How do you get "local" price

colinoscapee wrote:

an0932121399 wrote:

Then learn the local language, looking for ads in local language. Here you go, no drip off. But please do remember, your overcharge is to pay for official paper work to have a foreign in the house which is much more hassle in comparison to renting to a local.

The point would be,why do owners have to do extra paperwork and pay money. Easy,the police have too much control over everything,they are too busy with their money making ventures to worry about crime. Its about time this old and stupid practice was faded out,but I cant see the green men agreeing to that.

Its not really that much work you know, certainly here in Nha Trang its not and the cost is zero. The renter hands the landlord a copy of his passport and visa, he transfers that info onto a [new] dedicated form provided and he hands it in at the local office, repeating every time the customer has a new visa. I have actually been there and done it myself twice while my landlord was in the States.

Yes we are learning English and try to use it better than wait  for Vietnamese learner when they moved here.  I dont think any tenant  are be rip of as they do reseach and knowing well about market, they also strong and very firm about what they want in their buget. If any one dont know much and dont want to know but using a good agent that will be fair for all too. So good luck to find a good agent.
Free world including VN, I would leave a country in tthe first flight if  being rip of by  whoever and no other reason to stay. The fact is whose are still here must have a good reason to stay and I m sure they dont let themself being rip of because they are smart and handle things in nice way (for them and others)

NguyenUyenDu wrote:

Yes we are learning English and try to use it better than wait  for Vietnamese learner when they moved here.  I dont think any tenant  are be rip of as they do reseach and knowing well about market, they also strong and very firm about what they want in their buget. If any one dont know much and dont want to know but using a good agent that will be fair for all too. So good luck to find a good agent.
Free world including VN, I would leave a country in tthe first flight if  being rip of by  whoever and no other reason to stay. The fact is whose are still here must have a good reason to stay and I m sure they dont let themself being rip of because they are smart and handle things in nice way (for them and others)

I think if anyone is getting ripped off its the Vietnamese landlords who through a lack of English have to rely on the Vietnamese agents, apart from this 1 month in 12 rent they take many agents refuse to let the customer take a 3 or 6 month rental and some even insist the tenant has to rent for 12 months and pay all 12 months in advance, they do this because of a lack of trust that they will get there money if the tenant pays in smaller installments, its all a bit of a mess really.

Its not all about agent, market are selective and telling clear at fact:
properties for rent is choice of many hard working investor like me, and being greedy or rip off Tenant that will lead us to ended corner  (bad owner? Let them hit their head to concrete wall when tenant ALL gone).  Same as tenant wants miilion USD service for a milion Dong paid  will scared owner away.
Western  or anywhere else in the world, properties agent is a social demand, they work for every cent they earn and I respect that. Let them do what they good  at and I do mine.  And please help us by not using (again) sneaky agents whose want easy money by  lying to both sides and bring bad immage to each other

daveinvietnam wrote:

colinoscapee wrote:

an0932121399 wrote:

Then learn the local language, looking for ads in local language. Here you go, no drip off. But please do remember, your overcharge is to pay for official paper work to have a foreign in the house which is much more hassle in comparison to renting to a local.

The point would be,why do owners have to do extra paperwork and pay money. Easy,the police have too much control over everything,they are too busy with their money making ventures to worry about crime. Its about time this old and stupid practice was faded out,but I cant see the green men agreeing to that.

Its not really that much work you know, certainly here in Nha Trang its not and the cost is zero. The renter hands the landlord a copy of his passport and visa, he transfers that info onto a [new] dedicated form provided and he hands it in at the local office, repeating every time the customer has a new visa. I have actually been there and done it myself twice while my landlord was in the States.

Its lots of paperwork if your landlord doesnt pay money to the cops. Maybe Nha Trang is different but in Saigon the police are like rabid dogs chasing the buck.

-JohnD- wrote:

colinoscapee wrote:

Oh John, the old we are guests rant again. Its people like you that would stop changing Viet Nam for the better. Next you will be telling us its fine to take bribes as this is how things are done.

How wrong you are!  I suggest you stick with what you know, and you know nothing about me.

Most of us know more than we want to know about you already. ( Retired and only Temporarily living in VN, that's all we need to know  ), just another VN apologist. I'm still laughing about your quote, " white pride ", didn't that USED to apply to Foreign " teachers ".

