somewhere to live.

You can give us some information of rental would you want: how about the house, how many bedrooms...and we can supply information.
In Hoi An there are few shops for foreigners sothat you can go there to buy foods, milk,... With fix prices.
Regards,
Phuong

Since you've been there for 5 weeks aready, according to your bio, you should have a pretty good idea of life in Vietnam. I'm planning the same for myself (I'm 65) and know people through out Vietnam. I'm going to rent a place for 30 days and explore the local scene and check out apts, houses and what available. It's not that expensive. If you need a car, that means your going to be traveling long distances. Take the Train, local get a scooter or bicycle. Again, just land do it yourself and use some of the pointers here that people suggest.  Is there work? Depends what type of work you want to do?  If you work, you need a work visa. Again land, explore, you have 12 months to reap the adventure.

thanks for those 2 replies,will do just that and check it out when we get there...we think we will try and get a place near the beach 2 or 3 bedrooms?
again thanks for your help.

Hi blue Cheer, my wife and myself as well as another couple are planing to do the same, live work in hoi an, we were there again recently for our second visit, and even went around with an aussie expat we met over there, he took us around and showed us some recent properties he recently checked out as he recently moved. The properties were two bedroom town house style places, and were quite cheap, fully furnished and fairly modern for around $300-$450 per month, we saw one place that was brand new and fully furnished very ultra modern marble and granite benches very nice indeed and it was going for $500 per month, so it seems it is very reasonable to rent there, but u must sign up for minimum 3 months for most places, there seemed to be plenty of places to rent as well they were only a few minutes from the main part of town. We also enquired at buying a scooter, it seems you can buy a good second hand one for between $300-$500 Aus, and of course the all important info is that u can buy a case of beer for around $7, if u find out anymore info please let us know.

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thanks heydags for that we are going to live there for 12 months and that is cheap....see you over there.....

Hi There, I have been living in Hoi an for 2 years (3 years in Vietnam). Here are some info that you might find useful:

- House wise: There are plenty of houses for rent in Hoi an, and you will find after visiting a few that prices are very irregular. Sometime a piece of **** will be around 500usd and a very nice one for less.

The most important things to double check are:

- The feeling with the owner, some landlords are a pain in the ass, either they never fix anything, they find someone that wants to pay more and next thing you know your contract ends. Price jumps etc... There are some good landlords but unfortunately many opportunists.
- Check if there are speakers outside (Every morning I think 5ish you will not sleep!) Double check karaoke, big cafes and so on if you dont want a noisy place to live
- Try to negotiate a short contract or at least pay in instalments of 3 month at a time, at least if something goes wrong nothing will stop you from leaving, different story if they have already collected a years rent (which is common here, most house owners would not accept one month installments)
- Price range - 2-3 M VND small, VN style ok-ish
4-5 you can find a nice small house (Keep looking)
6- 10 M you should find something really comfy for that price.

Prices:

Vietnamese people will generally see any western person as a walking wallet, so when you want to rent house, buy food, well buy anything you will need to watch out. Then you will get to know where to buy what and what things cost.

Work:

Depends what you are looking for. Loads of hotels have opened recently so there are jobs going in hospitality. Teaching jobs sometimes, more so in Da Nang. Bar / restaurant jobs.

Check out Vietnamworks.com   Sometimes there are jobs in the area. Best thing to do is to come with a bit of savings until you  get to know hoi an, and then word of mouth should help out in finding a job.

Vehicle:

I would go for a bike, not too expensive 5 - 10 million you should get a good second hand bike (small scooter) dont buy chinese.

Right I hope this helped.

Alex

thanks for your help Alex...some good advice and I will take note of them.
see you some time early next year.
Cheers pete.

Your welcome Pete. Sorry for mainly mentionning the negatives. The positives outweight the negatives by far!!. Its a great place to live, Would not want to live anywhere else for now.

See you next year

Alex

Last year I traveled to Hoi An ancient town and I spent one month there. I rent a room about 12 square metres. It is very near the town, the market. I paid 800.000 VND (about 45 USD) for one month stay. That room doesn't have TV, refrigerator. The other next rooms do and travelers from Europe or America were renting. The beach is about 4 kilometres from the town. I am not sure if I still kept the telephone number of the house owner. I still remember the name of that lodging is Kim Lien.

Pete and Petra,  Are you in Hoi An yet? My daughter and I are thinking of coming this November and staying for a few months. Love to hear what you like/don't like!

~Stacy