Selling my House.

[chonburi12]

Dear Forum,

 

I would like to sell 'my' house in Thailand which is situated in a nice moo barn in Bangkok. The place is about seven years old on a newish build but since I no longer live there I am trying to cut all my liabilities. Plus I can't be arsed with the place anymore too. Its fully furnished with top of the range stuff so will hopefully be able to sell it as it is. 

 

I'm just wondering the process / pit falls I need to look out for when getting an agent to list the property. I've never had to sell a house before so have no idea of the process. I suppose I need to get it valued first, then it goes on the market etc etc?  Can anyone help advise on the best way so I don't end up getting ripped off in the process? Is it pretty much a similar process to the UK when doing this?

 

Cheers, 

Dave,

[PatOngo]

Indicate a price, maybe someone here will be interested. What area in BKK?

[Pravda]

12 minutes ago, chonburi12 said:

Is it pretty much a similar process to the UK when doing this?

Oh, yes.... nothing worry 

[carlyai]

Indicate a price, maybe someone here will be interested. What area in BKK?

Are you allowed to advertise a house for sale on this forum? Cause I've got one for sale as well.

Sent from my SM-J700F using Tapatalk

[PatOngo]

Just now, carlyai said:

Are you allowed to advertise a house for sale on this forum? Cause I've got one for sale as well.

Sent from my SM-J700F using Tapatalk
 

Where?

[ChipButty]

It's a buyers market at the moment second hand houses are not selling in Phuket unless it's in a fire sale, I know of one villa where they paid 12 million some years ago cant even get 8 million for it,

[SteveK]

40 minutes ago, ChipButty said:

It's a buyers market at the moment second hand houses are not selling in Phuket unless it's in a fire sale, I know of one villa where they paid 12 million some years ago cant even get 8 million for it,

Sounds about right.

[Delight]

 The selling process is simpler than the UK process-if the property is in a Thai name.If it is in a Thai name then your prospects will be Thai.

It is very  simple and very  cheap if the the property is in a company name. Typically in this circumstance your prospects will be Farang.

My view is that house building  slowed to almost zero as a consequence of the rise in the Baht . I think that there is a shortages of houses. This is my sense based on the Pattaya market. Friends of mine -again in Pattaya had no difficulty in selling their house. Selling condos is difficult -almost to being impossible.

Your post suggests that  you are a Brit.

I would set a minimum price in Baht such that you get back your original investment  as measured  in Sterling.

You may have to throw in the furniture.

 

 

[Jai Dee]

8 hours ago, carlyai said:

Are you allowed to advertise a house for sale on this forum? Cause I've got one for sale as well.
 

 

You can put your personal ads here.

[Skallywag]

Don't know any real estate agents in Bangkok.  I have read 3% - 5% commission is normal for agents.

ThaiVisa has its own section on houses for sale if interested in advertising here.

https://property.thaivisa.com/ 

[Jomtien]

You can use multiple agents, just make a good set of photos.

Agents ask 3-5%

Free good portals are DDproperty(com) DotProperty co th and also bahtsold.

Some of the franchise agents, are very pushy to let you sign papers (with nice fairy tales). Their only goal is to become the main broker, they will not work harder for you but just sit on it. Other agents will become less interested anymore. (as the main agent want comm. share without doing anything) My wife made that mistake 5 years ago... 

So keep it open for all agents.

Bangkok market is totally geared to Thai, so if you house is in company you have to calculate first transfer cost, and the corporate income tax when closing down the company. have the financials ready so that you know what you get nett in your pocket. Common a Thai dont want the company, as they need a loan.

[Denim]

I've sold two houses in Bangkok.

 

From my experience agents are a complete waste of time and a rip off. They do very little that you can't do yourself for free but charge a lot for it. Basically , all they do is place pictures of your property on various websites with their contact number so that a buyer has to go through them.

 

You can post your own pictures on popular websites for free. The most popular is DD Property in both Thai and English.

 

https://www.ddproperty.com/

 

I used this website and others who's names I have forgotten.

The result was several phone calls from agents offering to sell my house .......only one call was a buyer.

 

To cut it short , by far and away the most effective method to sell your house is to put a large for sale sign on your front gate with your phone number.  Doing this I was approached by half a dozen buyers , one of whom bought the house.

 

Sometimes, people living in the same moobahn will offer to introduce you to a buyer ( a relative or friend of theirs ) for a small commission...typically 5000 bahtish. This also works well and is a lot cheaper than an agents fees.

 

Agents say they will take care of all the paperwork but there is not much of this and on the day of the sale ( when the cash changes hands ) you will have to go the land office anyway to sign various documents.