So, you want to find example of house overpricing, especially to foreigners easy, read Mr CuongTrieu's advertisements on this site.😳

It is no secret that the rent goes up on a property as soon as the owner sees that th interested party is a foreigner. I own my own flat in Vietnam but I know of many foreigners who pay at least double what a Vietnamese would pay.

How to avoid? I don't think you can.

For groceries and things like that I now pay the same as the locals. They know me in my area and I keep a close tab on what the locals pay. I'm sure that if I were to go shopping in another area I'd get overcharged.

Cloud, reference: " BTW, I heard Cuba is a pretty nice place to visit and it's a whole lot closers to the U.S."

Good luck on finding anything close to what you have in Vietnam for the same price in US dollars.

an0932121399 wrote:

Having read through all comments I agree all of them are correct: language, police hassle, registration hassle, commission etc. However, have you ever thought of:

Can you speak Vietnamese? A little. My wife speaks Vietnamese fluently - she's Vietnamese.
Do you know how much the local pays for the same room? What would you like to know? Which ditrict are you talking about? What kind of room? etc?
Can you living in a condition just like the local? Lack of many things that you are used to in western world? We bought an apartment in a new build apartment block. Its the same design as every other apartment in the block. The management don't allow people to keep chickens and pigs in the block. The water supply here is disgusting so we bought a water filter and we boil the water after filtration - as do most of the people that live here. Most of the people that live here are more or less the same as anywhere, so I don't really get your point.
Are you willing to live away from district 1?  We live in District 8.
Can you stand with karaoke from the neibough? We dont need to my wife has her own megawatt karaoke outfit. She sometines invites the neighbours in for karaoke.
Can you smell the local house of what they cook? pet odor they have?
etc and so on so on.The apartment block management (all residents can be members) dont allow chickens or pigs to be kept in the block. Some people keep small dogs. The dogs don't smell as they are well looked after. Cooking smells? Well, I expect that our neighbours occasionally get to enjoy the smell of my lamb curry's.

I think it'd better stop complainning, either pay higher for western standard or pay the same and get used to the way local living. No thing is perfect, happiness comes from you. I dont think anyone is complaining about paying a higher price for "western standards" - whatever that means. But anyone has a right to complain about being made to pay more just because they are a foreigner.

By the way, I am a local, have 10 rooms for rent, location: district, local rental only as it's too hassle to rent to western due to extra paper work which I don't like to envolve in any way. I am happy to assist if any one need my help.

What extra paperwork would that be? Building safety certificates perhaps? If you don't have building safety certificates, are you saying that you apply a lower standard of safety to locals than foreigners might expect? There are legal safety standards here in Vietnam  for apartments and rental properties but which are ignored by some landlords.

Minhnt wrote:

It is no secret that the rent goes up on a property as soon as the owner sees that th interested party is a foreigner. I own my own flat in Vietnam but I know of many foreigners who pay at least double what a Vietnamese would pay.

How to avoid? I don't think you can.

For groceries and things like that I now pay the same as the locals. They know me in my area and I keep a close tab on what the locals pay. I'm sure that if I were to go shopping in another area I'd get overcharged.

As I have already made clear on this forum I have a Vietnamese wife. As we see it, if I get overcharged for something it affects both of us.

We  have my wifes mum stay with us from time to time - when she can take the time off from running a small but busy farm - and when she goes shopping she examines everything she buys for quality and cost and will not pay a single Dong over what she considers to be the correct or fair price.

Next time any of the foreigners on this forum eat in a local restaurant - and there are many superb local restaurants in Vietnam - take a look at a local family eating at a nearby table and see who gets the bill - usually the wife - and see how she scrutinises every entry on the bill and isnt afraid to raise issues if she finds any. That what the Vietnamese do and there is no reason why foreigners should do any different.

Oh and here is a tip for foreigners eating in restaurants here - if you get a bill that includes tax, ask for a RED receipt. Sometimes you might get one. Don't be taken in by the "accountants not here right now" ploy, or any other excuse, either get a red receipt or deduct the tax from the bill.

