Properties have always been considered a lucrative investment by many. I myself spent many years among those who resell properties for profit.
Five years ago, I decided to buy an apartment in Hanoi with my accumulated savings to rent it out and earn additional monthly income.
Like many others in the real estate market, I hoped to make money from this investment.
However, I only realized the harsh reality after five years of renting my apartment.
The broker who helped me buy my apartment told me that he would find tenants for me if I paid him brokerage fees.
They stated that these costs would only be incurred in the first year.
However, I later discovered that if I did not pay more fees in subsequent years, the broker would quietly encourage my tenants to move to newer, cheaper, nicer apartments to cut off my source of income.
I also suffered losses due to maintenance and long waiting time when the apartment was vacant.
Comparing investment costs and returns, I could immediately see that this business model was not as profitable as I had initially hoped.
In fact, many people who buy an apartment to rent face similar situations.
They are forced to accept any tenant regardless of the rent just to avoid having to pay maintenance and various fees for a vacant apartment every month.
When I expressed my intention to buy an apartment and contacted the real estate agent, I immediately received many calls from people saying they were looking to rent an apartment.
However, after purchasing the property, finding tenants became an extremely difficult task and rental prices were much lower than I had initially imagined.
I then realized that these were schemes and schemes of real estate agents and brokers. They may present evidence of rising house prices, but they never reveal the low number of actual transactions.
Hearing information from brokers may make you want to invest in real estate, but in reality, homeowners often struggle.
Whether they want to sell or rent apartments, they will have to accept a price well below the inflated figures provided by agents and brokers.
In conclusion, I just want to share that renting an apartment is not as simple as the overly optimistic rumors spread by real estate agents.
You’ll struggle to get a good price as brokerage fees, maintenance fees and other expenses rise.
Service fees and furniture costs will significantly reduce your profit margin, to the point where it could even be less than the interest on a savings account.
Finally, after five years of trying to keep my apartment, I had to sell it to reduce losses.
The amount of losses incurred was not small, but if the real estate market had frozen, things would have been even worse.
I read that recent data shows that list prices for affordable and mid-range apartments in Hanoi have increased by about 2% this year.
From 2015 to 2023, the apartment price index in the capital increased by more than 80%.
However, like many others, I believe these are simply inflated prices that do not accurately reflect market reality.
But what do you think about investing in an apartment to rent?
Tran Yen Mai Reader
*This review was translated into English by AI. Readers’ opinions are personal and do not necessarily correspond to those of VnExpress.
