Moving to Vietnam end of March

Welcome to Saigon!
It's better to ask your Employer to arrange accommodation near your work place.
Hope you will enjoy the life here.

hey thanks for replying to me,
Thankyou may_imex for contacting me, I will add you on facebook.

charmavietnam thanks for your advice. I actually found accommodation through my employer with my last job and they ended up putting me in a flat share with people who I couldn't communicate with. Not to say this sort of thing will happen again but I'd really prefer to know a bit about the people I live with, or even meet them, before I move in.

I know my employers in Vietnam put me in a guest house near where i'm staying for the first month, however I don't think there is much help after that.

Bien Hoa is a good place to start, but you won't see many expats, other than those that you're working with.

A decent hotel shouldn't be too hard to find. You may want to stay in one until you get a good sense of the area.  District/Quan 9 is probably a little too far away,initially. 

I've lived in BH, so I have a working knowledge of what you'll be facing. I wish my working knowledge meant that I was still working in that area, but it doesn't and I'm not...

I'm willing to answer any questions that you may have, if I can.  You're doing well, so far.  You should be excited, because you're about to embark on a great journey.

BienHoa is a very nice place and you can feel quite safe if compare to other places near.
I sometimes visit relatives in BH and realize the polices are very strict (there're also military bases here, so it could be the reason i feel safe, although a bit boring).
quite alot of wealthy people in BH and they're willing to invest money for their children's study, you will see it's not really difficult to be an English tutor/teacher here.
Not much place to go entertain at night, but we all found our joy and hope you do too.

My number: (84) 0908080440 in case i'm helpful.

Enjoy VietNam!

I've lived and taught in and around HCMC for some years (nearly 7).  BH is ok, but looking for a place to throw your hat at needs to be done quite differently over hear.  Living in a hotel near your place of employment should be your first step.  Look around and find a place that fits you.  Noise is everywhere over here so if you enjoy listening to such you will have little problem in where you live.  You need to see and hear where you desire to live both in the day and night hours.  Like Teacher Mark said, "get a good sense of the area" Some times the noise lasts far into the nights.  A house rental or apartment furnished should cost somewhere between $250 and $500 bucks a month depending on where.  I paid for 3 years $350 to $400 a month for fully furnished apartment.  And 5 million VND a month for a 2 story house.  BH  should be cheaper.  I really don't think you want to do that drive on a daily or every other day...from HCMC or even from District 9.  Meeting and gaining friendships to 'share' takes a bit of time as you might already understand...look around first...
As to your working over here...hope you have all the documents legalized before you arrive here.  You will also need a work permit... and a visa on arrival if coming in at the airport.  The Employer should pay for permit and have a letter and visa waiting for you upon arrival. Otherwise it's a real headache.
Anyway, enjoy your trip and stay in Vietnam.
I left HCMC a year ago and moved to DaNang. 
Good Luck!

Thankyou for all the advice, I'm getting a better idea of what to expect when I arrive in Bien Hoa and am glad to hear they're generally positive things. Like you suggest Anthony64, I will probably start looking properly when I've spent a little time in country. I like the idea of a shared place because I've found it to be more social and enjoyable for me in the past, but it needs to be the right place/people/area and obviously finding these things take time.
With this in mind I would happily pay more for a better place nearer to say the people I know and meet in the initial months, my biggest fear is that I'm left alone and isolated. I think the plan is to move into a guest house near to where I'm working for the first month and see where I go from there.

When it comes to an initial visa on arrival that looks like its all being sorted by my employers. However the work permit side of things seems a bit more complicated.. I applied for a criminal records check the day I received the job, but this still being processed, as soon as I receive this I will be able to get it and the other necessary documents copied, notarised and authenticated, but until then there's not a lot I can do. This, along with sending these off to the British and Vietnamese embassy's here in the UK is going to take me far longer than the time I have left (I leave on the 23rd March). I have family here who can help me with this process after I've left, so I guess my question is does it really matter if I don't have every stage completed before I leave for Vietnam?? I wish I could take both the originals and the fully legalised documents with me but this (through no fault of my own) is clearly going to be impossible.
Any advice or experiences of this sort of thing is welcomed or if I've gone wrong somewhere please let me know.

It might help to know that I'm trying to obtain a 12 month work permit so I can teach with ILA (BH branch)

To my knowledge, the 'orginals' with the UK and Vietnamese notorization and red stamp are required.  You can not even get a copy stamped over here to say it's 'real' without the original with the 'raised' impression.  The company that you have applied to work for may have the 'contacts' to use copies to start the process.  They pay enough to get this done.  If not you will have to wait until you get the orginals back. 
Many places take months to get a work permit.  The company is supposed to process this, but can be done jointly.  If they say to you that they will take the cost out of your salary...question them as to the amount!  The Immigration fee for a TRC is only 400,000 VND.  I've heard some have had to share or pay up to 15,000,000 VND for such...one reason I no longer teach at any of these places.  University and Business companies are much better.
ILA is regarded as one of the much better places to work.  I once knew the owner in Hanoi and then in HCMC.  Good man.  I'm a bit too strick on students and more relaxed on dress code for such places.
There is a beautiful water pool with waterfall near BH and you are still a nice 1.5 hours motorbike ride from the beach.  I used to drive it a couple times a week from HCMC.  You should like the area, but not anything like the City of Ho Chi Minh.
Enjoy

Hi kys2014
Welcome to Bien Hoa
I have lived in Bien Hoa since i was born. Bien Hoa is my hometown. It is nice to know that you will be working here.
whenever you are lost in BienHoa, you can contact me. I will show give you direction. Bien Hoa is easy place to live, not expensive, not crowded. And if you wanna do business beside teaching job, i think working in Bienhoa can give some ideas. A lot of investors come to Bien Hoa because this is industrial city.

KYS, Good luck in Bien Hoa. Got lost on my first trip to England and ended up in Nottingham. The kind police drew me a map to find my way to Stamford P.T.A. outside of Thetford, East Anglia. Don't ask me how we ended up in Nottingham.

The reason for all that noise, traffic, and movement is that the South has always been the economic heart of Vietnam. And that boiling mass of humanity out your door is what keeps the entire country on its feet. Enjoy the food, enjoy the night life and tourism, but most of all, enjoy the people. Like all peoples, they have their positive and negative idiosyncrasies, but at their core, the great majority are a warm-hearted bunch.

Her's hoping that this is something you'll remember warmly for the rest of your life, despite the initial fears and frustrations you will undoubtedly go through.

Hi kys!
Bien Hoa is quite large. Could you tell me exactly where you will work? I can help find some place for you to settle down.
Contrary to other opinions, I think it's better to locate where you work first, then try to find some friends/English speakers/expats in Bien Hoa. They might help.
One thing I think you should notice is that there are not many local people speak English in Bien Hoa. So if you're gonna teach English there, you probably can ask your company to introduce some other expats or colleagues to contact for some help or advices in advance. It can help you not to feel being isolated. The best idea is to share accommodation with them, who work with you.
I can search for some houses for you to have a preview before coming. Or if you can contact your colleagues and make friend with them, I can give you the address so that they can come to check for you.
I'm living in D7, HCM and am not a broker. Just wanna help.