Availability of small 1 - 2 bedroom bungalows in VT

By bungalow are you talking about a small thatched place near the beach or a small house.

No Col, not that at all... meaning a small 1 or 2 bedroom house.

Average house 6 million a nice house around 8-9 million.

So approx. 3 - 500 USD a month?  thanks for that...

It all comes down to position. I have a friend who does rentals, and she had a really nice two bedroom, fully furnished house about 300 mts from back beach for 400 usd a month. Go away from the beach and it gets cheaper.

Hi Colin,  400 a month is basically the same as what I'm paying in Phuket for a 2 bedroom house... so that price would be ok for me.  Once i get a few things sorted e.g.: visa etc. i will touch base again.  It looks like the only long term visa option is a 1 year business visa which is no big deal so long as there's no unforeseen restrictions on that visa.
Colin you said 'back beach'?  is that the main long beach along that southern coastline?  the only part of VT I'm familiar with is the area around Petro hotel, Red parrot bar, offshore bar.

That area is front beach, back beach is the long beach that runs from VT up to the Northern parts of VT.