Buy a Condo advice

[melvinmelvin]

12 hours ago, SkyRider said:

What I meant is, I am not getting anything in return for the money I'm paying in rent. 

 

I would just appreciate any advice at all, I want to thoroughly research whether to do this or not, research the risks, and what to look out for if buying.  

 

To your very first post in this thread:

 

Thailand is one of the very few (possibly only one) country in SEA where a foreigner

legally can buy and own land in his own name.

 

Its a lengthy and costly process to reach that state though, but it is possible.

 

[tomazbodner]

11 hours ago, mokwit said:

Exactly. Those who bought  for rental income will dig their heels in and say "no AirBnB, no fees - we bought to rent out". What is the juristic person going to do, ban an owner who lives elsewhere and non existent tenants from using the communal facilities? If that doesn't work they can do what?

What I've seen so far was putting their mugshots with names in every lift and lobby, before cutting their water and electricity a month later. Most were Chinese in this case.

[tomazbodner]

11 hours ago, ChipButty said:

Half the staff at Sansiri buy up the units to rent out and get the option to buy before it's come out of the ground most of Sansiri's customers are Thai and maybe buy 3 or 4 units at a time what do you think they are doing with them?

Right now, with occupancy crashing, probably trying to sell them or borrow money from family to make bank payments...

[treetops]

12 hours ago, mokwit said:

Oh yeah North facing with condos on either side i.e. no outside wall getting the sun.

Not on the top floor either, also to avoid the heating effect of the sun.

[Lacessit]

If the OP is young, buying a condo for the long haul would make some sense. Better to rent in your 70's, liquidity is more important then.

Last thing I would do is buy a condo in Bangkok. If Thailand is a bathtub, Bangkok is the plughole. 1 metre above sea level.

[SkyRider]

10 hours ago, Lacessit said:

If the OP is young, buying a condo for the long haul would make some sense. Better to rent in your 70's, liquidity is more important then.

Last thing I would do is buy a condo in Bangkok. If Thailand is a bathtub, Bangkok is the plughole. 1 metre above sea level.

I'm 56.  Great point about the flooding. 

[SkyRider]

I have now seen two buildings in the 800,000 to 1,000,000 range that had termites. 

 

Are termites in low cost condos common in Thailand?

[scubascuba3]

2 minutes ago, SkyRider said:

I have now seen two buildings in the 800,000 to 1,000,000 range that had termites. 

 

Are termites in low cost condos common in Thailand?

how did you spot them?

[SkyRider]

2 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

how did you spot them?

There was an exterminator there that told my girlfriend this, and she saw a line of spots that appeared to her to be a termite line. I didn't notice it, and she neglected to tell me this until later. She said she didn't realize how termites can damage a building. 

 

If there are termites in the building, but have not reached a unit that you are looking into - would a building inspector even know that the building has termites?  

[bkk6060]

Any advice?

Don't do it.

My US stock account is up almost 25% this year.

Almost double when I considered buying a condo.

Dead money Thailand condos.

Rent and invest in real investments.

 

 

[mokwit]

^{posted this elsewhere but applies here.}

Never bought property because I never had visa security and now don't even with retirement extension IMO. the key thing to understand is that Thailand thinks you have the opportunity to "go back your country" and don't care if you don't. They don't care if you are forced to "go back your country" in January at 85 years old, wearing shorts and flip flops, with no money and nowhere to go. Understand this: those who are fooling yourselves about this, stop.

 

[xylophone]

13 hours ago, SkyRider said:

Yes, as I posted before, not being a citizen of this country concerns me.  So does unruly neighbors, and if I want to leave, I might not be able to sell it.

 

You're renting an apartment Xylophone, not a condo? Isn't the electricity much more expensive in an apartment?  

Well SkyRider, I suppose I was very lucky in finding this small apartment because it is only one apartment in a block of eight, built by a Thai girl and her Italian husband, so is quite "unique" in that way. Also they don't want/like any noise out of the normal, so they are quite strict with anybody who rents and if there's any problems, they are kicked out!!

 

On the upside, they are nice friendly people and I suppose I am treated a bit like "family" as I've been here now for seven years. The apartments are mostly rented by longish term stayers and at least two or three other couples stay here for three or four months at a time.

 

Now onto the electricity........I pay exactly the government rate here which is about 3.89 baht per unit (I think), whereas I have looked at other apartments, and one which I was quite interested in because it had a large separate kitchen, wanted to charge 10 baht per unit!!

