How do you get "local" price

Can you give me some examples of overpriced housing charges.? And how do you know it's x2 or x3 from what you actually have to pay?

I think you are meaning the commission fee for housing agency.But in fact, it can not come up to x2 or x3. If you aren't happy with this charge, why dont you find another agency? You can refer to many advertisement on internet or magazines

CuongTrieu wrote:

Can you give me some examples of overpriced housing charges.? And how do you know it's x2 or x3 from what you actually have to pay?

I don't actually know if it's x2 or x3 but it's just a rough estimate.

VivianTran wrote:

I think you are meaning the commission fee for housing agency.But in fact, it can not come up to x2 or x3. If you aren't happy with this charge, why dont you find another agency? You can refer to many advertisement on internet or magazines

Yes, that's what I'm hoping for, if you can show me a website that list apartment / rooms for rent without agency.

username222 wrote:

Yes, that's what I'm hoping for, if you can show me a website that list apartment / rooms for rent without agency.

If you want to pay "local" price, read "local" language in this website: http://batdongsan.com.vn/nha-dat-cho-thue-quan-1/p2

You need some locals' help if you cannot read or communicate in Vietnamese 
Some links here:
https://muaban.net/
http://rongbay.com/
http://www.chotot.vn/
http://phongtro123.com/
http://chothuesaigon.net/
http://batdongsan.com.vn/
http://chothuetro.com/
http://alonhadat.com.vn/
http://thuephongtro.com/
http://timnha5s.vn/
You will get cheap price if you bargain 
Not only in Vietnam but almost country try to charge more from foreigners. Foreign money is a major source of their income! What we can do is try to bargain ( not government fixed charges, like visa fee etc  ).

What is a local price anyway? Is it the same as negotiating for a car at the car dealership? If so, break out the calculator and start crunching the numbers.

The local price is what most locals would pay,do some research,get a vn friend to help you.

To give you an example of not getting the local price, I looked at a house in Vung Tau for a friend, it was 5 million vnd as it was on the outskirts of town. When I contacted the owner the price all of a sudden rose to 8 million,I told her we werent interested. Last week I told a guy about the same house at 8 million and he said it suited him. Phone call to the owner again, this time its 11 million. The house has been empty for 2 years and yet she keeps raising the price when she hears its for an expat. Great economics by another mental giant.

Foreigners often pay more for housing for several reasons:

1. You can't speak VNese so you are limited to ads on sites like here, FB, CL etc.
2. If you are expecting to have a fully or partially furnished room or apartment, expect to pay more.
3. If the advert is in English, yes, expect to pay more.

Comrade_Nomad wrote:

Foreigners often pay more for housing for several reasons:

1. You can't speak VNese so you are limited to ads on sites like here, FB, CL etc.
2. If you are expecting to have a fully or partially furnished room or apartment, expect to pay more.
3. If the advert is in English, yes, expect to pay more.

Point #3 made me chuckle. Funny because it's true. Anyways I have a Viet friend. Thanks for the links every one.

colinoscapee wrote:

The local price is what most locals would pay,do some research,get a vn friend to help you.

To give you an example of not getting the local price, I looked at a house in Vung Tau for a friend, it was 5 million vnd as it was on the outskirts of town. When I contacted the owner the price all of a sudden rose to 8 million,I told her we werent interested. Last week I told a guy about the same house at 8 million and he said it suited him. Phone call to the owner again, this time its 11 million. The house has been empty for 2 years and yet she keeps raising the price when she hears its for an expat. Great economics by another mental giant.

I have come across this before but more with houses for sale than rent, and the truth is they are not really for sale, they just want to see what they can get for them.

daveinvietnam wrote:

colinoscapee wrote:

The local price is what most locals would pay,do some research,get a vn friend to help you.

To give you an example of not getting the local price, I looked at a house in Vung Tau for a friend, it was 5 million vnd as it was on the outskirts of town. When I contacted the owner the price all of a sudden rose to 8 million,I told her we werent interested. Last week I told a guy about the same house at 8 million and he said it suited him. Phone call to the owner again, this time its 11 million. The house has been empty for 2 years and yet she keeps raising the price when she hears its for an expat. Great economics by another mental giant.

I have come across this before but more with houses for sale than rent, and the truth is they are not really for sale, they just want to see what they can get for them.

Yes I also have come across that too.

Commission to rent? I've rented 4 houses in hcm thru agents and have never paid a single cent in commissions. It's the house owner that pays the commissions.

Want local prices for rent stay at local neighborhoods where nobody speaks a word of English and you stick out like a sore thumb and still pay foreigner prices for everything you buy.

