Property Prices and Best Expat Area to Settle

For the amount mentioned you should be able to get a decent apartment in Vung Tau without much trouble. There are several new buildings away from the beach areas but they still have services onsite or nearby.

Remember that the agent will want between 1% and 2% of the sale price so the seller will add that amount to the price they want. Don't forget to negotiate as it is a buyer market. Cash is king so use it to your advantage. Look at many apartments and watch out for the "maintenance fees" which can be higher than you first imagine.

If you use an agent then better get everything in writing. They may use the excuse that they cannot write in English. Get it in Vietnamese and then get it translated. Better safe than sorry

Hi Aspira, welcome to the forum,

RENT don’t BUY... 

Do yourself a favour and lease a beachside place from $300 to $500 a month in places like Nha Trang , Da Nang etc.. These places are everywhere, and more being built everyday. 

Then sit back , relax and do your homework & listen to people.   When Super fUnds are returning 10%.   Why would someone take $100k out of that and buy a poorly built piece of junk ( which most of them are)  which can be leased for about $500 a month, which is 6%.

As an owner you’ll have management & maintenance fees,,,,but zero  maintenance is done & the place is managed by idiots. 

The maths simply don’t stack up to buying anything here.

There are numerous threads on here about property . Read them and you’ll probably think twice about buying here.    Lease everything here mate...and I mean “everything”.😆

Hit the nail on the head

When money comes in the door, everything else goes out the window

Yep, it’s always a daily mind game here trying to get the “ buy my own place” idea out of my head.

As Aussies , we’ve had the great Australian dream of home ownership drummed into us , and it’s hard to change the thinking.      I owner built 4 houses back home.  This stuff here would be lucky to pass a building inspection back home , unless Ray Charles was doing the inspection.

My rent is LESS than my electricity bill was back home,, and if there’s any issues with neighbours or the place falling apart,,,just move.

I like the place I lease.  Repainted it, new taps, a few lights , some fixtures etc & all for bugger all cash.  The landlady likes the way I look after it & the surrounds.  And it not a “ hook” , I’m not tied to it, don’t lose sleep worrying about can I sell it, getting the money out of here etc....     As a retiree , you don’t need that crap.

Yogi also has concerns about investing his cash in places where there’s NO Rule of Law, No democracy, No Freedom of speech,  Rampant Corruption,  a BBB credit rating,  and a currency that is likely to crash with what’s in the headwinds here. 

There’s a lot of smart , rIch VN getting there money OUT of here.   A lot is going into good ole Australia.    If that’s not a “red flag” I don’t know what is.

Not many foreigners have bought here.    And of those that have , they are nearly ALL Asian flippers form  Sth Korea. China , Singapore.  These people are gamblers & speculators.     Join them at your peril.

Yogi007 wrote:

My rent is LESS than my electricity bill was back home,, and if there’s any issues with neighbours or the place falling apart,,,just move. .

There goes the winning argument of all the Vietnam house buying threads.

Despite all the comments on this site about buying property in Vietnam, there are still individuals who seemed determined to take the plunge. They are adults and it's their money.

It could take them years to find out that what they bought will deteriorate over time due to poor building practises and poor building maintenance. They will probably not get their money back and all they'll get is grief.

When the crocodiles are snapping at your backside, you tend to forget why you are in the swamp in the first place.

blunders wrote:

When the crocodiles are snapping at your backside, you tend to forget why you are in the swamp in the first place.

I don't know if estate agents in Vietnam are typified by the lot we get spamming this forum but, if so, they're the best advert not to buy a house I've ever seen.

If real estate was such a good deal in Vietnam then there would not be so many "agents" circling the wagons and telling pork pies to potential customers

For expats who have children in Vietnam and may be thinking longer term, consider that by 2050, Vung Tau, Nha Trang, Qui Nhon, and Da Nang could be underwater in the literal sense and Saigon could have high tides coming up from the storm drains as Miami does now.

Ah Blunders.....

You know , I know , & every other dopey bugger here knows why we are in the Swamp.

It’s the cheap beer and something kind of similar to crocodiles snapping at your backside.😆😆

But they’re not crocodiles & they’re not aiming for your ass.

