If you're planning on making a trip to Da Nang, Vietnam,
you're probably also wondering where you should stay.
My name is Megan, and in today's video, I'll be breaking down the process
of finding, renting, and moving into an apartment in Da Nang, Vietnam.
By the end of this video you should have all the information that you need
to find a place that you love at a price you love
while also avoiding any rental scams.
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The first thing to know about the rental market in Da Nang
is that the supply far exceeds the demand.
There will be more than a dozen hotels or apartments
under construction at any given time.
I've spent three Canadian winters living in Da Nang, Vietnam,
and each time this has been the case.
I imagine this will only continue to be the case over the next few years
as tourism takes a hit from the pandemic.
Prices will likely be even lower than what we saw in early 2020.
Given that there is a lot more apartment availability
than there are people looking to live in these apartments long term,
you have a good chance of being able to just arrive in Da Nang, walk around,
walk into an apartment building that you're interested in,
and asking if there's a room available.
You will likely be able to move in to a furnished apartment the same day.
However, to have your best shot at finding an apartment that you love,
in a great location at a great price,
I recommend you do some research
and then follow the next few steps in this video prior to making a decision.
The first step to finding a great apartment in Da Nang
is to do your research and get an idea of what's available
and what would be considered a good price.
Know that most of the apartment buildings in Da Nang are no higher than 10 floors
and they often don't have a gym or pool or any additional amenities included.
If you are looking for a place with those facilities,
you will have better luck looking at hotel buildings
as opposed to apartment buildings.
You'll also want to identify the neighborhood
that you're most interested in.
Most foreigners live in My An,
which is where you'll have all the coffee shops,
the restaurants, the hotels,
beach access, and even some co-working spaces.
Living just north or just south of Central My An
can put you at walking distance to all the action
without having to actually be in it.
To get an idea of what to expect in Da Nang at what price point,
you can check out a video that I released last week,
which shows walk-throughs of different apartments
and the neighborhoods that they're in and how much they would cost per month.
Other ways to research available apartments before you arrive
would be in the Facebook group Da Nang Apartments & Rooms,
on a website like DaNang Landlord,
and then also even on Airbnb with the filter for apartment.
Browsing these three sites will give you an idea
of the price for different layouts, sizes and locations.
Do know that the price they quote per month
is often if you agree to sign on for a minimal of three-month rental.
If your stay is going to be shorter than three months,
you'll likely have to pay more per month.
A few other things to note
are that the prices are going to be in Vietnamese dong or US dollar,
the room is probably fully furnished
and inclusive of cleaning and WiFi, unless otherwise stated.
The one thing that's not included in that monthly rent price
is going to be the electricity, which is, on average, ₫3,000 per kW.
To give you an idea, I had the AC running frequently
and doing most of my cooking at home,
which brought me to about USD 40 a month.
It's tracked and paid in cash at the end of each month.
In addition to the electricity,
another expense would be the monthly deposit.
So you need to pay this in cash when you go to rent the apartment,
and then, assuming there's no trouble,
that you don't break anything or that you don't move out early,
you'll get this deposit back when you go to move out.
I'll let you know at the end of this video
a few tips to make sure you do get your deposit back,
because there have been some issues,
both with myself, personally, and with friend that I've had
who have rented apartments in Da Nang.
Definitely do your research online before you arrive in Da Nang,
but do not,
do not book or pay anything
or commit to any apartment prior to actually seeing it in person.
Here's why: Computer-generated photos are often put online
before the building is even open.
and then, when the building does open,
these photos are not always replaced with what it actually looks like.
What you see online could be very different
than the actual apartment that you are moving into.
There is also construction happening all over My An,
and trust me, you do not want to be moving into a building
that is right beside a construction site because you will never sleep.
You also want to make sure that there's no karaoke bar on your block
because you will also never sleep.
Karaoke... it's a thing,
definitely a thing in Vietnam, and I swear it doesn't stop.
