What is the deal with all these leasehold properties for sale in Hua Hin?

I note that Hua Hin seems to have a large amount of properties for sale that are leasehold compared to other areas of Thailand.

Any idea of typical lease lengths?

Anybody on the board purchased one of these (for the wife or in company name)?

 

 

Well I got some information on this in the last month or so while checking out some things.

If a foreign couple (non-Thai) want to "own" a house, and are unable to work another way, then this is what they do.

Not sure of other reasons, but I think thats the main one.  And due to HH having more foreigners, more chance of a foreign only couple wanting to do this.
 

The developer (Thai obv.) keeps the Chanote or No So Sam, and they pay for it.  Also I think they might be able to work out payment terms, so may be able to pay for it over time like a Mortgage, and developer still has control over it.

 

The negative on this, is you are always at the mercy of the developer.  So whats happened that I heard of, is said couple decides they want to "sell" or get out of the lease (transfer) for the property.  So in the case I spoke to of a few people, the developer wants between 200-400k for that.  Partially due to the opportunity/greed, but also due to # of years of property and may be a bit of appreciation in the price since purchase.

 

The maximum legal lease time is 30 years, so I'd imagine thats what most would be for.  I'd imagine if you pay the full value/amount of the house, your "lease" would then be negligable for the duration.  I'm guessing enough to cover the yearly fee's that a housing community would charge (30-40k), so same as if you owned it.

 

So thats what I know, maybe some others can say something and correct my information or provide additional info.