Apartment complex near

Check Cantavil again. Several years ago, the rent there WAS in the 2000-3000 USD range. I have a friend who lives there now paying much less. He told me this when I commented to him that I was surprised he lives there because I know his company (which I was previously employed) would never pay $3000/month for rent, unless it is for a chief rep with a family living in a villa, which he is not.

I have a friend living in Cantavil, he is currently moving out, but he pays less than $1k for a 3 bed apartment. Personally I'd say its on the wrong side of the road for your school.

YOU are always better off putting up at a hotel upon arrival and then scouting out yourself. Q2 is a substantial urban renewal area. Between An Phu Ward and Q1 are substantial areas of nothing - all awaiting the arrival of developers.

We've all hear of location, location, location when dealing with real estate, well, it doesn't work here too well. You can visit an area at a couple of different times during the day - to note traffic patterns - and then check again (Saturday nights are good) and you might find a night club with those coffin size speakers blasting away. The concept of 'zoning' is not fully developed here!

The new highways in Q2 are attracting racing involving cars and motorcycles.

The international schools have transportation. The size of the vehicle is determined by the number of students in an area. Some schools run there own service whilst others sub-contract. Either way they will cost you.

But it does free you up from one consideration when selecting accommodation - no school runs.

Highway 1A sounds innocent enough only they have plans to widen it to 12 lanes. Already the Cau SaiGon Bridge is having land cleared to accommodate the new super highway.

You might want to consider this in your plans.

Again, all stuff you need to know about and which the rental agent likely won't 'share'. Besides, having the wife's perspective always makes for quieter domestic scenes.

There is a good mapping web site: < www.Diadiem.com > which always opens showing downtown Q1. It is a modified Google mapper but extremely good for locating streets (omit the word street when searching).

As for meeting sales agents, just go to a building an you will undoubtedly meet a sales troll, especially in new buildings.

The real estate sales / rental business is young and undeveloped and exclusive listings rarely occur unless the building is a special one such as The Financial Centre which has residential apartments in it.

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