how i found a legit apartment in chiang maim (and almost got scammed)

look, i’m a broke ass student who just landed in chiang mai thinking this would be easy. cheap living, right? famous last words. the first week i couch-surfed at a guy’s place above a 7-eleven that smelled like fried dough and regret. my backpack smelled worse. the humidity here isn’t just humidity-it’s like breathing soup. a thick, tom yum soup that never ends. and the neighbors? dude, the lady next door practices some kind of ghost-singing thing at 2 am. i’m not joking. i looked it up. it’s a thing.

anyway, apartment hunting. supposedly you can snag a studio for ฿5,000-฿8,000/month (that’s like $140-220 usd) if you don’t mind a fan and a hot plate. reality check: most of those listings on facebook groups are ghosts. fake posts with stolen pics from nicer places. i learned that the hard way. sent a deposit to a “super cute place near the old city” and the messenger account vanished. poof. ฿10,000 gone. felt like a total idiot.

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> “beware the ‘too good to be true’ near the moat. always ask for the ‘lor toor’ (door number) and go see it. no video calls. no exceptions.”
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> - overheard at a noodle shop from some long-term expat looking at his phone like it’s a horror screen.

so i got paranoid. started treating this like a research project. actual data: average rent for a basic khing (room) outside the old city is ฿6,500. inside the old city? easily ฿10,000+ for a closet with charm. utilities usually ฿500-฿1,000 extra. internet is a separate hustle-you gotta buy your own fiber, about ฿600/month for 100/100 mbps. i use true, but mtc’s cheaper. don’t just take the landlord’s word.

now, the job market for students? mostly teaching english or slinging coffee. pay is ฿300-฿450/hour if you’re lucky. so renting more than 30% of your monthly income will murder you. i gave myself a hard cap of ฿7,000. that meant living in areas like the east side (phra that) or way up north towards mae hia. not trendy, but quiet. and the trade-off is being a 20-minute songthaew (red truck taxi) from the night bazaar chaos.

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> “landlords will try to nickel-and-dime you on ‘cleaning fees’ when you move out. take videos day one. every corner. i learned after they tried to charge me ฿2,000 for ‘oil stains’ on a stove i never used.”
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> - a visual arts student at cmu who now looks at contracts like they’re landmines.

weather note: right now it’s that brutal hot season. like, “i’m melting into a puddle of poor decisions” hot. but the good thing? a short flight (or a grueling 3-hour van ride) gets you to pai or chiang rai where it’s actually crisp. sometimes you just need to escape the soup.

i finally found mine through a tip in the r/chiangmai sub-some weirdo posted about a lady in hang dong who only deals in person and cash. no contracts, but she gave me the keys and said “pay on the 1st, or you’re out.” brutal? yes. transparent? also yes. my place is a concrete box with a balcony that looks at a durian tree. there are geckos. i’m cool with it. cost: ฿6,800, all-in except wifi. i pay that separately.

pro-tips that saved my ass:
- *never wire money. ever. not through line, not through bank. cash in hand, inspect the key works.
- ask to see the chanod (the blue house book). if the landlord can’t produce it, run. it means the place might be illegal or they’re subletting illegally.
- check the water pressure at 6 pm-that’s peak usage. if it’s a drip, you’ll regret it.
- use google street view to “walk” the soi (alley) before you go. is there a stray dog army? a open sewer? that’s your vibe.
- join the facebook group ‘chian mai housing - rooms & apartments for rent’ but treat every post like a potential scam until proven otherwise. i found mine because someone commented “this is my aunt’s real place, i can vouch” and had a profile with real pics. still nearly didn’t trust it.

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> “the ‘agent fee’ is usually a scam. there’s no such thing here. if they ask for ฿1,000 to show you a room, tell them to kick rocks.”
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> - a barista who’s seen it all.

so yeah. it’s possible. you just gotta be a paranoid detective. swing by areas like nimmanhaemin but look at the tiny sois behind the main road-that’s where the deals are. avoid anything with “service apartment” unless you have a trust fund. those are for digital nomads with expense accounts.

here’s the map of where i’d say is the “sweet spot” for under ฿7,000: not the tourist trap heart, but the lungs around it.

some visual inspiration of what you’re actually getting for that price (spoiler: it’s not the instagram lie):

i’m not an expert. i’m just a student who cried once. but if you wanna dig deeper without selling your soul to a scammer, check: the chiang mai subreddit’s housing thread, the ‘thai visa’ expat forum (yes it’s old but the housing horror stories are legendary), and actually use tripadvisor to read reviews on neighborhoods* not just hotels.

the truth? you’ll probably still get scammed once. it’s a rite of passage. but after that, you learn to spot the fakes. and the durian tree outside my window? it’s about to ripen. smell is another thing you’ll get used to here. everything smells like something. even the scams.

how i found a legit apartment in chiang maim (and almost got scammed)

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About the author: Olivia Dawn

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