Buy property under the name of a Vietnamese citizen?

michaellieptourists wrote:

when you consider the cost of 2 hotel rooms as there are 3 adults and 1 child or a 2 bedroom apartment from Airbnb, 3 times a year for 5/6 weeks a time, getting more expensive every year...
We have the option of buying the house 🏡 and risk losing it should Auntie drop off the perch,

Buying from Auntie is a good idea since it would help you and her both.  But if Auntie were not part of the equation, you still could spend very little in renting enough space for your family.  For about $85/wk, you could get a whole floor of a large house, or an entire small house for yourself.  That's a bit more than $1500 for 18 weeks or 126 days of lodging each year in your case.

Earlier this year, we paid $56/wk for the second floor of a 4-story house in Q Phu Nhuan.  Our living area consisted of a very large bedroom, a sitting room, and a private bathroom.  We paid $4 more to have our clothes wash and iron, and stayed for a month while looking for a long term apartment that suited our needs.

mafarlau wrote:

Wrong..Foreigners cannot own purchase property in VN independently...only apartments.

I am not wrong and I am broadly aware of the laws regarding the purchase of property by foreigners in Vietnam. My Vietnamese wife is an expert on the matter. 

However, even for Vietnamese people the laws on buying and owning property and land in Vietnam are complex. Many people are not aware, for example, that some types of property are built on land that only gives the purchaser of the property 50 years of tenure. In some cases that can be extended - at some time in the future. And that is only one potential stumbling block.

As I said, and I now repeat it. In the matter of buying property in Vietnam:

CAVEAT EMPTOR

Foreigners have few rights in Vietnam

mafarlau wrote:

Yogi..if that's the way feel about VN..then get out...you are despicable.

Yogi is simply telling the truth.

mafarlau wrote:

Yogi..if that's the way feel about VN..then get out...you are despicable.

Yogi didn't mince words, but what he said is the truth and we all know it.  Why didn't he leave?  One can like a place enough to live there without being blind to its multiple faults.  In my case, I left this country before even though I truly loved it then.  Decades later, I'm back even though I like it less than half as much.  If I could, I would overhaul the entire country from top to bottom, not just the government, but also the mentality of the citizens.

Being a woman, I don't know about the last item on Yogi's list, thus cannot attest to its validity, but I agree with the rest.

Ciambella wrote:

mafarlau wrote:

Yogi..if that's the way feel about VN..then get out...you are despicable.

Yogi didn't mince words, but what he said is the truth and we all know it.  Why didn't he leave?  One can like a place enough to live there without being blind to its multiple faults.  In my case, I left this country before even though I truly loved it then.  Decades later, I'm back even though I like it less than half as much.  If I could, I would overhaul the entire country from top to bottom, not just the government, but also the mentality of the citizens.

Being a woman, I don't know about the last item on Yogi's list, thus cannot attest to its validity, but I agree with the rest.

Thanks for your honesty, Ciambella, it's really refreshing. I love Vietnam very much. It's a stunning country with some great people. Just imagine what it could be like if you did give it a bloody good cleanup!!

The reason I live here is because of my wife. She is Vietnamese. She is the best thing that ever happened to me. Maybe we will live in another country in the future, who knows. But she has family here, an elderly mum, a brother and a sister and a host of aunts and uncles. He cultural ties are very strong indeed - and yet she is an incisive business woman.

She has told me on many occasions not to trust Vietnamese people unless I know them exceeding well and cites the case of her own uncle who ran off with the family gold many years ago - and he was a policeman!

There are signs of a cleanup in some areas. Apparently the whole board of directors of a national oil company are now in jail. The CEO has just been sentenced to death for corruption. A CEO of a national bank in Vietnam is facing the same fate now for the same reason.

As for Yogi's last comment.... Weeeeell, OK, the beer is cheap, I would'nt consider it good though, even though I quite like Saigon Do. Spirits are another matter (the Vietnamese call everything with alcohol in except bia, "wine"). Yesterday we had a couple of guests for lunch here, one is a (female) divorce court judge, the other a Saigon lawyer. The lawyer brought along half a litre of crab apple whiskey from his home town in the mountains. It was a deep red colour, heart-stoppingly strong and very nice - about 50% abv. We had a very merry lunch.

