Jitters

[OlRedEyes]

Most westerners contemplating retiring here though are nothing like me.

Next sad comment?

Praise the Lord..............

You never fail to impress, I must admit. Your posts always live up to the standard I would expect from you.

Before I leave you to the last incisive comment, please always remember to look left when crossing a road in LOS. Keep looking left, Thai drivers are dangerous. Take care out there, OK?

[mikethevigoman]

I don't think there is much to worry about, but as the above have already said, if your unsure rent and test the water.

Rent anyway,. property is a terrible investment at present anyway !

[mikethevigoman]

Marco, I don't understand what your saying, people with money are buying, within the next two or three years, the property market is going to increase ten fold, right now is the time to buy........ Buy it when its cheap, cause its going up very soon, I give it eighteen months, then watch the market, you'll wish you did.

wanna bet, nothing in thailand goes up 10 fold, ive been coming here 20 years, dont think anything has doubled even !

[Maigo6]

Thai drivers are dangerous.

Don't you ever stop moaning ?

[mikethevigoman]

Rent, definetly rent if your jittery. I'm about as sure as I ever will be about living here and buying...that being said I'm getting a 30yr mortgage in my fiance's name and making minimum payments just to be on the safe side and not tie up a big chunk of $$ at once. You really can't go wrong in this way. If the Dollar strengthens then you only lost your down payment and some interest payments on a crap exchange and you can double payments on your principle during times of plenty. If the Baht strengthens further it will sting a lil but no more than renting would. If you have marital problems and you need to split, then your only out of the down payment and the monthly payments not the whole home and land, let her pay it off if she wants it so bad...

AND Home & Land.. not just a cramped condo, you can have your own place. I intend on buying land around the new airport and having my soon to be Father-in-Law Design an all wood large Thai Style Home, elevated off the ground with decorative serene landscaping flaunting old school classic Thai looks and modern amenities.... Its what keeps me going working months at a time in Iraq.

yes true, ill reiterate what i said, dont buy,.. for cash,. get as long a mortgage as you can, but make sure your partner is going to be around that long !

[Maigo6]

ive been coming here 20 years, dont think anything has doubled even !

When I came to Thailand in 1990, the cost in the Blue House bar was 200 baht short, and 500 long time, all in, now it's 500 baht and 1500.

See you in the Blue House.

Edited April 14, 2007 by Maigo6

[mikethevigoman]

I'm with Khun Marco on this one.

Why buy? EVERY horror story I have heard or read has been about someone who was so sure everything was pwerfect and his gf/wife loved him so much he had nothing to worry about. Then one day He's shafted and lost all the material things he took so much pride in owning only to find out he didn't!

To have opened this thread you have to agree you must be risk adverse so do the sensible thing and rent. No risk, everything is in your favour. Remember houses are not an investment over here!

The two worst mistakes in my life here were to buy a house/land with my then girlfriend and to go into a business with another farung

When the GF and I split - I lost all call to the house and the land - land can only be owned by a Thai citizen and the house can only be 49% owned by a farung - the legal advice was to fight, the court ruling was "you are a farung and have plenty of money. She is a poor Thai girl who is trying to take care of her family" The court awarded her the house and the court costs. She sold the place to a friend of hers who had found herself a farung boyfriend and persuaded him to buy a house. He did and she did the same to him. It happens and it happens a lot. Better bet is to rent a house and keep the money overseas where it attracts much better interest.

Having a house here sounds great and has a lot of advantages but:

1) To buy you have to be able to bring the money into the country and show where it came from. If you have the appropriate visa/work permit you can borrow money from a bank but it is more difficult and has a lot of restrictions on what you can do and how.

2) they are hard to sell so be really sure you are going to live in it until they cart you out the door in a wooden box

3) if you manage to sell it you will have a very difficult time getting the money OUT of Thailand

4) if things go wrong and be sure things do go wrong here - are you prepared to walk out and away from your home

Buying a condo is an alternative but they cost about the same as a house and yes you can buy it solely in your name but they are VERY hard to sell unless you have bought in a highly sought after building ie very expensive which normally would mean Bangkok. There are thousands of condos up for sale and many have not made any money for the seller. If you decide to buy a condo look at the location and surroundings. If it is carefully maintained it will cost more in monthly fees but hold it value.