 

I would say that because of the current economic situation, strength of the baht et cetera, good value can be found in rental apartments/condos, in fact a friend of mine has managed to secure a long-term rental on a fairly new two-bedroom apartment, which was advertised at 25,000 baht per month, for 18,000 baht per month.

 

Anyway I'm now 72 and being able to move around as and when I want without having the millstone of a few million baht tied up in something which I can't get rid of, doesn't appeal to me one iota.

 

Look around and take your time, and as another poster has suggested, move into the area and see if you like it before deciding upon anything at all, rental or otherwise.
 

[xylophone]

2 hours ago, SkyRider said:

I have now seen two buildings in the 800,000 to 1,000,000 range that had termites. 

 

Are termites in low cost condos common in Thailand?

Termites are quite a common problem in Thailand, as they are in some other countries, and I've seen a house here just about eaten out of anything made of wood, so be careful.

 

Not only that they are extremely difficult to get rid of and although spraying may help, it often does not stop the little buggers from getting in elsewhere, or getting in again.

 

And a friend who has a top floor apartment here, has also had a termite problem, and he is at the top of a large block of apartments, so they are resilient and will travel anywhere for a feast of cellulose (wood)!! 

 

Just before I sign off, a few years ago I got a call from a friend who was renting a house nearby and he was worried because the whole ceiling in his bedroom (second floor) had collapsed on him due to the fact that the paper on the back of the gib-board had been eaten away by termites, so the whole thing fell in on him whilst he was in bed, and he was worried about the electrical fitting hanging down just above his head!!!
 

[SkyRider]

1 hour ago, xylophone said:

Termites are quite a common problem in Thailand, as they are in some other countries, and I've seen a house here just about eaten out of anything made of wood, so be careful.

 

Not only that they are extremely difficult to get rid of and although spraying may help, it often does not stop the little buggers from getting in elsewhere, or getting in again.

 

And a friend who has a top floor apartment here, has also had a termite problem, and he is at the top of a large block of apartments, so they are resilient and will travel anywhere for a feast of cellulose (wood)!! 

 

Just before I sign off, a few years ago I got a call from a friend who was renting a house nearby and he was worried because the whole ceiling in his bedroom (second floor) had collapsed on him due to the fact that the paper on the back of the gib-board had been eaten away by termites, so the whole thing fell in on him whilst he was in bed, and he was worried about the electrical fitting hanging down just above his head!!!
 

That's enough of a worry to scare me off from buying, just in itself.  

[xylophone]

1 hour ago, SkyRider said:

That's enough of a worry to scare me off from buying, just in itself.  

I thought I would come back on the thread because of something you said in a previous post, and that was that you were looking at condos priced at between 800,000 to 1 million baht.

 

Now I don't know what sort of condo you would be looking at, but where I am you would be lucky to get an old POS (piece of ....) for that price, and it would be highly likely that you would have to spend money on it.

 

For example the plastic water pipes set in the walls have a habit of cracking, this is because they usually are set solid in cement/concrete and no movement is possible, so if the building moves ever so slightly, then the pipes crack, and trying to find a leak in a pipe set in a concrete wall is hard work indeed. The plastic pipes can also have a habit of cracking, simply because they are old, and not only that I've seen joints in walls that have been put together with no glue, so after a while they leak.......

 

So many things to go wrong with an old building, and although some of the newer buildings are even worse, some of the older ones really do suffer from the perils of "old age".

 

Food for thought perhaps.

[SkyRider]

52 minutes ago, xylophone said:

I thought I would come back on the thread because of something you said in a previous post, and that was that you were looking at condos priced at between 800,000 to 1 million baht.

 

Now I don't know what sort of condo you would be looking at, but where I am you would be lucky to get an old POS (piece of ....) for that price, and it would be highly likely that you would have to spend money on it.

 

For example the plastic water pipes set in the walls have a habit of cracking, this is because they usually are set solid in cement/concrete and no movement is possible, so if the building moves ever so slightly, then the pipes crack, and trying to find a leak in a pipe set in a concrete wall is hard work indeed. The plastic pipes can also have a habit of cracking, simply because they are old, and not only that I've seen joints in walls that have been put together with no glue, so after a while they leak.......

 

So many things to go wrong with an old building, and although some of the newer buildings are even worse, some of the older ones really do suffer from the perils of "old age".

 

Food for thought perhaps.

1.5 million max budget. I was hoping I might be able to find a gem under or at 1 million, but that does not seem possible.

 

I didn't know this about the pipes.  

[kingofthemountain]

6 hours ago, SkyRider said:

I have now seen two buildings in the 800,000 to 1,000,000 range that had termites. 

