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Hi BHAGI,

You should have a look at the Housing in Ho Chi Minh City section and post an advert there as well. It might help you.

Thank you,
Christine

There are distinct differences between Quan 4 and Quan 7.

In Quan 7, depending on where you live, public transportation is a hassle - there is shuttle bus from PMH and another, run by Lotte, from their mall in Q7. There is even SaiGon Transit.

On public transport be very concious of pick-pockets, and dress accordingly.

Quan 7 has two distinct areas, at least. The allegedly upscale Phu My Hung (which is way, way over-rated) and the rest.

First of all 'the rest'. Typical Vietnamese area, everyone knows everyone and everything about everyone. Crime levels are what I would rate as medium. (Motorcycle theft, crimes of opportunity)

There are condominiums that are for rental with two-bedrooms going for around USD$400 +++ and include emergency generator, swimming pool, sundeck, indoors (cost) parking.

Some condo's are split by which I mean the main tenant sublets rooms.

PMH (Phu My Hung) is a failed model city, IMO. It appears to be designed on a scale of 150% which makes things very different. The roads resemble arterial highways, there are lots of highrises jammed close together by the river (think mosquitoes, etc).

Anything good in Quan 7 is rated as being in PMH (the Crescent Mall is not in PMH) and anything bad in PMH is rated as being in Quan 7!

Certain utilities are monopolies, but are being broken up. Mainly in communications.

PMH services (shops) are much higher than most anywhere in VietNam other than the Diplo area in Ha Noi. This means you will pay more for accommodation in PMH.

Certain crimes are very high in PMH, for a number of reasons. Essentially non-existent policing, high counts of Foreigners (who don't know what to do if a crime victim), pickpocketing.

I occasionally get to read police crime statistics and PMH crimes include motorcycle robbery (driver pulled from vehicle, which is then stolen), motorcycle theft (master keys often used especially Hondo and Sym), sexual assault (breast squeezing), a VN flasher who enjoys shocking Foreigners around the FV Hospital area, pickpocketing, theft of dogs/pets on leashes in presence of Foreign owners, etc. Truly eye-opening and some the PMH crowd don't like to discuss too much.

Nguyen Van Linh Highway is the great divide.

Crescent Mall is upscale, somewhat over-priced. The good news is they are getting a brand new competitive mall on the opposite side on Nguyen Van Linh which should bring the prices down.

Many mall opening stores have closed through lack of business.

Quan 4 also has a split personality - high crime and lower crime.

The biggest hassle with Quan 4 is that it has three bridges connecting it with Quan 1, one with Quan 5, and two with Quan 7.

Rush hours are absolute killers. Hoang Dieu and Khanh Hoi carry most of the traffic from Quan 1. Noisy, dusty and dirty. Avoid both streets.

In the into town rush Tan Vinh is a mad house with the two-lanes being occupied by traffic in one direction. Always got a vicarious delight in driving my small truck counter to the flow, really screws the illegal drivers up.

Tan Vinh is not the only busy street in the mornings, Hoang Dieu and Khanh Hoi are also busy.

Add to this flooding, every month when the leap tides arrive, affecting the same three roads. Really screws up the traffic!

Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights (mornings) are when the motorcycle gangs (hundreds of machines) travel the very same roads, very slowly and very noisy and usually between 02.00H and 04.00H. Really great for not sleeping.

On the Quan 1 side of Hoang Dieu are some condo's. You can find rooms there. Medium priced although the utilities might cost you some.

Quan 4 smells. It is surrounded by sewage canals, where the water that floods the streets comes from. The stench of fresh sewage is strongest at low tides when the sun is out gently heating the sludge up.

You are, IMO, better looking for accommodation in Quan 3, Quan 1 and Quan 5 - none are worse than Quan 4 or 7.

CraigsList VietNam is a great renting resource.

7 distric may be safer than 4

A bit of help here:

sewage canals

Sewage (sewerage) is exclusively the name given to waste transported in a sewer.

A canal is a different animal altogether.

I think the erudite Mr Hughes would better insult Vietnam (yet again) by calling the canal that runs through district 4 an 'open sewer'. A more caustic jibe in his ongoing quest of insulting Vietnam and the Vietnamese (specifically District 4 and all who reside there)

It doesn't smell and is quite beautiful. Many fishermen now enjoy the walkways and spend many happy and fruitful hours there. Joggers are plentiful AM and PM. Riverside Palace is a very upmarket venue for weddings etc. Movie sets and fashion shoots abound.

Take a look around.

District 7 is also quite beautiful.

