SDM0712

We work to the same standards as demanded and required by UK Law.

Rather than quote your post and then repeat each question with an answer, let me do it this way. SDM

We work to the same standards as demanded and required by UK Law. SDM

And that has exactly what to do with Thailand?

It means only that I am used to working in a legal system that holds me accountable for pretty much everything I do. Anyone using our services will receive the same standards of service that are expected as a norm in the UK. This will only mean anything to Brits as I am really unsure how real estate agents are regulated in other countries. SDM

Are those laws you refer to enforcable in Thailand?

Not at all, but if you accept what I have said above then they don’t need to be. SDM

Let me ask you, for selling, what percent do you charge, the going rate in Bkk is 3%

do you give a finders fee?

My firm charges 5% for sales and 10% for rentals. If someone passes me a name and that person actually buys or rents something I will give them 10% of my fee. However I do not go out of my way to look for referrers hence the poor reward.

Lets assume I find a buyer for one of your properties listed, then what?

As above, but to be honest I prefer to find buyers by our standard advertising methods. Everyone in this country is an agent and in the beginning I dealt with people who “knew someone” that wanted to buy. But it usually turned out to be someone, who knew someone, who overheard their boss was looking for something. This is far too messy for me and I hate mess. To many links, too many Chinese whispers, too unreliable. I do not court this kind of business.

You talk about acting on behalf of the buyers

I never said that. What I said was that the services that we provide can be of use to buyers. We do not generally act for buyers, we act for sellers since they pay our fee and are thus our clients. Very occasionally we are retained by a buyer to find a property for them if we have nothing that suits on our books. This means that they will pay us a percentage of the purchase price if we do find something but also means we have to comb other agents ads, private ads etc looking for the right thing for them. Again, this is not business that we court.

……. lets assume you advise a client his property is worth 5 million baht, you take 3% or 150,000 baht. Lets assume I offer 4 million cash, your take will be 120,000 baht, but I offer to give you a brown envelope with 30k in cash to make up your shortfall, please expand.Bel

You may believe this or not, it is of no consequence to me, but the suggestion in itself offends me. Remember I have a very different professional background to many agents here, but this does go on here and in my home. For companies that I own, have owned and corporations that I have worked for this would warrant summary dismissal. Also my UK Company is in one of London’s most expensive suburbs, it does very well and I still have my proper salary from there. I suppose to feed my family in the worst situation perhaps I would be tempted, but the reality is that I don’t need to.

Hopefully I have answered all your questions satisfactorily !

SDM

, and then kick sh*t out of the thief.....

Reminds me of the good old SPG, is that officer savage ?

SDM

Nope, not me. Never did any of the things in the OP,

Believe it or not, this is not a serious problem. It is certainly not a SERIOUS problem.

No laws have been changed either. But there is a new sheriff in town,

His name is not Barney Fife.

No me either, not once. If ever there was a void between visas due to me needing to get more paperwork etc Immigration always gave me a four week extension to sort it all out. Let's face if most Western countries would behave in a similar way. A tourist visa is intended to be used by a genuine tourist, and nothing else.

SDM

First, find the good agent.......

As for the time the agent spends online doing this, having designed several websites for real estate agents I know that it is minimal. Many of the pay sites that show listings from more than one agent get the data automatically from the agent's own site anyway. I have implemented this myself.........

If an agent actually does all things that you mention then there is an argument to be made for them being worth something.

But here where all expenses are much lower the same service is commonly charged at 5%, which seems vastly overpriced especially as a fairly unexciting condo can here can easily be the same price as a whole house in parts of the UK. It all seems very poor value to me.

Thank you.

Firstly, From your response I can see you do after all attach some value to some agents and it even looks like you have been indirectly involved in agency work your self by designing the websites. The data feeds you refer to though are very poor here in Thailand and no substitute for direct uploading.

Secondly, I can only speak for what my firm does, and we do not as a rule do any joint business with other agencies. We work to the same standards as demanded and required by UK Law.

