Cost of Living in Ho Chi Minh City

What's the low to average cost to cremation and burial cost in HCMC in 2021?

People aren't nice to foreigners anywhere in Vietnam I was an English teacher in Ho chi minh and other areas of Vietnam almost 13 years. The part about trash and rats is true.

Remember, VietNam is a communist country unlike free VietNam country prior to 1975. And u know what is the reputation of those communists! They always tried to rip u off anyway they can. So why bother, stick with Thailand, Malaysa, Cambodia, Indonesia, the free SEA countries.

This place is ridiculous. I just checked rentals again and they've gone up big time. For some weird reason everyone wants to move to Vietnam during the pandemic and teach ABCs to smot nosed rich brats so agents are marking up prices.

You really cant find an adequate basic room with a kitchenette for less than 10m + utilities/ management fees. It takes me a week at least to find something good. Plus most of these buildings are in crappy locations and you're stepping around dog feces and old ladies cutting veggies in puddle water when you leave your apartment. Like I said in my post below, 12m is really the sweet spot. And you need it bc it's such a hectic place...you need a good home to return to.

Just a year ago you could get a brand new room in a commercial building from 6.5ish. I'm not seeing any good deals anymore. Most cities in SEA other than Singapore are waaaay cheaper and have better value than hcmc.

I think even pre-Covid, hcmc and by extension the rest of Vietnam isnt worth living in unless you're a destitute English teacher with no career prospects or one of those poor uppity Viet Kieu who come back to lord over the locals.

1. Cost of living has gone up 100X with the sharp influx of foreigners. Unless you like living in skinny communist style housing blocks and eating cheap gruel, you need $2500 a month minimum for a good quality life. Quality apartments in not crappy areas start at 500 + high utilities. Even local food now has seen quite the markup. An average snail place on the street for 2 will run you $30 to $40 bucks for tiny portions.

2. If you don't have money or look like you don't, Vietnamese treat you like dirt. They act as if every foreigner is an indigent layabout teacher or refugee.

3. Rampant scams from housing to visas to food and more will add a big deficit to your budget.

4. Vague visa laws. Laws change quite a bit here and if you arent working legally or are working online, expect to make a trek to Cambodia every 3 months to reset your visa. It's a time consuming embarrassing pain and can be costly if you mess it up.

In addition if you mistakenly use the wrong visa agents or spend too much time in the country you can easily be blacklisted for vague reasons which can cost $3000 to fix.

5. Boring materialistic culture.

This is just a small taste or primer of what you can expect in VN. If you go to Vietnam you better have money and better be self sufficient.

There are much better options for your discerning expat.

Hcmc is waaay overpriced now especially for apartments.

Minimum is basically 10m VND + EVN electric + management fees + cleaning etc if you want to live in a midrange highrise or condo building. Basically $600++ for a studio condotel or a 1 bedroom depending on the building.

If you decide to go the serviced apartment route it can be slightly cheaper but greedy Viets will artificially jack up your utilities with a submeter. I remember paying nearly $100 for electric and water for a 25-30sqm room with 1 barely working AC and a crappy water heater.

Lot of incidental costs in Vietnam that jack up the cost of living like the visa runs or paying agents or whatnot.

Vietnam isn't the place to cone to if you are looking for fun or women especially nice ones. Most of the girls here are ugly, rude conservative, cold hearted, materialistic, and money obsessed.

Stick to Thailand.

If you are paying these prices for housing you are a retard. I see video bloggers talking about how "cheap" their rental is when in actually they are getting ripped off.