 

Are termites in low cost condos common in Thailand?

I don't know for the termits (Usualy they are more intersted eating wood

and there are not a lot of wood in a condo building) but from my experience

I find that the ants are a real problem whatever the floor or the age of the condo

[xylophone]

1 hour ago, kingofthemountain said:

I don't know for the termits (Usualy they are more intersted eating wood

and there are not a lot of wood in a condo building) but from my experience

I find that the ants are a real problem whatever the floor or the age of the condo

True enough, however is not just wood it's anything with cellulose in it (like the paper on the back of gib-board as I quoted in a previous post) and I've actually seen them eat out the insides of kitchen workbenches, which are usually particle board of some description, compressed and held together with glue! 

 

2 hours ago, SkyRider said:

I didn't know this about the pipes.

The first house I bought here was a two-storey place and was four years old

or thereabouts, and I had to do some repairs on the water pipes in that place.

 

Likewise, a couple of years later a friend who had bought the house behind me had a couple of major problems with his water pipes leaking in the wall and had to rerun new pipes on the outside of the walls, and that was expensive.

 

The second house I bought, which was really something to keep me occupied and to do up, and hopefully sell for a profit, was a little older than my previous one, and that had quite a few leaks in the pipework, both in the walls and in the ceilings, however lucky enough some of the ceilings were "false" ceilings so I could cut through them to repair the pipework.

 

The wiring in both places was very suspect and I had to redo some of it.

 

I never had these sort of problems in the two countries in which I lived and worked (the UK and NZ) and I owned five houses in these countries, and there was basically no problems in any of the houses or structures.

 

Here it has to be "buyer beware"....... and some!
 

[SkyRider]

Thank you for all your comments.  Most of the comments to my post has made me decide that buying probably has too many risks.  

 

So now I'm thinking of continuing to rent.  My landlord is thinking about selling the condo I rent, so I have to find a new room.  I wish I could find one that is not furnished, I'd rather not pay more money in rent for someone else's furniture. 

 

I'm a little bit concerned about landlords not wanting to rent to foreigners, because of the complications it causes for them with immigration.  I've already had a woman tell me that she will not rent her condo to foreigners.  

[kingofthemountain]

18 minutes ago, SkyRider said:

 

I'm a little bit concerned about landlords not wanting to rent to foreigners, because of the complications it causes for them with immigration.  I've already had a woman tell me that she will not rent her condo to foreigners.  

Don't worry with that

with the huge oversupply on the market

still a lot of owners are very happy to find a long term tenant

 

[HeyHeyHey]

On 12/22/2019 at 7:57 AM, Peterw42 said:

$40k sitting in a bank in Australia was giving me 2% interest, not enough to pay the rent here, the same $40k in a condo and I never pay rent ever again, Thats 8k-10k a month I have to spend on other things

Can you show me where are livable condos for 800,000 THB? 

 

Maybe slums with 25 sq metres dog houses in the middle of nowhere. And these do not rent for 8-10k a month.

[scubascuba3]

7 hours ago, HeyHeyHey said:

Can you show me where are livable condos for 800,000 THB? 

 

Maybe slums with 25 sq metres dog houses in the middle of nowhere. And these do not rent for 8-10k a month.

There are plenty of places circ 800k, probably old thai style inside but spend some money and make it better. in the 30-40 metres range, examples are Pattaya Plaza Condo, Pattaya Pad, Nirun, they typically rent for circ 5k a month. If you don't like them buy elsewhere at a higher price

[Peterw42]

8 hours ago, HeyHeyHey said:

Can you show me where are livable condos for 800,000 THB? 

 

Maybe slums with 25 sq metres dog houses in the middle of nowhere. And these do not rent for 8-10k a month.

When I bought a condo a couple of years ago $40k AU converted to 1,2m baht, I think I spent around 44k, I didn't buy a 800k condo, current rentals, then and now, are around 8k a month. with current exchange rates the figure would probably be around $50k AU for the equivalent condo.. 

Plenty of new build condos around for 1m-1..5m, 35-40 sqm.

[SkyRider]

On 12/29/2019 at 6:15 AM, Peterw42 said:

When I bought a condo a couple of years ago $40k AU converted to 1,2m baht, I think I spent around 44k, I didn't buy a 800k condo, current rentals, then and now, are around 8k a month. with current exchange rates the figure would probably be around $50k AU for the equivalent condo.. 

Plenty of new build condos around for 1m-1..5m, 35-40 sqm.

