1Rai.com

What part of Thailand are you looking at? (Or anywhere in Thailand?)

Either way, www.1rai.com has thousands of properties listed by hundreds of agents and developers all over Thailand.

I'm looking to help a friend find a suitable condo to invest in. He is looking to put about 10.000.000thb.

Can anyone with some insight give some hints as to what complex might be a good investment for appreciation and easily finding a tenant.

Should be in the Sukhumvit area. Of course there are hundreds of condo complexes, but some should probably be better than others..?

Any advice apprecited.

Thanks

Try 1Rai.com - the forum sponsors - http://www.1rai.com/Thailand-Real-Properti.../Bangkok_1.aspx

Also try reputable agents who have portfolios of condos which they can show to you - much more than a typical Thaivisa.com user can know about, that's their job. You can find many agencies on 1Rai.com to deal with; I would advise dealing with the ones that offer you the most professional service.

I work in the IT Complex, live in Bon Gai (Bandon Hospital road). Coming home from work yesterday was very bad; I came into Chaweng at the south end of beach road as I knew the ring road past the PTT and the police station was a no-go, cut through Soi Haad Ngam to Laem Din market, then traversed the 50cm of water through Soi Reggae, crossed the road across the lake, came out at the lake road (which was as usual impassable) and went through the temple road to Bon Gai.

Still, no section of the Lamai-Chaweng Road had collapsed as previous posts say and the flooding 2 years ago was, I believe, worse than the flooding now. However, this weather is reported to continue until next Wedsnesday.

I'm pretty sure that Samui has reached the 50,000 mark now (read it somewhere - as of August or something); and steps are being made to separate Samui from the rest of Surat Thani. It's anyone's guess how long Surat will take to relinquish their grip on our tax revenue though - I'm sure they will slow it down as much as they can.

There are many Multiple Listing sites in Thailand. 1Rai.com (www.1rai.com) is an example of an independent MLS Web Portal.

In Bangkok, we have a few agencies listing there properties. Over Thailand we have thousands of listings.

I know you haven't asked for developers'/agents' views (and I am neither), but there was a good article from the Telegraph this week (18/9/07) which you may like to use as a source. It gave a general synopsis of "prices dropping" but then various people in the business came out and said that, although demand has fallen over the last 12+ months, prices have remained "static".

I think that's pretty-much the scenario at the moment, with a few forced sales prompting a small percentage of properties to be sold at cut prices. But generally prices have stayed where they are and, in some cases (especially higher-end condo and villa developments), risen; although some will want to point out that while prices here are static, they have been rising in other tropical destinations - which their own points of attraction/detraction.

The last section of the article was a statement from a buying consumer...

Certainly the political and economic turmoil of the past year and complicated buying procedure hasn't deterred longer-term owners such as Londoner Neil Redcliffe. Shortly before the coup, he bought a villa on Coconut Island at Maphrao, an island just east of Phuket, after visiting Thailand frequently over the past 25 years.

"It's a beautiful country where the quality of everything - furniture, building, service - is five star, just as those qualities are going down in areas like the Caribbean," says Neil, head of a foreign exchange firm.

"Through my job I'm aware of what's been happening. The effects of the coup won't last long. The former government was on a track unpopular with Thai people, so I see the military involvement as a sign of strength," he says. "Thailand is superbly positioned. The culture and the food are fantastic, and I love it."

The target for Thailand, now, is to persuade the rest of us to love it too.

You know the types, these are the same people may also prefer to wear Gucci, Armani etc and are very happy about paying through the nose for them too, or perhaps they may believe that they can attract Gucci underpant wearing tenants happy to rent their swish units at what might seem like incredibly high rents (as we might perceive them).

Then what about those people who travel regularly to Bangkok, and always stay at 5 star hotels. Perhaps they have become accustomed to their service but for the amount of money spent on hotels they could probably afford to buy instead, so why not own a room that friends and family (who may also like Gucci underpants) can use too?

In economics they're called "Veblen goods", or "goods of snob appeal". Examples include Ferraris and diamond rings... it means the demand curve is tipped on its side and raising the price doesn't necessarily mean that fewer people will buy them. Whose wife would ever want a 200 Baht diamond ring?

Spread your net far and wide. You only need 1 buyer...make sure he sees your advert wherever he goes.