 

A common bit of corruption you will often come across is when people declare to the land office that the sale price is a lot lower than the real sale price. This reduces taxes to be paid and all parties get a slice of the savings with only the government taking the hit.

[carlyai]

Where?

Pattaya

Sent from my SM-J700F using Tapatalk

[The Fat Controller]

Who owns it ? 

 

Company or your wife/girlfriend ?

[chonburi12]

15 hours ago, Denim said:

I've sold two houses in Bangkok.

 

From my experience agents are a complete waste of time and a rip off. They do very little that you can't do yourself for free but charge a lot for it. Basically , all they do is place pictures of your property on various websites with their contact number so that a buyer has to go through them.

 

You can post your own pictures on popular websites for free. The most popular is DD Property in both Thai and English.

 

https://www.ddproperty.com/

 

I used this website and others who's names I have forgotten.

The result was several phone calls from agents offering to sell my house .......only one call was a buyer.

 

To cut it short , by far and away the most effective method to sell your house is to put a large for sale sign on your front gate with your phone number.  Doing this I was approached by half a dozen buyers , one of whom bought the house.

 

Sometimes, people living in the same moobahn will offer to introduce you to a buyer ( a relative or friend of theirs ) for a small commission...typically 5000 bahtish. This also works well and is a lot cheaper than an agents fees.

 

Agents say they will take care of all the paperwork but there is not much of this and on the day of the sale ( when the cash changes hands ) you will have to go the land office anyway to sign various documents.

 

A common bit of corruption you will often come across is when people declare to the land office that the sale price is a lot lower than the real sale price. This reduces taxes to be paid and all parties get a slice of the savings with only the government taking the hit.

Many thanks for your advice. So whats the process once you have a buyer? How do you prevent being ripped off and actually make sure they pay you? Its financed on a mortgage through the Bank so I am not sure how the transaction goes through?

[Denim]

 

 

20 minutes ago, chonburi12 said:

Many thanks for your advice. So whats the process once you have a buyer? How do you prevent being ripped off and actually make sure they pay you? Its financed on a mortgage through the Bank so I am not sure how the transaction goes through?

 

I was also worried about this but had to play it by ear. 

 

I surfed the net for about a week collating as much info as possible.

 

Then , when we had a buyer we had them leave a small deposit ( as a sign of sincerity and good faith ) for this I downloaded a suitable I found on the net. Basically it set out the details and listed everything that was included in the sale. Air con , fitted units , anything in the garden.Fixtures and fittings like curtains etc. ( wife wanted to take everything but I didn't want the hassle plus it made for a more attractive sale.) Next we went through this bill of sale with the buyer so that both parties fully understood what was being sold. Once agreed we took their small deposit ( around 5000 baht ) and agreed on a date to go to the land office to change the land title.

 

We also had to agree with the buyer on who would be responsible for any sales tax. In our case we agreed with the buyer to share the tax burden 50/50. This is not set in stone and has to be mutually acceptable. To know beforehand how much this is likely To be you can go to the land office and enquire.

 

Since most buyers will be borrowing from the bank an agent from that bank will make an appointment to visit to make sure the buyers are actually getting a sound property. 

 

If the bank agrees to the loan then on the agreed date you meet with the buyers and the bankers at the land office and make the sale legal.

 

Our face sale was paid in cash so we had to sit and count the money !! This took 15 minutes and was done very carefully in a quiet corner.

 

Second sale we took a bankers draft. This was issued in our presence by their bank before we went to the land office and put in a sealed envelope which we all signed. They held onto this until the sale was completed at the land office. In this sale the agent from the bank came with us and did all the relevant paperwork. When it was done we were called over to sign it and then we were given the cheque.

 

This was 5 years ago now so I have forgotten a few points. Also no longer have ant useful links.

 

The internet was very useful but most of the really useful stuff I learn was in the Thai language. Do your search in Thai and you will find a wealth of info out there more up to date than mine.

 

I started the search with Google and just wrote in  Thai ..... How do I sell my house ? Plenty of answers found.

 

Finally , if you want to sell your house fast make it look as clean and presentable as possible, preferably like a show home. Secondly , do your research and price your house fairly with a mind to a sale. Sold both of our houses within a month whereas identical properties in the same village had been up for sale a lot longer with no buyers.

 

Good luck and patience will be needed.

 

 

[dotpoom]

Why are some intent on looking for problems in life...

   Do you not think the new owner will be making sure (more so than yourself) that all procedures are done correctly?

[scorecard]

On 10/19/2019 at 3:22 PM, Delight said:

 The selling process is simpler than the UK process-if the property is in a Thai name.If it is in a Thai name then your prospects will be Thai.

