Upon our arrival in Chiang Mai, Thailand, we spent three nights in a hostel near the Old City, Baan Klang Vieng.
The room we stayed in was quite big and clean, with a king bed, desk, and TV, as well as a private bathroom (wet room). The only drawback to the place was the noise factor at night.
Due to being located just off Moon Muang Road and in the Old City you are bound to have lots of traffic and noise as it is a very touristy area and has a lot of hustle and bustle.
Not to mention the dogs and rooster across the street!
Apartment Hunting Process
There were plenty of positives about where we stayed the first three nights.
Our location allowed us to walk out of our hostel and go to one of the many restaurants and cafes that were mere steps away.
The Night Bazaar was also within walking distance as well as the Sunday Market so it eased us into the Chiang Mai lifestyle since we were familiar with these events and found comfort in going out and being a part of it.
Since we had arrived on Sunday afternoon, we absolutely could not miss our fist Sunday Market and fist taste of Thai food.
We had a bit of jet lag but pushed through it and made our way around the Sunday market, ate some food, and returned to the hostel for bed by around 8:30pm.
Looking For Apartments In Chiang Mai
The following day we met with our agent to start our apartment hunting. Let me backtrack a minute to tell you about how we found the agent and set up the appointment.
Rob had done some research online and had found Roberta Metta to be highly recommended by bloggers and YouTubers so we contacted her via e-mail to let her know we were interested in looking for apartments.
Much to our dismay, she was leaving Thailand for the holidays and would not be available to accommodate us. However, she did refer us to a colleague of hers, Mam (landandhouserealtor1@gmail.com).
We promptly e-mail Mam to let her know our request for seeing apartments on Monday and she was able to schedule us in for 11am.
On our second day, December 1st, we were picked up by Mam in front of our hostel and taken around town to view three apartments she had found.
Our e-mail to Mam had included our budget and requested amenities. We wanted to spend $300-$500 a month on rent, have a gym and pool onsite, and washing machine.
She found us apartments that were all built within the last couple of years and all had swimming pools.
We enjoyed all of the apartments she showed us but didn’t want to rush so we decided to contact another agent and see some more options.
The next day, we met with Angkana, who also picked us up from our hostel and gave us a tour of another three apartments.
It was nice to see some additional places with another agent so that we could get a better feel of what all was available to us in order to make a better decision.
Here are some photos from our two-day apartment hunting:
After the second day of viewing apartments we felt really good about our final decision and e-mailed Mam to let her know.
She immediately contacted the owners of the apartment and confirmed that we would be able to move in on the following day.
Getting Our First Apartment In Thailand
On day four, Mam picked us up from the hostel (along with all our luggage) and took us to our new apartment. There, we met with the owner and his wife and signed the lease agreement.
The whole process took about half an hour and we were in our new place! I could not believe how quick and painless the experience was.
I will admit, going into this venture I was extremely worried that we would be lost and confused.
Now that I have gone through the experience, I can tell anyone who is worried about planning and having everything all set before they arrive that, as long as you have done some research on your own and have gotten in touch with an agent, things will work themselves out.
Just keep yourself open and flexible.
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