ThaiAdventure, well put. My original point was that it should be an agent's job to do all of this.

Dickie, I believe I know who you are (but am not 100% as it's not ) and, as suggested when you took up a banner, I can provide you with stats on impressions and click throughs whenever you need them - just send me an email. Also, please qualify (by email preferably) what you mean by "almost no response" - I take it you check your Web referrals or are you just waiting for emails to start rolling in?

Just as Thaivisa is a "farang portal" and Sawadee.com is a "tourism portal", 1Rai.com is a "property portal" - that means that, unless you have property for sale (and enough of them to compete with the other thousands of properties) any advertising you have taken is on the grounds that property searchers will be interested in your product - for example, if you're a builder, you will get enquiries from those people who are searching for land who are still looking for a builder; that's not 100% of our traffic.

I am also not getting massive amounts of traffic through sponsoring this forum, but I do so for brand recognition and exposure purposes rather than numbers of visitors. Besides, I have a duty to our advertisers to make sure enough people get to see their ads - which they do.

At the risk of running the roth of one of this forums sponsors I will disagree at 1Rai's statement and agree with the above poster about 1Rai's search rankings.

Thailand-Property-Guide.com was the first dedicated MLS portal for Thailand and as usual others jump on the band wagon. That is OK and of course others believe they can copy and do better. That is the same the world over.

To say that searching for Thailand property will not turn up serious buyers is a rather strange comment by 1 Rai. The most searched key words are Thailand Property, Thailand real estate and Phuket Property and real estate and villas, followed by other terms and locations. Thailand Property Guide comes on the first page of Google for both Thailand property and real estate (and without buying Google ad words) as well as being ranked highly for other locations and on other search engines.

Stating that you are the best in something or the leading portal is a bold statement to make. Who says you are the best? Also, to say that you will not post your figures publicly is also strange for a website that needs to have more agents listing on it. Thailand-property-guide.com sends out its figures monthly to its clients and will happily give them out to others who ask, and back it up with evidence, not just make outrageous statements like some other sites do (and I am not pointing any fingers in any direction here).

Yes I am biased. I am the owner of Thailand-Property-Guide I believe we are here to offer a service as well as just listing properties for sale. That is why our site also has 1000's of pages of content and useful information for buyers, sellers and tenants.

At the end of the day the OP should use whatever is at his dispossal and that includes the web and should include sites like mine that allow private individuals to list for FREE.

I understand your comments, wcr, and you are fair to say them. With due respect, according to Alexa.com (which, I know, isn't absolute), our figures are higher, we've been online longer and the site is faster. Please understand that we respect that your site is a good one; we just believe we have done a better job. But then you make most of your money through your magazine, do you not? You do offer features that we don't - and well done for doing so; 1Rai.com will evolve (as the parent company 5Phase Asia Pacific is a software company) and we are currently making a very strong upgrade which we expect at the end of October. I'm not going to post my traffic figures on a public portal, although my marketing mails do announce them and I also will freely give them when asked... even by you.

We also offer a free service to agents (as well as paid ones), but we do not accept private listings - so, if you want to see your property on 1Rai.com, you would have to list it with an agent who uses us anyway. And, in my most humble opinion, I would not consider listing a property for sale with an agent who was not prepared to sufficiently advertise it. That's what they're there for!

Yes fletchthai, you're right, we don't come up with much if you search for such things in Udon... but then, we don't have an agent in Udon either and we don't want customers finding us and not being able to find what they want. wcr, you should check this too because, according to an agent in Udon, he hasn't updated his listings on your site for a very long time and his clients are under the impression that this is your responsibility, which I know it is not.

Searches for "villas in Bang Tao", "Condominium in Khlong Toey", "2 bed bungalow in Bang Rak", "Homes for sale Bangkok", "Bangsaray condominium" and quite a few other terms that we believe people realistically search on feature 1Rai.com pretty strongly, first page in any case. Sorry, whilst we do come up on Page 2 in Google for "Thailand Property", this is never something we will focus on in terms of SEO as we believe that it generally attracts window shoppers and not real business, even if it produces much higher numbers. Our agents confirm this, too, and they're the ones that are doing the selling.

Fletchthai, did you know that, even though "Googling" is now a term in the English dictionary, more people worldwide use Yahoo? I must say though, I prefer Google.