On the matter of the girls here: I have heard them referred to as being of "weapons grade", meaning: of the highest beauty.

mafarlau wrote:

Wrong..Foreigners cannot own purchase property in VN independently...only apartments.

mafarlau it's a shame that there are still Vietnamese like yourself still thinking like that. True there are restrictions on certain types of land that foreigners can own, such are land zoned as agriculture or certain security areas, which is the same type of rules in most country's. However foreigners are certainly not restricted to only buying apartments in Vietnam. Is it easy? No. Is it time consuming and frustrating? Yes, but it can be done. The Pink book that was issued to us used "United States" on the Quoc Tich line and my wife's US PP number and information in replace of the VN national ID card number and  information. This is for 17W x74L  square meters of land and our 4300 square meter 4 story house that we built on the land. We were issued the land use and housing certificate (Pink Book) a few years ago. Since that time my wife has regained her VN citizenship and the process would have been a bit more easier if she would have had it back then. She didn't, and wasn't even thinking about doing it back then and the book was still issued to her as a foreigner. Unfortunately Yogi hit the nail on the head and is right.  Ciambella gave a really good response to you and I respect her for it as did Eodmatt. Your absolutely wrong mafarlau.
Rick

Ciambella wrote:

@Matt: Yes, all wine and spirits are called "ruợu", although the word that follows "rượu" is the more important part of the term.

Wine is called "rượu vang" or "rượu nho" ("rượu vang/nho đỏ" for red wine and "rượu vang/nho trắng" for white wine). 

Spirits are "rượu mạnh". 

Rice wine (moonshine) is "rượu đế".

Other kinds of rice wine are "rượu trắng", "rượu gạo", "ruợu cần", or "rượu nếp". 

Rice wine soaked with herbs (for heath reasons) is "rượu thuốc",  never being imbibed just for the sake of drinking. 

"Rượu cần" ís ruợu nếp made in the mountain areas of Northern VN and only served in festive occasions.

The crab apple whiskey sounds wonderful; I would like to have the chance to try it.  Was it from Da Lat?

Thanks Ciambella, outstanding information as always! I'm not sure where Chanh's family makes the hooch. All I know is that it is made from apples that "grow in the mountains". Next time I see him I'll ask and let you know.

mafarlau wrote:

Yogi..if that's the way feel about VN..then get out...you are despicable.

Unfortunately, Yogi speaks the truth. Most immigrants who claim to love Vietnam and Vietnamese culture are largely referring to the cheap tail, lax visa laws, and low cost of living.

As for Yogi's other points... I'll just say it's disappointing to see a country that was recently devastated by a major war continue to stagnate in terms of human and social progress development. You'd think Vietnam would learn to take care of one another after having lost so many Vietnamese lives during the war...

I wonder what kind of Vietnam would exist today had US won the war, occupied Vietnam, and enacted widespread economic, political, and social reforms like they did with Japan. One can dream...

Kupo wrote:

mafarlau wrote:

Yogi..if that's the way feel about VN..then get out...you are despicable.

Unfortunately, Yogi speaks the truth. Most immigrants who claim to love Vietnam and Vietnamese culture are largely referring to the cheap tail, lax visa laws, and low cost of living.

As for Yogi's other points... I'll just say it's disappointing to see a country that was recently devastated by a major war continue to stagnate in terms of human and social progress development. You'd think Vietnam would learn to take care of one another after having lost so many Vietnamese lives during the war...

I wonder what kind of Vietnam would exist today had US won the war, occupied Vietnam, and enacted widespread economic, political, and social reforms like they did with Japan. One can dream...

A bit of a generalisation there, but yeah, prolly.

The thing is though, despite all the corruption and out right f*ckwittery, the Vietnamese can excel at things if they put their minds to it. I would imagine that if things had been as you envisaged they could have been, Vietnam would almost certainly now be a kind of S Korea or a Japan.

rock0012987 wrote:

Thanks for relating this story. I'm curious, where did you read that a foreigner can now legally "own" (i.e., lease) land and/or a house for 50 years? Is this perhaps ONLY in a large development (typically a condo)?

Background

Foreigners challenged by apartment ownership in Ho Chi Minh City

​Only 15 foreigners, Viet Kieu own houses in Ho Chi Minh City (as of May 2017)

gobot wrote:

rock0012987 wrote:

Thanks for relating this story. I'm curious, where did you read that a foreigner can now legally "own" (i.e., lease) land and/or a house for 50 years? Is this perhaps ONLY in a large development (typically a condo)?

Background

Foreigners challenged by apartment ownership in Ho Chi Minh City

​Only 15 foreigners, Viet Kieu own houses in Ho Chi Minh City (as of May 2017)

I saw this too... and reading between the lines of government propaganda that is the vietnamese news... only 15 foreigners paid coffee money to get their certificates after being trapped

Bazza139 wrote:

Relax Fred...

..there will always be bunnies with beliefs...       

I'm guessing they run the same risk as they do here - not being happy bunnies when it goes pear shaped.