Like you, I pay local prices in the market here because the locals know that if I think the price is too high I just smile and walk away - and anyway, if I return home with overpriced stuff my wife is quite likely to take it back to the shop and demand a refund.

The idea of paying more as a foreigner does not offend me, as long as the difference is reasonable. Why should Vietnam have to subsidize foreigners by charging them the exact same as the locals in all things? The frank truth is the the foreigners generally come from wealthier countries, or from a higher socio-economic level in those countries, which give them an economic advantage over the average Vietnamese.


The answer, of course, is that most come here expecting a lower cost of living, and therefore a chance to put more money in their pockets than they would back home. And a chance to enjoy a higher life style. Hmm, sounds like the same reasons that many French colons came here. I thought those days were over.

Im confused,how is Viet Nam subsidising foreigners by giving the same price,that would mean its coming out of the governments pocket. If you are happy to pay inflated prices its your choice,I would say you are in the minority though.

I've heard of many retired pensioners searching for cheaper places to live because they can no longer afford to live on that pension in their own country anymore, maybe they should move to Germany or Austria, ( but buy a fake Syrian passport first of course ).

The days of the rich foreigners have long gone. People in the UK are struggling to make ends meat. Cut backs on with the councils, health service, schools, and no pay increase for many years. Zero working hours, minimum wage if your lucky to find a job,. You have got to contened with millions of immagrants all willing to work on the cheap. That's why I left and I'm so happy to be living in a Beautiful friendly country. No complaints from me, I am a guest and respect Vietnam and the Vietnamese. Thanks for having me ,,,

ThaoBrewster wrote:

The days of the rich foreigners have long gone. People in the UK are struggling to make ends meat. Cut backs on with the councils, health service, schools, and no pay increase for many years. Zero working hours, minimum wage if your lucky to find a job,. You have got to contened with millions of immigrants all willing to work on the cheap. That's why I left and I'm so happy to be living in a Beautiful friendly country. No complaints from me, I am a guest and respect Vietnam and the Vietnamese. Thanks for having me ,,,

Many of the immigrants have no intentions of working, ( and why should they would they can get much more money on welfare for their 2 -4  wive's and brood of kids, paying those people smugglers is a very good investment ).

Bluenz, they don't need people smugglers to get into the UK , they lay out the red carpet. Border control is non existant. Where's the benifit office are the first words they lern. England is the new Mecca. 350 thousend arrive every year. Plus 20 thousend refugees to start with. Plus the millions of iileagles. What a country, it's sinking fast.

Mariner42 wrote:

So, you want to find example of house overpricing, especially to foreigners easy, read Mr CuongTrieu's advertisements on this site.😳

Please don't ever talk about business that you do not know really well about. Your saying is not legit since I am working on high-end units in district 2 only. Any charge is on lessor's side to pay not from the tenants. We always try to negotiate with the lessors for the most reasonable prices for expats and use the same advertisements in Vietnamese website also..Can you tell me the difference in the 2 following ads? 
http://batdongsan.com.vn/cho-thue-can-h … -pr7658910https://www.expat.com/en/housing/asia/v … l-quo.html

Cuong oi,
Don't be Harishchandra in real estate field 
You are not doing charity, do you?
We, expats know well how you people dealing with 'customer'. So don't try to be innocent.

Cuong Trieu wrote:

Please don't ever talk about business that you do not know really well about. Your saying is not legit since I am working on high-end units in district 2 only. Any charge is on lessor's side to pay not from the tenants. We always try to negotiate with the lessors for the most reasonable prices for expats

charmavietnam wrote:

Cuong oi,
Don't be Harishchandra in real estate field 
You are not doing charity, do you?
We, expats know well how you people dealing with 'customer'. So don't try to be innocent.

Cuong Trieu wrote:

Please don't ever talk about business that you do not know really well about. Your saying is not legit since I am working on high-end units in district 2 only. Any charge is on lessor's side to pay not from the tenants. We always try to negotiate with the lessors for the most reasonable prices for expats

I don't know if you had bad experience with Real Estate consultant before and I do not try to prove anything too but arguing with no examples are pointless. The thread's owner has no idea about what he/she was talking about either. Where exactly in this city that housing agents charge their tenants 2x or 3x in term of money from what they actually have to pay to rent a house. You are right about  dealing with "customer" part. Its time for me to talk with my potential customers and not go into meaningless disputes. Peace anyway.

