A beginner's guide for expats - Renting in HCM
How to find an apartment in Ho Chi Minh city
Find an apartment in Ho Chi Minh city is
like leaping into a jungle. There are various of choices for you to make but
unless you know exactly which apartment is suitable for you, having a quick
decision sometimes leads to a big regret. Here are some advices that could help
you in choosing your future accommodation.
1) Don’t even try to find an apartment before you reach Ho Chi Minh city
The rental market is going on so fast that
your rental’s decision will be gone by the time you come to Saigon since that
apartment is already for lease. Instead, you could stay in a hotel for a week
to understand the district before making any decision. Expats usually choose to
stay in District 1, 2, 3 and 7. However, these districts are different from
each other. For example: District 1 is the most crowded place in HCMC due to
the hustle and bustle lifestyle. District 2 is more peacefully and quiet but
still having enough infrastructure such as shopping malls, tourist’s attraction
and offices for the need of mostly customers.
2) Make friend with the local people
Make friend with the locals as well as
other expats that speak Vietnamese to get the information easier. They are the
one who live in this city for a long time and know about the difficulties
finding accommodation, so they could help you to narrow the scope of what you
have to find. You can get some advice from them about the suitable apartment
for you, the well – known agency to help you with your selection or the in -
depth information about staying in each district.
3) Aim for some specific target before choosing
Be honest with yourself and list what you
need for your apartment besides with your budget. There are a tremendous of
differences among apartments that you have to consider. Here are some examples:
- How many private bathrooms are there?
- Do I want to cook or not?
- Is my apartment unfurnished, partially furnished or fully
furnished?
- Whether pet allowed or not?
- Do I like the surrounding areas?
- How far is it to my company, how is the traffic?
- How is the security CCTV?
4) Join Facebook group such as housing in HCM or expat groups in Viet Nam
After listing those needed information, you
should join Facebook groups if you couldn’t find yourself an apartment or agency.
In here, there are thousands of selections for you to skim through. If you
prefer any apartment, contact to that agency immediately for more details. Or
you can just upload a status yourself about the list of amenities you need for
your apartment and agencies will contact to you whenever they have the eligible
apartment. It is easier for you to find your apartment through agencies.
5) Check out the apartment first through apartment tour with agency before decided which one you prefer more
The more you see, the easier to choose. In
your considering process, if you find any apartment you are attracted to, mark
it down and contact to that agencies to catch a glimpse of that apartment. You
must inspect the apartment before consider renting it to see if the information
is truth or not. If you are too busy, just ask your agency to take picture for
you about the whole apartment.
6) Bargain to lower the renting cost
Trust me, this is always a fun part during
the progress and the unique of Asian people. Signing a long - term rental
contract and you can barter for lower rental price as your own good. Usually
when you rent the apartment for more than a year, you can get a discount or the
apartment owner will pay for you some utilities fees. This will surely help you
cut down some cost that you have to spend and having more money for other
expenses, especially buying new furnitures for your family when you moved in.
7) Ask for other fees before sign the contract
Besides the rental cost, you have to pay
some fees as well such as cleaning fees, parking fees, management fees, utility
bills like electricity, water, phone, Internet services. You can check on the
Internet or find out the previous renter’s average cost, sometimes these can be
a shock. Like I said before, bargain to get some discount and enjoy the
pleasure when doing it. Moreover, ask how, where and who you pay each bill to
each month so you won’t be confused. Usually, the fees are paid on the 1st
floor of the building
8) Don’t sign any contract until your lawyer make sure everything is fine
You definitely need a lawyer when signing a
rental agreement if you don’t know everything about the tenants’ s right and
the contract’s detail. An excellent attorney will inform you about any
condition that you have the opportunity to negotiate for your benefits. There
should be a clause to protect you from the situation when the owner sell his
apartment and you have got to move. Compensation should be mentioned on the
contract in case this circumstances happen while you are renting. Remember to
add this since there are no reason for you to reject it.
9) You are requested to pay for security deposit
It is commonly that you have to pay at
least one month in advanced plus usually 1 month of rental cost for serviced
apartment, 2 months for houses or apartment, 3 to 5 months for villas as a
deposit. This Money will be use to repair in case you broke anything in your
apartment. It is easier to get back the deposit in Vietnam for general or Ho
Chi Minh city for particular. You can get back your deposit at the end of the
rental term. If you don’t, ask your agency to help you with getting back your
money.
Overall, these are some advices that I
found it useful for expats when coming to Ho Chi Minh city and looking for an
apartment. I hope it could help you choosing your accommodation. If you need some more advices, just check out this rental agency I
recommended.
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