
Victor Vu Nguyen
(Age: 35)
- Chairman and CEO of AltaMinds Communications Company
- Have lived and worked in HCMC for 3 years
- Have relocated home in HCMC 3 times already
He shared this was his third time deciding on relocating within Saigon, he will no longer rent. He came with the intention to buy and settle down after 3 years of living and working in the city. I was curious to ask him why he moved every year. He smiled with a bitter expression.
When first arriving in Vietnam, he was used to his lifestyle in the U.S., he did not like staying in the city center due to the noise. After spending all day working, he just wanted to go home and relax and be in someplace quiet, so he chose an apartment in District 7. But it wasn’t comfortable. Having to commute, he spent a total of 2-4 hours on the road each day. He was always exhausted by the time he got home, with no time or energy left for hobbies and leisure pastimes. After a few months, he decided to move to a more central location to save travel time.
This time, Mr. Vu moved into a 3-storey villa. Although there weren’t many amenities compared to the apartment, the new home was spacious and positioned in a more ideal location. But the drawback was the maintenance, which included cleaning, gardening, and a number of other routine chores. Because of his limited Vietnamese, he struggled to find proper helpers and communicate his lifestyle needs. Mr. Vu was busy often and his time was valuable. His home chores piled up and were left incomplete and everything became disorganized. It was not a sustainable long-term solution.
Once again, he realized his need for another relocation. This time, his agents advised him to rent an apartment in the Binh Thanh District. He read apartment brochures that featured river views, swimming pools, and a facility gym - all situated quite centrally in Saigon. With so many amenities and conveniences, he was sure that it would be perfect. However, after he moved into this third home, problems began to appear. Some places had beautiful views, but was disrupted by nauseating sewage odors. Swimming facilities were accessible, but were not properly maintained. The gym had equipment, but was chaotic – misplaced weights, malfunctioning treadmills, and bike machines with missing pedals. Management would tell him that the building is being properly cared for, that the problems were only temporary. But Mr. Vu felt lost his confidence as things were left unfixed for months.There were nights when neighbors were playing loud music past midnight, but management took no actions.
The frustration with the management and services accumulated, until he would no longer tolerate it.
He was disheartened by the limited options in Ho Chi Minh City. For Mr. Vu, finding the prefect place to call home was as difficult as shooting stars. For the fourth time, he decided to invest in buying a home rather than rent one. He wanted to be careful and take his time to invest in customizing an apartment that is both comfortable and peaceful. He reached out to us with his disappointing rental experiences after having moved three times, but the silver lining was that he has become a fastidious expert in regards to residential. He had even created a list on 6 useful tips in choosing a home in Saigon - which he expressed wanting to share to everyone:
1. If you work in the CBD, you should live in the CBD.
2. As cities develop, roads are more congested. Should you live in a location that requires you to commute, select a place with a good infrastructure and public transportation system.
3. Trust institutions and developers that have operations internationally, they have the experience on management and operations to develop outstanding facilities.
4. Safety is fundamental, find a location that isnot just well designed and built, but offers good maintenance and security.
5. For higher quality of life, choose a place offering full suite of amenities.
6. Value projects developed with international standards to ensure the quality of construction and fire protection or at international standards.
After an in-depth tour of Alpha Hill, where he walked through the sales gallery, inspecting the details of the mock up units, looking at the introduction of the Alpha City integrated development, analyzing the unit layouts on project virtual tour, he admitted that based on the tour, he might have finally found hisperfect home. It not just fulfilled his criteria list, but itwas going well beyond his expectations.