your advice on HCM city

Hello,

   Presuming you are talking about US $ finding housing under $1000 should not be any trouble but it varies depending on size, utilities, and area. Also, you may have trouble finding a place that will accept your cat.

   Keep in mind that January/February is TET (Lunar New Year) in Vietnam. It it the biggest holiday of the year (comparable to Christmas in America) and this may cause you some trouble finding a place. Honestly, to get a fair price on housing, I would recommend you stay in a hotel when you first arrive and then find a local friend from Vietnam to help you get settled into an apartment. Hotels are quit cheap but don't book it before you get here - you'll get the best price walking in off the street (look for one with the price posted).

   The Vietnamese people are great but they do get $$ signs in their eyes when they see a foreigner walking toward them and everything you'll see advertised on the Internet is going to be way overpriced.
 
  Yes, you can get high speed Internet here but there are random power failures every so often.

   I hope this helps. I'm sure others will respond with more advice for you. Welcome to Vietnam.

! Thanks Drutter.  That's helpful.

moirawalsh wrote:

Let me bullet point what I need.

I'll bullet back atcha.

safe violent crime much rarer than California, some opportunistic petty theft, burglary, expensive dog kidnapping gang in D2, guard your motorbike. Poorer neighborhoods of course have more desperate people, an expat has to go out of their way to find those.

affordable $550 w/utils will be a clean studio or 1 bedroom depending on location, cheaper is possible. Oh yeah as @drutter says, ignore websites in english for housing. You will need to find a local real estate office or websites in Vietnamese. Search this forum for tips, "moving", "apartment".

high speed internet complicated because in apts I have lived, you get the service from the landlord. My last place was DSL[!] that would vary from 1 to 20M download. Some expats have setup personal accounts with carriers but not always possible. Check first.

power fewer outages than California, usually bc construction work, not power system overload

cat many stories on forum of people bringing cats. Apts don't seem to mind them.

groups This is the best forum for helpful information I have found. Search old posts. Reddit r/VietNam is mostly tourists. I've lurked on less useful facebook groups like 'Expats in Ho Chi Minh City', 'Saigon International Friends', 'Vietnam Visa Support Group', and you can find others, search HCMC and Saigon and Vietnam.

blogs Actually haven't found any 'essential' expat blogs, but many tourist ones.

yt Haven't found many expats vloggers, unlike Philippines and Thailand. Rusty Compass posts once in a while. Used to watch aussie Troy Nguyen but now he is anti-westerner.

You guys rock.  I already feel like the fog is beginning to clear.

The single most important thing and the best thing any expat in Vietnam could wish for is a good relationship with one or several local/s.  Only the locals will know where to get quality goods/service at low prices.  Once they introduce you to the providers of such goods/service, telling you to trust the providers and in turn, asking said providers to consider you a friend,  you'll never have to worry about being seen as a walking dollar sign again.

Opening a bank account without any hassle?  Encountering problems with your account while being hundreds of km from the nearest branch?  Changing your cell phone plan mid contract?  Buying household goods for a fraction of listed price at regular stores?  Renting an apartment directly from owner even though you're unintentionally lead to it by an agent (*)?  Buying the freshest, cleanest, "green" vegetables and fruits directly from growers on daily basis?  Exchanging money from jewellery stores without leaving your home/office?  A good relationship with a knowledgeable local will give you all of that and perhaps more. 



(*):  Very few listings you see on the Internet or at real estate agent offices are there due to the owners' wish.  A great majority of the time, the agents simply trawl the listings from a local rent-by-owner site, copy and paste them onto their English and Vietnamese sites, replacing the owners' contact number with their own, then wait for potential customers to call.  All of these things, the agents do without the owners' permission.  That's the reason you often see the same apartments being listed on a dozen sites with a dozen different agents.  If the owners complain, the agents would explain that they're giving the owners free advertisement and should be thanked for their unselfish act.  In the end, the agents always get their fees, even when the owners loudly protest.

Everyone here so far has given good advice.  My rec's are:

Stay in an airbnb close to where you want to live or work, there are reasonable ones from $12-20 a night, until you find a more permanent place.  Small hotels are a little more at $20-25 a night.

Start hanging out with local expats or get to know a local to help you around town.  Maybe your airbnb host can help you out.

Once you have a good idea of what you need and what is available, you can make a more informed decision.

As an example, I stayed in an airbnb in D1 for 2 weeks while I checked out the city.  Luckily, I had my cousin helped me find a furnished apartment for around $500 with good internet service in D2.  I've been here almost 6 mos and there had only been 2 brown outs that lasted a few hours during big rainstorms.  Depends on the owner but I don't think having a cat will be a problem since there are pets everywhere in this apt. complex.

Thanks!