how to attract clients for purchase or rent of condos

[ripley]

Can any of you give me some tips on how to attract buyers or renters for my condo? Nice places but even with 4 agents am not having any success.The condos are large, on low floor with limited beach view and in good shape. Common wisdom seems to be NOT to spend on renovation as most clients will rip everything out anyway & decorate to their own taste. On the market for a few years but no takers. What's the deal here??? I need sensible tactics!

Edited June 22, 2018 by ripley
typo

[Peterw42]

Have you considered the price you are asking is to high, any property will attract buyers and sell for the right price. A few years on the market with no lookers or buyers, its priced wrong. Throwing in free steak knives wont make the condos worth more than they are.

[scubascuba3]

I agree, a lower price will get interest. See the prices of others for sale and go lower

[janclaes47]

Must be a troll post because I read here all the time that real estate is in good health in Thailand, with no over supply whatsoever, and most on this forum make fortunes flipping condos.

[worgeordie]

If bad location,terrible condition and over priced,you are

not looking for a buyer,you are looking for a mug,and there

are a lot less of them,or there should be.

regards worgeordie

[scubascuba3]

Condo name and location would provide better answers

[moontang]

use ddproperty...skip the agent....lower your price...And of course, sex sells, but margins are so right and land office fees so high...the three percent makes a big difference...Especially On a condo, where it is so easy to compare to other like units.

[watcharacters]

 

 

If you sincerely want to rent your property you need to understand the  basics of  the rental market.     

 

If you have  no renters interested in your property, either you have an undesirable property or you're just asking too much.

 

Lower your asking price and maybe, just maybe you will find your property becomes rented.

 

Of course we know you cannot lower the price.

[watcharacters]

44 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

I agree, a lower price will get interest. See the prices of others for sale and go lower

 

Does Thailand have a  real estate  industry that offers that kind of information?   I doubt it.

 

 

[rott]

 Condos on the market for "a few years"? How can anyone advise what to do differently if you do not say what you are doing now?

 

Location? Price? Foreigner name?

 

I doubt the veracity of the OP.

[Peterw42]

12 minutes ago, watcharacters said:

 

Does Thailand have a  real estate  industry that offers that kind of information?   I doubt it.

 

 

A very relevant observation, the lack of data in Thailand ends up with people picking a value out of thin air, basing the value on what the neighbour is asking etc. If buyers and sellers were more aware of the price properties actually change hand at, volume etc. The market would benefit and be more realistic.

[scubascuba3]

 
Does Thailand have a  real estate  industry that offers that kind of information?   I doubt it.
 
 

Just check all the websites where farang would look, hipflat, bahtsold etc etc google condo name for sale, quite easy

[Peterw42]

1 minute ago, scubascuba3 said:

24 minutes ago, watcharacters said:

 
Does Thailand have a  real estate  industry that offers that kind of information?   I doubt it.
 
 

Just check all the websites where farang would look, hipflat, bahtsold etc etc google condo name for sale, quite easy

Thats just seeing what other unrealistic sellers are asking, often not much relevance to the actual sales prices.

My condo block properties regularly sell for around 1.5 million baht, people have the same condos listed for 3 million baht, because the guy next door is asking 3m.

 

There is no real actual sales data.

[scubascuba3]

Thats just seeing what other unrealistic sellers are asking, often not much relevance to the actual sales prices.
My condo block properties regularly sell for around 1.5 million baht, people have the same condos listed for 3 million baht, because the guy next door is asking 3m.
 
There is no real actual sales data.

Yes i know, but if all the others are advertised as 3m, no point having yours at 4m for example. People know prices are inflated, better to price which gets a bite maybe 2.5m

[moontang]

and many understate sales price to minimize pain at land office...but within some of these large complexes, it is fairly easy to get comps.  And if you see what they are renting for, you can get a better idea of value.  I wouldn't rent to a Thai, but they will buy.

 

Pattaya might be the biggest buyers market in the country, with many taking losses...you can't base price on what you paid or the exchange rate.  Exchange rates can make it better to sell or buy at times, but price is still relative to other recent sales.

