What to look at when finding an apartment in Hanoi

Nguyen Anh Thu12/07/2022

Finding the right apartment or home to rent can be difficult and stressful. You can be competing with many others for a quality unit in a prime location.

The secret, real estate brokers say, is to plan ahead. Often renters will wait until the last minute to look for another apartment. Alpha Housing advises you start your search 60 days before your move.

Hanoi housing is a complicated field that requires much experience and research to really understand it so that expats can find their finest property to rent, and here at Alpha Housing we give you the things to look at when finding an apartment in Hanoi

1. Determine Your Rental Budget

The first thing expats should ask themselves is whether they can afford the property, which depends on their income and budget. Wandering in a massive neighborhood is very time-consuming and it is recommended that expats try to do some research online to grasp the idea and range of the kind of property you want to rent. The price ranges from neighborhood to neighborhood and if you can afford to pay the high price for a certain location, you should also be ready to cut down on your spending and monthly expenses to rent in Hanoi. Another solution for this is to find a roommate to share the apartment. For your best privacy, you should rent a two-five bedroom apartment so that the sharing is easier. Plus, it is a must to remember that low rents often come with unexpected incidents or even additional costs.

2. Narrow Your Location

You don’t want to be 20 minutes from the closest supermarket, 200 minutes from the nearest park, struggling to get work done with the weekly, or 1 hour to delivery your kids go to school.

Start by narrowing your preferred location down to a city level. Once you’ve done that, you can start to explore the neighborhoods within the city to determine which might be the best fit for you.

3. Search for rental listings online

Searching online is a good way to start your search. You can get a sense of pricing and apartment amenities. However, if you’re moving to a new city, apartment rental sites won’t tell you enough about neighborhoods and the local amenities of each, such as public transportation or supermarket.

4. Use a real estate broker

In most cases, real estate brokers are available to help renters find properties free of charge. The key is to find a broker who specializes in rental properties, not home sales.
Alpha Housing specializes in properties for rent and for sales such as condos, serviced apartments, houses, villas, offices and so on. We are fully dedicated to our mission to offer customers various types of properties that are made to match specific needs and demands.

5. Tour Apartments

This is the pleasant part! There are a few things you ought to know about as you go on loft visits. You’ll need to pose loads of inquiries during these visits, so take a journal and pen and scribble down all that you see as significant. As you stroll through, take a lot of pictures to go with your notes. Try not to tragically lease the main condo you see! Regardless of whether you are in a market where condos move rapidly, don’t feel compelled to settle on a choice until you are certain beyond a shadow of a doubt. Attempt to visit something like a few condo networks so you can think about.

6. Ask Your Future Landlord Questions

Here are some questions to ask your landlord before renting:

LEASE TERMS

Due to the language barrier, expats often find it quite hard to fully understand the conditions from the landlords, not to mention the complicated legal terms that you might miss such as security deposits, pet policy or parking spots. Expats finding apartments for rent in Hanoi can go find help with an agency and Alpha housing is ready to help, with no fee charges.

lease-agreement-with-keys

The tricky thing is that the cost you see in listings may not be the final monthly price because of the utilities (which can be 10% of the monthly rent) or the charge for late rent. Expats should also clarify the things that the landlords give much attention to such as quiet hours or sounding. Finally, you should ask about the security deposits and non-refundable deposits, which can cost you a fortune.

PET POLICY

For some luxurious apartments, pets are always allowed but this is not the case for every landlord so if you are a pet-lover and having a pet, you should ask this right away when scouting the apartments that you like. If the landlords agree to let you have the pet, you have to ask about the deposits and fees (normally there would be non-refundable pet deposits to cover the deep cleaning after you move and any damage your pet may cause.

THE LANDLORD

The landlord is the key factor that defines your housing. If you have a good landlord, you would not have to think about additional fees and the poor conditions of the apartment because the landlord will take care of that for you. If you have a bad landlord, you may end up in your own rental nightmare (or worse – a courtroom). To prevent this from happening, try to meet with your landlord or (at the very least) chat with him or her on the phone. If you’re moving into an apartment with roommates already, then make sure to ask them about their overall experience with their landlord.

THE ROOMMATES

There are two options for you when choosing a roommate. First, you can ask your friends or at least your acquaintances to move in with you and share the apartment, which will be easier for you because you have already known them and you want to share with them. Another choice for you is to move into  Hanoi apartment for rent with total strangers, but there is something you should do first before signing any contract with them and that is to get to know them.

If you are moving to Vietnam, it’s important to know that there are complicated areas in Hanoi in which there are burglary and theft and you should definitely avoid that. Choosing to stay in a high-quality apartment can help you stay away from this.