serviced apartments in phnom phen

[tomtom345]

hi all , I want to go to Cambodia for about 2 months in order to see weather I like place and eventually live there permanently.

I was wondering if there are lots of serviced apartments in phnom phen like in pattaya?

and are there any regions in which there are lots of them in particular?

and finally how much would a nice typical studio apartment that say in pattaya can be had in 10-15k baht should cost me outside the riverfront area?

[tomtom345]

sorry i forgot to say that i'm not only talking about serviced apartments but rooms for rent on a monthly basis.

[DogNo1]

There are nice parts of town. It might be good to go to those areas and ask around. Some locals and expats can probably give you the lay of the land. Good luck!

[mikebell]

There are nice parts of town. It might be good to go to those areas and ask around. Some locals and expats can probably give you the lay of the land. Good luck!

I stayed there 3 nights in April. The place was disgustingly dirty - uncollected garbage every where. My wife thwarted a necklace snatch on our first day. Every one we talked to had similar tales. Do not go there. I loved Siem Reap.

[Kaoboi Bebobp]

Taking into account my experience and that of friends . . . Thailand is unbeatable in terms of quality and value for money in accommodations. The floor rent for a place approaching western standards is about $500 in PP, but mostly above. Everyone points to the Russian Market area (Toul Tom Pong) for value but it's quite a moto hike from there to the bar/resto area and traffic is horrendous for the daylight hours.

If you want to pay less, you're looking at Khmer style apartments which are usually big but never any air con in the main room. You will have iron bars on every window and have to walk down largely unlit streets into a barely lit alley and walk up poor, narrow back stairs. This is common.

I tried and failed to find an apartment in three attempts the end of last year. People have used agents but you're paying a big premium to cover the agents fee. It takes a lot of footwork to find the right place. So advise finding temporary accommodation, 2-3 months and spend a lot of time talking with local expats and walking around to get the "right place."

So yeah, it's not easy. I have lived in PP before and got lucky though I suffered from living in a Khmer style apartment, nice as it was, because the main room had no a/c. The main rooms often have ventilation slots at the tops of the walls below the ceiling. Makes it hard to put in a/c without covering up all dozens of slots.

In my experience, western style apartments will run you $600 and up to $1000 a month for short term. Good luck.

[Sheryl]

Serviced apartments I have used include:

Embassy Place Apts (great, but expensive - over $1,000/month)

Colonial Mansion (ditto)

Himwari (ditto but most expensive of all and not IMO worth the added $)

Green Mansion 1 and 2 - also nice and less expensive than the above but still over $500.

I believe all 3 have websites

You can also find some places on airbnb that are around $600-700/month

I've never seen a place with studios, 1 BR is the smallest I have seen.

[TheSiemReaper]

There are literally dozens of serviced apartment providers in Phnom Penh. The lowest costs tend to be $400-$500 a month with much more than that possible, More depends on the location and facilities you want than on the size of the apartment or the standard inside.

I completely disagree with the person above who states Thailand offers the best value for money in apartments. Every apartment I've been to in Thailand for less than $1,000 a month in rent would make a lovely shoebox but I certainly wouldn't want to live in it. Here in Siem Reap I have a huge apartment with 24 hour security (real security, I can leave a $1,000 mountain bike outside unlocked and it won't be stolen - in fact it's been there for a week now), pool, gym, maid service, etc. for $600 a month... Good luck finding somewhere similar in a popular Thai expat destination. And I'd rather boil my ghoulies in hot water than live in a Khmer-style place.

Agents fees are fixed by law in Cambodia (one month's rent on a 1 year contract) and it doesn't matter how you find your house - someone's getting paid an agent's fee. If it's not an actual agent - it will be the motodop who drives you to the place. So ignore the assertion that you're paying a steep fee for an agent - you aren't. Though one imagines that some agents try to talk the rent up in order to make a bigger fee.