Edited June 22, 2018 by moontang

[watcharacters]

1 hour ago, Peterw42 said:

A very relevant observation, the lack of data in Thailand ends up with people picking a value out of thin air, basing the value on what the neighbour is asking etc. If buyers and sellers were more aware of the price properties actually change hand at, volume etc. The market would benefit and be more realistic.

 

I sincerely believe you are correct Peter.   There is simply no data available about  housing transactions other than  what the real estate agents claim.      I have little faith in their claims.

[watcharacters]

@    ripley

 

Will you give more information  regarding your Original Post?    It is  very  vague?

 

Details,  price,  time on market,  location and and fees?

 

Simple things that you would, naturally,  forget to put in your post.   

 

Fair enough?

[watcharacters]

2 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

2 hours ago, Peterw42 said:

Thats just seeing what other unrealistic sellers are asking, often not much relevance to the actual sales prices.
My condo block properties regularly sell for around 1.5 million baht, people have the same condos listed for 3 million baht, because the guy next door is asking 3m.
 
There is no real actual sales data.

Yes i know, but if all the others are advertised as 3m, no point having yours at 4m for example. People know prices are inflated, better to price which gets a bite maybe 2.5m

 

Scuba, I think you don't quite get the idea that  Thailand does not like having a lot of house selling information available to potential buyers.

 

Keep them in the dark kind of approach.

 

[KittenKong]

There is simply no data available about housing transactions other than what the real estate agents claim. I have little faith in their claims.

You are generous.

I have none.

[scubascuba3]

 
Scuba, I think you don't quite get the idea that  Thailand does not like having a lot of house selling information available to potential buyers.
 
Keep them in the dark kind of approach.
 

Like i said, yes i know. It is what it is so you need to deal with it

[janclaes47]

5 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

6 hours ago, Peterw42 said:

Thats just seeing what other unrealistic sellers are asking, often not much relevance to the actual sales prices.
My condo block properties regularly sell for around 1.5 million baht, people have the same condos listed for 3 million baht, because the guy next door is asking 3m.
 
There is no real actual sales data.

Yes i know, but if all the others are advertised as 3m, no point having yours at 4m for example. People know prices are inflated, better to price which gets a bite maybe 2.5m

But in this example that 2.5 million would give you the false impression that you are cheaper than the others, while in fact you're still 60% above actual sales price.

[scubascuba3]

But in this example that 2.5 million would give you the false impression that you are cheaper than the others, while in fact you're still 60% above actual sales price.

My example was different to your example

[Pattaya46]

9 hours ago, moontang said:

// but margins are so right and land office fees so high... the three percent makes a big difference... //

 

8 hours ago, moontang said:

and many understate sales price to minimize pain at land office... //

 

I don't understand your critics against the Land office taxes ??? 

I sold a condo in Pattaya last month and, as you say, the total of taxes was not even 3%. 

That seems very cheap to me.

I am used to my country where I would probably have paid 10% in taxes in such a sale. 

[BestB]

Marketing marketing and marketing,

 

You can have the best place and best price, but if no one knows, no one comes.

 

Facebook groups, bahtsold.com, thaivisa classifieds and any other classifieds.

 

Contact agents yourself and list with them, as well as your own marketing and advertising.

 

Do it in both English groups and Thai groups and sites, kaidee just to name a few

[watcharacters]

14 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

17 hours ago, watcharacters said:

 
Scuba, I think you don't quite get the idea that  Thailand does not like having a lot of house selling information available to potential buyers.
 
Keep them in the dark kind of approach.
 

Like i said, yes i know. It is what it is so you need to deal with it

 

I note the reality,  I don't have to deal with it at all.

 

[ripley]

No reason to doubt my veracity! I did not include my condo name, etc because I didn't want people to think I was flogging my property here. I am in Jomtien near the beach. The units are nice, roomy, low floor with small sea views.

What am I doing? I have listed with 4 agencies. Incidentally, I don't live full time in Thailand. My agents tell me the market is low - primarily because of competition from the many builds now. My prices seem commensurate with others in the bldg., but after so long.... "Scuba Scuba's" is a good idea.

Common consensus here seems to indicate I should lower my price? It's a buyers' market?

