NotaNutter

My two cents worth. . .

Like the 'Lazy Sod', I've also been looking at some Pattaya agent websites recently as I was thinking of buying a house with the wife. I liked a couple of properties and sent emails to two agents inquiring if the properties are still for sale (they were/are). Ever since the agents send me follow-up emails every few days asking when I'm next coming to Pattaya as they'd like to show me a "selection of properties".

My point? I get the impression from the tone of their emails that they are getting a bit desperate for somebody to at least view the houses.

I read yesterday that the US housing market is slipping. If the UK market follows then I reckon it could spell trouble as from what I hear quite a lot of the money buying in Pattaya comes from Brits who have made money in the UK property market. I don't think the market is going up in the short term unless they change the laws on foreigners owning property. Are there any estate agents out there who can tell us the current state of the market truthfully? Or is it as people say, "it's always a good time to buy if you ask an estate agent".

Thanks for the replies to date. Would appreciate if someone who knows could let me know the reason why the villa's at the rear of the development and near the sea aren't started yet and the ones that have been built aren't finished, and why it all seems to be progressing quite slowly. Anybody actually know? Obviously, I can ask the developer, and I've no reason to doubt their honesty, but it would be nice to have an unbiased response from the forum as well. Cheers.

OK, maybe I will. . . Why are the villa's at the rear of the development and near the sea not started yet and the ones that have been built aren't finished?

Actually I've been wondering if the two large plots near the sea (which I think were sold from Day 1) are planned for condo, blocking the view of the sea for the villas. Seems kinda strange that somebody with the kind of money needed to buy those two plots hasn't started construction on their villa yet.

I'm considering buying a villa in Pattaya/Jomtien and looked at Majestic about 18 months ago. The location seems good, the developer has a good track record (View Talay Villas), but I can't figure out why there are still quite a few plots left unsold after nearly 2 years on the market, it's not a particularly big project. Are there problems? Anybody know?

I don't know if it's going to crash or not, but there are currently some trends which get me thinking. For example, today in the Bangkok Post classifieds there is a 315m2 condo at Kallista Mansion going for 16.5M. This is only 52,000 per m2. From what I remember Kallista is one of the top grade A condos in a great location, and it's not very old. I also see President Park condos for sale for about 52,000 per m2. From memory I think these prices are as low as they got during the last crash, and as the OP points out there are many more NEW units coming onto the market soon. Add to that rising interest rates, the MRTA/BTS route extensions (making it just as convenient to live outside the CBD), and there seems to be a case for CBD condo prices to remain under pressure for quite some time, especially 2nd hand ones. In other words I guess it's probably a bad idea to buy a new CBD condo just now unless you simply want somewhere to live and don't care about the investment potential.

Oh, another observation is that exactly the same units are for both sale and rent, not just in the Bangkok Post but also on various agents websites. Read into that what you will, but I'm guessing the owners are willing to cut their losses if they can't rent them out soon.

Nadia, what if. . .

The TLC is owned 49% by the foreigner, and 51% by the Thai spouse. Considering that the TLC was established after they married then the share capital and assets of the TLC came from their joint marital property. The TLC rents out the house as a legitimate property rental business, and pays appropriate taxes. Anything wrong with that in your opinion?

I read somewhere in TV that the '4 Thai employees to 1 Foreigner' Ratio is a rule of thumb requirement for a 12 month Business Visa, but it's not a requirement for a Work Permit.

I have PR and so I don't need a Visa. Does this mean that I can be the sole employee of a Thai Company (with no Thai employees), and still obtain a work permit?

In my experience the maximum loan period (for a loan guaranteed by a foreigner) is 7 years, although some banks may stretch this to 10 years if you are a particularly good customer. If you can accept this loan period then SCB is the bank I suggest you try first.

It would also be interesting to see a similar poll, with the same options, on the subject of "How I lost money due to buying land". I think the Top 2 percentage returns would be around the same (but the company route very low). In other words, I suggest that you don't buy land in your partner's name unless you can afford to lose it, or unless you are relatively certain that you'll be staying together. Just my two pennies worth, everyone's circumstances are different of course.

