If you can succesfully open a banking account without the assistance of an account officer who speaks Chinese or the help of an interpretor, then you can successfully buy a house/apartment. Agent won't save you money. Youself can do it, even you can't "talk" well. However, you might want to have a real estate lawyer, and a home inspector. They will guard your interest more than an agent does or will. I am not even a real property owner, so don't take my words seriously. But intuition told me those Chinese speaking "agents" are going to rip you off and make you mad.