Moving to Vietnam and Cambodia. Find apartment on arrival or before?

Stay in a hotel, find an apartment later. Save a lot of money that way.

It is best when you move to pretty much ANY country to make your housing arrangements on the scene. And I would double that for Asia. There are plenty of good places to live - but let's start with an advertisement in English and all of sudden you are paying double. Even a sign out front of an apartment building in English can mean you will be paying more than if there was a sign only in Khmer or Vietnamese. But - apartment buildings - look like apartment buildings, so it isn't difficult to figure them when you are there.

Are you going to work? If so, you'll want to find something near your work. If you don't know where are you are going to work, you don't want to rent anything before you go anyway.

It's not about scams - it's just common sense.

Hey thanks hurricanebertha, zzark. I don't know exactly where I'll be staying just yet. I won't be working in Vietnam(no degree) but I do plan to work in Cambodia. So yeah I think I'll just do that and get a place after I've arrived. Thanks a bunch guys!

Agreed, if you go though an agency to prearrange everything, firstly you'll likely pay double what the place worth. Not to mention, you may not like the place when you arrive.

What i did in Phnom Penh, was i paid a tuk-tuk driver to find some places then drive me around looking at them. He gets a "finders fee" but it doesn't effect your rent. I look at 10 places (over 2 days) and found one i really liked for super cheap.

Oh that's a really good idea Fluffy Bunny. That'll probably save me some time as well. Just out of curiosity, how much was the rent there? Was it a one bedroom type deal or a studio apartment? thanks.

I lived there a few years ago, but i lived a 5 minute walk from the centre, in a good power grid, and rent was $120 for a small, but comfortable 1 bedroom.

That sounds like a good deal Fluffy Bunny. I'm a minimalist so I can do pretty well in a real small place with basic essentials. Hopefully I'll be fortunate enough to find such a deal. If I may ask you another question, did you have any issue with the landlord(is this the right term?) trying to raise the price of the apartment on you when you approached him about it? How did you go about making sure you got the exact same price that was advertised for that apartment? Thanks a bunch.

The price will be whatever the landlord asks for it. Most apartments aren't "advertised". Just gotta find'm. Deal with it when you get here...

'sheeed

rasheeed wrote:
>The price will be whatever the landlord asks for it. Most apartments aren't "advertised".

And he is very right. The price is what is asked. If you don't like the price, you walk away.

Anytime you deal with something that is advertised, you are likely start paying a higher price - especially - cover this again . . . - especially if it is advertised in English.

Even advertising in the local language tends to drive prices up. Advertising is not cheap, but is also the tool of more sophisticated owners/managers who are likely hoping to squeeze the best income possible from their property. Nothing wrong with that - I own rental properties in my home country. But advertising costs a lot of money and that money has to come from somewhere - so it comes from a higher rent.