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  • Hey what's up guys?

  • I'm lakeside here, this is just a one minute walk away from my new apartment.

  • I never imagined living so close to a lake in Vietnam, I think this is the biggest lake

  • in Hanoi.

  • There's just a lot of people, there's nice park space.

  • And, you know, families are out there.

  • There's people exercising, there's lots of free exercise machines, just like Korea.

  • So you get a lot of the old people and stuff, doing light workouts and stuff.

  • Working the ellipticals and other kinds of stretches.

  • It's really good to see this.

  • I like this environment and I like that it's right by my new apartment.

  • So speaking of new apartment, this is the apartment hunting video in Hanoi.

  • In Hanoi, just like anywhere else, it depends on what you're looking for in terms of housing.

  • You know, if you're looking for like a two bedroom, if you're looking for a studio, if

  • you're looking for roommates.

  • Those are all going to be factors that go into finding your place, right?

  • So just like anywhere else in the world, Hanoi has its very low range, and very high range.

  • If you want to spend a couple grand for an apartment per month, or if you want to spend

  • just a couple hundred bucks.

  • So those options do exist.

  • While looking for apartments, there's several ways you could do it.

  • You could call a real estate agent, themselves, you can go online, I went through the "Hanoi

  • Massive Housing" Facebook group.

  • It's a really great place where you can find posting on all types of units, for rent, or

  • for sale.

  • Short term, long term, it's all listed there.

  • So initially I was looking for a room in a shared apartment ranging between $170 to $250

  • and hopefully one of those rooms would have an "ensuite bathroom" meaning that the bathroom

  • is inside the room, not outside of the room.

  • And also a private balcony.

  • I wanted some natural lighting and if possible a balcony space where I could look up some

  • emails and stuff like that.

  • Drink a cup of coffee in the morning and just chill on my own balcony.

  • So the first apartment, I was taken to this place that has actual slum surroundings, there's

  • like a sewage stream and it had like styrofoam and all this other trash in it.

  • Not the first thing that I want to see when I'm coming, literally, to the first apartment

  • in Hanoi.

  • We go in this very nice big first floor but also in the kitchen we turn on the lights

  • and there were all these rats.

  • It was pretty gross.

  • So it's dark, he turns the light on, and I hear all this noise, like what the hell is

  • happening?

  • And all the pots and pans in the sink and stuff are moving around and then like 3 rats

  • go jumping out the window.

  • That was totally unexpected and so on top of the slum stuff, plus the rats, that's definitely

  • not something you want to see while house hunting.

  • So immediately, those two things, without even seeing the room, I was just like nope,

  • off the list.

  • But just to show you guys what the rooms do look like.

  • There was a room, it had barely any light.

  • The balcony was kind of big but it faced the back of the building and so there was like

  • no view.

  • It's kind of strange to go sit out there in the morning and have a cup of coffee.

  • And the bathroom was shared with one person that lives on the same floor.

  • And that bathroom was dark and damp.

  • So it did not meet any of the requirements that I was hoping for, except that it was

  • a shared apartment, in the budget range.

  • Apartment 2 was in a little bit more of an actual residential area, which is great, it's

  • what I was looking for.

  • Unfortunately, the room was still occupied, the tenants weren't going to leave for another

  • week or two.

  • So that was like a really big downside.

  • The balcony was very tiny, and the bathroom wasn't in the room like I was hoping for.

  • It was across the hallway, and that also had like no natural light, it was very dark and

  • damp and moldy smelling.

  • That one was $250 per month for that unit.

  • The 3rd place I was looking at was $250 a month, and it had a really big room.

  • It had a big room with natural lighting, enough space in there for a desk and a refrigerator,

  • and a queen sized bed, plus like a living room, you know?

  • You could walk around in it and not feel like you're trapped in a box.

  • It did come with a small balcony, enough that you could potentially maybe put a chair out

  • there and a small table.

  • I don't know.

  • So this room was also occupied, and they also had the cutest puppy, that puppy was so playful.

  • Omg, I love dogs!

  • So the room itself was fine, but it seems like the shared kitchen situation just wasn't

  • happening.

  • It was really dirty, there was trash everywhere, people were mainly using the kitchen on the

  • 4th floor on the top.

  • Instead of the one on the 1st floor, where the motorcycles are.

  • I don't know why, but anyway, both were a little bit dirty.

  • The unit after that was also $250 for a room in a shared apartment, it was actually next

  • door to the first unit that I was shown this day.

  • And the balcony was really small, there was only standing space, and the room was still

  • occupied.

