ccinhk

Can anyone recommend a good development or area to buy a pool villa in Hua Hin? Looking for a minimum of 3 bedrooms and around 200 - 300  square meters. Thanks.

The regulations require blue books to be issued to Thai citizens and foreigners with permanent residence. Yellow books should be issued to all foreign temporary residents. Since district offices seem to have a lot of power and many officials working in them seem extremely ignorant of their own regulations, it is not unknown for a foreign temporary resident to be entered in a blue book but it is more normal for officials to refuse to issue a book to a foreigner at all.

Universal healthcare was originally issued to everyone in a tabien baan but that was before the Civil Registration Act of 2008 that made it compulsory for District Offices to register all temporary residents (in yellow books). That substantially increased the number of foreigners in tabian baans and the healthcare regulations were amended to restrict new regulations to Thai nationals. Those already in before that (including myself) are grandfathered. Again some officials have apparently wrongly registered foreigners in the healthcare system after the regulations were changed, although I am not sure how the computer accepts them.

I have never heard of an exemption from property sales tax based on being in a blue book registered at that property. Sounds like the principle, private residence exemption on cap gains tax in the UK but I think it is not correct. My understanding is that individual sellers all pay are all treated the same, regardless of whether they are registered at that address or not. Corporate sellers are taxed differently.

Very informative! Thank you!

Get Thai citizenship and then you can be in a Blue book , otherwise you are out of luck

BTW: Who told you that you can save 3.3% property sales tax ? because you can't, you will have to pay a transfer tax based upon the Land Office's assessment of the property. You can save on capital gains tax if you legally own property for a minimum of 5 years

Btw, my agent informed me there are four types of taxes if I sell my condo?? However the 3.3% tax he said was a "special tax"??? Have you heard of this?

You must be in the sticks since both city hall and Immigration are wrong.

Foreigners should be listed in a Yellow Book but that still won't entitle you to medical care in government hospitals, no matter how many TV members claim it is so

Is the Yellow Book the House Registration Book for foreigners??? Perhaps that will do??

Get Thai citizenship and then you can be in a Blue book , otherwise you are out of luck

BTW: Who told you that you can save 3.3% property sales tax ? because you can't, you will have to pay a transfer tax based upon the Land Office's assessment of the property. You can save on capital gains tax if you legally own property for a minimum of 5 years

My agent was the one who advised me on the above.... perhaps he wasn't aware of the rules pertaining to foreigners..

Yes I do legally own the unit however I will be lucky if capital gains are an issue if I can actually sell for a profit....

I just found out that I can save on the 3.3% property sales tax when I sell if my name has been registered in the blue House Registration Book for at least one year. Can someone explain the process for me? What documents do I require aside from my passport? Thanks!

There are a few misunderstandings in this thread. Buyers make logical decisions, just because you cannot see the logic, doesn''t mean there isn't a logic here.

Why do MANY Thais like purchasing smaller size condos new rather than 2nd hand?

1. They don't need to pay up all the cash upfront so they have the ability to save during the construction period, often there are favourable promotions etc

2. They have access to borrowing at often a higher LTV (loan to value) percentage than 2nd hand; Thai banks will often not provide as favourable mortgages to a 2nd hand property

3. Because of the way developers price (cheapest price off the plan, increased price during construction, maximum price at completion) buyers are totally aware that to purchase new off the plan is cheaper per sqm 'on average' than purchasing when completed. This also applies even when there is substantial inflation (as we have seen in the last 5 years) in pricing

4. Purchasing a building which has poor reviews on places like prakard.com is a known problem for the buyer; purchasing off the plan from the same developer, it is not known yet whether the same problems will occur

5. The fees for transfer etc are often covered by the developer along with promotional offers...which don't exist 2nd hand

6. For the investment market side (people buying to flick or people buying to rent out) all these factors push the off the plan market ahead of buying 2nd hand

7. Once selling 2nd hand, 2 years old is the same as 10 years old, so you are 'stuck in the middle' where you didn't pay prices like those of us who bought 10 years ago (e.g. I paid 29,000b per sqm) and so you are squeezed with all the drawbacks of 2nd hand without the super duper prices of anything purchased pre 2006

8. So a purchaser of 2nd hand is also aware that they will be buying and selling on the 2nd hand rather than the new market; buying off plan means you can sell roughly when the building is completed and pre transfer - once transferred that window is gone

Having said all of this, the market is changing rapidly, and GOOD buildings have no issues selling 2nd hand. I do not know this specific project, but would guess it might or might not be 'good' however there is a lot of construction in the area, so there is a lot of 2nd hand units to choose from. At a price of around 80,000b+ per sqm, that's the same price or higher as buildings like The Issara, Ideo, LPN Soi Sena (from memory), UDelight, The Room Lard Prao etc. So..my guess is you may be at the upper end of the curve and thus pricing yourself out of the market if you want a quick sale. Also, FYI the rental market for 2 bedrooms (this is actually really more like a 1 bedroom + study size right?) is not as strong as for 1 bedrooms, plus most investors will not really look at this to purchase, when they can get the upside of buying off plan as per points above, and running 3X leverage compared to your purchase where they have to pay 100%.

Foreigners often don't look at the same things Thais would. In the ad if the unit is south or north facing, that's a major plus. Yet most foreigners would buy west facing (for the nice sunset view) which is the least popular for a Thai person (or an experienced expat) who is well aware that it is way too hot. Ceiling height. etc etc.

