House ownership

You can buy an apartment in your name, have been able to for years. There are rules as to where you can buy, consult a lawyer.

Hi Les and welcome to the forum.

Most sales people & "lawyers" here will answer yes to all those questions.  It's always yes,yes,yes....until you pay your money, then the No starts appearing.    Just be careful and trust no one trying to sell something.

Foreigners can buy apartments in their name now....unless its unusual circumstances.   A lot of purchasers are yet to receive their ownership documents for all sorts of reasons.    The developers may owe the bank money, the building may not have been built to the plan etc...in each case the authorities won't sign off and therefore title documents are never seen.  It happens a lot.   Also if the developer, or guy you bought it off owes money on it,,,,your given the flick.   Title searches are useless here.   I've seen blokes buy places that were still subject to deceased estate matters, had unregistered mortgages & dodgy loan contracts held against the property etc..it can be tricky.  And the blue eyed foreigner will lose out and get thrown out.

So someone promising to put it into your name one day is a risk .

Their are threads on this forum regarding accommodation, property etc...it's worth seeing the issues people have.

If you've just arrived, don't rush into anything where money in large amounts is being used.  Just sit back, relax, keep your ear to the ground, read all the media, and you'll gradually build up a knowledge base on what happens & doesn't happen here.

Personally , I wouldn't buy anything here.  I'd like to, but the potential for something to go wrong is always around.   I've just taken a long lease on a place I like for bugger all cash.....ya sleep well that way. .

Good luck

Yogi et all  -   is there such a document in Vietnam like Thailand's USFRUCT whereas you "buy the rights" to the property to build a house on it, but the land still belongs to the ppty owner.  Your lease is 33 years, with option to extend or transfer it after the lease is over.  The Property cannot be sold out from under you with this document, which is binding and held in local land management office even if the ppty owner dies and family inherits the land.  It is a binding document.

I know everything is a risk, but I have my sights on a nice piece of ppty on the River across the bridge in Nha Trang and would love to build on it, it there was any garauntee it couldn't be sold out from under me.

Tunnel Rat....I'm surprised you want to build ON it.    You could just burrow in underground and the bloke on the top side of the grass wouldn't even know your there.    Cheaper too.🤓

I'd like to build a place as well, but the thought of having issues down the track are off putting.  A few blokes here that did build told me it took 10 years of their lives in stress dealing with idiots.   

If you do the numbers, getting a good long term lease is the way to go.  I've got a good deal, I do any maintenance myself and cover costs, repainted, new taps , new locks, fixed leaks , etc etc. . The landlady appreciates the fact I do that and look after the place as though it was my own.     She knows she'll get it back in better shape than when I moved in.....and she can keep the Air con I installed. 

A mate here showed me a place 30k north of Nha Trang in a rural area ......cheap as chips.  BUT I'd need a security guy that won't be sleeping all day because I'm away a lot.  Again,,,don't need the hassle.   I thought about building a place there, but the euphoria soon fades when you weigh up the pros & cons.   
Murphy Law comes into play around here way to often.