Having viewed a huge amount of properties over the last few months, Perfect Places thought it might be a good time to give you a heads up on what is happening out in Rental Land.
The general news is very good. The ball is mostly in your court as rents have come down , vacant rental properties have gone up and the light has gone on for many Khmer Landlords…finally !
Villas – This is probably the one area that is the most difficult for us to operate in yet it accounts for 80%-90% of our placements. Rents are negotiable for many properties but actually finding them is very hard ! As you can see by our website [3], we try to list only the very best Villas around as we do not like to simply show our customers anything that comes up. We have a good idea of what an expat wants and many of the villas we find are going so quickly they do not even make it to our website because either we are making a quick phone call to a customer OR the landlord is being approached independently . At this time of year, contracts are expiring so some people are leaving and newcomers are coming in looking for villas. We say it again – you have to be FLEXIBLE. Sorry..but that classic French villa does not exist. Our advice is to carry a deposit with you because a khmer owner will most likely not hold the property for you.
Shophouses- There is now a huge amount of shop houses on the market and they have tumbled in price. Example ; A while ago we looked at a great one in Russian Market and they were asking $550 but it was a bit grubby so we recommended they paint it and then we could rent it for them. They sat on the property for 4 months ( losing $2000 or so in rent ! ) and have finally done a complete refurb on it and now are asking $450 ! There are about 6 shop houses within a stone’s throw from our front door for rent and they have all been for rent for months. If this is what you are after, we can certainly help you.
Top End apartments -The Big Green Fence is now down on the river front and so apartments with a river view are back in demand. Snap them up while you can. Rents start from about $500 for a lower level 1 bed to $2000 for a luxurious 3-4br number but again, they are scarce and go quick.
Low End budget apartments – Not our forte but many signs out on balconies are saying there are plenty to choose from. Feel free to approach the owner yourself and bargain hard. Our friend recently got a one bedroom on the third level just behind Lucky Lucky Supermarket on Golden St for $170 a month !
Perfect paces regularly posts rental properties on the EAS real estate forums [4]
Source: Perfect Places [3]
Links:
[1] http://expat-advisory.com/articles/77
[2] http://expat-advisory.com/articles/1190
[3] http://perfectplaces.wordpress.com
[4] http://www.expat-advisory.com/forum/asia/cambodia/real-estate-cambodia