Stick with the Company Mobi, you can always change it to a lease later if necessary. What they gonna do? Confiscate the 1000's of properties owned by these Companies, that would hit tourism, investment, etc.. My guess is that the people in power would love to liberalise the property laws but they fear a backlash drummed-up by whoever is in opposition at the time. I think the status quo will remain as it suits everyone.

As far as I can tell there are no decent condos to buy in Bangna. The ones around the Central Bangna complex are dating fast, and I pity the people who bought there during the peak of the mid-90's. If you're looking to buy property in the Bangna area I'd recommend a house instead.

Seems to be quite a lot of work to liquidate and close a Company, perhaps this makes the purchase of land using a Company safer than I thought.

Suggest you try Samitivej Sukhumvit 49 and you'll see the difference immediately. It's well worth the extra few thousand Baht in my opinion, especially for something as important as a birth.

I'm planning an extension to my house in Bangkok. Can anybody recommend a quality builder?

Sunbelt, regarding your last 2 paragraphs above. Does this mean that if somebody has Permanant Residency status then they don't need the 4 Thai employees? (they don't need to contact immigration?)

Why don't you buy Condo's.? That way they are in your name and you dont have to go through all the problems of starting a company, etc!

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I don't think condos are a good buy in Bangkok at the moment. Prices around 9M for a 2 bed, lots more coming onto the market soon, competition from serviced apartments, and long term I've seen very few condos that increase in value here.

Thanks, it wasn't an oversight though, I didn't want to confuse the issue. The other 5 shareholders would only hold a miniscule % of the company as is normal here.

I'm thinking of buying another house to rent out as a side business. I'm fairly familiar with the land ownership laws here, and I am wondering if the following arrangement is 100% legal (I think it is, but would welcome any comments).

Concept:

1. Set-up a company to buy the house with a shareholding of 39% myself and 61% my Thai wife (with myself as the sole director/signatory).

2. Buy the house in the company name.

3. Rent the house out to paying tenants with rent paid to the company, all properly declared with yearly accounts, paying tax, etc.

I think this is 100% legal because (officially):-

1. The 61% is not held by "nominees" as a way to circumvent the land ownership laws. Instead the 61% is held by my wife as we are partners in the business as husband and wife.

2. The business is legitimately trading (not a shell company).

Any comments would be welcome.

I assume by mean "bogus" you mean the company is only set-up to buy a house. But even if it is "bogus", I also have never heard of anyone losing a house because it has been bought using a company.

I'm about to buy a 42" plasma. Can somebody please let me know which UBC channels are transmitted in a format which fills the screen without too much distortion?. I mainly watch BBC, HBO, Cinemax, and the football, do these particular channels look good? It's frustrating that the shops don't have a UBC signal in order to test this, silly when you consider that most people who can afford plasmas will probably be using UBC.

The thread currently on page 2 of this forum titled "Falang Name On Land Title" could change a lot of things (for the better) if indeed it turns out to be a new regulation. SM - have you or any of your legal contacts heard about this?

Perhaps the lawyers will not be broadcasting this, or will be reluctant to confirm it.

I heard that even the small-ish foreign oriented law firms here EACH set-up about 20-40 of these companies a month in order for us foreigners to buy a house. They charge about 15,000 for the annual accounts/audit/tax filing per company, let's say they've been in operation for 5 years then they'll be earning steady income of:-

15,000 Baht x 20 (companies per month) x 12 months x 5 years = 18 million each year just for the annual filings (on top of what they charged to set-up the company in the first place).

Let's face it, many foreigners who buy houses here are married to Thai's, or eventually end-up marrying Thai's. This could be very significant. Thanks to Bob for this heads-up. Let's hope it's true.

But that would be fair to foreigners This sounds too good to be true. Hope it is though.

Did you still have to sign the standard document confirming that your wife paid for the land and that you have no rights to it?

Wow! This seems very interesting. I forward to seeing the replies to this post.