Storm drains - Thanh Da Island,  a suburb of Saigon already has river tides coming up through the storm drains and a large pumping station to try and deal with the problem.
As well as:
1. Global warming with increased sea levels, Saigon has further problems in that;

2. The suburbs are expanding south over mangrove swamps, so forces the tides further up river; and

3. Because of excessive pumping of groundwater from below the city, Saigon is SINKING, in some areas by six centimetres a year.

BTW, I do own my own house outside Nha Trang. My VN wife and I bought the land and built 15 years ago when prices were cheap, engaged the best builder in the area, and paid our carpenter brother in law to be our liaison man/supervisior. The build went two months over time, but not much over budget.

I agree with previous comments about totally dud builders in VN. Be very, very careful.

Yogi007 wrote:

Ah Blunders.....

You know , I know , & every other dopey bugger here knows why we are in the Swamp.

It’s the cheap beer and something kind of similar to crocodiles snapping at your backside.😆😆

But they’re not crocodiles & they’re not aiming for your ass.

Because of the many poor career, familial, and ultimately, financial life choices that spanned the last 50+ years of your lives? Honestly, there aren't any single 60+ year old male foreign retirees (being married in Vietnam post-retirement doesn't count either) are in Vietnam by choice.

The ones who claim to be financially independent (FI) while doing visa runs every three months and enduring the poor air quality, poor medical care, corrupt officials, unsanitary food, and unsafe traffic for cheap beer and tail at the ripe old age of 60+ are especially convincing and amusing.

No FI retiree downgrade their quality of life for cheap beer and tail at the expense of the negatives listed above. No one penny-pinches on health (and preventative care) unless they are unable to afford it, period.

The actual FI retirees can afford to have it all in Taiwan, S. Korea, Japan or even *shocker* their first-world Western country instead of complaining about everything under the sun in Vietnam.

Edit: If you feel offended, then it's true - please don't waste your time convincing me or anyone else reading otherwise because it simply will not warrant a response. Most, if not all of the locals in Vietnam are all aware of the general circumstances that have led you here.

I love the know it all people such as yourself who thinks he knows all of the answers.

Ha ha ha..😆
Yogi loves this stuff.    He “baits”  a hook , throws it out there to see what he can catch. 

Caught a good one this time.🤓🤓   Keeps the forum interesting huh..

I like your style Kupo,,,tell it how it is & take no prisoners.  But in saying that I don’t think all of us fall into the category of womanising enebriates if they’re still single and over 60. 

But I do think it would be a change of pace , and a lot of fun for Yogi to become a womaniser..... but I’ll leave the heavy drinking part to the true believers.   And boy..can some of these blokes drink. 

But sadly,  Yogi’s still a few years short of 60 , and has a nice lady friend here ...so there goes the womanising party boy gig.   And yes , she’s the main reason I’m still here.  But I bail out of here every 10 weeks for a break,,go back to OZ or down to Bali for some waves, keeps me sane😆   Then come back to beautiful Nha Trang and start the cycle again..it’s a good life.   No pollution, traffic gridlock etc here. Got a nice ocean view and sea breeze ( actually a strong wind today) ,it’s a good spot.   There’s NO way I could live in Saigon,,it’s a filthy dump .   It’s ranked at the bottom of the barrel in the World cIty Livability Index for a reason, just ahead of places like Lagos , Damascus.  Karachi & Caracas 😬😬

But the women & the cheap booze is a very common denominator in what attracts men to SE Asia......and like I said before, everyone knows that.    But not all of SE Asia is like that.

For example, I’ve done surf trips to Sumatra over the years.  It’s a beautiful place and great beaches,,but alcohol and chasing women is not a big scene there.    They’ve got Sharia Law  calling the shots in Aceh which is just up the road from where we used to go.

Play up there and they’ll flog the daylights out of you with a lump of bamboo....😬😬 not many  long term expat party boys in that place .

I used to work in Singapore & Hong Kong.....a different scene again.

A lot of it comes down to the CBI..(cheap beer index) .   Places like Thailand., Phillipines, Vietnam, Cambodia are in that “index”...and they are also “famous” as destinations for sex tourists,, the two factors go hand in hand.   

Obviously not everyone comes here as a “no hoper” ,  but if they can’t control the booze & advances of opportunistic women , they will soon be on the skids as we see quite often.   You’ve simply got to find a lifestyle that steers you away from the hazards.

