I am looking for a nice, preferably seaside, condo in Hua Hin Cha Am area.

 

The place appears to be as crowded with condos as Pattaya, making me wondering if it is a good idea to buy in the first place???

 

When I buy, I want to be sure I can also sell in the future, without losing money.

 

For example, there are these beautiful high end seaside condos (developed by Q company), which appear to be occupied at about 50%, even though they have been on the market for a few years now...why is that? there are not so many beach front properties like that.

 

Input from members living in that area is welcome.

Edited December 27, 20187 yr by Brunolem

I like it in the area, a nice mix of the old and the new. As far as a guarantee about sales and profit, imho you're in the wrong country.

just had a recent chat with a western developer who's been building in hua hin for over 20 years..

 

his take "hua hin is dead right now, nothing's selling"

 

take it with a pinch of salt obviously but do do your due diligence

 

i'd say you are buying into a shrinking western market and thais like to buy new

 

 

1 hour ago, GeorgeCross said:

just had a recent chat with a western developer who's been building in hua hin for over 20 years..

 

his take "hua hin is dead right now, nothing's selling"

 

take it with a pinch of salt obviously but do do your due diligence

 

i'd say you are buying into a shrinking western market and thais like to buy new

 

 

One could say that it's good to be a buyer in such a market...puts one in a position of strength, at least theoretically, since many Thais would rather not sell for years rather than lowering their asking price and lose face in the process.

 

Developers have been building like mad all over the country, and now comes the hangover...and this is in a booming economy!

What is it gonna be when things turn bad in the West, as they will?

 

1 hour ago, Brunolem said:

When I buy, I want to be sure I can also sell in the future, without losing money.

That may be possible if you buy at a very low price, but I wouldnt count on it. If you include the fairly high transfer taxes/fees, and the very high commission that agents mistakenly think they are worth, then I would say it would be very hard to do.

 

Massive oversupply and hugely inflated asking prices seem to be the norm for everywhere in Thailand.

"When I buy, I want to be sure I can also sell in the future, without losing money."

In that case, I recommend you familiarise yourself thoroughly with the Thai real estate market before buying - possibly for years.

The Thai market is in general illiquid, though of course there are exceptions. In addition, you are as a foreigner by definition at a disadvantage. I don't deny that there are people who buy and sell successfully, in a timely manner, but that is not the rule; it may take years to sell your property, and you may very possibly, if needing to make a speedy or forced sale, have to lose money on your transaction.

Approach it with your eyes open, and to do that you need time.

On 12/27/2018 at 11:20 AM, Brunolem said:

I am looking for a nice, preferably seaside, condo in Hua Hin Cha Am area.

I am an American and it make zero sense to "invest" in a condo in Thailand FOR ME, just too easy to make money in the USA. but you may be different.

 

I have lived in Hua Hin for 5 years. looked at very OCEAN VIEW BEACH FRONT condo building from north of Cha Am in 2014. All super expensive starting at six million baht and up. Same in trendy Khao Takiap where I rent a house south of HH by four kilometers. The condo tower 200 meters from my house starts at one half million US dollars. I am not talking about San Suri 28 sq. meter parking lot view condo boxes that you can buy for 3 million baht. These tall 20 story tower condos in CA and HH are owned by Bangkok elites.  

 

My house is 100 meters from the beach and rent is 10,000 baht. no view of course. but a huge house.  

 

Most the condos are empty in Hua Hin. If you live here you will see the condo towers are dark at night. Maybe in one or two units someone is home.

 

If you must buy, I suggest you live in HH for at least two years before buying. look out for traffic patterns. noise. schools zones. festival grounds. Wats. look at high demand areas. everything south of town. Pranburi.  

 

And watch out for the new and expanding jet service at HH airport. Departure is northwest with a sharp turn to the east over the ocean.

Super loud train horn near the tracks and two more years of elevated high speed train construction in the heart of town.     

 

 

 

 

Edited December 28, 20187 yr by NCC1701A

I know a guy who bought a house for about 1.8 Million Baht, he painted it, fixed up a couple of fences and then put it up for sale at about 3.5 Million.

 

This was about 3 years ago, it hasn't sold, he still lives there. It's still for sale....

 

Rent (dont buy) in a area you feel is to your liking. Then drive south toward Pretchuap Kiri kan and beyond to Chumpon. These parts are less crowded, congested and quiter than CA and Hua Hin and you may be pleasantly surprised at what is on offer. Good luck.

