We Bought a House in Da Nang, Vietnam - Price, Process & Details

Good morning. Good morning. Welcome back

to the vlog. Today's going to be a special one because the title is not clickbait. That's right. Kim and I

clickbait. That's right. Kim and I bought a house here in Vietnam here in Daang City. This is your village right

Daang City. This is your village right now. This is where we currently live.

now. This is where we currently live.

We're renting. We're paying about $1,700 a month. About $45 million Dom. This is

a month. About $45 million Dom. This is

not where we bought the property. This

is the Soncha Peninsula, which is more of the tourist side. This neighborhood

is not very touristy, but this side of the river, here's the river, is very touristy. And then that side is a lot

touristy. And then that side is a lot more local. So, where we bought our

more local. So, where we bought our house is all the way over there. You

guys can see the mountains off in the distance. That is High Van Pass. We're

distance. That is High Van Pass. We're

going to be crossing the Dragon Bridge, going all the way up the river, all the way down the beach, and in this little area on the beach is where the future residents of David and Kim is going to

be. I'm going to take you guys along for

be. I'm going to take you guys along for the ride. Let's go check it out.

the ride. Let's go check it out.

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Heat. Heat.

Heat. Heat.

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Heat. Heat.

Heat. Heat.

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Are you Welcome to the beautiful 10K beach.

Ignore the helmet hair here. I got a little bit of helmet hair. So, we are at 10K Beach, which is on the north side of Da Nang. This is a beach that's

Da Nang. This is a beach that's relatively unknown. Now, this entire

relatively unknown. Now, this entire neighborhood is called 10K. It's not

just 10K beach. But, let me show you why I think this place is so beautiful. We

have the Soncha Mountains on this side.

That's where Lady Buddha is. And then we have High Van Pass on this side. So,

this is a massive, massive bay that's surrounded by mountains on every side.

Now, High Van Pass is regarded as one of the most, if not the most scenic drive in the entire world by most car magazines. So, so that is right here on

magazines. So, so that is right here on the left side. And then, of course, you can drive into the city, you can drive to Lady Buddha on this side, and you can drive back into the tourist side in about 10 or 15 minutes. So, 10K is the neighborhood that we chose, but in

reality, the neighborhood was kind of chosen for us. So, all of our family here, all of Kim's family, who's, you know, they're my family now cuz we're married, live here in Tank. So, it makes sense for us to be near family. Now, 10K

is a very, very, very local neighborhood. I can look around

neighborhood. I can look around everywhere here and I am the only foreigner that I can see anywhere. And

the further I go in, the more it'll be like that. Now, there is a Highlands

like that. Now, there is a Highlands here. This is a brand new Highlands that

here. This is a brand new Highlands that opened I think about 2 months ago. So,

this area is becoming developed really, really quickly. Before it was like as

really quickly. Before it was like as local and rural as you can get, which is crazy to me considering like look how amazing this beach is. Like, it's so beautiful. But very very quickly, it's

beautiful. But very very quickly, it's getting more developed, more modern, more upscale, and I'm very very excited about the future of this neighborhood.

Let's go check out the house now.

[Music] So, that's the beach right there. And

you guys ready for the grand reveal of the house? The moment you guys have all

the house? The moment you guys have all been waiting for. Here it is.

Wow.

Wamp wamp. Okay, so I misled you guys a little bit. It's not quite a house yet.

little bit. It's not quite a house yet.

It's It's a patch of dirt. So, we

actually ended up buying a lot of land.

And the reason we did is because houses in this neighborhood don't really come up for sale that often. This lot has been empty for a really really long time and it had fences up and it was completely walled off and the developer

was going to build like this huge mansion. And we actually told them,

mansion. And we actually told them, "Hey, it looks like you guys have halted construction. If you guys ever want to

construction. If you guys ever want to sell the land, please sell it to us.

Now, one day we were in this neighborhood visiting Kim's uncle. We

arrived at like 10 p.m. and we realized that they took down all of the walls and they cleared out all the grass and all of the trash. And we were like, "Uh-oh, what happened to this land?" So, we asked around the neighborhood when we

learned that the landlord actually decided not to build a house, but to cut up the lot into three different plots and to sell it. Now, this is a problem because originally we wanted to buy this

entire lot and build like a 15 room apartment for like all of her family to live in. But unfortunately, it turned

live in. But unfortunately, it turned out that the landlord already within like 12 hours of making the decision already sold two of these lots. So, we

were like, "Do not sell the third plot.

We want it." This was like 11:00 p.m. at

night and we had to rush negotiations, rush getting the funds here into Vietnam. And we managed to lock in this

Vietnam. And we managed to lock in this plot literally the very next morning.

So, even though we didn't get the entire lot like we wanted to, we got the lot that we wanted, the one that we would want the most, and that's this corner lot. For some reason in Vietnam, the

lot. For some reason in Vietnam, the corner lots are not as desirable as in the West. But for us as Westerners, this

the West. But for us as Westerners, this is what we want. We will have an unobstructed view of the ocean once we build up to four floors. And literally,

the beach is like right here.