Hi,

Has anyone any ideas where the best place would be to place an add for our house which is currently for sale in Udon Thani. We have tried the normal places like real estate but now we are thinking about advertising on the web. Any thoughts on the idea would be appreciated. Thank you....

I slightly misunderstand you - you say you have tried "the normal places like real estate" - have you tried listing it with agents? Surely it is the job of the real estate agent to make sure that they advertise the properties for sale on their books in prominent places on the Web. If they haven't, maybe you should be telling them to do so or looking for another agent - it is the agent's duty to you to find a buyer and facilitate the sale, is it not? This is how they earn their commissions.

As regards Internet sites to advertise property in Thailand, there are now a few... obviously I will say that 1Rai.com is the 'best'.

Other sites may generically attract people looking for something to buy (be it a house, a car, a pet, SCUBA equipment...) or they might feature well in searches for things like "Thailand property", which, if you think about it, is unlikely to attract serious buyers, who typically know where in Thailand they want to buy and have an idea what they want to buy.

What I can categorically state is that 1Rai.com is the leading property portal in Thailand (although I will not post our traffic figures publicly) and does not focus on window shoppers - which means our larger number of viewers is genuinely interested in finding somewhere in Thailand to buy.

My advice is the same as usual - get advice from a lawyer or three. It would surprise me greatly if there were none who could help out on this.

I'm not 100% on Permanent Residents but I was under the impression that, if a foreign company has Board of Investment approval and have 40 million Baht of listed capital, then that company is legally entitled to own a plot of land (maximum 1 Rai) to build residence for the director. I'm pretty sure my lawyer says the same.

However, I have just checked this with a friend who has a foreign BOI-approved company with only 2 million of listed capital and this is what he had to say:

- He is allowed to buy up to 10 rai of land in his company's name for employees' residences.

- He is allowed to buy he-doesn't-know-much more land in his company's name for commercial premises - however, each purchase must be approved separately by the BOI and scrutinized against the company's business plan which the BOI originally approved (e.g. a software company requesting approval to buy land for a luxury villa project is unlikely to be approved; if the land was to be used for a company HQ, it most likely will be approved).

I asked him if he knew of people who had purchased land through this route and he said he knew many; none have had any problems as the BOI approval supercedes whatever the Land Office has to say. Of course, he added, the purchases were facilitated by lawyers who may well have paid small administrative charges or what-have-yous to make the purchase go smoothly.

I have noticed that in general prices are not falling, even if some sellers are getting desperate and telling agents they will negotiate more than they did. Some properties on 1Rai.com have been on the market for years but the price has never dropped - in some cases it has actually risen.

As for sales, I don't know as I don't sell. However, many agents have been whingeing about the lack of enquiry in and around May, then they've said that June and July have been bumper months. In June, 1Rai.com sent an all-time record number of sales requests to our Member Agents, which is obviously pretty good news.

I do know that my neighbour just sold his house on a 30-year leasehold for 3.4m Baht - asking price was 3.7m. Surely if the market was THAT dead, he would have had to have taken around 2.5m?

No doubt the market is quieter now than it was, say, April 2006 (pre-Thaksin's stepdown, pre-Samui land scandals, pre-coup), but there are glimpses of silver linings popping up all the time.

Have you tried Ian McNamara at Siam Ikat? ([email protected]/[email protected])

If any one knows of any houses for rent on Koh Chang could you please let me know. I'm looking for to rent 6 months or more. I've searched high and low on the net and this forum but keep coming up empty handed so any info at all would really be appreciated.

Thanks

Camster

Well you would say that - are you just thick or a conman?

Wow - did I deserve that? Like I say, I base my facts through figures. I do understand the figures and I don't fix them, so I would have to answer "neither".

That's it from me...

Yep - see this link.

It says 2005-06 figures down 2.4 %

Has the usual nonesense about the 'political situation' and even bloody 'bird flu' as the cause - laughable. But interesting that this comes from a "property" web site. And no denying that these are their figures - not from naysayers..

TG2

http://www.globalpropertyguide.com/article..._id=84&cid=

(if that link doesn't work go their main wsebsite. There is a graph with other Asian countries as well.

as far as i see the prices are not dropping in samui ,if anything there going up....

Yes, I'd agree with that.