Thirdly, you talk about value for money, let me remind you that since your are referring to use of agent for the buyer, that buyers do not pay agents anything. So I would say its excellent value for money !!

Let's leave it there, have a good day.

SDM

……………..None of which are of any benefit to me as a buyer……..Again, not of any benefit to me as a buyer. Quite the opposite in fact…….Other items quoted also not of much use to the buyer………………

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to explain why your view is short sighted, but before doing that let me say, thrice to match the appearances in your post, we work for the seller, we work for the seller, we work for the seller and make no apology for that.

And now let me explain why the majority of my nine points are of significant benefit to a buyer;

1. Doing details

To prevent wasting time the time of the seller and buyer by accurately describing a property and said description may make it clear that the property is not suitable for the buyer or in the alternate to explain various details like location, land size, floor size etc. Is this really not useful?

2. Taking photographs, in our case professional quality.

Is it really not useful to view every room from a photograph before actually viewing in person? Perhaps details can lie, but photographs can’t.

3. Doing floorplans, takes between one and two hours

Is it really of no use to know the layout of the property before viewing? To know that all bedrooms are off a hallway for example and not off another bedroom? Of no use?

4. Uploading the properties to the agent's website and several other sites that they pay for. (Remember no sale no fee, so if we don't sell the property we about of pocket)

Without this the only way a buyer would know a property was even for sale would be by combing the private ads and driving around looking at sellers own for sale boards outside their house or word of mouth. Again, is this really of no use to a buyer that they just have to turn their computer on, press a few buttons and see a list of homes?

5. Making appointments and yes, opening the door and then showing the buyer around that property as many others that suite, sometimes this takes all day.

Is it not useful for an agent to act as a free taxi and ferry buyers around an unfamiliar area looking at property? Or arranging a string of appointments to view several properties. Still of no use?

6. Negotiating a price.

An expert carefully dealing with both parties to agree a sale, of no use? Although we act in the seller’s best interest we don’t hold a gun to the buyers head. They pay what they wish to pay. Many sellers and buyers prefer not to talk to each other on emotive issues such as price for fear they will upset the other and lose the deal.

7. Draw contracts up ourselves or recommend a lawyer to and set up an ownership structure, if required.

Admittedly of no use if the buyer already has a lawyer and knows what they are doing, most do not, so of some use to that group.

8 Deal with the land department on fees.

Considering that transfer fee and taxes are normally shared equally is it really of no use if reduced fees can be agreed. No use?

9. Through the entire process keep everyone informed as to the stage that the sale is at, what is outstanding and a likely time frame for completion.

Is it really of no use that there be a central person coordinating with seller, buyer, lawyers, banks and land department and giving updates to buyer and seller regularly ? Also helping to deal with problems as they come up. Especially bearing in mind that most buyers do not have a clue what they are doing. Really no use?

In my London office most buyers are resident in the UK, so they have time to find. However here in Phuket there are around 3000 properties on the market. In most typical buyer ranges there are several hundred. Now imagine you are a buyer visiting on a buying trip for say ten days. Just how many properties can you see in the time, five a day maybe. That level won’t even scratch the surface of what is available. If the agent has done their job right it makes it a much easier task for the buyer to create a short list. Even for people who live here, just how much time are they willing to devote to looking at wholly unsuitable properties?

I hope I have given an insight into the use that a good agent can be to a buyer.

SDM

Even easier with an agent as they dont do much apart from opening the front door to a few properties.

I wish that were true! Money for nothing, right ?

Let me add one or two points to your list ;

1. Doing details

2. Taking photographs, in our case professional quality.

3. Doing floorplans, takes between one and two hours

4. Uploading the properties to the agent's website and several other sites that they pay for. (Remember no sale no fee, so if we don't sell the property we about of pocket)

5. Making appointments and yes, opening the door and then showing the buyer around that property as as many others that suite, sometimes this takes all day.

