Preparing the House for Rent on Air B&B

Quick update on what we're doing with our townhouse: We've decided to put it up for rent on Airbnb. This is primarily because we don't know when we'll be back. We'd hate to rent it out for a year, only to come back and evict the renters. It'll require a bit more management on my end, but fortunately we have a couple of friends and family in the area who offered to check up on the place.

This move naturally provides us a great chance to purge unnecessary items laying about the house and in closets. We've already made a few trips to the local Goodwill donation drop-off site. Don't be surprised if I'm offering random goods to you when you visit.

Turns out Airbnb is really easy to set up. Their user interface is really straight forward and easy to use, they connect to your PayPal account for quick receipt of payments, they offer to send a free photographer to your place to take professional photos for use on your listing page, and they have a mobile app that helps you manage your listing and communication with potential renters.

There are definitely risks in using Airbnb, but in our case, we're planning on leaving our place in such a way so that there isn't anything worth stealing or that couldn't be replaced quickly and cheaply.

Along those same lines, we have to explore the insurance angle to make sure that we're not voiding any policies or otherwise breaking any contract obligations. We don't want our insurance company to balk at helping us if anything catastrophic were to happen to the house.

If you have any experience and advice for using Airbnb, please do let us know!

Tickets: Purchased!

We bought our plane tickets! We used a local travel agency; they offered a price comparable to what we found online, and they will also manage our visa application.

We purchased our ticket for an October departure two months in advance. We paid approximately $660 per person. The 5-year visa option was $125 per person. Fortunately, this travel expense will be reimbursed by the One Body Village organization in trade for our work as volunteers. I figured that it's worth noting the price on this blog in case any of you are interested in purchasing a flight around the same time.

We had to decide between between buying a one-way or round-trip ticket with the option to reschedule a departure within a year. We opted for the one-way because we're really hoping to stay there for longer than a year, assuming I find a job soon after we arrive. The overall decision on a one-way was based on a gut feeling more than anything else. I have no idea what is going to happen when we arrive. We might be forced to leave back home in three months. I also might find a job and stay for longer than a year. We made the optimistic decision to buy a one-way and risk the additional cost of buying a more expensive ticket home within a year.

My personal recommendation is to have the travel agency prepare and submit the visa application. This is mainly because I want it done right the first time. When deciding on visa options, we were provided with the unique option of applying for a 5-year visa that requires us to reenter the country every three months. This option is provided only to overseas Vietnamese. Visa applicants don't have to be Vietnamese nationals, just born in Vietnam, as was my wife. Since we're married, I'm also eligible for the same visa. A 3-month visa required reentry will certainly motivate us to visit neighboring countries since we're in the area.

I wanted to fly Asiana, and I was told by the travel agent that we might have an issue with the fact that we don't have a return flight. Apparently foreigners are not allowed to stay in Vietnam with any level of permanence unless there's some sort of a work opportunity and work visa already secured. The travel agent instructed us to call them for a ready-made solution in the event that we run into any issue at the check-in counter. Essentially, the agent will inform the counter representative that we do have a return flight home, and that we should be allowed to proceed to boarding.

In summary, we pulled the trigger, and this is finally going to happen. We're really excited to embark on this adventure, and equally as thrilled that we can share it with you. Please keep in touch, be it through this blog or through our own Facebook pages and emails. We definitely want to hear how things are going for you at home. It'll give us a great amount of comfort and ease to know that you're doing well as we gradually adjust to a new life abroad.