Although I notice there are more projects with smaller properties (e.g. apartments and condos as opposed to luxury villas) being developed in areas that have traditionally gone for luxury beachfront villas (e.g. Phuket, Samui), which obviously cost less... but, from the activity I've seen from 1Rai.com's member agents, I'd say that prices definitely haven't dropped in general over Thailand.

Sure, the property market is less active and, as a result, I'm sure that some owners are telling agents they'll listen to lower offers than they originally thought, but I think that this is a very small fraction of the market and it is outweighed by new developments... still in high demand.

Aye right - of course you are giving an unbiased view

As Mandy rice Davis once said, "He would say that wouldn't he"

I would answer but the pig I see flying past my 30th floor window is more interesting

I really try hard not to respond to this type of comment, because it's not really helpful to anyone. However...

Why exactly would you think I would be biased towards house prices going up or down? I'm not an agent and my business does not revolve around commissions. All 1Rai.com does is allow many agents to put listings on our site, and charge them money for the privelege. Doing this of course puts me in an excellent position to measure the market - without doubt in a better position than a global property overview - because we track exactly what people are looking at and we track what sort of properties go onto the market.

Our tracking shows that Samui prices are not going down, they are going up, and people are still enquiring - and some of them are buying. But one one thing is for sure - average Koh Samui prices are not falling.

My response was an informed one as it's based on consumer and agent activity, which may not be in accordance with "global statistical measurement", but it is what is happening, so it is a given fact.

1. Get many opinions - I think you'll find different lawyers telling you different things.

2. Do question what a lawyer or estate agent will tell you and, if you have found someone who knows what they're on about, put these questions to them.

3. Looking for property on Samui? Try www.1rai.com - we currently have 1,244 Koh Samui home and land listings listed by many agents, you won't find that anywhere else.

4. IF you buy privately, remember that rules are very different in different countries. I would recommend using a reputable agent (there are plenty) and a reputable lawyer to make sure everything is in order. They may charge you a fee, but you're buying piece of mind from professional people who have overseen this process many many times.

If you are planning on using the 30-year leasehold option, you have no worries about being legal or not. Again, sort it out using someone who knows.

Yep - see this link.

It says 2005-06 figures down 2.4 %

Has the usual nonesense about the 'political situation' and even bloody 'bird flu' as the cause - laughable. But interesting that this comes from a "property" web site. And no denying that these are their figures - not from naysayers..

TG2

http://www.globalpropertyguide.com/article..._id=84&cid=

(if that link doesn't work go their main wsebsite. There is a graph with other Asian countries as well.

as far as i see the prices are not dropping in samui ,if anything there going up....

Yes, I'd agree with that.

Although I notice there are more projects with smaller properties (e.g. apartments and condos as opposed to luxury villas) being developed in areas that have traditionally gone for luxury beachfront villas (e.g. Phuket, Samui), which obviously cost less... but, from the activity I've seen from 1Rai.com's member agents, I'd say that prices definitely haven't dropped in general over Thailand.

Sure, the property market is less active and, as a result, I'm sure that some owners are telling agents they'll listen to lower offers than they originally thought, but I think that this is a very small fraction of the market and it is outweighed by new developments... still in high demand.

Authors generally keep to themselves, so I don't fancy your chances of getting hold of him... however, there are thousands of property lawyers, compnay lawyers, real estate agents, property developers and homeowners who use this site... why don't you just pose your questions here?

I must admit I am a little bemused by all this anti-agent sentiment. Would you buy in your own country without an agent? I wouldn't. Buying a house is supposed to be the first or second most stressful thing in life, along with marriage (I suppose it all depends on how highly one values marriage/the property and how many times it's happened before!); agents earn their commissions because they make a deal go smoothly without headaches - it's a service.

The only difference between agents here and agents in, say, the UK is that here you don't need to be qualified or licensed. That means of course there are cowboys around, but these guys don't have a good reputation and certainly don't last. So, as Moonfruit suggests, do your homework. The nature of an agency's business is differentiation - providing a professional service establishes trust and sets them apart from these 'cowboys'. That's the way of the world, and much more so in an industry that seemingly has no barriers to entry like Thai Real Estate.