6. Negotiating a price, our job is to get the best price for the seller and our fee structure means that the more we get, the more we get. No apologies for this, if a buyer wants to pay an agent to find it works the other way, but fees can only be one way. In nutshell we work to get the best deal for the client.

7. Draw contracts up ourselves or recommend a lawyer to and set up an ownership structure, if required.

8 Deal with the land department on fees.

9. Through the entire process keep everyone informed as to the stage that the sale is at, what is outstanding and a likely time frame for completion.

My advice to anyone that thinks agents "just open the door", is don't use an agent and sell the property yourself. Often the selling is the easiest part, the difficulties come during the sales process.

SDM

You dont say where you are posting from or what your target audience is.

If I assume posting from some farang holiday destination with a target audience of farang, you are probably correct.......

If we are talking Thai areas with Thai buyers, it bears no resemblance to what I see going on around me.

Thais are unaffected by the European meltdown or the baht rate.

I would assume the Thai market is significantly larger than the farang one.

.

Actually yes, a good point. My company here covers Phuket Province and I would agree that the Thai market is far more active than the foreign market and mainly in the sub 5MB range. Having said that most are struggling with mortgages.

SDM

Sounds like it's been locked using the " Find iPhone " program, in which case it's either stolen or there was a hacker recently who had somehow accessed the "Find iPhone " codes and was locking peoples phones up and demanding a ransom be paid. I think the only thing you can do is to take the handset to Apple and see what they can do. If you think it might have been stolen then best place for it is the bin I think though.

SDM

There is an "Ask a Lawyer forum"...

They wouldn't know, the Court that issued the summons (as we Brits call it) is in the UK and this is a matter of UK Law.

As anyone who reads my posts know I have property business in both the UK and Thailand (yawn I know), but this means I still deal with lots of legal companies in the UK. If then OP would like me to suggest a couple of UK Solicitors, please PM me.

This matter did come up recently where I was forced to issue proceedings against a chap who had since moved to New York from London. The advice I was given is that as long as I have an address I could have the Court summons sent there. However enforcing any judgment just wasn't practical.

As far as I know if you fail to appear in Court and you have no legal representation the Judge will make a ruling according to the facts as they are presented to him, one sided no doubt. Take advice from a British solicitor but I think what they will probably suggest you do is to write to the Court, explain it is not practical or affordable to travel the the UK for this, and provide a witness statement notarised by a Canadian Lawyer or Notary Public.

It sounds like you have received a letter from your ex's lawyer. I really wouldn't worry about the demands that you pay costs or the like. These lawyers write overly aggressive and demanding letters to spook the other side. Either I can recommend a firm for you to have a telephone chat with, or go to The Law Society Website.

I really wouldn't worry, you won't be banned for the UK or arrested in the arrival hall at Heathrow for not appearing or extradited !

SDM

PS Sorry I may have misunderstood, have you been summonsed to appear in Thailand or England ? If it's Thailand, as Transam rightly says, try the "Ask a Lawyer" section and ask a lawyer.

An inflammatory post has been removed as well as the replies quoting that post.

That's a shame, although I was quoting that post, mine was quite relevant because I was and am that very situation.

Ok, here is is again, a shortened version because I'm too lazy to type it all again.

I have been an agent most of my working life, starting off in Central London. I have worked for many large corporates in senior positions, and have had my own firm in NW London for many years. I am a career estate agent. The UK market is very heavily regulated, to break the laws can involve fines, being banned from the industry or in the worse case even imprisonment. So let's just say I am used to running a tight ship and working here has been a bit of an eye opener.

I set up an agency here after buying my own house because I was surprised at the level professionalism shown by agents that I dealt with. I run things here exactly as I would do at home. We don't as a rule do any business with other agents and have, on the whole been well received.