You will also want to connect your phone to the WiFi and test it
to make sure it is reliable prior to committing to a lease.
And then also, when you're in person,
you're often able to negotiate your lease price
as opposed to just paying the price you saw online.
Once step one is complete and you've done your research,
we'll move on to step two, which is simple and easy,
it's booking a hotel for two nights on your arrival in the Central My An area.
You'll want to book this hotel
somewhere between one and two weeks prior to arriving.
I recommend you book your hotel in advance
so that, when you arrive at the airport in Da Nang,
you know where you will be sleeping that night.
You'll likely be exhausted,
so it's just nice to have this all set up in advance.
The reason I recommend that you book two nights as opposed to just one
is so that you can get up the next morning and do your apartment hunting
while storing all of your things in the room.
This way, you're not having to worry about finding a place, booking a place,
prior to 11 a.m. when you have to check out.
You can get a nice hotel room for $30 or less,
so it's definitely worth the cost to be able to get a good night sleep
and go apartment hunting without lugging all of your luggage
around the city with you.
Trust me, I've done this, it is not worth it.
Step three is lining up places to view for when you do arrive in Da Nang.
This step begins after you've finished doing your research,
after you've booked the hotel for the first two nights,
and you're about one week out of arriving in Da Nang.
Trying to set up appointments to view apartments
any longer than one week prior to your arrival
is probably going to be a waste of time
because the apartments come and go so quickly.
To line up apartments to view, you can search that Facebook group
and then send a direct message to the listing.
You can also search on Airbnb
and message them directly to book a viewing.
I found that any time I sent a message over Facebook or on the Airbnb messenger
I received a response withing 24 hours.
I find them to be very responsive and very quick.
As you're building out a schedule and setting up different appointments
with the apartments that you're interested in,
try to give yourself at least 20 minutes at each location
and then check on Google Maps
what the walking distance time is between each location,
and then, of course, add on a little bit of buffer time
in case you spend a little bit longer or you get lost or...
I don't know, just always good to have buffer time.
In addition, or instead of searching on Airbnb
and searching through this Facebook group,
another option is to post a wanted ad inside of the Facebook group.
The great thing is that with so much availability
you can often be very specific on what you want
and the location that you want
and you'll probably be able to find it.
I'll include a link down below on the posting that I used
when I posted what I wanted to this Facebook group,
and I included things like the location, having a working desk,
natural sunlight, and then strong WiFi.
Know that there's a 100% chance that, if you post a wanted ad,
you will be direct-messaged by real estate agents
if not multiple real estate agents.
There are pros and cons to working with an agent
when looking for an apartment.
The pro is definitely that they will set everything up for you
they'll listen to what specific things you want in an apartment and the location,
and then they'll gather the apartment set for your description
and line up all of the appointments.
The con is, of course, that they're working on commission
and they're only going to be showing you apartments that they have deals with.
One or two day prior to arriving in Da Nang
make sure you message your agent
and let them know that everything is confirmed
and you're still set to arrive at the given time,
or if you set up your own apartment viewings,
just send a quick message to each of those landlords
and confirm that everything is still available.
Step four begins after you have done your research,
booked a hotel for your first two nights,
set up appointments, and now have officially arrived in Da Nang.
Once you've made it to your hotel and you've had a good night sleep,
you'll be all set to start the viewing process.
View the apartments that you have appointments with
but then also keep an eye out
for buildings you may pass that interest you;
you can likely walk in and have a quick impromptu viewing.
If you're viewing apartments and you're okay with the price,
you like the layout and there's no construction or karaoke bars next door,
make sure you also connect to the WiFi and ensure the connection is strong
prior to agreeing to anything.
Consider also using a site like Speedtest to test the internet speed.
We can then move on to step five once you've found a place that you like,
tested the WiFi, and are ready to sign a lease and move in.
You can expect to receive a very long contract
to read through and to sign
even if you are only staying for one month.