It is very  simple and very  cheap if the the property is in a company name. Typically in this circumstance your prospects will be Farang.

My view is that house building  slowed to almost zero as a consequence of the rise in the Baht . I think that there is a shortages of houses. This is my sense based on the Pattaya market. Friends of mine -again in Pattaya had no difficulty in selling their house. Selling condos is difficult -almost to being impossible.

Your post suggests that  you are a Brit.

I would set a minimum price in Baht such that you get back your original investment  as measured  in Sterling.

You may have to throw in the furniture.

 

 

All true but there's another point, Thai people don't buy second hand houses:

 

- No status value when you tell your friends of family that you bought a second hand house, and don't discard this point, it's real.

 

- Concern that the house may have ghosts or similar and that's why it's for sale, and/or someone may have died in the house therefore ghosts etc., and don't discard these points they are real.

 

Plus if a farang is interested and has a Thai wife she will make if very clear 'don't buy it', reasons above, very possibly even refuse to live in the house.   

[Speedhump]

If you or your wife don't own the land beware of the land owner asking a fortune to make a new land lease for the buyer. Someone may try to stick you with the cost. I've seen cost over one million for a house worth six, on a small 500 sq. metre plot of land. This is on a resort type development. 

[Gilltom]

On 10/19/2019 at 6:42 AM, PatOngo said:

Indicate a price, maybe someone here will be interested. What area in BKK?

Much easier here than uk. Can be done in a few days rather than months if no morgage involved. We were lucky falang couple bought ours so did'nt even have to close the invisable company down????

[xylophone]

On 10/19/2019 at 3:40 PM, Skallywag said:

Don't know any real estate agents in Bangkok.  I have read 3% - 5% commission is normal for agents.

ThaiVisa has its own section on houses for sale if interested in advertising here.

https://property.thaivisa.com/ 

I have sent 3 emails to the ThaiVisa property mob mentioned above (FazWaz?) for a friend who wants to sell his beautiful house here in Phuket (large grounds, pool, great area etc) and did get a reply saying they would get back to me (after the first email) but after a few weeks no-one has called me as they said they would!!!

 

Very poor service IMO.

[PatOngo]

34 minutes ago, Gilltom said:

Much easier here than uk. Can be done in a few days rather than months if no morgage involved. We were lucky falang couple bought ours so did'nt even have to close the invisable company down????

Sorry, not looking in the UK, too far away and too cold!

[Cricky]

2 hours ago, xylophone said:

I have sent 3 emails to the ThaiVisa property mob mentioned above (FazWaz?) for a friend who wants to sell his beautiful house here in Phuket (large grounds, pool, great area etc) and did get a reply saying they would get back to me (after the first email) but after a few weeks no-one has called me as they said they would!!!

 

Very poor service IMO.

Dont be so disappointed, they all do it.

 

Most Agents here have no background in Real Estate, I reckon they do it as a hobby.

[khunPer]

You can for example use Thaivisa's Property-section for advertising.

 

There is not a usable official valuation – but you can always check on the land department, what they has as appreciated value for the property, used for taxation, if actual selling price is not higher – but try to find out what similar houses in same area are offered for, that might be a guide.

 

As others have mentioned it, a real-estate agent is often used, and they typically charge 3 percent (or more). You can also yourself use various webpages that offers property for sale.

 

Normally a deposit is paid when entering a sales agreement, and the balance paid upon transfer of deed, which normally takes place at the land office. Payment can be in cash, or a bank cashier's cheque if a mortgage is involved on buyer's side.

 

Tax for sale of property can be checked here, and is paid in cash at the land office upon transfer of title deed to a new name. Normally seller pays all taxes, and buyer pay transfer fee. Transfer fee can also be agreed for 50/50 payment between seller and buyer. Tax and fee shall be stipulated in the sales agreement, not to be discussed in the land office. There is an often used standard document for property sale available in book stores; that agreement also include a clause about compensation if either part change mind and wont buy, or sell, the property.

 

Otherwise it's pretty straight forward, sold as seen – including any ghosts and spirits inhabiting the property – actually more simple than in some Westerns countries...????

[Kurtf]

Rotsa Ruck. Maybe in a moo baan in Bangkok it is different but I have been trying to sell our western style home up here near Chiang Mai for several years with very little interest shown. Also I would suggest you stay away from real estate agents. They are not willing to get out and actually do any work other than to put your house on their website. Waaaay different than RE agents in the USA.

[xylophone]

22 hours ago, VYCM said:

Dont be so disappointed, they all do it.

 

Most Agents here have no background in Real Estate, I reckon they do it as a hobby.