THIGV wrote:

For expats who have children in Vietnam and may be thinking longer term, consider that by 2050, Vung Tau, Nha Trang, Qui Nhon, and Da Nang could be underwater in the literal sense and Saigon could have high tides coming up from the storm drains as Miami does now.

By 2050????? Have u been to QN lately? the basement lift has been a submarine for months

Kupo wrote:

Yogi007 wrote:

Ah Blunders.....

You know , I know , & every other dopey bugger here knows why we are in the Swamp.

It’s the cheap beer and something kind of similar to crocodiles snapping at your backside.😆😆

But they’re not crocodiles & they’re not aiming for your ass.

Because of the many poor career, familial, and ultimately, financial life choices that spanned the last 50+ years of your lives? Honestly, there aren't any single 60+ year old male foreign retirees (being married in Vietnam post-retirement doesn't count either) are in Vietnam by choice.

The ones who claim to be financially independent (FI) while doing visa runs every three months and enduring the poor air quality, poor medical care, corrupt officials, unsanitary food, and unsafe traffic for cheap beer and tail at the ripe old age of 60+ are especially convincing and amusing.

No FI retiree downgrade their quality of life for cheap beer and tail at the expense of the negatives listed above. No one penny-pinches on health (and preventative care) unless they are unable to afford it, period.

The actual FI retirees can afford to have it all in Taiwan, S. Korea, Japan or even *shocker* their first-world Western country instead of complaining about everything under the sun in Vietnam.

Edit: If you feel offended, then it's true - please don't waste your time convincing me or anyone else reading otherwise because it simply will not warrant a response. Most, if not all of the locals in Vietnam are all aware of the general circumstances that have led you here.

Taiwan, South Korea and Japan all have very cold winters, maybe some people enjoy the warmth, I know I do.

Same same here....hate the cold.

Khanh Hoa Province has arguably the best weather in SE Asia.    Not much rain and the humidity is about the lowest for Vietnam.

Just south of here , Phan Rang  is like a desert & the dry air helps keep the humidity down.   Even at Cam Ranh airport it seems much hotter than here in NT only 25ks up the road.

Actually, where I am here is very close to where I’m based  in Australia , SE Qld ,,sunny coast. Not a lot of difference.

I agree, Yogi. My wife and went to visit distany relati es in Phan Rang and truly couldn't get out of that stinking oven quickly enough, which meant staying a second, sleepless night.

Good morning Ralph,
21c here this morning,,,,,Yogi might go into hibernation 😆

You’ll be amused to hear that during the recent Typhoon two cranes got blown off the top of some very large apartment projects in the middle of town.   Now it’s a bun fight over who pays for the damage.🤓
You’ve got the Developer, the project contractor, the crane operator, the insurance companies..........and God.     

No surprises who the insurance company has blamed it on 😆

And..it’s still blowing a gale here this morning.

Thanks for the weather update, Yogi. Storms = good waves at Bai Dai. So head off down there quickly.
The crane problem sounds fun to sort out: whose blaming who blaming who. A typical, good old Vietnamese blame game run around. I'm looking forward to a few Budwiesers next month when we come back for a visit. I can also check the lean on the Leaning Tower of Nha Trang. No doubt the blame run around is still going on for that, too.

A very good wave yesterday on Hon Chong beach,,, 4ft sets. 
The leaning tower is being pulled apart . They are jack hammering the top three floors to comply with the permit regulations.   But that’s just a bluff we think.  They’ve now stopped the jackhammering.   

They went to court to try and have the original permit that allowed 48 floors reinstated.  Court said NO....maybe hanging out for a bribe to change their decision.    SO.....developer ( who’s an SOE anyway) said ok...we will pull it down as you wish.    No bribes in that .

No it’s all stopped.   The standoff is on again.  Typical Vietnamese way of doing business.  Personally ,I think the laws are meant to be broken to enable the bribe culture to survive.   Great idea huh....

The actual lean on the building is now disputed as well.  An engineer looking at it said “no problem, is OK”.    He works for the developer I suppose , but looking at it I really can’t see an angle in any direction. 

I know two people that have already paid 70% on their apartments. 🤓

PS?
Currently 23c , overcast, NE breeze 15nts, chance of a late shower. 😆😆😆