There's a price to pay for convienence my friend.

Sometime the owner have to give some fee to the police when they let the foreigner rent their house otherwise they will keep on disturbing.
My advice is ask your Vietnamese friend show the face and work with them from A to Z.Hope this help..

Very familiar with this scenario in many areas of purchasing and not just housing. We recently bought house. My wife did all the haggling. I didn't meet the vendor until exchange of ownership papers. When the vendor saw me, a foreigner, he said to his wife in Vietnamese "we could have charged much more" . My wife replied in vietnamese, that's why you didn't meet him before.

Now we are going through the sheer agony of building the house interior, in every area from design to floors, toilet fittings to fitted kitchens, the price increases if the vendor sees me.

So the answer is to do the deal via a trusted vietnamese friend or g/friend or wife.

Getting a local price for rent will be very difficult, especially in districts 1, 2, 3 and 10. But if you go out of the center where there is rarely a foreigner seen, you might be more lucky and get a good deal.

Hue1964 wrote:

Commission to rent? I've rented 4 houses in hcm thru agents and have never paid a single cent in commissions. It's the house owner that pays the commissions.

AND that commission is included in the rent you pay.

I think it's worth paying a commission (up front or in your rent) for the convenience of having someone else do the leg work.

@ OP... why should you pay the same price as the locals? You make more money (or, if you're retired, you did) than 99% of them will ever make. If you can't afford the place you want, negotiate. If you still can't afford it, you likely have champagne tastes and a beer budget.

Back home I used to rent out my place. My agent gets a one off finders fee. My tenant pays no commission. There is no built in commission into the rent.

Here in Hcm I work with agents on a similar basis. It's just opportunistic agents that try to get the best of both worlds by charging commissions on both ends. There are still reliable agents in hcm. I've met quite a few that's upfront and willing to work within my budgets.

Just because expats earn more doesn't justify having to pay more. We use the same roads & shop at the same places as the locals so why should we pay more.

Hue1964 wrote:

Back home I used to rent out my place. My agent gets a one off finders fee. My tenant pays no commission. There is no built in commission into the rent.

Here in Hcm I work with agents on a similar basis. It's just opportunistic agents that try to get the best of both worlds by charging commissions on both ends. There are still reliable agents in hcm. I've met quite a few that's upfront and willing to work within my budgets.

Just because expats earn more doesn't justify having to pay more. We use the same roads & shop at the same places as the locals so why should we pay more.

This is not the west. One place I considered renting costs more if rented through an agent than if rented directly. I know this because it was offered at 11 million by an agent and later at 9 million by the owner. I didn't bite at either price.

Maybe some will call me a sucker... I gladly pay a bit more because I love living here, don't pay VN taxes because I'm retired, and like to believe that my extra 10% or so is making someone's life a bit better. I'm also donating over 500 Protec motorbike helmets later this month to children fully paid for out of my pocket.

The people I know personally who squeeze every possible dong out of every transaction, like the guy I know who stopped buying cigarettes from one shop when they charged him 27,000 instead of the 25,000 his VN friend pays, are inherently unhappy. I refuse to be one of them.

you are right, but on the other hand, some deal on 'principle'

peterbelelius wrote:

you are right, but on the other hand, some deal on 'principle'

Yes. They are also unfamiliar with the concept of White Privilege.

Hue1964 wrote:

Back home I used to rent out my place. My agent gets a one off finders fee. My tenant pays no commission. There is no built in commission into the rent.

Here in Hcm I work with agents on a similar basis. It's just opportunistic agents that try to get the best of both worlds by charging commissions on both ends. There are still reliable agents in hcm. I've met quite a few that's upfront and willing to work within my budgets.

Just because expats earn more doesn't justify having to pay more. We use the same roads & shop at the same places as the locals so why should we pay more.

I agree with your point that the price of something should not be upwardly mobile because of the vendors perceived opinion about ones financial worth. And as for the comment made by someone, that if you once earned a good salary at some time in the past, you should pay high prices for the rest of your life that is, well, lunacy.

Lets not forget that the foreigners have very few rights in Vietnam, even if the foreigner is married to a local. The foreigner is seen as low hanging fruit, ripe for the picking. So we have a right to get the same price as  locals pay even if that means being a bit clever to get it.Time after time my wife has advised me to walk away from something I wanted to buy because the price wasn't just too high, it was massively inflated.

We have a routine now that goes like this: I see something I want, sometimes I take a pic on my mobile phone. Tell / show my wife, who goes back later without me and buys whatever it is - provided that she sees that the quality is acceptable. Or she goes to a different shop and buys the same thing or similar.

