Job Discussion Forums

[lou_la]

Sorry if this has been done before, but I searched and nothing really came up.

Anyway, we're in need of a bit of advice - my boyfriend and I have just arrived in HCMC, and want to start looking around for apartments. We're starting at RMIT soon, and I know everyone seems to like PMH in district 7, but to be honest, we find it a bit strange. It's very clean and has lots of western stuff, and Korean, which I like, but it just lacks some sort of character. We want street food, bia hoi places, anything more 'normal' really, and I'd like to live closer to town.

So, we want to find an apartment somewhere a bit more Vietnamese, but still commutable to RMIT. After looking at a map, it seems district 4 might be a good choice. It doesn't seem to be a popular area though from looking at some real estate websites, so we don't know if it's really feasible. As you guys are the clever ones, I'd really appreciate any ideas/advice you have, in particular about this stuff:
- are there any apartment blocks there, or just houses? My boyfriend would like to live in a modern, high block, but it's not essential.
- is it an ok commute (maybe 30 min max)?
- does living closer to the bridge to D7 make much of a difference to commuting time?
- are we crazy to consider living there?
- is there anywhere else we should look?

Oh - we want a 1 or 2 bedroom place, and our budget can stretch to about $700 a month, if that makes a difference.

Thanks everyone!!!

[mark_in_saigon]

to be a real pain. Same thing 100 times over. Hard to find independent operators listed there, it is Saigon Pearl over and over and over. I get the picture, Saigon Pearl. I would say though, your aversion to any particular area may change with a little more exploration around it. You do not have to go far to see the real stuff again, it is all a 10 minute walk from anywhere, in my experience. So if you like the housing there, I think you can find the local color easily enough. I think your price range is fine, you can get a plenty nice place for that. I just recommend using some of the independent finders here, there are lots of them clamoring for work, they are not expensive, they know the area better than any of us, they speak the language and they don't try to shove Saigon Pearl down your throat 47 times. You can find some of those agents if you look thru CL enough, and many of the expat residents know some of them as well, if you want to go that route.

[lou_la]

Thanks for your reply! We've found a few places that we might be up for, but are still trying to sort out a few more views. One question - what's CL?

[ajc19810]

true that mark in saigon. independent finders are the way to go. For $700 you would get a real nice modern place in Saigon.

I just wonder if you went away from the modern apartment what you could get in the way of a viet house. I would imagine a real stella place.

What is Saigon Pearl? I am guessing some kind of extension on Phu My Hung?

[mark_in_saigon]

The Saigon Pearl project includes 8 apartment buildings of 37 storys each, 2 five-star hotel and commercial complex. The project will develop over 2,000 apartments for sale to the local and also the neighborhood community at large.

That is their poop.

CL is Craigslist, which is the most popular form of advertisement for housing (and countless other items) in the U.S. today. Many westerners use it for seeking housing here as well, so in VN, you will find CL is in English and specifically targeting the westerners.

CL has become so dominate that they have mortally wounded the newspaper industry in America, taking away the lucrative classified ads from the papers. However, CL has a tremendous problem with their ads now, as they are mostly free, abuse is rife. One example is the overposting of a single property. Of course, one can argue Saigon Pearl should have 2,000 ads for its 2,000 apartments, but they are surely generic (the apartments), and so just a few ads should cover all the configurations. But of course, the marketing guys will try to blanket CL with as many ads as they can get it there, after all, they are free. So, CL VN was just covered up with the same ads, over and over and over. Some other big developments were also big offenders. CL is fighting back with various technical blocking mechanisms to cut back on this overposting (as well as various scam ads), so at this time it seems like the ads there are a tad more in line with reality.

Anyway, bottom line is when looking at CL in VN, do not think that what you see there is indicative of the true market prices in HCMC. It is indicative of the prices the rich developers are hoping to get from the expat community. Most housing ads in CL VN are specifically targeting westerners because of their higher incomes. You can find some good prices and honest brokers on CL, buy you have to browse through countless ads on these very high end properties, which really represent a very narrow slice of the true HCMC housing market.

In my opinion, a westerner gets his best price by living in a place that does not specifically target foreigners. Housing is quite a bargain here, but like most anything, you can certainly spend as much as you want.

[Buffalo Boy]

I lived in a new apartment in District 4 from late 2008 until about a year ago. There are about half a dozen newish buildings at the western end. I found it quite a central location, especially after Tet 2009 when a bridge opened that connected Districts 4, 8, and 1. The District has plenty of Bia Hois and cheap restaurants if you want local colour.

It used to have a reputation as a slum area and gangster stronghold, and some of that still lingers. My students would always laugh when I said I lived there.

One thing to be careful of is moving into a very new building, like I did. The apartments as built are very basic. People buy them and modify them accoring top their own taste. They replace all the window fittings and locks, put security doors in, fit kitchen cabinets. If there's going to be a lot of people living there they knock down the interior walls and build new ones to make extra rooms. The result is a lot of construction noise that reverberates through the whole building. In my case it lasted all year and really drove me nuts.

Another thing is that living with alot of other people at close quarters requires a lot of consideration for others, and the Vietnamese are still getting the hang of it. People in my building would play dance music and do kareoke at deafening volume at all hours of the day and night. There are no play areas for children so the ones on my floor rode around on bikes screaming in the corridors. There are rules about noise but if you complain to get them enforced be prepared to become the most hated person in your building.

Mark makes a good point about price gouging for foreigers. I got a two bedroom unfurnished place for six million per month. The people living next to me were Japanese and they paid twelve hundred dollars for a slighty larger three bedroom apartment. The difference was that my wife's family arranged the rental for us and the neighbours place had been fitted out by the owners especially to overcharge foreigners.

So, it sounds like District 4 ticks all the boxes you mentioned. Just be careful that you don't pay too much and think carefully about how much noise you can tolerate.

[lou_la]

Ace, thanks again everyone. We've had a wander around now and seen a few buildings we like, so now searching through looking for flats in those. Thanks for the tips about the noise! We'll definitely keep the money in mind too. Everything seems to be much more expensive than I thought it would be though!

Thanks again, I'll let you know how it all goes.

[mark_in_saigon]

easy saigon. It is a finder, they have price points all the way down to $180 a month or so. I am not saying this is the definitive site, but it does give you a pretty good feel for the nature of the market for expats.