Now, a little bit more context of this neighborhood. The people that have been

neighborhood. The people that have been watching the vlog for a long time already know this corner lot is our uncle. This corner lot is going to be

uncle. This corner lot is going to be ours. And if you go down the street, not

ours. And if you go down the street, not far, maybe like 10 or 20 ft, you'll find about five houses, I think four or five houses that belong to members of the family. So Kim's family really has roots

family. So Kim's family really has roots in this neighborhood and probably has for like 80 plus years. So it just made sense when the opportunity came up that we had to jump on it. Now, Kim and I have been talking about getting land

here in Daang for a long, long time. But

I think it was one of those things that we kind of talked about, but was like only semi-serious about, but when the opportunity presented itself, we had to jump. I'm going to go across the street

jump. I'm going to go across the street to the beach, but we're going to talk about price. We're going to talk about

about price. We're going to talk about the entire process. I'll see you guys on the beach.

I'll come uh beach water.

Okay.

Before we go over to the beach, a little side quest just happened. I didn't know that my visa already arrived here. But

another big announcement, I just got my 5-year visa in Vietnam because Kim and I are married. I am family of Vietnamese

are married. I am family of Vietnamese citizens and therefore I qualify for a 5-year visa. We'll talk about more of

5-year visa. We'll talk about more of this later. This was not what I was

this later. This was not what I was expecting. It wasn't supposed to be part

expecting. It wasn't supposed to be part of this vlog. Okay, I found a little bit of shade under this tree. I don't know how long this video can go. This is

probably the hottest day so far this year. It is 95° F. I don't know how many

year. It is 95° F. I don't know how many C's that is, but it's a lot of C's. So,

let's talk about the details. So, I'm

getting kind of rough estimates because everything is in V&D and the VND is fluctuating. The cost of the lot of land

fluctuating. The cost of the lot of land was about $150. Now, remember that's just the land. We are going to have to build the house on top of it. We're

going to have construction cost, architect cost, permit costs. We're

estimating that the entire cost of the project is going to cost about 100 grand. So, when the house is done, we're

grand. So, when the house is done, we're going to be about 250 grand into the project. But the expectation also at

project. But the expectation also at that point is that the value of the property is going to be worth about $320,000. So we are going to be up on

$320,000. So we are going to be up on the equity house, but of course that's all theoretical. So there aren't really

all theoretical. So there aren't really any mortgages in Daang. Maybe there are, but it's very, very rare. And I'm 100% sure that this landlord would not have accepted the offer if it wasn't all in cash. So we did have to pay all in cash.

cash. So we did have to pay all in cash.

I mentioned that we literally showed up again the next morning and we put down a deposit. I think the deposit was 10%. So

deposit. I think the deposit was 10%. So

I think it was about $15,000 in cash.

When I say cash, I mean like literally VND in a duffel bag, 15 grand in cash, which is like it's a lot of cash. And

the guy literally just sat there on the street counting it. It was like the funniest thing ever. And then about a week later, we got him the rest of the money. Now, we are going to document the

money. Now, we are going to document the entire process of meeting up with the architect construction getting contractors, bidding, actually building the house, and even buying appliances and decorating the interior. So, if you

guys are new to the channel, or if you guys haven't done so yet, make sure to subscribe to the channel. We're almost

at 20,000. We're right there. It's going

to be a really, really fun process and I'm excited to have you guys along for the journey. Now, why do we buy the

the journey. Now, why do we buy the house? Obviously, it's mostly for the

house? Obviously, it's mostly for the content. No, I'm just kidding. You guys

content. No, I'm just kidding. You guys

already heard me say most of the reason is because it is in our family's neighborhood and the opportunity came up and we were kind of the ones that had dry capital available to be able to purchase it. So, part of it obviously is

purchase it. So, part of it obviously is for the family. The more property we have in the neighborhood, the more influence that we have and the more that we can feel comfortable in the area as well. On top of that, Kim's grandparents

well. On top of that, Kim's grandparents are in their 80s. They're living in San Diego right now, but they're actually considering moving back to Vietnam to spend the rest of the years here. So, we

are going to build a house optimizing for the grandparents, assuming that they are going to be the primary residents there. Now, I'm actually not sure if

there. Now, I'm actually not sure if we're going to live in this house. I

think we are. At least we're going to try it, but I'm not sure. So far,

everything about Daang has been convenience convenience convenience.

And even though we're not far away from the busy downtown area, 10 minutes, going from 0 minutes to 10 minutes to be in the thick of things, it's going to be an adjustment. Also, this is a

an adjustment. Also, this is a completely local area, which I do enjoy hanging out in, but once in a while, I want my avocado toast and my asai bowls and my hamburgers. I'm basic. Obviously,

I can drive over there. Obviously, I can have it delivered on Grab as well. So,

these are little things that I'm complaining about. We're probably going

complaining about. We're probably going to try it out, and we're going to see from there. Now, I should mention that

from there. Now, I should mention that foreigners are allowed to buy an allocation of condos in Daang, but not land. You must be a Vietnamese citizen

land. You must be a Vietnamese citizen to buy land. Fortunately, Kim got her Vietnamese citizenship. You guys saw

Vietnamese citizenship. You guys saw that I just got my 5-year visa. So Kim

was able to buy the land under her name.