We foreigners already input a considerable amount of cash into local and national economies living here, travelling, eating and drinking etc, lets not feel guilty about not paying needlessly inflated prices for purchases.

Oh and one other point. Locals can get a discount on the water charge for having family members living with them if they own their own house. The discount does not apply to foreign husbands.

Caveat Emptor!

eodmatt wrote:

Very familiar with this scenario in many areas of purchasing and not just housing. We recently bought house. My wife did all the haggling. I didn't meet the vendor until exchange of ownership papers. When the vendor saw me, a foreigner, he said to his wife in Vietnamese "we could have charged much more" . My wife replied in vietnamese, that's why you didn't meet him before.

Now we are going through the sheer agony of building the house interior, in every area from design to floors, toilet fittings to fitted kitchens, the price increases if the vendor sees me.

So the answer is to do the deal via a trusted vietnamese friend or g/friend or wife.

Sounds like a case of 'reverse racism or discrimination'?

Live for today,overcharge today and not worry about future customers or clients.

I m a owner and quoting all rental cost are the same for any Client but rather want expat renting my properties because the house/apartments equiped and fit-out are more cost that will interested expat tenants. And of cause retal will up on rate with my invest.
Each one year rent I paid 1 month retal cost to agent and I think its fine- without agent I could not find my tenant.
Some agent asking for more pay when tenant want to extend the contract with me or they wii help tenant move. I dont agree for that fee.

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.

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?
Do you know how much the local pays for the same room?
Can you living in a condition just like the local? Lack of many things that you are used to in western world?
Are you willing to live away from district 1?
Can you stand with karaoke from the neibough?
Can you smell the local house of what they cook? pet odor they have?
etc and so on so on.

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.

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.

Use a proxy.

My better half, a local Vietnamese lady, asks me to disappear whenever any contractor come to our home to negotiate a contract.

There's always good and bad coming along the way. Sorry about your bad experience and hope you get some one nice later on

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.

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.

Because they do, colinoscapee. Please remember that we are guests in this country. It's understandable that many/most do not like the amount of control the police have or the fact that, as foreigners, we are usually expected to pay more. To me, not liking it is one thing; expecting it to change is unrealistic. There are about 192 countries in the world and we have, for whatever reasons, chosen to live in this one. The sooner someone accepts that it is Viet Nam and NOT any other country, the happier he or she will be.

Another option to allow you to pay less is move out of Saigon. I pay 6 million/month for a large, 2 BR furnished house in Dalat with a great landlord, beautiful view on a very quiet street (only 2 barking dogs and no audible roosters), and no monthly payment to the local police. I pay locals' prices for fruit/vegetables from the street vendors because they know and, apparently, like me. I know they're locals' prices 'cause my gf asks what I pay and tells me it's the same she pays elsewhere. Attitude matters and if someone comes across as arrogant, prices rise.

I'd pay even MORE for a place like this where the neighbors don't block my door with their motorbikes, there's no smoking in restaurants, and I could understand/speak the language... but it wouldn't be the Vietnam I love.

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. The point being made is that most Vietnamese also hate the police and for good reason,try opening a business and see who comes knocking at your door for their slice.

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.

It seems in our countries if we tell people who come there to reside to stop trying to change things we are racist,yet when we live overseas and do the same thing we are told to respect that countries ways,go figure. It looks like we cant win either way. No I dont know you, but Im sure you used to post under another ID,is that correct.

colinoscapee wrote:

It seems in our countries if we tell people who come there to reside to stop trying to change things we are racist,yet when we live overseas and do the same thing we are told to respect that countries ways,go figure. It looks like we cant win either way. No I dont know you, but Im sure you used to post under another ID,is that correct.

Again, you are WRONG about me!   I am finished replying to you, so please quit trying to characterize me and move on to something you know something about.

That would be Viet Nam,obviously something you dont.

NguyenUyenDu wrote:

I m a owner and quoting all rental cost are the same for any Client but rather want expat renting my properties because the house/apartments equiped and fit-out are more cost that will interested expat tenants. And of cause retal will up on rate with my invest.
Each one year rent I paid 1 month retal cost to agent and I think its fine- without agent I could not find my tenant.
Some agent asking for more pay when tenant want to extend the contract with me or they wii help tenant move. I dont agree for that fee.

Why don't you start learning to speak English and get rid of the agent and do your own marketing? This way you can make and earn everything yourself and stop jacking up the rates. Keep doing this and people will stop visiting VN and then good luck finding tenants to rip off when that happens. BTW, I heard Cuba is a pretty nice place to visit and it's a whole lot closers to the U.S.