Finding temporary accomodation is ridiculously easy with nearly all serviced apartments and indeed hotels willing to cut a long-stay but not too long a stay deal with someone. If you're really stuck and want somewhere dirt cheap - go to Street 172 and ask an expat, it may take you a whole 24-48 hours to find somewhere suitable.

MikeBell seems to court trouble. I lived in PP for nearly a year and whilst I prefer Siem Reap, there are plenty of nice parts of town and I had nothing stolen in my time there at all nor did I ever feel threatened. As always common sense in desperately poor places is mandatory...

[mikebell]

'MikeBell seems to court trouble. I lived in PP for nearly a year and whilst I prefer Siem Reap, there are plenty of nice parts of town and I had nothing stolen in my time there at all nor did I ever feel threatened. As always common sense in desperately poor places is mandatory..'

There were four of us: my daughter/son-in-law + my wife (Thai) and I. We were walking on the pavement facing on-coming traffic. Two locals drove slowly towards us. The passenger attempted to snatch my wife's necklace but she managed to evade his grasp. It was 11am in broad daylight. The would-be thieves circled back on the other side of the road but when they saw they'd been recognised they never returned.

I would like to know how we 'courted trouble'? We were not alone; drunk; it was not after dark. When we re-told our story others had a similar tale to tell: a German lost his camera in the same fashion; a Cambodian waitress was knocked to the ground & her bag taken; and a French lady also had her necklace snatched.

Far from asking for it as The grim Siem Reaper would have it, I suggest it is he who has had a charmed life whilst in Phnom Penh.

[Kaoboi Bebobp]

'MikeBell seems to court trouble. I lived in PP for nearly a year and whilst I prefer Siem Reap, there are plenty of nice parts of town and I had nothing stolen in my time there at all nor did I ever feel threatened. As always common sense in desperately poor places is mandatory..'

There were four of us: my daughter/son-in-law + my wife (Thai) and I. We were walking on the pavement facing on-coming traffic. Two locals drove slowly towards us. The passenger attempted to snatch my wife's necklace but she managed to evade his grasp. It was 11am in broad daylight. The would-be thieves circled back on the other side of the road but when they saw they'd been recognised they never returned.

I would like to know how we 'courted trouble'? We were not alone; drunk; it was not after dark. When we re-told our story others had a similar tale to tell: a German lost his camera in the same fashion; a Cambodian waitress was knocked to the ground & her bag taken; and a French lady also had her necklace snatched.

Far from asking for it as The grim Siem Reaper would have it, I suggest it is he who has had a charmed life whilst in Phnom Penh.

Everyone I know has had something stolen, multiple times, or their homes burgled. An acquaintance has been assaulted twice at his door (he handled it), I nearly had my phone ripped off my ear by moto riders, my (ex) GF was assaulted in a Viet coffee shop by a Khmer man but she glassed him bloody and motodops have offered me everything under the sun, all of it illegal. So yes, a charmed life indeed.

The other stuff about accommodation is merely personal experience offered as opinion. No one is right or wrong.

Edited November 15, 2014 by Kaoboi Bebobp

[TheSiemReaper]

'MikeBell seems to court trouble. I lived in PP for nearly a year and whilst I prefer Siem Reap, there are plenty of nice parts of town and I had nothing stolen in my time there at all nor did I ever feel threatened. As always common sense in desperately poor places is mandatory..'

There were four of us: my daughter/son-in-law + my wife (Thai) and I. We were walking on the pavement facing on-coming traffic. Two locals drove slowly towards us. The passenger attempted to snatch my wife's necklace but she managed to evade his grasp. It was 11am in broad daylight. The would-be thieves circled back on the other side of the road but when they saw they'd been recognised they never returned.

I would like to know how we 'courted trouble'? We were not alone; drunk; it was not after dark. When we re-told our story others had a similar tale to tell: a German lost his camera in the same fashion; a Cambodian waitress was knocked to the ground & her bag taken; and a French lady also had her necklace snatched.

Far from asking for it as The grim Siem Reaper would have it, I suggest it is he who has had a charmed life whilst in Phnom Penh.

