Foreigners can buy apartment in Vietnam - Is that true?

I bought my apartments through ownership under my wife's name, however, under Vietnamese regulations I am allowed to purchase and own an apartment and ownership was transferred and was notarized at Provincial level public office.

I am married to a Vietnamese and had been residing in Vietnam at the time of Purchase for 2 years

The apartments were built under a commercial housing development project, however,  the maximum duration of residential house ownership is 50 years from the date of your certificate under Vietnamese law.

After 50 years and within 12 months after the expiration of this duration, we will have to sell or donate these apartments to another person(s)...I will be 106 years old at that point so I really wont give a shit!

Happy to heard that you bought apartment under your wife's name
Did you see this?
"If a foreign individual marries to a Vietnamese citizen or an oversea Vietnamese, he/she qualifies for stable and long-term homeownership and has all rights of homeowner similarly to Vietnamese citizens;"
This also applicable when you buy joint ownership.
Anyway I am searching for foreigners already bought under their name, thanks!

I am from usa, just bought two under my name

- Foreigners are allowed to buy all types of real estate in cities as a vietnamese. However, there are two small limitations:
1) Only 50 years of ownership (you can sell it before the year 50, or you get married with a vietnamese)
2) The number of foreigners owning real estate in an area not exceeding 30%

Before buying an apartment in Viet Nam, find a good lawyer. Their are few buyer protections and one can find themselves loosing the apartment after having paid for it, especially in a new building. The issue is that the building is built on borrowed money and the builder is frequently unable to repay the construction loan and the apartment owners then become liable for the loan.

Note, this is an issue both in and out, of expat zones and Vietnamese as well as expats are victims.

That's a good point that 70 years old made... always enter into buying a property in Vietnam with caution and don't rush into it...

They just can apartments in commercial projects. The law is applied to the whole country Vietnam.

I recently ran into something that somewhat resembles "escrow." This seems to be a rather new development. Anyway, I was able to buy a condo in a secure and relatively painless process.

@70, would you like to share your experiences?

So, the statement regarding overseas Vietnamese having full rights to purchase presumably includes Viet Ku, spelt wrongly, talking apartments...
Thanks guys...

My wife has a Viet Kieu paper #1 and based on that we bought an apartment roughly one month ago in both her name and my name as well.

What I love about Vietnam is that you can "buy" anything you want.
Now, owning it, is another matter.

But I'm sure you know that, since you are asking on this forum, where you can always get the answer you want to hear.

Wxx3 wrote:

What I love about Vietnam is that you can "buy" anything you want.
Now, owning it, is another matter.

But I'm sure you know that, since you are asking on this forum, where you can always get the answer you want to hear.

How many years have you been residing in Viet Nam.

colinoscapee wrote:

Wxx3 wrote:

What I love about Vietnam is that you can "buy" anything you want.
Now, owning it, is another matter.

But I'm sure you know that, since you are asking on this forum, where you can always get the answer you want to hear.

How many years have you been residing in Viet Nam.

The details can become, significant. A foreigner can inherit property and will have the same level of ownership as the person he inherited it from had. If the foreigner inherited property from a Vietnamese citizen who had complete ownership rights, then that is what the foreigner would inherit, the same rights.

A Viet Kieu with a Viet Kieu #1 paper can buy a 50 year "ownership" on a piece of property or full ownership in a condo. A foreigner can buy a 50 year ownership in a condo.

Just been through that stuff.

I think you are missing the point or you don't care to understand it.
It's not how long I've lived in Vietnam or anyplace else.

It's simply that there is always an exception to the rule.

That some action (whatever that action is) works well for you or for many, does not mean it will work 100% of the time.

This is not a only a function of life in Vietnam, most of the world is like this.  But the bigger the bureaucracy, the more inconsistent execution becomes.

Why I take the time to point some of these things out is that when someone asks advice, it's good that they hear the full gamut of possibilities, not just a narrow view that may or may not work all the time.

How did you do it?  I have a client that wants to buy an apartment now but nobody knows
how to get around the 50 years lease thing.

Where do you find this escrow?

Just bought one appartment in my name Diamond Island / Q2 and another one New City / Q2 in the name of my company.

That's one idea.

What is a Viet Kieu #1 paper?

My mistake: It's 50 years of ownership not a 50 year lease.

Please Mr Delafon can i have your contact? I really want to invest in real estate in Vietnam, but have not known how to go about it. Thanks

john.json652 wrote:

My mistake: It's 50 years of ownership not a 50 year lease.

The thing is this rule is pretty new.
Nobody really knowws what is going to happen after 50 years.

Yes. I really want to invest too.  I see all the construction and I know prices will go up.

I just have to wait until the funds come from my Nigerian endowment.
I just sent them $10k for the paperwork, so I expect the money any day now :-)

@DELAFON Which real estate firm did you go through for your recent purchase?

TD

tdang1017 wrote:

@DELAFON Which real estate firm did you go through for your recent purchase?

TD

Fill in your profile and we shall see!

DELAFON wrote:

tdang1017 wrote:

@DELAFON Which real estate firm did you go through for your recent purchase?

TD

Fill in your profile and we shall see!

DELAFON:  Your own profile is a bit sketchy.  You say that you " Teach English to Children in HCMC and/or Pleiku."  Both Pleiku and HCMC are a pretty tough commute from Da Lat where you say you reside.