I have sold two houses here and an apartment for a friend and although I did try to use an agent early on in the piece, I decided to go it alone and was successful in all three sales through my own efforts.

 

I have yet to find an agent who diligently works trying to find prospects and also trying to market one's property outside of just plonking it on their real estate listing and hoping someone will find it.

 

Lazy bar stewards to say the least (most of them). 

 

22 hours ago, khunPer said:

As others have mentioned it, a real-estate agent is often used, and they typically charge 3 percent (or more).

In this area (Phuket) you will not find any agents these days who charge 3%, as most of them charge 5% and one I know charges 10%!!!

 

Lack of sales, so commission rate goes up.......sound familiar?

 

22 hours ago, khunPer said:

You can for example use Thaivisa's Property-section for advertising.

Tried that, but poor response to my enquiry after 3 efforts........see my earlier post.

[xylophone]

On 10/20/2019 at 7:48 AM, chonburi12 said:

Many thanks for your advice. So whats the process once you have a buyer? How do you prevent being ripped off and actually make sure they pay you? Its financed on a mortgage through the Bank so I am not sure how the transaction goes through?

May I offer some more advice as I have already managed to sell three properties using the following route.......

 

Put together an email and a flyer which incorporates four of the best features of your property and include a bedroom and a kitchen in these, and if you can, your bathroom.

 

Make a montage of these small pictures and bullet point the key features of the property.

 

In the email form I sent it to real estate agents (obviously, but not expecting any response, but worth a shot) but more importantly I sent it round to local people here I knew who were in business and had a client base........my lawyer, an accountant I knew, a business broker, a travel agent and a couple of other guys I knew who owned their own businesses, a couple of which were bars.

 

I then got a laminated copy of an A4 sheet with all of the information on it and pinned it up in their bars, with their permission.

 

Along with the email I sent out, I promised a 3% commission paid in cash if any lead/prospect turned into a sale.

 

One property was sold via my lawyer, one via a bar owner and one via a hotel flyer.

 

Sometimes you have got to be proactive, as others won't!

 

Good luck.

[RocketDog]

On 10/19/2019 at 3:59 PM, Denim said:

I've sold two houses in Bangkok.

 

From my experience agents are a complete waste of time and a rip off. They do very little that you can't do yourself for free but charge a lot for it. Basically , all they do is place pictures of your property on various websites with their contact number so that a buyer has to go through them.

 

You can post your own pictures on popular websites for free. The most popular is DD Property in both Thai and English.

 

https://www.ddproperty.com/

 

I used this website and others who's names I have forgotten.

The result was several phone calls from agents offering to sell my house .......only one call was a buyer.

 

To cut it short , by far and away the most effective method to sell your house is to put a large for sale sign on your front gate with your phone number.  Doing this I was approached by half a dozen buyers , one of whom bought the house.

 

Sometimes, people living in the same moobahn will offer to introduce you to a buyer ( a relative or friend of theirs ) for a small commission...typically 5000 bahtish. This also works well and is a lot cheaper than an agents fees.

 

Agents say they will take care of all the paperwork but there is not much of this and on the day of the sale ( when the cash changes hands ) you will have to go the land office anyway to sign various documents.

 

A common bit of corruption you will often come across is when people declare to the land office that the sale price is a lot lower than the real sale price. This reduces taxes to be paid and all parties get a slice of the savings with only the government taking the hit.

My understanding is that the land office always uses the highest value of the two. I recently read this on a realtor's site.

[chrisandsu]

On 10/24/2019 at 6:44 PM, scorecard said:

All true but there's another point, Thai people don't buy second hand houses:

 

- No status value when you tell your friends of family that you bought a second hand house, and don't discard this point, it's real.

 

- Concern that the house may have ghosts or similar and that's why it's for sale, and/or someone may have died in the house therefore ghosts etc., and don't discard these points they are real.

 

Plus if a farang is interested and has a Thai wife she will make if very clear 'don't buy it', reasons above, very possibly even refuse to live in the house.   

Sorry but that’s simply not true . I have sold 3 houses and all have been to Thais . Maybe out  in the superstitious boonies that may be true . But Thais are not that fussy when the location and price is right . 

[Denim]

On 10/25/2019 at 8:44 AM, scorecard said:

All true but there's another point, Thai people don't buy second hand houses:

 

I'm sorry but that is a completely untrue myth. 

 

What people won't buy is a pig in a poke. I have seen people trying to sell a house and failing because they have made very little effort to make the property presentable and therefore desirable .

 

If the place is well presented and well maintained and most importantly , priced correctly , then selling second hand is very simple.