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On 5/31/2017 at 5:29 PM, Peterw42 said:

OP, Agents dont just sell here , they act as agent for a buyer as well and add a margin to the asking price. Something you may wish to consider given that you didnt have the property listed and the agent found you.

There are some weird and wonderful deals that go on here, there is sometimes a difference between what you accept and what the agent is selling it for, a bit extra for the agent on top of the commission.  The key word being "accept". Its not considered illegal or even unethical by the agents as they are getting you the price you accepted and the buyer is happy with what they are paying.

 

My wife sells realestate and I have seen agent represent a buyer to her, they agree on a price, she sells the property for her seller, gets her commission etc, but the (buyers) agent is adding 100k to the selling price. I have seen my wife return from the land office with a bank cheque for the seller and no idea what the buyer paid. 

 

As lawyers are not always involved and the agents do the land office dealings, its an easy exercise for them.

The role of an agent is to get maximum value for the seller.  If the agent thinks they can achieve more then it is their duty to tell them so.  If the agent overprices the property it will not sell and the agent earns nothing.  This is why commissions can only be based on a percentage, agents should be the ones to keep the balance in pricing and not to be stealing from the owner.

On 6/11/2017 at 8:36 PM, KittenKong said:

 

If property was sensibly priced here it would sell quickly to an early viewer. This is why agents in the UK manage perfectly well on 1 or 2%.

 

The only reason that property hangs around forever here is because prices are much too high and quality is often low, and one of the main reasons that prices are much too high is because agents bump the prices up either in order to cream off the top or to have some extra margin for negotiation, or some other devious reason.

Just another example of bad Thai economics as far as I'm concerned.

I think you will find it is often not the agent (if honest) who is listing for too much.  In Western countries when you call an estate agent the first thing is to get them to value the property and advise how much they think it is worth.  In Thailand however most Thais call an agent and tell them I want XXXX amount of baht for their property.  The figure they want is usually based on gossip, how much they owe the bank or which new car they want to buy.  We have had sellers say their house must be worth 500,000 baht more than a brand new house which is exactly the same because they have paid 500,000 baht off their mortgage.  Logic or facts seldom prevail when a Thai sells a property; we walk away from 9 out of 10 property listings we look at due to them being wildly overpriced by the owner.

It is almost impossible to value land in Thailand for the simple reason hat no one tells the truth.  In the land office they say the price is cheaper than the actual price to reduce taxes paid at point of sale (so Government figures are useless).

Outside of the land office both buyer and seller tell everyone the price is more than the real figure to make them appear more wealthy and increase their status within the local community.

On top of that you get the wealthy Chinese land owners who have all the best plots in town and don't care about selling although everything is for sale if you don't mind paying the same price for a rice paddy in the middle of nowhere as a plot on Sukhumvit road next to Nana BTS.  The gossip from the old ladies in the local Somtam shop also play a big part as they often are seen as village elders who know everything (Khun Yai) about anything but they are likely to pay a compliment by telling any owner their land is worth 4 times its actual value.

The only way to ascertain a true value is through experience and knowing the real sales prices of local land and not listen to the gossip (the somtam price as I like to call it). It's not like the West where you can do a quick search on the internet and find out what next door sold for 6 months ago.

Example: we have a piece of land near the airport in Ubon for 4.4m and the price is negotiable, we received a call from another land owner asking us to sell his land on Monday. The same sized plot, almost identical in location but this guy wants 25m for it.  We see examples of this every week where people seemingly pluck a figure out of thin air or decide they want x amount because that's what they owe the bank or that's the price of the new Benz they want to buy.

The original proposal maps of the ring roads from 4 years ago.

I have to say in defense of Preben I also have a real estate business in Isaan but in a different province, only a couple of years old and had similar problems getting my 1 year non B.

Thanks for the kind comments Marty only just seen this thread.

We're happy to market your house we just need a sales contract which is exclusive to Ubon Homes. I seem to remember your wife wanted the opportunity to sell herself which is fair enough but from our point of view it can create problems. Many buyers wish to circumvent the agent as they are aware most agents here add on to the price agreed with the owner, see below, so the problem occurs when the potential buyer finds the property and goes direct to the owner, the owner may not be aware it was first viewed via our marketing and proceeds to make the sale without us and therefore we don't get paid.

The commission in Ubon is 3% but often this is not enough for Thai agents who often dream about making fortunes from one deal and therefore add on. It is the job of the agent to get the maximum value possible for the owner hence why it can only work on a percentage, adding on to the price is nothing short of theft from the owner. i.e if I think I can sell your property for more than you are asking for it then I have a duty to do so not add on and keep the difference for myself. The more I sell for, working on a percentage, the more I get for commission. However the agent needs to be able to balance and make sure the property is not over priced otherwise they will not sell and get zero commission. This often doesn't bother the local agents as many don't spend any money marketing so have nothing to lose other than their time.