You also tell us that your purpose in Vietnam is to support orphans and street children but you only post about real estate investments that you have made or plan to make, and to promote your entrepreneurial meetup.  Your stated interests are marketing, management and export/import.  It is possible to have both profit oriented and charitable  concerns at once,  but I don't see any posts that relate directly to orphans and street children.  If you truly wish to help these groups, you need to leave Dalat and move to HCMC.

tdang asked you a reasonable question.  Clean up your own profile before you throw stones near your own glass house.

DELAFON wrote:

Just bought one appartment in my name Diamond Island / Q2 and another one New City / Q2 in the name of my company.

What did you like about New City? I hear the locals refer it as "New Prison Thu Thiem."

@Delafon I thought I saw a message last night about you losing some money on the New City project? That has always been my main concern but I'm working with Savills International Team and they are the real deal. They have a strong market presence and would never do a bait and switch as it will hurt their overall brand. I'm working with Tony who speaks fluent English and is an expat himself. He's very knowledgeable about the market and I currently have an offer on a resale at the Nassim. Sometimes bigger means better, especially in Vietnam....or in your case, bigger means safer.

My question to you is how can they do a bait and switch if the unit information is on the deposit agreement you executed with the developer? Information such as exact unit number, floor, size, etc. Only way I can see that happening is if you didn't care to read the deposit agreement and took their word for it. In that case, its not a bait and switch after all....

CoderX10 wrote:

@Delafon I thought I saw a message last night about you losing some money on the New City project? That has always been my main concern but I'm working with Savills International Team and they are the real deal. They have a strong market presence and would never do a bait and switch as it will hurt their overall brand. I'm working with Tony who speaks fluent English and is an expat himself. He's very knowledgeable about the market and I currently have an offer on a resale at the Nassim. Sometimes bigger means better, especially in Vietnam....or in your case, bigger means safer.

My question to you is how can they do a bait and switch if the unit information is on the deposit agreement you executed with the developer? Information such as exact unit number, floor, size, etc. Only way I can see that happening is if you didn't care to read the deposit agreement and took their word for it. In that case, its not a bait and switch after all....

This is why you must read the contract. VN agents are not the most trustworthy people. Do they have a cooling off perion in VN?

No cooling off period since all the projects are new construction. Once you make your final decision and sign the deposit agreement, you are locked into an installment payment plan spread out over time until you the unit is handed over. You can walk away any time during the installment payment period but you will lose the money paid. Sounds like that's what Delafon is currently debating.

Perhaps Monsieur Delafon is simply not as astute an investor as he likes to portray himself.

Delafon:  I see that your profile still says that you are here to help orphans and street children.  I am still waiting for the posts describing your experiences in that endeavor.

THIGV
Commuting in Vietnam easy for me. I did that already in the world all my life.

THIGV
1) "You also tell us that your purpose in Vietnam is to support orphans and street children but you only post about real estate investments that you have made or plan to make, and to promote your entrepreneurial meetup".
And? Why not?
2) "Support orphans and children", yes. At thee same time Real Estate Investment ok for me. No problem.
3) "Your stated interests are marketing, management and export/import.  It is possible to have both profit oriented and charitable  concerns at once,  but I don't see any posts that relate directly to orphans and street children.  If you truly wish to help these groups, you need to leave Dalat and move to HCMC"
What the hell do you know? I do not post for orphans and street children for the moment, even though I was involved with NGO  since 1990... starting in Dalat and Dong Hoi... I still support children overthere!!!... And I do it with street children in Saigon as well...
Who do you think you are to judge me like that???...

CoderX10
The only 2 solutions I have is go to court or buy the flat and sell it later.

THIGV wrote:

Perhaps Monsieur Delafon is simply not as astute an investor as he likes to portray himself.

Delafon:  I see that your profile still says that you are here to help orphans and street children.  I am still waiting for the posts describing your experiences in that endeavor.

You judge me again... Don't you have something else to do???
For the children, I answered already. So... you judge and you do not read/listen my posts... Why do not you go back to some kind of very basic Emotional Intelligence / Behavioural techniques courses???...

You state in your profile:
"I am a male.
I am married. I am retired. I am a teacher."
I do not see you posting on the fact of being a male in this world....
I do not see you posting on the fact that you are married... What don't you post on the joy of judging and not listening to your wife???...
You write you are retired... Why don't you post on the joys of being retired and posting all day on judging and  not listening other people???...
You write you are a teacher... Ouuuaaahhh... Poor students whom you judge and whoom you do not listen to....

DELAFON wrote:

CoderX10
The only 2 solutions I have is go to court or buy the flat and sell it later.

My agent thinks it's a bad deal and the project is not selling well. He tells me they are paying double the commission compared to other projects which is why local agents have been pushing their buyer to the project. Its near completion, yet they still have foreign quota and plenty of units left for Vietnamese. It will be difficult to sell on the secondary market when the primary market still has units available. I say walk away now before you dig a bigger hole.

I'm curious what the deposit agreement says regarding the unit you thought you picked out vs. whats stated on the agreement?  Was it the same unit? It will be hard to go to court if you signed on the dotted line...

My opinion is in reaction to your rejection of a legitimate inquiry with a suggestion that tdang1017 should "Fill in [his] profile and we shall see!"   At the same time your profile has several geographically dubious statements.  Do you live in Da Lat or Q2?  How do you commute from Da Lat to Pleiku to teach orphans.  That is over 300 km.  I invite anyone to read through your profile and see if it makes sense.

My own profile may not have any grand statements of purpose, but it is all true.

What's good for the goose is good for the gander.