Property: Rent or Buy?

[FruitPudding]

Some of us have rented, some bought, some both.

 

There are pros and cons to each. Some of us may think the grass is greener.

 

I am not asking what you have done or are doing, but which do you think is the best option?

 

Remember we are talking property, not women.

[robertson468]

Rent to start with for between 6 month to 1 year to get a "living feel" for the place.  If you are then convinced you will stay for a lengthy time, then buy, but remember the property itself is unlikely to increase in value, but the land that it is on will do.  For instance, I bought half a rai 15 years ago at 200,000 baht.  It is now worth between 6 to 7 million baht, based on the price of land around us.

[1FinickyOne]

The advantage to owning is that you can then do what you want with the property... as far as renovations and leaving it to a family member... regardless the color of the grass...

 

I assume you are asking from a financial point of view and then the answer is entirely determined by the individuals financial situation... so, the answer for each would depend...

 

If the property cost you near 100% or more of your funds, you might not want to buy... if buying cost you 1% of your funds, that might make it more attractive... 

[whiteman]

I was paying 65000 bhat for a 2 bed brand new room on sukumvit 5 mins walk to the sky train that was 8 years ago I build a house on a one rai  6 years ago cost me 10 million bhat all up every thing eg fully fenced  driveways lawns 15 mins from private hospital and central. Quite safe nice veiws. So 10 million divided by 65k = 153 months = 12.75 years so I am half way there to paying it off if I stayed in the same room in bangkok with out the polution. It is a win win for me 

[luckyluke]

Renting is easy,

you can mostly move when you want(sometimes loosing your guarantee if you are very hasty) if, for one or another reason, the place/aerea don't suit you anymore (view blocking, noise), 

or than just tired of it. 

 

[Kurtf]

My advice would be to rent. I made the mistake of buying and then building a house. Now 7 years later I am finding it almost impossible to sell without taking a huge loss. Others may disagree but that is my experience.

[madmen]

28 minutes ago, whiteman said:

I was paying 65000 bhat for a 2 bed brand new room on sukumvit 5 mins walk to the sky train that was 8 years ago I build a house on a one rai  6 years ago cost me 10 million bhat all up every thing eg fully fenced  driveways lawns 15 mins from private hospital and central. Quite safe nice veiws. So 10 million divided by 65k = 153 months = 12.75 years so I am half way there to paying it off if I stayed in the same room in bangkok with out the polution. It is a win win for me 

Plus if you needed to sell quick you could take a hit and make it up with the currency conversion

[RotMahKid]

We own land and house in Muang Lampang, price of the land is always on the rise here in the city.

I loved to live there during the whole year.

Since this years pollution we move out for about 3 month to Saphli ( Chumphon) where the air is much cleaner during  half of Jan- till April and plan to do that for every year on and on of things don't change. There we rent a house.

[Mavideol]

2 hours ago, robertson468 said:

Rent to start with for between 6 month to 1 year to get a "living feel" for the place.  If you are then convinced you will stay for a lengthy time, then buy, but remember the property itself is unlikely to increase in value, but the land that it is on will do.  For instance, I bought half a rai 15 years ago at 200,000 baht.  It is now worth between 6 to 7 million baht, based on the price of land around us.

I thought foreigners can not buy land, did you do it using a company

[newnative]

    It's all individual circumstances and preferences, one size does not fit all.  My partner and I like to own, like to make a place our own, like to have our own furniture and art, like to be able to make changes, and have liked making a profit every time we sell.   We don't like throwing rent money out the window every month.  But, that is us.  Renting might be just the ticket for someone else.  

[AlexRich]

It all depends on individual circumstances. Someone looking for flexibility and the opportunity to exit Thailand quickly should always rent. Those with family commitments may want to buy and secure an asset for their children, one that they can use in the meantime. With the current exchange rate condos are overpriced and may prove hard to sell in later years. I’d rent.

[xylophone]

I have both bought and rented here and when I first came I thought buying would be a good bet as I've always liked to have my own place, then I sold it and realised that friends were not able to sell theirs and that prices had plummeted, so they had to take big losses or stay there.

 

Two other friends had a very large hotel complex built on land right next to their houses and it was almost within touching distance, along with noisy air-conditioners and balconies, not to mention hiding the sun after about 3 PM in the afternoon, and they could do nothing about it although one did as he was very well-connected, and very wealthy, and despite it costing him a small fortune he won a lawsuit, but overall I doubt whether he made much if anything out of it.

 

In the town where I live, there are testaments to well-intentioned folk wanting to buy condos and apartments only to see that their money has gone down the drain because of corruption and/or unfinished construction.

 

Now that I've come to know the place a lot better, I would recommend to anyone that they rent here and that's easy in the case of condos, but where there is a house and land, then the only legal way to "own" that is via one's wife/partner owning the land, this despite the many and varied convoluted structures which have been put in place.

 

Renting means you can move when you want to, you don't have to put up with noisy neighbours, if the neighbourhood starts to get a bit rough, you can also up sticks and go or if you get built out you can choose somewhere else to live at a moments notice........even go back overseas if necessary.

 

For me it's all about flexibility.

[SoSoCNX]

Easy to Buy

Very Hard to Sell

 

 

[Good Lord]

I am clearly a fan of buying as I would have intentions of giving my property to my kids once I kick the bucket. Rent money is technically money wasted every month. Looking at the price of the THB at the moment I am incredible happy that I bought my condo almost a decade ago. I can assure you with the rent money saved and the appreciation of the THB alone it was a solid money move. I would only buy property for personal use and not for investment purpose like renting it out. This is too much headache and the stock market provides so much better possibilities.