  • It did have an ensuite bathroom, but it was kind of dark and no lighting or anything like

  • that.

  • And the room itself smelled a little bit funky, but I guess that's because it was still occupied

  • by the tenants who were going to leave later on that week.

  • So it finally came down to my 3rd day of apartment hunting, and I figured I'm looking at all

  • these rooms in shared apartments, between $170~$250 a month.

  • Maybe I'm not seeing what I'm hoping for because of the price range.

  • So even if I go up just a little bit and try to get some of those creature comforts that

  • I enjoy, such as a clean kitchen, private bathroom.

  • So I decided why not go for a studio, that way I don't have to worry about roommates

  • or anything like that.

  • So day 3, I checked out this studio apartment for $350 a month.

  • So this place had a kitchen, and a bedroom, and a patio space.

  • The shower was a little weird, it was this like Italian imported shower jacuzzi massage

  • thing, which seemed really out of place for the type of apartment it was.

  • There was also no air conditioning, but they did promise to me that they could have it

  • installed before I move in.

  • Yeah, this place was really like run down, it's definitely seen better days.

  • The ceiling panels were somehow not all the way fitted properly, so there's all these

  • major gaps connecting the attic to the rooms.

  • So you know, like roaches and centipedes and all that other stuff, could easily just come

  • through that stuff right into your room.

  • There's no sealed factor to the apartment.

  • The patio space was really nice, it's outdoors, up on the 2nd floor and it overlooks a nice

  • local street.

  • You get to see all the local people eating and drinking, and stuff like that.

  • So nightlife seems like fun, but I don't know exactly how loud it would be every night,

  • going into the evening when people are eating and drinking.

  • I don't know if it would be like Korea, where people would be out until like 2 in the morning,

  • or later, drunk and causing a loud ruckus in the neighborhood.

  • I don't know what that would be like.

  • There were 2 deciding factors that made me really cringe and say no to this place was

  • 1) the bathroom.

  • The bathroom is not actually in the unit, you go downstairs to the 2nd level.

  • There's actually a boutique shop there, someone opened up like selling boutique clothing.

  • And outside of their shop is the bathroom, it's the toilet, and you need a key to get

  • in.

  • It's almost like a public bathroom, it seems like.

  • The other factor that made me decide no on that place was the fact that it was built

  • on top of a restaurant.

  • So you have to physically walk through the restaurant customers to get to the stairwell

  • that goes up to the place.

  • When I was doing that, coming in, there was all these upside cockroaches, like really

  • big ones.

  • And that makes sense, cockroaches are going to be anywhere there's a restaurant, it doesn't

  • matter how fancy your restaurant is, there's going to be roaches in any food establishment.

  • Finally, I get to check out this awesome space.

  • Checked out this studio apartment for $350 a month, it had a really nice open space,

  • everything seemed nice and new.

  • There was lots of natural light, and that's really something I wanted.

  • It had it's own kitchen space with actual granite countertop.

  • It's away from the road, the main road, so it's really quiet.

  • It's fully furnished and comes with this sofa and a nice queeen sized bed.

  • Unforunately it doesn't have any balcony, but you don't really need a balcony when you're

  • in Vietnam, you could just go to the roof if you absolutely need to.

  • And there was a nice chill space up there.

  • The laundry machine and the dryer are shared, and the roof top space is shared, but that's

  • it.

  • Everything else is all your own.

  • The only downside to this unit was behind the building there's all this construction

  • going on.

  • So there actually was this sewage canal that was there but the city has been trying to

  • get rid of these places over time, and so right now they're dredging out all that sewer

  • canal and they're implanting an actual proper sewerage system with pipes and stuff.

  • And they're going to lay cement and dirt over it, and they're going to make like a mini

  • backalley road behind there.

  • So eventually, there will be some mopeds and stuff going back and forth, but it shouldn't

  • be loud because it's not the main road, it's just a backalley road.

  • So it'll just be locals driving by and I don't mind that.

  • So what do you guys think I chose?

  • Yeah, I chose the studio apartment with the construction behind it.

  • It seemed the best bang for my buck, $350 a month.

  • So stay tuned, I'll give a proper apartment tour, full on apartment tour in detail in

  • another video.

  • So stay tuned for that.

  • Thanks for watching guys, I really hope you enjoyed this video, I hope it gave some insights

  • into apartment hunting here.

  • It's very easy.

  • There's tons of places.

  • You just got to come out, go for it, and you'll find your place real soon.

  • It took me 3 days to find an apartment here after arriving.

  • See you guys in the next video!

  • Bye!

Hey what's up guys?

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