Good luck to the OP on his search ( he may even encounter our intrepid reporter on patrol in his mask, cape and POV camera )

Hi
I don't think The Crescent mall is not in PMH. There are many areas in PMH (included in The Crescent mall) and each area has their own safeguards. These safeguards interchange to patrol 24/7. Also, The crime appears anywhere in world even where it's safe as it will be. PMH has the lowest rate of the crime in HCM city (lower than Dist.1)
Living in PMH, you can enjoy the fresh air, beautiful sightseeing. And that will be good  environment for anyone who like the quite space for working, taking a rest and have the fun family. PMH integrates many utilities: shopping mall, restaurants(Au Lac do Brazil, Alfresco, PHD, A-I-U,.....)
The price for a good apt (2br and safe in PMH) will be 600$->900$->1200$
I live in PMH for more than 3years and I don't want to leave here so I can know it clearly. This is just my attitudes
Hope it can be a good advice for you, BHAGI

PMH is a nice play to live. I am not living there now but often go there to get some fresh air

What is the bus route of this shuttle bus from PMH to downtown and  where can one board it? Also the timing please? Thanks

Bhagi,
Welcome to our forum. Everyone here will try to help you as much as possible, especially Jaitch, who shares a great deal of vaulable information, but tends to skew some of it with his opinions. The information he gave you about Phu My Hung was cut and pasted from his previous posts, and he stands by what he says about the area, regardless of the opinions of others who ACTUALLY LIVE THERE. Best of luck on your search for housing.

Halfway wrote:

Sewage (sewerage) is exclusively the name given to waste transported in a sewer.

A canal is a different animal altogether.

Halfway is British and therefore likely uses the English language differently than some.

There are shipping canals (Suez); a fresh water canal (St. Petersburg, Florida) and there are sewage canals.

Anyone who has looked knows that raw sewage is fed in to the various canals and waterways that permeate TP HCM. In fact, new sewage works have really impressively sized sewage storage tanks that discharge into the sewage canal at low tide.

As someone who has frequented Quan 3 for years, the canal that suddenly appears at Le Binh, and travels between Trunong Sa and Huong Sa was an open sewer that was covered in to that point.

This sewage canal wends it's merry way through these residential districts, accumulating more effluent until it discharges into a river tributary near Nguyen Huu Canh and Cau Thu Thiem in the area of the zoo.

The canals bordering Quan 4 on two of it's three sides receive effluent from Q1, Q4, Q8, etc. are tidal. Where the monthly high tides occur, accompanied or not by rain, many of the streets in adjacent land areas are flooded as the water from the canals backflow down the sewers. There is a mix of sewage and river water.

The canals don't smell, badly, at high tide but on a hot day at low tide they have that unique smell of a sewer.

saigonmonkey wrote:

... but tends to skew some of it with his opinions.

I never use the abbreviation IMHO only IMO!

saigonmonkey wrote:

The information he gave you about Phu My Hung was cut and pasted from his previous posts ...

I rarely cut and post from one post to another ... hard to do when I use an Android smartphone.

saigonmonkey wrote:

... he stands by what he says about the area, regardless of the opinions of others who ACTUALLY LIVE THERE.

I live, and have an office in Quan 7.

An opinion is a judgement determined by someones perspective. If you are happy living in highrises with other highrises staring in your window, then PMH is the place for you.

Apartments in Phu My Hung

Personally, if I were to pay from $1,500-$2,500 monthly, I would expect to see more. But it should make people from NYC or Chicago feel at home.

Jaitch wrote:

I never use the abbreviation IMHO only IMO!

After my post, I realized I misspoke regarding your opinions. You are correct. You are providing facts. However, it's the way you present your facts as seen here...

Jaitch wrote:

I occasionally get to read police crime statistics and PMH crimes include motorcycle robbery (driver pulled from vehicle, which is then stolen), motorcycle theft (master keys often used especially Hondo and Sym), sexual assault (breast squeezing), a VN flasher who enjoys shocking Foreigners around the FV Hospital area, pickpocketing, theft of dogs/pets on leashes in presence of Foreign owners, etc. Truly eye-opening and some the PMH crowd don't like to discuss too much.

Jaitch, I'm calling you out on this. You have posted this before. It's not new information. And given that I live in PMH, and have NEVER witnessed any of the above here, these are just isolated incidents - any of which could happen anywhere in Saigon, or anywhere in the world for that matter.

Jaitch wrote:

I live, and have an office in Quan 7.

Then, as you are so quick to point out, maybe you DO NOT live in Phu My Hung. I do. By the way, have you looked at the logo on the top of the Lawrence S. Ting building RIGHT BESIDE THE CRESCENT MALL? What does it say, Jaitch? Take a photo of it with your smartphone and get back to us.

Jaitch wrote:

An opinion is a judgement determined by someones perspective. If you are happy living in highrises with other highrises staring in your window, then PMH is the place for you.

Yes, you are correct, and as I said, I mis-used the word "opinion" before. However, there you go again, assuming you know where I live. I do live in a high-rise, but I have a clear view eastward, including the Phu My bridge. And there will never be another high-rise blocking my view because there are villas next-door.

Jaitch wrote:

Personally, if I were to pay from $1,500-$2,500 monthly, I would expect to see more. But it should make people from NYC or Chicago feel at home.

I don't pay anywhere near that much, and probably never will, given all of the over-construction that's going on, which will be hard to fill with tenants, ultimately keeping the rents low. And I'm just a small-town guy from North Carolina. But I don't have any problems with anyone from those great cities.

By the way, what's the name and location of the buildings in your photo?