[ripley]

BestB - helpful suggestions. Thank you.

[Briggsy]

@ripley

 

Is it possible you are placing too much faith in the agents based on your experience from your home country? In your home country, realtors/estate agents are bound by contracts and professional body guidelines. They can be sued. They have higher fixed costs. So, they do generally tend to actually market and sell your property. This includes gently advising you on price.

 

The same is not true in Thailand where agents often do next to nothing. You may not have realised that. It is much more common for property owners to sell either without agents or to do much of the marketing and finding of potential buyers themselves. This is more difficult for you as you are not in Thailand. However much of the work can be done by online means.

 

Ask a farang friend in Thailand to approach the 4 agents and ask about condos in Jomtien. See if yours is mentioned. Are the agents customer-friendly. Will they come out and show people around?

 

Does the building in which the condo is located have a permanent rent and sales team that act as agents? As they are located on site, they may be your best bet to deal with walk-ins if you are looking for renters or even buyers.

[baansgr]

37 minutes ago, ripley said:

No reason to doubt my veracity! I did not include my condo name, etc because I didn't want people to think I was flogging my property here. I am in Jomtien near the beach. The units are nice, roomy, low floor with small sea views.

What am I doing? I have listed with 4 agencies. Incidentally, I don't live full time in Thailand. My agents tell me the market is low - primarily because of competition from the many builds now. My prices seem commensurate with others in the bldg., but after so long.... "Scuba Scuba's" is a good idea.

Common consensus here seems to indicate I should lower my price? It's a buyers' market?

I too stay in Jomtien. There will be the doubters but older larger well maintained condos that are realistically priced are selling,  and reasonably quickly. 

[xylophone]

I have sold two houses in Thailand over the past four years, and although I listed the houses with a few select real estate agents, I sold them through my own efforts, the most successful of which I am willing to share.

 

– – I put together a montage of four photographs, filling one half of an A4 sheet of paper, and these were of the kitchen, bathroom, main bedroom and the front of the house.

 

The intro to the property was short and sweet with just a few key important/positive points.

 

Under that I listed, bullet point fashion, the key attributes I thought the house had and which would appeal most to buyers. And of course names and telephone numbers.

 

– – I then e-mailed this to all of my friends and acquaintances here and overseas and asked them in turn if they would send it on likewise. I stated I would pay 3% commission for a sale.

 

– – I also e-mailed it to a few contacts I knew who had their own businesses (one was an insurance agent, for example) and asked them if they would approach/send on the details to any customers they thought would be interested, commission as stated above.

 

– – I ensured that the word was spread through any Thai friends I or my G/F had, with the offer of 3% commission payable to them and you would be surprised how well that worked.

 

– – I put small ads in two of the local newspapers and ran them for two weeks at a time, then a gap, then again.

 

– – The houses were advertised on the "Thaivisa" website, as well as "Baht & Sold" and I sourced some websites from Germany, Sweden and Norway which allowed me to advertise free.

 

– – I laminated some of the A4 sheets and put them behind the bars of friends I had in that business.

 

– – There are many real estate "booths" in my town, so I carried with me quite a number of my A4 sheets whenever I went out in the shopping malls, and when I saw people chatting to the folks manning these booths, I would hang around and when these people left, I would approach them and see if they were interested in buying a house, giving them my details.

 

– – As there were a few similar "estates" like mine, I visited the caretakers/overseers of the estates and gave them my details in case there were interested parties who didn't like what they saw in that estate. Of course commission mentioned again.

 

My marketing produced just about all of the prospects I had on these two houses (they were sold separately, perhaps a year apart) and I sold both of them through my own efforts.

 

If you have good real estate agents, then by all means use them but don't rely on them to work hard on your behalf, because they simply won't.

 

Finally, as regards price, mine was priced the same as four other houses for sale in my soi, and I was willing to negotiate a few hundred thousand baht, which I did, and as I made money from the initial purchase price, I was happy. A win-win situation.

 

Having said that, if your condo hasn't sold in a while then it is possibly a case of being priced too high AND not being marketed widely enough, both of which you can easily fix.

 

Good luck.