I’m no investment banker so I can’t give you advice on whether to invest or not, but I can say that Hua Hin is doing quite well in terms of the real estate market

Like quiksilva said, “It will always be a favoured location for Thais and family minded foreigners due to relatively small amount of red light activity and its Royal connection”, so it’s perfectly suited for a long-term investment as the situation is unlikely to change.

Have a look through here and you'll get an idea of what's around and for how much:

http://www.1rai.com/Thailand-Real-Properti.../Hua-Hin_2.aspx

On 1Rai.com we have seen a number of enquiries going to Hua Hin real estate agents and, funnily enough, many are American. There are also a number of American-based Thais who choose Hua Hin as a place to buy.

1rai,

Does look ok, but I think we were talking about the Sathorn/Narathiwas, is this in that area?

TH

It says it's in Sathorn, on the New Sathorn Road. I have to say, I'm not a Bangkok resident, so perhaps these are questions to ask the agent? I thought it looked suitable as it looks like it's kitted out to cater for families - swimming pools, playground, fitness centre, it even has an indoor football pitch! - and it looks quite reasonably priced at 65k/sqm, with furniture.

But, as I'm not the agent, I'm not in much of a position to answer too many questions about it.

This one looks fairly nice...

http://www.1rai.com/Thailand-Real-Property...area_16505.aspx

It's only 2 bedroom - although I'm sure the agent could find you something similar with 3.

My advice - do the right thing, be sure and check with a lawyer.

The link didn't work for me either...

Anyway, there are 4 types of title that are most relevant to farangs; Chanote (Nor Sor 4 Jor), Nor Sor 3 Gor, Nor Sor 3 and Condominium.

True land title deeds are officially called Nor Sor 4 Jor or more commonly "Chanot" and are issued by the Provincial Land Office. Land held under a Chanot is accurately surveyed and GPS plotted in relation to a national survey grid and marked by unique "numbered" marker posts set in the ground.

Nor Sor 3 and Nor Sor 3 Gor titles are, in the strictest interpretation of the law, certificates of land utilization. They are to all practical purposes equivalent to land title deeds because they allow the land to be sold, leased or mortgaged in the same way as land held under a Chanot Title. The difference lies in the fact a Nor Sor 3 certificate is less accurately surveyed than the Chanot. Nor Sor 3 boundaries are recorded in relation to its neighbouring plots and therefore there may be survey errors in length and land area. The newer Nor Sor 3 Gor is in general a much more accurately surveyed title as each plot is cross-referenced to a master survey of the area and a corresponding aerial photograph - therefore it is possible to argue exactly where its borders lie.

I imagine that you currently have a Nor Sor 3 - but your best bet is to check it with a lawyer.

A Condominium title allows 49% of the total sqm to be sold, freehold, 100%, to foreigners, in their own names. The other 51% must be owned by Thais/Thai companies. This is because the land is jointly owned by all the units in a Condo development

There are also a host of other "land papers" - Tor Bor 5, Tor Bor 6, Sor Kor 1, etc. These are, in essence, a form of claims to possessory rights which have been filed with the district land office and upon which a small tax fee has been paid. The land held under these papers cannot be dealt with by way of sale, lease or mortgage. Legal acts cannot be carried with respect to the property and you cannot apply for and obtain approval to build ("permanent" structures) on the land. The land can be used for some purposes - e.g. farming - depending on the exact land paper.

Hi all!

Have been considering the purchace of a condo in BKK. The place will be for my sis in law to live in and purchased by myself in my name. Price range is up to 800K. Something rundown would be fine. Location prefered is nearer the business district than farther. I have looked on the net thru googling but only really found higher end condo's. 2BR if possible.

Is anyone aware of any good w/sites that cater?

Damo...

Hello Damo,

I would have to say that I haven't heard of many condos going around in CBD Bangkok for that sort of money - the cheapest one I know about in Bangkok is 2.4 Million Baht (http://www.1rai.com/Thailand-Real-Property/Homes-for-Sale/Bangkok/Bangkok/Khet-Huai-Khuang/Huai-Khuang/rachadaphisek-rd_16035.aspx). Pattaya is a different matter, with a few places going for that sort of money, but I think you'll be hard-pushed to find a condo in Bangkok, especially a central one.

Please feel free to contact agents on 1Rai.com with higher-priced listings and ask them if they have anything suitable - it can't hurt to ask.