 

However: If anyone ever intents to buy, then it is the absolute imperative to rent at least 6 months in that building before you pull the trigger. So far I was lucky with neighbors but this is in my opinion the number one risk here for buying a condominium. If you have terrible and loud neighbors then you might be in a world of trouble.

 

So to sum it up: Buying is better than renting if your financial situation easily allows it. 

[marcusarelus]

My wife got a loan and bought the house and I pay rent to her.  When the loan is paid off she has a house.  I'd pay the same in rent somewhere else.  

[RichardColeman]

16 minutes ago, marcusarelus said:

My wife got a loan and bought the house and I pay rent to her.  When the loan is paid off she has a house.  I'd pay the same in rent somewhere else.  

was she working ? And did the bank take your income into consideration ? 

[ToddinChonburi]

With the current immigration problems it is not a good time to buy.

[RichardColeman]

Renting : You can move out anytime.

Buying : You cannot move out  until you sell the house  - probably at a loss

 

Considering i have seen the same properties on the market still after 3 years, you could be in for the long haul

[IAMHERE]

Rent; you are a guest in their country and at any time can be requested to leave immediately. The day will come when the head guy will blame everything on Falang and you'll be surprised at how Thai's will be treating you. 

[FruitPudding]

I think it makes more sense to invest in stocks and just rent.

 

Higher returns in stocks, despite renting a home. Can sell easy.

 

[Peterw42]

Buying is fine so long as you do some research and dont pay 2-3 times what a place is worth.

To many people get off the plane and literally pay 2-3 times what something is worth, then blame the market when they cant sell it.

 

I see it all the time in my condo block, condos change hands for around 1.3m - 1.5m baht, people at least get there money back or make a modest profit. In the same block, people sometimes pay 3m baht for the same condos then 3 years later wonder why they cant sell for 3m baht.

 

 

 

 

[marcusarelus]

44 minutes ago, RichardColeman said:

was she working ? And did the bank take your income into consideration ? 

She is a working engineer for Samsung (photo below) and the bank did not take my income into consideration.  

[marcusarelus]

14 minutes ago, FruitPudding said:

I think it makes more sense to invest in stocks and just rent.

 

Higher returns in stocks, despite renting a home. Can sell easy.

I would question this advice if you are a Thai national.  

[FruitPudding]

16 minutes ago, marcusarelus said:

I would question this advice if you are a Thai national.  

Well, historically stocks tend to beat property.

 

Of course, it is a higher risk/reward relationship, but I think even the market average tends to beat property prices. And it doesn't take into acciunt rentsl yield or dividends.

 

But anyway, out of interest wy would you question it? Genuinly interested to hear your point of view; I'm not being funny. 

 

Is it cos Thais can buy land?

 

 

[Caine]

5 hours ago, robertson468 said:

Rent to start with for between 6 month to 1 year to get a "living feel" for the place.  If you are then convinced you will stay for a lengthy time, then buy, but remember the property itself is unlikely to increase in value, but the land that it is on will do.  For instance, I bought half a rai 15 years ago at 200,000 baht.  It is now worth between 6 to 7 million baht, based on the price of land around us.

You may have bought the land but you don’t own it.

[marcusarelus]

18 minutes ago, FruitPudding said:

Well, historically stocks tend to beat property.

 

Of course, it is a higher risk/reward relationship, but I think even the market average tends to beat property prices. And it doesn't take into acciunt rentsl yield or dividends.

 

But anyway, out of interest wy would you question it? Genuinly interested to hear your point of view; I'm not being funny. 

 

Is it cos Thais can buy land?

She got a no money down loan that included the price of furnishing the home and has reduced the loan interest 3 times allowing us to pay off the house in 10 years.  Don't think she could have done that with stocks.  I'm paying what I would in rent and in 10 years she has a nice house to keep or sell.   

[FruitPudding]

8 minutes ago, marcusarelus said:

She got a no money down loan that included the price of furnishing the home and has reduced the loan interest 3 times allowing us to pay off the house in 10 years.  Don't think she could have done that with stocks.  I'm paying what I would in rent and in 10 years she has a nice house to keep or sell.   

 

True. I can't remember ever getting a free house off the stock market.

 

With any luck I will be reincarnated as a woman - preferably Thai - and then perhaps I will reap those benefits.

 

But from an investment point of view, I am sure I read earlier that the Thai property market is up 48% in the past 10 years.

 

Whereas, the stock market average SP500 is up 200% and Apple is up over 1000% over the same time period.

 

 

[marcusarelus]

10 minutes ago, FruitPudding said:

 

True. I can't remember ever getting a free house off the stock market.

 

With any luck I will be reincarnated as a woman - preferably Thai - and then perhaps I will reap those benefits.

 

But from an investment point of view, I am sure I read earlier that the Thai property market is up 48% in the past 10 years.

 

Whereas, the stock market average SP500 is up 200% and Apple is up over 1000% over the same time period.

I'm sure you are a multi millionaire with investments up 1000%.  I just have a house and dog that will be paid for in a couple of years.  

[madmen]

55 minutes ago, FruitPudding said:

Of course, it is a higher risk/reward relationship, but I think even the market average tends to beat property prices.

Unless of course you were holding 10 years ago during the global financial crisis that wiped out millions of stockholders. market dropped so damn quickly that stop losses were unable to be triggered . That's liquidity for you

[1FinickyOne]

3 hours ago, SoSoCNX said:

Easy to Buy

Very Hard to Sell

 

 

This is what has puzzled me... shouldn't there be market factors working to bring the prices down? I see nice properties that seem quite expensive...

 

land around mae jo/doi saket can run to an equivalent of $175,000 an acre...