Everyone I know has had something stolen, multiple times, or their homes burgled. An acquaintance has been assaulted twice at his door (he handled it), I nearly had my phone ripped off my ear by moto riders, my (ex) GF was assaulted in a Viet coffee shop by a Khmer man but she glassed him bloody and motodops have offered me everything under the sun, all of it illegal. So yes, a charmed life indeed.

The other stuff about accommodation is merely personal experience offered as opinion. No one is right or wrong.

Then I have to come to the conclusion that somehow everyone you know is soliciting their misfortune. I phoned 10 friends in Phnom Penh today and asked them all the same question; have you ever been mugged or had something stolen from your possession in Phnom Penh? They all came up with a "hell no"! The only person, I knew in Phnom Penh, to have had misfortune come upon them in person was a chap whose ex-Khmer-girlfriend arranged a horrific beating for him one day.

Burglary on the other hand is rife and the number of people who get their stuff nicked living in cheap accommodation is scary. This includes 2 friends staying in a tiny room together - who were burgled whilst sleeping in that room... which must have been terrifying.

I've lived all over the world in developing nations including Nigeria back in the 1970s and 1980s... and managed to make it through that (much, much more dangerous) environment without being robbed, raped, killed, etc. In my experience it's always people who don't know how to behave in a desperately poor place that get mugged... if you're not showing off your wealth in public; there are always more attractive propositions out there. Learn to carry a bag so it isn't easily snatched (I buy small rucksacks with handles on the top - so that in crowds I can carry them at knee-height - no-one pickpockets your knees.). Don't wear ostentatious jewelry. And so on...

You'd know better than to try and march through a room of starving people eating a McD's... so why is it that people don't know enough about the world that they'll walk through a poverty ridden place clutching goodies that would take people here 10+ years to earn enough money to buy (and that's assuming those hard-working souls don't eat, rent a home, etc. otherwise their wages are going to cover an iPad and a Canon camera sometime never) waving this stuff everywhere and then wonder why it gets stolen.

[mike2011]

I follow some other online outlets and the topic of thieving and also burglary is becoming more prevalent. From those reports I learned that the motorbike attacks take place often in areas like the central market etc where people go for shopping. In other words, this practice is not necessarily linked to a residential area. It will be difficult to avoid be seen by those thugs. Quite rightly, people need to observe some common sense and prepare themselves as PP is not BKK in that regard.

Burglaries are also not limited to those cheap places. Certainly, some tenants had unsolicited renewed visits from their rental dates or their associates. Often construction workers are involved (like in Thailand). HOWEVER, the perhaps most horrific incicent involving a double murder (wife and baby) took place in an upscale neighbourhood. This is not to doubt SR's observations but to caution against the assumption that higher rents do provide better security. Maybe but maybe not as well. Perhaps a close review of the area, the landlord living nearby, how many tenants etc. are better indicators.

Having said this there are multiple apartments, included serviced, on offer online also for shorter periods. Try for instance, bongthom dot com for example. Some forums are exclusively dedicated to Cambodia have real estate sections that might be help and members have lots of experience.

Reportedly, major savings can be made by avoiding touts/agents. Also prepayment of rent will result also in strong savings. Combined this might amount easily to 40-50% of the asking price. So take the online offers as a ceiling and the maximum asking price. Most apartments are not on online offer. You will find them by scouting your preferred area.

Sorry if this is a little vague but it is more about an approach of how to do it and you apply it to your desired area.

[BKKSnowBird]

I had the same idea and decided Thailand was better.

If you want to come and see just get a guest house.MANY in the $15 to $20 range so you can negotiate $400 to $500 /month.

[Tomtomtom69]

Colonial Mansions I think it's called near Wat Phnom and that new highrise commercial building with the Bank of China in it and very close to the US embassy is worth a try. Their rates have massively increased over the course of just 3 years though, but for monthly rentals they look pretty good.

[Sheryl]

They are under new management and now called Central Mansions.

Very nice apartments and facilities, but indeed pricey.

[tomtom345]

wow thx everyone for the replies. some very good info here.