My advice to the OP is that the property market here is hard, it has been in decline since the start of the European economic problems and the hardening of the Baht. It is not easy for any farang to succeed in any business here, and the property market is no easier than others. By Law you cannot be a broker or an agent (unless your area is international trade). You can be a manager or director of a property company though.

Many if not most of the comments on agents here are well founded!

If you would like anymore of my brand of advice PM me, otherwise good luck !

SDM

Had, but he went back to Blighty.

Making genuine friends here is hard. Most of my Thai "friendships " seemed to have wained also since I moved over.

SDM

We walked back from Savoy restaurant back to the Holiday Inn and we in our room for about ten minutes before it hit. Never even heard of the word tsunami before. We were lucky, so many weren't. Even after all these years reading a post like this still affects me.

It's a long time ago now, they may not be on the island anymore. Is there anything you can remember, like what work they did, where they lived, where they were from ?

The only advice I can give you is to contact the Phuket Gazette or Phuket News, this is a great human interest story at a time when the world press are slamming the Thais, if you can get your and their pictures in the paper I'm sure someone will know them.

Sorry about your Mum, it was a terrible day.

SDM

PS Just noticed that the post wasn't from them !

My CBR250 was almost permanently in the red zone after only having it for a few months. I wonder if they are restricted electronically as it was unbelievably sluggish. Maybe it was the extra tonnage it was carrying (100 KG). I wasn't even aware of how slow it was until I had a go on a friends Versys (650), which felt like a jet fighter by comparison. So many of my motorbyclecyclists warned me again the 250/300s, suggesting at least a 500.

Having said all of that I am now starting to get a bit bored of my Ninja 650, next stop R1 and then, well who knows*.

SDM

* don't say it please.

mine was not sluggish - for a 250 cc bike! - and it was a lot of cheap fun. it was a nice little bike that never left me alone and it is quite capable.

you cannot get this much fun from 60 k thb!

the ninja 650 you are talking about it 295 k thb and r1 is 800 k thb which means they are 5 and 12 times more than a cbr250 respectively.

and dont forget, some here might not need bigger and more powerful ones but need little bikes with flexibility, comfort and economy.

I'm sure you're right. My CBR was my first proper bike, having come from a PCX. The shop wouldn't let me test drive one so perhaps my expectation were a bit high. It's a very attractive bike and looks like it should be a lot faster than it is. I paid about 120,000 for mine and could only get 70 for it four months later because there were so many on the second hand market.

SDM

If you want to ride a jet ski in Thailand it might work out less hassle and cheaper to purchase your own.

How about setting up a company to rent quad skis? They only go about 45 mph and have at least four wheels, so safer than a bike, can take them in the sea, and very useful in Patong when the drains flood.

SDM

It's down to personal preference really, but if you want to buy in your own name then a Condo could be on a Foreign Freehold.

SDM

Depends on the contract.

My contracts are all based on UK ASTs and normally for twelve months (sometimes with a Landlord and/or tenant break Clause at the six months point) or straight six month. If an owner wants to sell we make the tenant aware at the outset and built a clause in that gives the owner the right to terminate giving a month's notice at any time and only for that purpose. Any tenant accepting this would normally expect to pay a lower rent.

The controlling document is the contract you signed at the outset.

SDM

Whether it exists or not you would have no recollection of your earlier lives in normal circumstance, so even if it exists your perception is only of your current life. That being the case you have one life (effectively or genuinely), so enjoy it, take every opportunity have no regrets and try to do no harm.

The only situation I've heard of when a person can retain on a day to day basis memories of their earlier lives is if they are from Gallifrey, bit even that seems unlikely and is not technically the result of reincarnation.

SDM

I already have a Honda NSR150, and it's heaps of fun, but hardly practical transport. It makes me want to thrash it all of the time and if I keep riding the mini beast it may lead to my premature demise. Hence the CBR... :-)

My CBR250 was almost permanently in the red zone after only having it for a few months. I wonder if they are restricted electronically as it was unbelievably sluggish. Maybe it was the extra tonnage it was carrying (100 KG). I wasn't even aware of how slow it was until I had a go on a friends Versys (650), which felt like a jet fighter by comparison. So many of my motorbyclecyclists warned me again the 250/300s, suggesting at least a 500.