I would strongly recommend the best places to sell are www.prakard.com www.ddproperty.com and sites that specialise in this type of the market. The ad must be in Thai or you cut off 95% of the market in this sort of area; farang centric websites are a total waste of time for this type of area, as not many developments sell to foreigners except perhaps 'brand name' developments like Supalai 10 years ago, Major Wind, etc (maybe Supalai has the most foreigners, but that's more the farang guy/Thai wife expat workers here type market with kids as the facilities are pretty good and loads of stuff for all the little look kreung brats to do like peeing in the pool and playing cricket* etc - note Supalai is also 2nd hand and around 50,000+b per sqm so more like 3m probably for a unit your size). Agents at this end of the market, also 'not so useful' - 3% is however quite standard as a rate.

Any chance you can send a link to me via PM of the ad? I might personally be interested....at the right price. To rent out.

*Thai look kreung bratty kid version of cricket = get two crickets and make them fight on the grass. Somewhat different to 'ashes' version of cricket.

Thank you for the detailed and most useful response.

I personally liked the location because it's right next to the Major Ratchayothin shopping mall and the future site of the new BTS line. If I stayed in Asia (I'm moved back to Canada) I would have kept it. The telephone number on the ad is a Thai friend who is helping me manage the sale.

http://www.prakard.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=725590

What I can't understand is if there is a new project around the area, it always sells out before it's completed. So there must be buyers out there somewhere?? Also given my price point, location next to a mall and near universities I thought it would be ideal for the Thais.

Thais prefer to own brand new condo or houses, so second hand condos have to be a rock bottom price to be attractive to buyers.

That's also been my experience with a lot of Thais here...

They seem to have zero interest in any re-sale property, even though those often have all the needed improvements like closets and such already done.

Instead, they want to pay double for some new built empty box with most or none of the improvements done. To me, it's crazy...

But, I've had some Thais tell me they worry about ghosts from the family/people who lived in places before, whereas with new built, presumably no worry about that.

It's that kind of craziness that has always made me shy away from thinking of buying anything here that I might ever want to sell again in the future. Aside from the issue that most of us only have permission to live here one year at a time, and you never know if the visa rules might change sometime in the future.

I agree this is crazy but it doesn't surprise me ....

But I wish I knew this before...

There is no resale market for condos in this country .

Am starting to realise this but still don't totally understand...

Is it really so hard to sell? Like, do you even manage to get people to view your apartment?

In 6 months there's been about 5 viewings..... pathetic. Ad posted on www.prakard.com for a few weeks. Over 100 clicks but no response. Price dropped to 4.6 Mil and will probably drop it again soon.

I strongly recommend to anyone considering buying a condo in Bangkok... DON'T BUY.... JUST RENT!

There is no resale market for condos in this country .

Am starting to realise this but still don't totally understand...

Actually I can't cope with the downpayment that's why I don't want to get loan as well. But paying monthly is alright for me. Coz it will take quite awhile to save up that sum.

But nobody will sell you a second hand unit with no security if you are a foreigner. Your only option is to rent.

Hi there, I'm interested in buying a condo for my wife and I. Going back to Thailand for good. It will be best if we can work out a payment plan instead of going thru bank loans. As its really tedious for a foreigner to get a loan. Anyone interested pls msg me.

Hi there, I'm interested in buying a condo for my wife and I. Going back to Thailand for good. It will be best if we can work out a payment plan instead of going thru bank loans. As its really tedious for a foreigner to get a loan. Anyone interested pls msg me.

Thats always a possibility... but I suspect a seller would want something in the region of a 50% downpayment as security...

I'm not sure how the legalities would work out... but for example:

6,500,000 Baht Condo...

3,250,000 Baht deposit

3250,000 Baht remaining (50,000 Baht per month x 65 months)

PM Sent...

Yes, exactly some security is necessary. Where are you from?

It would be helpful to know area of this condo and name of building?

The condo name is The Seed Terre Ratchayothin located in Ratchayothin right next to The Major Cinema Shopping Centre. 2 Bdrm 2 bath 50 sq meters. It's located on the street which has been given the green light for the new BTS line opening up in 4 years.

Same problem been trying to sell a new built 3 bed house on 3 rai near burri ram cost me nearly 3 mil to build am asking half that,,only getting time wasters

I'm used to selling property in HK and Macau where as soon as you list with a few agents (who are all eager and hungry) you literally receive inquiries and do showings within days.

Don't do it unless you are planning to keep it. From my own experience selling a second hand unit is very difficult and there does not seem to be much of a market. It's not like most countries where there a teams of agents willing to work with you to sell your property. Rent!

I'm in the same boat...

Trying to sell my 3 year 2 BR apartment and get something bigger.

I've posted on TV.com, baht and Sold, its at the office and I've e-mailed numerous websites, the Wife has e-mail the Thai agents.

They all want 3% if sold through them which is fine...

No hits so far I guess it takes time - its for sale at the same price I purchased it at....

It'll be interesting to see how others managed their sale...

What I can't understand is if there is a new project around the area, it always sells out before it's completed. So there must be buyers out there somewhere?? Also given my price point, location next to a mall and near universities I thought it would be ideal for the Thais.

Start by asking half

It's only THB 5 Mil and price 10% lower than the other two bedrooms units for sale in the 2 year old building.

I've been trying to sell a small condo in Bangkok for 6 months through the condo management office because that's what I thought was the most effective way. However there's been very little activity. I've also posted it on a few websites but still no results. What is the best way to sell a condo? Do they have property agents like in other countries? Any other suggestions?

Hi, I'm about to relocate my restaurant closer to the center of Bangkok and was hoping that someone can recommend a good reputable real estate broker. Thanks.

Hi, I opened a restaurant in Bangkok earlier this year and wondering if anyone can recommend a good security camera system. Has anyone tried a monitored security system? I have to admit that it may be too late because I just had my mac and iphone ripped off from my desk in my restaurant today... Please help!!!