of any teaching positions that don't offer accomodation to be honest. Not sure why you'd need to, but saying this, it woould be interesting to see the prices.

I woudn't suggest doing something like that, unless you already have friends out there. Why not book into a hotel/motel/hostel and search once you reach your destination?

Well not all apartments / hostels that are provided are good standards.

They can show pictures and you can have something completely different still. This has happened to a family memember of mine and another friend. 

Nash check out the classifieds on: http://www.thebeijinger.com 

They give you a good feel of what the apartments will cost and what prices. Some nice places can be from about 4,000 to 7,000 however some are just way to expensive for a TEFL teacher unless you had a number of good jobs on the go and a room mate to help out with expenses.

All The Best!

Thanks Shaolin!  Yes I just want to get an idea of prices and look at the different areas.  I know here in the states I have looked at apartments online that look wonderful, only to see them in real life and they are complete garbage.  So I would definetly not pay any deposits before arriving.

to be honest you don't need to reserve an apartment or anything before you arrive and it;s best to look around first, You can usually look at a place in the morning and then move in by the afternoon (as long as people aren't living there at the time). A ex-colleague arrived at my old school and didn't like the teachers accomodation, he just spent the night he arrived there (came in at 10pm) and the next day moved to a new apartment close to the school.

But to get an idea of prices and good locations check out http://rent.soufun.com/ its all in Chinese but you can use google chrome to translate it and you should be fine. If you want to go a step further then download QQ (chinese MSN) and sign up, there is an English version called QQ International that's in English. You can then chat to the rental agencies if the person is online.

Good luck!

In my city you can get a furnished apartment for about 1000 RMB a month. Utilities may cost about 200 RMB.. depending how much water/ electric you use and so on.. They ask for a deposit of about 2 or 3 months rent too.. Though this can be negotiated usually.