Having said all of that I am now starting to get a bit bored of my Ninja 650, next stop R1 and then, well who knows*.

SDM

* don't say it please.

Rdrokit

That look amazing. I would need matt black, with 90% black windows.

SDM

The root cause isn't the immigration rules, it's the crap, dangerous drivers.

I completely agree, these commuter van drivers are, from what I observe, the most aggressive people driving in the most reckless manner. If I were forced to do visa runs I would either drive myself or get together with some like minded pals and hire a Van and share the driving, as long as they have a Thai licence or an international permit. They can't be that expensive for a one day hire.

Is there some special purpose to an agent, isn't it just a matter of leaving the country and coming back in again ?

SDM

I don't know a lot about American muscle cars, but I'd love to have something with a big spluttering V8, if only to see the expression on the locals faces, even if I could only afford to take it out once a week. The kind of engine that everyone else can feel in their chest as you go past. I wouldn't even need speed, just presence. Maybe an old TransAm with the T roof.

I once saw one of these driving to Hampstead, past the Old Bull and Bush doing about 25 miles an hour sounding amazing, with "High Energy " blearing out, but not enough to drown the engine.

SDM

I can only speaks for the Brits I know, at home and here, but we are just getting a bit tired with hearing about our American cousins interfering in matters which shouldn't concern them. I fear the often referred to "Special Relationship" between the UK and US hasn't been special for a long time. Added to this is the perception that our Prime Ministers (Tony Blair being the first to spring to mind) seem to be the lapdogs of the American President doesn't help.

I'm not anti American, I have American family, but it is a shame many feel like this.

SDM

Many people have told me that I need to reregister my vehicles when I move them or me, to another province. I live in Phuket, my car has Songkla plates on and my bike Bangkok Plates. Although the car is registered to my father-in-law in Nakornsithamarat, the bike is registered to me in Phuket.

I have renewed the tax square and insurance on the car for four years, and bike for two. I have also been pulled over by the rozzers several times while using both (not at the same time). The fact that they are both have out of province plates has never been mentioned, not a single time.

SDM

Been to Praia da Lux a few times in Portugal in The Algarve and found it lovely, but a bit sleepy. Never been to Crete but has some great holidays in and Rhodes. I'd definitely recommend the Greek Islands over most other European costal towns in the mid/budget range.

SDM

PS Beware Greeks bearing gifts, especially if it looks like a big horse.

thanks, i have tried to find Khao Lak but i cannot find it

garmin has a different name for the place i think

New toy i will work it out eventually

I have the Garmin, the Thai version. In practice this has meant that although I can change the spoken language to English and the system menus to English, the map database remains in Thai. This makes it very hard to select a place name as we would on a system with an English map database.

For me because I travel around Phuket I have to take the GPS co ordinates of each of our properties anyway so it's easy to program the unit up with raw GPS co ordinates and save the location in favourights.

If your system has the Thai map the only way around this is to replace the map with an English version. However if you can't be bothered all you need to do is to find where you want to go using something like Google Earth, take down the GPS co ordinates (two sets of numbers, for Phuket they normally start 07.xxxxxx and 98.xxxx). Once you have this you can program the device to go to that location. Incidentally on the device set up there are three formats of GPS co ordinates , from memory it's the top format you want. The first set you enter is 07.xxxxx, but the lower number for this part of the world anyway.

If this solves your problem PM me and I will give you specific point by point instructions of how to set the device up and how to find and enter a location using GPS co ordinates.

SDM

PS I have looked up Khao Lak and it's North 08.64987, East 98.25233

PPS if you run these coordinates in Google Map or other software don't bother the the East and North, but the Garmin will want them