Now, is Da Nang going to be a permanent home for us? To be honest, probably not.

However, I am confident that Da Nang is going to be part of our life for the rest of our lives. And I think we're going to spend 2 or 3 months here every year. And it's in our family

year. And it's in our family neighborhood as well. So other family members here in Vietnam, in Korea, or Daang when they come here can stay there. And also, we have family here

there. And also, we have family here nearby that can take care of it when we're away. The final thing, of course,

we're away. The final thing, of course, for all property, you have to consider it as an investment. Unless you're super super rich, you're not buying property just as like enjoyment, just as like a toy. So even though this isn't a primary

toy. So even though this isn't a primary motivator, we are considering this as investment as well. So for starters, I cannot imagine any beachfront property anywhere in the world that will not

become desirable in the future. Not to

mention that I think that Daang has some of the most beautiful beaches in the world and 10K here is still relatively untouched. Our front door is literally

untouched. Our front door is literally maybe like 200 ft away from the beach.

I'm pretty sure that when I was younger, I'm a little, you know, creaky now, but when I was younger, I could throw a baseball and probably hit our house. So,

I do think that the land will appreciate. I do think that especially

appreciate. I do think that especially this neighborhood is very, very up and coming. But there are reasons why I'm

coming. But there are reasons why I'm not considering this primarily as an investment property. First of all, if I

investment property. First of all, if I really wanted to buy an investment property, I would buy a cash flowing property. I would buy something where I

property. I would buy something where I could build out multif family property or apartments with commercial space on the bottom so that I could have cash flow coming in as rental. And of course, one of those units we would live in so that we wouldn't have to pay for rent.

This property probably will never go out for rent. We're probably going to live

for rent. We're probably going to live there, but even if we don't, we always need to have it available so that if family wants to use it, they can use it.

And of course, we eventually see Kim's grandparents retiring here in Vietnam and living in this house. So, we don't want to have a tenant in there. So, if I was thinking like an investor, this would not have been the property that we would have gotten. But again, it's more of an emotional decision and a personal

decision for our family and not so much of an investment. Secondly, people in the US really complain that houses are getting really, really expensive. The

average house is about six times the average income for Americans. So take

the average American household income, multiply it by six, and that's about how much a house costs in the US on average.

That's what we complain about as too expensive. Now in Daang, that number,

expensive. Now in Daang, that number, it's 36 times. That's right. You take

the average household income, you multiply by 36, and that's the average cost of a home here in Daang. So many

would argue that we're in a bubble. Many

would argue that we're growing so fast that it makes sense. But regardless, if I was thinking from a purely investor standpoint, this probably wouldn't have been the place where I bought land. Now,

we're coming to the final reason why I wanted to buy land here in Daang. Over

the last 2 days, across like 12 hours, I had the extreme privilege of meeting some of the leadership here in Daang. I

got to meet the mayor, the vice mayor, the head of the department of science and technology, and other people that are in charge of leading the tech and startup ecosystem here in Daang. Already

Kim and her family contribute so much to the city of Daang, whether it's through businesses, programs, charities, and the longer I stay here, the more I want to get involved. I want to contribute to

get involved. I want to contribute to the growth and the development of the city as well. And I think I could do so in a pretty significant way. Now,

unfortunately, in capitalism, if a city is advancing and developing, the GDP is growing. You don't really benefit from

growing. You don't really benefit from that unless you own something in the city. So, you can own a business, you

city. So, you can own a business, you can own a brand, but the easiest way to have ownership in a city is to own land.

Any Vietnamese person that's owned land in Daang City over the last 10 years has benefited significantly. By owning land,

benefited significantly. By owning land, they are participating in the upside of the city and the upside of the GDP, the growth, the wealth that's developing here. Not only do I see the growth and

here. Not only do I see the growth and development around me contributed to by tons of people, but I too want to contribute significantly to that growth.

And if the city benefits from it, I want to be part of the upside as well. Guys,

if you haven't yet and you find this information useful, make sure to like this video. There's a new feature on

this video. There's a new feature on YouTube. I think it's called a super

YouTube. I think it's called a super hype or a super like or a super thumbs up or something. It's a brand new feature. It's free, but it really really

feature. It's free, but it really really gives a strong signal to YouTube to push this video out to more people. I'm back

to the weekly routine of vlogs here in Daan, and it's going to be really exciting. We're going to build a house.

exciting. We're going to build a house.

We're going to do a lot more stuff.

We're going to have cool programs here.

It's going to be a blast. I think I had a lot more to say, but it is so hot here. I don't know if you guys can see,

here. I don't know if you guys can see, but there are beads of sweat dripping down my brow. I have so many cuts in this video because I'm just like Guys, thank you so much for sticking with me all the way to the end of the

video. That's going to be it for me.

video. That's going to be it for me.

I'll see you guys next week. Peace.

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