I understand the concept of buying a condo and not paying rent again, although there is maintenance costs (lower then the cost of rent). I figure it would take 12 to 20 years to get the buying cost back compared to renting, depending on how much I paid for the condo. I am not a citizen in this country, no guarantee I can stay here. And it seems that any condo can eventually get termites, they are very difficult to get rid of, and some management doesn't even try.  Maybe I'm making a mistake buy continuing to rent and not getting any investment back for my money, but buying just seems to risky for me.  

[Peterw42]

17 minutes ago, SkyRider said:

I understand the concept of buying a condo and not paying rent again, although there is maintenance costs (lower then the cost of rent). I figure it would take 12 to 20 years to get the buying cost back compared to renting, depending on how much I paid for the condo. I am not a citizen in this country, no guarantee I can stay here. And it seems that any condo can eventually get termites, they are very difficult to get rid of, and some management doesn't even try.  Maybe I'm making a mistake buy continuing to rent and not getting any investment back for my money, but buying just seems to risky for me.  

Not sure why you would be so worried about termites. Condos are made out of concrete, not sure that there is any great termite problem with them eating concrete buildings. 

 

[SkyRider]

9 minutes ago, Peterw42 said:

Not sure why you would be so worried about termites. Condos are made out of concrete, not sure that there is any great termite problem with them eating concrete buildings. 

 

I lived with a girl in a condo, in the 800,000 to 1,000,000 price range, termites were eating the wooden part of the floor under the bathroom door, they were disgusting. Two of the condos I was considering renting / buying recently, turned out to have termites. I've heard three stories now, of entire ceilings falling down because of termites, at least one of them being in a condo.  

[SteveK]

Forget buying property in Thailand. It is a highly frustrating experience and you will probably lose a chunk of money. There are so many hassles involved it's unreal. A friend of mine has been trying to offload a condo in Pinklao for almost 3 years now, worst "investment" he has ever made.

 

You have to deal with constant repairs due to half-assed construction techniques, issues with tenants and neighbours, cheating lawyers and real estate agents, and the cherry on the top is that you will lose money as the value of the property will almost certainly go down. Thai buildings rot and fall apart.

 

Renting is much better. You can just walk away from your problems and lose very little.

[HeyHeyHey]

On 12/29/2019 at 5:23 AM, scubascuba3 said:

There are plenty of places circ 800k, probably old thai style inside but spend some money and make it better. in the 30-40 metres range, examples are Pattaya Plaza Condo, Pattaya Pad, Nirun, they typically rent for circ 5k a month. If you don't like them buy elsewhere at a higher price

Just Googled the first one, and yes it is for 800k but as I said it's a slum, surrounded by a train track and a highway (from what I see at the map) not what I would consider livable for long term living.

 

No way it rents for 8-10k a month unless the tenant has mental issues. Just because it's asking price online doesn't mean it is realistic price.

 

https://www.thaiproperty.com/for_sale/condos/pattaya/Pattaya-City/Pattaya-Plaza_9941.html

 

[kingofthemountain]

12 minutes ago, HeyHeyHey said:

Just Googled the first one, and yes it is for 800k but as I said it's a slum, surrounded by a train track and a highway (from what I see at the map) not what I would consider livable for long term living.

 

No way it rents for 8-10k a month unless the tenant has mental issues. Just because it's asking price online doesn't mean it is realistic price.

It's an old building yes but certainly not a slum

it's pretty well maintened inside and pleasant to live in

the rooms are big and the walls are thicks,

 

There is only 5 trains\day, not a big deal

and you don't even listen the traffic from sukkumvhit road

the railway road traffic is more anonying on daytime but pretty calm at night.

 

A lot of people (70% thais and 30% foreigners) live here long term

you don't have the problem of the chineses or russians short term renters

with a high turn over and a lot of nuisance like in a lot of condos in the Pattaya area.

 

But you are right about the price for a rent

afaik it's 5000\6000 here, certainly not 10 000

[scubascuba3]

9 hours ago, HeyHeyHey said:

Just Googled the first one, and yes it is for 800k but as I said it's a slum, surrounded by a train track and a highway (from what I see at the map) not what I would consider livable for long term living.

 

No way it rents for 8-10k a month unless the tenant has mental issues. Just because it's asking price online doesn't mean it is realistic price.

 

https://www.thaiproperty.com/for_sale/condos/pattaya/Pattaya-City/Pattaya-Plaza_9941.html

 

The Thais always manage to ruin the look of their condo blocks by all the DIY balcony jobs, but it's still an option if someone wants to buy for 600k+ then refurb inside if required.

 

Feel free staying somewhere costing millions, no one cares