And then, as previously mentioned,
you will also need to pay a deposit equivalent to one month
as well as the cost of electricity at the end of each month.
So yes, while you can most likely just arrive in Da Nang
with no prior knowledge and no research and still find a place,
by following these five steps to research,
book a hotel, schedule viewings,
view the places in person
and negotiate and sign the lease,
will help you to find the best place at the best price
in an ideal location.
If you additionally follow the next few tips,
you can also avoid getting scammed
and hopefully making the most of your stay.
I highly recommend that when you arrive at the airport in Da Nang,
you get a SIM card before trying to leave.
Getting a SIM card from the airport means that you can book a Grab
to get to your hotel using data.
You can also use Maps to get around,
and then you can access messaging apps to confirm any of your apartment viewings.
Trust me, it is so much easier to walk around the city viewing apartments
when you have access to Google Maps.
You may be concerned that getting a SIM card from the airport
is going to be more expensive than doing it in My An,
and from my experience, it is not.
I usually use Viettel, and I've had great 4G coverage;
it's fast, it's reliable,
and will cost you somewhere around USD 10 for a month of data.
Before you sign a lease, also check the room
and see if there's anything missing that you would want in there.
Examples could be cutlery, or bowls, or a blender.
There's no harm in asking your landlord if these things can be added.
They may have these items available in other rooms that are currently vacant
and would have no trouble with bringing the items for you to use.
Also try to see if your landlord will agree
to you paying online via TransferWise or even through the Airbnb platform
as opposed to paying in cash.
The trouble with getting large amounts of Vietnamese dong in Da Nang
is that the ATMs have very low withdrawal limits
and very high fees per transaction,
so it can end up costing you a lot in ATM fees
to make this amount of money in Vietnamese dong.
If you are paying in cash, especially with large bills,
please, please, do not take your eyes off the money.
I once had a friend that gave in a $100 US bill to the landlord,
they left the room and came back, and said that it was a counterfeit bill.
It was later discovered that the landlord had swapped the bill
when he left the room.
Another thing you can do to protect yourself and avoid being scammed
is to thoroughly inspect the room the day that you move in.
look under the couch, look behind paintings,
check behind the fridge,
and take photos of any existing damage.
The first time I was in Da Nang, I went to move out of my apartment
and almost didn't get my deposit back.
The landlord came into my room, walked straight to a painting on the wall,
moved the painting and showed all of these cracks
and said that I did this damage.
She obviously knew it was there,
and I had taken photos when I moved in
showing all of the different areas of damage,
so I was able to show these to her on my phone
and prove that the damage was there from before my arrival.
Now what I do when I move in is I look for any damage,
take photos, and I email it to my landlord the same day.
This way there's no awkward situation of them trying to blame damage on you,
it's already been made very clear that you're aware of this damage
and that you've made them aware.
A last recommendation, isn't going to keep you safe,
but it may make your stay just a little bit more enjoyable.
That's to pack with you a Chromecast or a Roku Stick
and bring it with you to Da Nang.
Most of the TVs in the apartments are brand new,
they're LCDs, smart TVs, with an HDMI port.
So, if you have a Chromecast or Roku Stick,
you can plug that in and then you can stream Netflix
or anything else from your laptop on the TV screen.
Even if cable is included in your rent,
it's probably going to be Vietnamese channels that you don't want to watch,
so having one of these sticks with you will just make it more enjoyable.
I use mine all the time and I always travel with it.
Overall, finding an apartment in Da Nang is pretty easy,
and if you follow each of these steps
as well as keep in mind those additional tips,
you should be in a good place to find somewhere that you love on your next stay.
Da Nang is one of my favorite cities in the whole world,
and I'd love to know in the comments down below
if it's somewhere that you're interested in living as well.
On your way down to the comments section,
please don't forget to give this video a thumbs-up,
it really supports my channel.
And then I also hope you'll subscribe
so I can see you back here again next week.
Until then, have a good one.
Bye!