Almost everyone I know lives in a condo that they are "ok with." I only know one person who is really happy with the place that they currently live in. Everyone else is constantly looking around for something better but the way that this city seems to work, the people with properties don't really have to do a good job maintaining them in order to keep occupancy high.
I can say this is true with my own building even though it is one of the more expensive ones in the area: The walls have paint bubbling up because of moisture/ potentially mold, the TV's are ancient in relative terms meaning that the smart functions are VERY slow if they work at all, and the sofas and beds honestly should have been replaced a long time ago. The drains are almost always clogged and the only thing they do is bring up some drain cleaner that works for like 2 days and doesn't begin to address the actual plumbing problem, and the air conditioning is archaic and inefficient. The thing is, the landlord doesn't ever change these things because if there ever is a vacancy in this building, it doesn't stay that way for long because it seems that almost everyone in town is constantly looking for a new place to live since nobody is really happy with what they are living in.
Recently I started looking for a new place to live and got an agent involved in helping me.
She told me she had a two-bedroom house for rent and this notion really appealed to me because since I have Nadi, my dog, not having very much space is something that I really feel bad about in my small condo. Once she sent me the pictures though I knew that I didn't even need to look at this place.
The front door is a sliding glass door and there are no security bars. While violent crime is almost non-existent here in Vietnam, property crime is extremely common. Anyone who has ever had a sliding glass door probably already knows that getting in one of these things without the keys is not something you need the A-team to accomplish. Simply push up on one of the doors and it comes off the tracks and you can quietly simply move it out of the way without breaking anything or making any noise. Sure there is a gate outside but that could be hurdled quite easily especially if they have tools or a ladder.
Sine the only valuable things I own are small and easily stolen, and because I have had my house robbed twice when I lived in Thailand and am still a bit traumatized by the experience, there is no chance I am going to move into this place.
She sent me some pictures of some higher end condos as well.
It seems like almost any condo in this city has the same shite furniture in it. For me, sofas and beds are very important because that is where I spend most of my time in my room when relaxing. How the frack are you going to relax on that thing above? You gonna just lie down? I see no way that a person could actually sit on that. Also, I get angry when I see any glass top tables because after years of experience I already know that this is some chipboard crap that is probably half rotten already.
Also, almost every condo I have ever seen has one of these units in them. I call them "tat cabinets" or "crap shelves." I don't understand their inclusion in any apartment. What am I going to do, buy vases?... maybe put my socks on display? Why can't we just have closets and drawers? This is ubiquitous as well. It's just the norm and when I ask my Vietnamese friends why they are in there, they don't know either.
This isn't the main frustrating point when shopping for a condo or house here though, the real problem is that there isn't any real sort of system as far as the agents are concerned. It ends up working like this when you get an agent.
- Agent asks you what your "budget" is
- Agent sends you a few listings that all just happen to be right at the apex of whatever said budget was
- You find out later that people that are already living in that building pay or paid a wildly different price than you were quoted by the agent.
So to me I think this quandary is really easy to figure out: The agents use your budget as a gage for how much they can rip you off. Since everyone kind of knows this is the case, customers are very hesitant to ever move fearing that the new place could actually end up being worse than what they currently live in. No takebacks!
I am very up-front with my agent and told them what I am looking for as far as square meters, location, type of furniture, and the fact that the place needs to allow pets. I refuse to tell her my budget. I can see that she doesn't like that I am playing the system like this because after the first 3 listings she sent me complete with an absurd amount of photos that are clearly from different rooms, she doesn't send me any more. I think the agents get frustrated with you as well and if you don't rent something right away they don't want to help you anymore. They want an easy and quick sale.
I'm not really happy with my current place and this is why it looks kind of disorganized. I don't really care as long as Nadi is comfy and that is why she gets more of the couch pillows than I do. That sofa is really run down and I have already told my landlord that if she wants me to stay another year that I need a new sofa, a new mattress, and a new washing machine. She said she would consider it but I already know what is going to happen: She will simply not address the situation ever again because she knows that if I do move out that she will easily be able to rent my unit to someone else without changing, fixing, or upgrading anything and I suppose, from her standpoint, I can understand why she would do that. She doesn't NEED me to stay there because she can easily rent it out to someone else and probably for more money too.
The only people I know that have houses or apartment/condos that they are happy with they found them by just walking around an area and seeing a sign. Then they go and visit the unit without an agent being involved in the process. This way there are no tricks and no padded rental fees. It's a shame that it is this way but honestly, that is just how it is here in Da Nang especially in the areas near the beach that are popular with expats. For me, I rarely go to the beach at all and don't really care if I am near it. I think I will start to go on long walks or bike rides in other areas that are further away. Maybe that is where the hidden gems are.