Who owns a condo in Thailand AND a home in their own county?

[kannot]

On 4/7/2018 at 12:14 AM, KittenKong said:

I dont know about the US but with a condo here you only need to turn off the power and water at the mains, deposit cash to cover the annual fees with the front office, and lock it and leave. To be on the safe side you can arrange to pay your electricity bill by direct debit, and I would also leave fridge doors open to avoid mould. You might also want to vacuum pack clothes or bed linen.
Many people in my condo building only come a few times a year, some less that that. I myself have left my condo for months on occasions and have never given it a second thought: indeed is it one of the big advantages of condo ownership here, compared to house ownership.
I would never give the key to anyone here though: that's just inviting someone to pull some sort of scam while you are gone.

As the Wife rents condos out Id  also be worried about water leaks in Thailand, they are frequent.......not from your own room but from neighbours.

[inThailand]

I have known condo owners who came home and found renters in their place. Sometimes it the staff at the condo development making unauthorized rentals, sometimes an outside party, ie mgmt company, maid, etc. Safe keep the keys. I installed digital locks, so in emergency I give the codes to anyone at anytime.

[kannot]

29 minutes ago, inThailand said:

Iam with you. It's all about convenience.

 

As a property owner in both countries, IMHO condos are the way to go. Lock and leave and nothing to worry about. Thailand has the extra benefit of no taxes, ie no holding costs and can leave the windows open year round. The downside is capital appreciation is rare and liquity when you want to sell is almost zero.

Liquidity when you want to sell really IS NOT zero at all in Bangkok, I know, my Wife  has  sold units there for donkeys  years, a lot of "Thais only want new" talk is now "just  that" they do sell and prices of new ones now are actually ridiculous so maybe there is even more  appeal for the older units.

[inThailand]

9 minutes ago, kannot said:

Liquidity when you want to sell really IS NOT zero at all in Bangkok, I know, my Wife  has  sold units there for donkeys  years, a lot of "Thais only want new" talk is now "just  that" they do sell and prices of new ones now are actually ridiculous so maybe there is even more  appeal for the older units.

Suprise surprise! 

 

Someone with a vested interest in selling property saying it's a good market. It is....for buyers. 

 

I know properties that after ten years+ are still for sale at the same price.

 

[KittenKong]

I have known condo owners who came home and found renters in their place. Sometimes it the staff at the condo development making unauthorized rentals, sometimes an outside party, ie mgmt company, maid, etc.

Indeed. Every scam known to mankind.

[KittenKong]

As the Wife rents condos out Id also be worried about water leaks in Thailand, they are frequent.......not from your own room but from neighbours.

This can indeed happen and it has happened to me. But in my unit leaks can only occur into the bathroom area, which has a drain in the floor, so damage would be limited. Also I have insurance to cover any damage, and the owner of the unit above is responsible for all costs anyway.

In case of absolute catastrophe the condo management can always force the door as I mentioned, and this has happened in my building. I would not trust anyone here with the key.

[dia1]

8 hours ago, inThailand said:

Suprise surprise! 

 

Someone with a vested interest in selling property saying it's a good market. It is....for buyers. 

 

I know properties that after ten years+ are still for sale at the same price.

 

 

This has less to do with liquidity and more to do with stubborn home owners. If your home is on the market for a year and it isn't selling, the obvious thing to do is drop the price and accept less on your sale. If after 10 years, someone is still listing a home at the same price, then they're an idiot to think someone is going to suddenly buy it.

 

Sellers in Thailand who realize that market values fluctuates and sometimes they can't get the price that they originally wanted, can sell their properties pretty easily. The problem is that a lot of sellers here list their property too high and don't adjust their prices to compensate for demand. So basically the properties sit on the market for a long time and give other sellers a false sense that those listings are the actual market value of their similar condo--which it isn't. It's kind of like toxic overpricing. Most condos are listed significantly above what they should be selling for.

 

I'd say the market here is less developed due to the lack of education from most buyers sellers. You'll often see condos listed for 20-30% more than other condos, just because they have nicer, cheap furniture inside. It's a bit of a mess, but I think you're only stuck with your condo if you're not willing to lower your price to compensate for demand. Yes, that sometimes means you might take a loss, but people take losses on properties all the time in other countries if they paid too much, demand went down, or bought a place in the wrong location, etc.

 

 

[watcharacters]

dia1

 

 

Your goal seems very reasonable to me.

[Pattaya46]

17 hours ago, dia1 said:

The problem is that a lot of sellers here list their property too high and don't adjust their prices to compensate for demand. So basically the properties sit on the market for a long time and give other sellers a false sense that those listings are the actual market value of their similar condo--which it isn't. It's kind of like toxic overpricing. Most condos are listed significantly above what they should be selling for.

I can't say I agree...

I put my condo in Pattaya for sale about 6 months ago. Even if it was my main residence - so not bought as an investment - I wanted to sell it at a rather high price to make a good profit on it 

I can't tell you how many times I heard comments about "my overpriced condo"... and a group of "people who know" in the condo told me I should lower my price at least 15 or 20% if I want have a small chance to sell it . I didn't listen them as I was sure that its good location and nice sea view made it worth what I was asking for it.

I got many visits, without result, until last month when someone bought it at a price very near of my asking price. 

Problem in Pattaya is that many people seem to consider that the market price is the price that allow you to sell your condo in one month! IMHO it's the price that allow you to sell it in one year. I am very happy with the price I got and the delay for sale (6 months), and even more happy to not have listen all these people who says that it was overprice and that the Pattaya market can only go down 

[KittenKong]

Problem in Pattaya is that many people seem to consider that the market price is the price that allow you to sell your condo in one month! IMHO it's the price that allow you to sell it in one year. I am very happy with the price I got and the delay for sale (6 months), and even more happy to not have listen all these people who says that it was overprice and that the Pattaya market can only go down

I also believe that the one month timescale is the right one to use to indicate a "real" price. Waiting a year or more may be practical for some, but not for others.

That said, when we sold our rather unusual house in Europe we had several agents say that our price was unachievable and that it would never sell. In fact it did sell at the full asking price a couple of years later, just as the recession was starting to bite, so that shows that many agents know little. The interesting part of that process was that we had very little interest and hardly any viewings for a long time, and then all of a sudden we had two potential buyers, one of which offered just below the asking price and other offered the full asking price after just one viewing.

I doubt that would happen with many condos here, as there simply aren't that many really unusual ones.

[balo]

In a country like Norway we don't want to lose our right to free health care and other benefits so its important to travel back to Norway at least once a year and stay for a short period . Or else we will lose it and it will be difficult to get all our rights back even if we have a Norwegian passport. 

 

If you have the money for owning a place both in Thailand and in your home country I would choose that option .  But I've been told that the US got nothing to offer their citizens so maybe better to say bye to Trump. 

  

 

 

Edited April 9, 2018 by balo