You would be amazed at some of the calls we get from other agents saying they want to sell one of the properties we have listed but want to add on to the extent they want 2 or 3 times the value of the property for themselves. Sometimes as much as 50-100 million they want to mark up the price on a big piece of land. Not sure how they come to the conclusion they are entitled to get more than the actual owner would get or who they intend to sell to at such astronomical prices. The reality is that these people seldom sell anything.

Any property needs to be priced correctly, valuing is important but difficult as no official gov figures are available and the whole industry is based on gossip. For a house like yours you need to look what the developers are selling similar sized houses and come well under what they are asking as they set the benchmark but offer a new product which is under warranty and have fancy show homes to draw in buyers. The advantage of a house like yours however is that the buyer can put the furnishing cost on a 30 year loan rather than have to buy then spend a great deal more kitting the house out.

Hope this helps!

John

Sadly a far too common story, certainly not exclusive to Phuket.

We know of a similar case in the North East of Thailand right now but thankfully not for that sort of money, small change in comparison but still not the sort of amount you would want to wipe your mouth of.

I found when I was looking for AC Units in Ubon to cool a big shophouse area like this all the AC shops quoted double what the energy websites quoted. I think the formula they use is somewhat biased in favour of profit.

Try what the website BTU calculators tell you first then increase if necessary, ou can always add another unit later on. Professional AC guys told me if you have too many BTU it does cool the room quicker but the air doesn't get conditioned properly and you end up with condensation. You can see this sometimes in 7/11's, they tend to go a bit overboard in those places.

Unfortunately people have little imagination and copy each other. There are many unoccupied shop houses in ubon but that doesn't stop people building many more and asking as much as 9-10 million baht for them. This is Bkk prices. Some sell but not sure what business the buyers are thinking of doing to make it worth while. Can't see a little som tam shop producing returns to warrant this much.

PM sent Barleydoggy. We have many rural properties for sale message me for further details!

An easy and cheap method is to install a black (metal if possible) chimney in the roof. The idea being that the black metal will get hotter than the roof cavity and will draw the hot air out through the chimney flue. A fan embedded in the ceiling to create air movement in the loft may also help.

Kham Yai is about the nicest area to raise a family in my opinion, however finding a property for rent is a different matter altogether. I look at land and houses everyday as a job but it's very difficult to find decent rentals here. If I come across any on my travels I'll let you know KunMatt!

Bloomberg is a media outlet and the word "recession" makes for an eye catching headline.

The reality is that GDP was down in respect to the same quarter of the previous year. This is not a recession merely a slowing in growth from the previous year.

I wonder how much Mayor Bloomberg and his friends made by shorting the baht and SET after the report? No wonder he's a billionaire!

Hi all I'm due to meet with Anthony Brooks in Chiang Mai but having difficulty reaching him. Would anyone who knows him please give him my phone number 084 9000743 and ask him to call John.

Thanks!

Sent from my GT-S5570 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Great response thanks guys! I'll be staying in the Pratunam area so I'll be sure to track down one of the suggested shops,

Much appreciated thanks again!

Off to Bangkok on Monday and wondered if there's anywhere trustworthy enough to dry clean an expensive suit. I was thinking one of the big hotels.

Up in the North East they think dry cleaning means drying the clothes after washing them.

Cheers

All the best with the treatment George.

There's a resort on the same soi as the cancer centre but further down towards Chayangkun end, It's about halfway along the soi (which is quite long) on the right hand side if you're coming from the hospital. It looks nice from the outside with Isaan style buildings that are relatively new by the looks of things but I couldn't tell you anymore about it than that.

Hope this helps!

It isn't a recession as stated; it's merely a slowing of growth. That said there is a definite credit bubble that will burst however unlike the Western countries the Thai Gov have made a bit of an attempt to tighten up lending standards a little bit which will certainly help to prolong the bubble somewhat I'm sure.

The other advantage is that there are talks of more industry coming to Thailand with the creation of 9 new industrial estates and rumours a large Japanese car manufacturer will relocate their steelworks to Thailand due to poor quality production in China. This would be nice to see and will no doubt help boost the economy.

and thanks for recommending my website Highlander!

PM sent to you Mike!

AliasJohn could you PM me with the details please it seems I cannot PM you, I guess not enough posts!

Thanks!

There exists a Thai government website (only in Thai) where one can check for the officially closed prices for deals. Needs registration with Thai ID card.

Hi could you also send me a link to this site please.

Thanks in advance!

Hi all I'm also sorry for hijacking this thread.

I was wondering if any of you had any luck with finding a box manufacturer? I need however many it is for minimum order 100(h)x90(w)x100(l)cm boxes with an A4 sized logo on each side and it needs to be strong enough to export 20kg (was told level 5-7). Any pointers would be much appreciated!