I don't allow others' to climb over me and poo as many others do because of their laziness.
How do you know the tread owner has no idea?
He just misplace some words - of course agent take 2x or 3x but not from the tenant. That's an adjustment with the landlord. If the tenant agrees to pay what they asked, then the agent get 2-4 months of the rent from the land lord, that's it. In short, no agent support for tenant because he lose his profit!

Cuong wrote:

I don't know if you had bad experience with Real Estate consultant before and I do not try to prove anything too but arguing with no examples are pointless. The thread's owner has no idea about what he/she was talking about either. Where exactly in this city that housing agents charge their tenants 2x or 3x in term of money from what they actually have to pay to rent a house. You are right about  dealing with "customer" part. Its time for me to talk with my potential customers and not go into meaningless disputes. Peace anyway.

If you are white, it's very common that you will be over charged.. in Vietnam. But there are some tips that might help to get you a "local price"
1. Get a vietnamese friend-that helps you with buying stuff
2. dont buy things that are not necessary right away, but wait and see other local vietnamese pay
3. get a general idea of price of things in listed places like super market or pre listed price stores, then deduct around 10-20%, you will get price of same products in market
3. things that are not in listed places: bargain for 1/3 the price
others will be posted later
good luck

Well, topic maker here. I got a local price for rent - $3.5 million a month for a room. This is the local price because I had a local friend find the apartment for me.

In contrast, for the same room a foreigner would pay 5 mill.

Is that a furnished room with AC? And what district?

username222 wrote:

Well, topic maker here. I got a local price for rent - $3.5 million a month for a room. This is the local price because I had a local friend find the apartment for me.

In contrast, for the same room a foreigner would pay 5 mill.

charmavietnam wrote:

Is that a furnished room with AC? And what district?

username222 wrote:

Well, topic maker here. I got a local price for rent - $3.5 million a month for a room. This is the local price because I had a local friend find the apartment for me.

In contrast, for the same room a foreigner would pay 5 mill.

For that price it would want to be.

Dear sir,
Not every one is cheap skates, some people are willingly to offer a little more to help vn economy. Here you talking about 50 dollars, 75 dollars. 
Mr. Bill Gates gave donation of 500 Millioms dollars.  Please learn from him,  when you know how to give, then God will add it on to you.

BEAUTIFUL7887 wrote:

Dear sir,
Not every one is cheap skates, some people are willingly to offer a little more to help vn economy. Here you talking about 50 dollars, 75 dollars. 
Mr. Bill Gates gave donation of 500 Millioms dollars.  Please learn from him,  when you know how to give, then God will add it on to you.

To help the VN economy,hahahaha,youre kidding. Ok lets help the VN economy by stopping the officals and cops stealing money,not someone who is renting a room.God has squat to do with it.

Very good if you go out to to stop all people stealing, God will help you to do that.
If all people makes good money like you do, they don t need to steal.  I am not saying people should steal, it is wrong.  I asked some of security guards and they told me their salary only from 150 to 200 dollars per month,  And they have to support a wife, a child or more.  Please do not compare and complaint, just be contend of what you are.

Thank God you make more money to help the poor.

Yeah, god has no other job, just sit and print currency 

BEAUTIFUL7887 wrote:

Thank God you make more money to help the poor.

charmavietnam wrote:

Yeah, god has no other job, just sit and print currency 

BEAUTIFUL7887 wrote:

Thank God you make more money to help the poor.

No he/she has one other job, that is to watch/wait until people make mistakes, so he/she can " forgive ' them.

BEAUTIFUL7887 wrote:

Very good if you go out to to stop all people stealing, God will help you to do that.
If all people makes good money like you do, they don t need to steal.  I am not saying people should steal, it is wrong.  I asked some of security guards and they told me their salary only from 150 to 200 dollars per month,  And they have to support a wife, a child or more.  Please do not compare and complaint, just be contend of what you are.

Thank God you make more money to help the poor.

Why you have do God's job? Let him do it! Don't make foreigners think many Vietnamese are stupid!
There are the poor and the rich every where. It doesn't mean the rich have to share their money to the poor. If you want to do charity, let do it as much as you can!