 

I'm familiar with real estate in Hua Hin, Bangkok, and Ko Samui

 

HH is by far the worst the money can buy. Overpriced, ugly, usually no nice ocean view. You can get lovely mountain view, but that's not what sells for most people.

 

There is always demand in Bangkok and Samui from tourists and long term visitors who come for few months. Good luck in HH with that. I rented several times a nice, new condo here and it's 80% empty at any time. When counting the return the owners get it's less than placing the money in low paying interest account due to competition and vacancy rate.

<< When I buy, I want to be sure I can also sell in the future, without losing money. >>  So you'll NEVER buy because there's no guarantee about the future developments.

You can virtually guarantee there will be no buyers in the future, no western ones either compulsory health insurance and farang ownership will come up with increased scrutiny  What looks good now will become an increasingly heavy lead weight,impossible to get shut

If you can get something that is 50 000,- pr m2, with seaview, you might get a good return on it. Studios with seaview, is still selling, but everything else,,,,, forget it if not the locations is great, less than 10 years old, good maintenence, and not more than 10 min from shopping malls, beach you can actually swim on, and downtown. 

Thanks for all this information, which confirms my initial doubts.

 

When it comes to real estate in the Land of Smiles, you can either lose money slowly by paying a rent, or all at once by buying a condo.

At least, when you rent you can move from one place to another rather quickly, whereas when you own you may be stuck with your condo for a very long time...

The real estate dream buy low, sell high ! Good luck with that possible but highly unlikely.  The earth is strewn with burnt speculators!

Edited December 29, 20187 yr by Lucky mike
Spelling

Agree fully with NCC1701A (thumbs up!) and AtoZ posts. I am living here since 17 years. Saw the bubble emerging. A friend owns two condos. For one he lowered the price from 3 million to two million. Still no buyer. Good location in the center of town. Since years I repeat my warning: Do not buy! I live in a big house close to the palace for 8000 Baht.

Whenever you're thinking of buying somewhere always check out how much it would cost to rent the apartment or house you're buying.

 

For example nofarang mentioned above that his rent is 8000 Baht per month, that's 96,000 Baht a year. Multiple it by 20 to 25 and this is what I would consider it to be worth'..... around 2 million Baht.

 

If you were to ask them how much they want to sell it for the price will likely be north of 4 million. That's a 2.5% annual yield on 4 million (just a guess but I know what they're like around these parts).

 

There are a couple of places in the world which command such high prices with low yields at the high end of the market, it's a short list and includes places like NYC, Shanghai and certain parts of California, they're global business hubs, Hua Hin is not on that list.

 

Edited January 1, 20197 yr by ukrules

6 minutes ago, ukrules said:

Whenever you're thinking of buying somewhere always check out how much it would cost to rent the apartment or house you're buying.

 

For example nofarang mentioned above that his rent is 8000 Baht per month, that's 96,000 Baht a year. Multiple it by 20 to 25 and this is what I would consider it to be worth'..... around 2 million Baht.

 

If you were to ask them how much they want to sell it for the price will likely be north of 4 million. That's a 2.5% annual yield on 4 million (just a guess but I know what they're like around these parts).

 

There are a couple of places in the world which command such high prices with low yields at the high end of the market, it's a short list and includes places like NYC, Shanghai and certain parts of California, they're global business hubs, Hua Hin is not on that list.

 

5% of the sale value is a good rent value, and visa versa 

On 1/1/2019 at 7:33 PM, ukrules said:

Whenever you're thinking of buying somewhere always check out how much it would cost to rent the apartment or house you're buying.

 

For example nofarang mentioned above that his rent is 8000 Baht per month, that's 96,000 Baht a year. Multiple it by 20 to 25 and this is what I would consider it to be worth'..... around 2 million Baht.

 

If you were to ask them how much they want to sell it for the price will likely be north of 4 million. That's a 2.5% annual yield on 4 million (just a guess but I know what they're like around these parts).

 

There are a couple of places in the world which command such high prices with low yields at the high end of the market, it's a short list and includes places like NYC, Shanghai and certain parts of California, they're global business hubs, Hua Hin is not on that list.

 

2 bedroom condo in the building where I sometimes stay is about 6 million THB

 

I see a Thai owner advertise it for 20k a month rent - and not much luck with that. The monthly maintenance fee is 4k so IF she would theoretically got 100% occupancy and no other expense the break even point is 31 years away. In 31 years the condo gonna look like crap.