In Latin America [LA] it universally experienced in the same say...it's called 'Gringo' pricing.   It's pretty hard to circumvent...and as stated...it can really wear you down and in like lighten your pocketbook.

If you don't think your getting a good deal, don't buy it, don't rent it, and don't moan about it. Simples.
Mummy's not hear to hold your hand so grow a pair Kathmandus and join in have fun with the bartering game. Never take the first price, they say $10 ,, you say $2 ... You settle at $5 everybodys happy. I have no idear what Beautiful78 is talking about by helping the Vietnamese econamy. Foreigners are not walking ATM mechines, those days have long gone. There's a lot of very wealthy Vietnamese around there days, try asking them to help the econamy, and tell me the answer.

It seems BEAUTIFUL7887  got lot of money from the US Fund for charity 
The most sinners call god always!

From a higher altitude I don't see much difference on the apt. pricing issue whether it be USA or Vietnam or S. America.   The real game changer over the recent years has been the Internet.  The agents exist because, IMHO , primarily because the locals refuse to learn to use the Internet to promote their proprerties whether it be VN or S. America but not totally ignoring the language issue.  With online translation and hiring a local bilingual helper the locals could easily list their properties using their local Internet cafe and a digital camera...but they won't.   Foreigners and expats go to the net first, period.  The locals in the lesser developed countries do exactly the opposite, the walk next door and tell their neighbors that their property is available and the word spread mouth to ear in a very inefficient way or maybe even post it on the wall at the nearest laundry...and wait.  I am not making that up, it's way things have worked before the Net and they haven't changed.  The agents know that the contacts via the Net all going to be 95% foreigners or local expats thus they can ask for higher price or even inflate the real price taking advantage of the opportunity.  Earning a commission of one month's rent equivalent is the norm [8.5%]....jacking a price up 25-25% is simply opportunistic ripoff...in my opinion.   But I am speaking in a broad general way as this is by no means a VN issue soley.

Well everyone has their own opinion and they're all worth exactly the same amount ....zero regardless of currency.

Pal444 wrote:

From a higher altitude I don't see much difference on the apt. pricing issue whether it be USA or Vietnam or S. America.   The real game changer over the recent years has been the Internet.  The agents exist because, IMHO , primarily because the locals refuse to learn to use the Internet to promote their proprerties whether it be VN or S. America but not totally ignoring the language issue.  With online translation and hiring a local bilingual helper the locals could easily list their properties using their local Internet cafe and a digital camera...but they won't.   Foreigners and expats go to the net first, period.  The locals in the lesser developed countries do exactly the opposite, the walk next door and tell their neighbors that their property is available and the word spread mouth to ear in a very inefficient way or maybe even post it on the wall at the nearest laundry...and wait.  I am not making that up, it's way things have worked before the Net and they haven't changed.  The agents know that the contacts via the Net all going to be 95% foreigners or local expats thus they can ask for higher price or even inflate the real price taking advantage of the opportunity.  Earning a commission of one month's rent equivalent is the norm [8.5%]....jacking a price up 25-25% is simply opportunistic ripoff...in my opinion.   But I am speaking in a broad general way as this is by no means a VN issue soley.

Last year I decided I wanted to live a little longer and cut out the 9 or 10  30 km return trips to my nearest city that I was doing every week, so I did the house rental search the VN way, to my surprise a VN friend found a house for me on the internet, and after meeting the owner, even more surprised she could speak reasonable English, I leased the house for the VN advertised price, but after the lease was up, she tried to increase it by 30%, and she knew I'd done a lot of work on it,  spending nearly 3 mil VND, ( fixed a really bad leaking roof, made an internal access to the bathroom, rewired and moved most of the light switches ,  so they were near the doors, instead of having to stumble across the rooms in the dark ). Plus after I leased it, I found out it was also on the market, so had to endure " surprise " visits from the owner and potential buyers, ( occasionally she would call first to see if I was at home, she didn't have a key ).

Yes, do you want some?

Yes, I will have as much as possible. That's a very nice gesture so when can you deliver,,,,,, talk is cheap, money buys houses. Better not hold my breath just incase you don't fulfill your promises.