I rent my house and despite the desire to buy another house doubt very much whether I will do it. The disadvantages are too many to make it in my opinion worth the risk especially in the current political and financial climate

CB

Spot on,. i was once asked ,"how do i get a small buisness in thailand", my reply was " buy a big one ,and wait "

[Heng]

The golden rule to property investment is buy low and sell high if your intent is to make a profit. A recent survey done by a professor on property investments in the U.S. over a couple of hundred years found that on an average property prices averaged only a less than 1% increase over this time. I believe this took into consideration the value of the property price calculated over time to include infaltion. But I'm guessing from the wording this does not include property taxes, maintenance, etc. (What does this mean. It was probably a loss overall to own. Properties are a huge hassel to maintain and require constant upkeep. In LOS where there is so much humididty, it requires much more.) Buy low and sell high during cycles. This is where people always make the money in property. And the most important rule - location, location, location - if profit is the motive.

I like the CPB's philosophy (it's not "their" philosophy per se, but they are the most evident example of the buy/hold/lease gameplan that the land barons in a good number of countries live by) ... buy low and pretty much never sell. Lease it out and pass it down to the next generation. Note that I'm not referring to their development and investment divisions... talking about pure property ownership. There's virtually no maintainence involved with dirt, especially here in the LOS. Just keep your property deeds well organized.

Again, I stress it's generally not a game for foreigners, although there are a handful who have done well using the exact strategy mentioned above that is so common among locals. The big hurdle for most foreigners is making it through the first generation and having a clear cut succession for the second generation.

Heng,

Could you expound on this pls.

My wife & I have bought (and been given), a fair amount of property in the last six years. All with the expectation never to sell (unless the price is right) & hand down to the generations to follow.

Any thoughts, or legal hurdles we are not aware of?

Cheers,

Soundman.

afternoon Soundman,

I was referring to social hurdles that stem from the legal ones. It seems a good number of foreigners don't trust (often understandably so) their local spouses and sometimes even their own children - in the way that you clearly do. It's during this first generation (until the 2nd generation reaches legal age; just a quick 18 years... a blink of the eye really) that most foreigners squander their chances of handing anything over to the next generation.

After that first generation that has to face some legal barriers, for all legal immigrants here, there are no legal hurdles to legacy through land holdings.

cheers,

[LoveDaBlues]

I'm with Khun Marco on this one.

Why buy? EVERY horror story I have heard or read has been about someone who was so sure everything was pwerfect and his gf/wife loved him so much he had nothing to worry about. Then one day He's shafted and lost all the material things he took so much pride in owning only to find out he didn't!

To have opened this thread you have to agree you must be risk adverse so do the sensible thing and rent. No risk, everything is in your favour. Remember houses are not an investment over here!

The two worst mistakes in my life here were to buy a house/land with my then girlfriend and to go into a business with another farung

When the GF and I split - I lost all call to the house and the land - land can only be owned by a Thai citizen and the house can only be 49% owned by a farung - the legal advice was to fight, the court ruling was "you are a farung and have plenty of money. She is a poor Thai girl who is trying to take care of her family" The court awarded her the house and the court costs. She sold the place to a friend of hers who had found herself a farung boyfriend and persuaded him to buy a house. He did and she did the same to him. It happens and it happens a lot. Better bet is to rent a house and keep the money overseas where it attracts much better interest.

Having a house here sounds great and has a lot of advantages but:

1) To buy you have to be able to bring the money into the country and show where it came from. If you have the appropriate visa/work permit you can borrow money from a bank but it is more difficult and has a lot of restrictions on what you can do and how.

2) they are hard to sell so be really sure you are going to live in it until they cart you out the door in a wooden box

3) if you manage to sell it you will have a very difficult time getting the money OUT of Thailand

4) if things go wrong and be sure things do go wrong here - are you prepared to walk out and away from your home

Buying a condo is an alternative but they cost about the same as a house and yes you can buy it solely in your name but they are VERY hard to sell unless you have bought in a highly sought after building ie very expensive which normally would mean Bangkok. There are thousands of condos up for sale and many have not made any money for the seller. If you decide to buy a condo look at the location and surroundings. If it is carefully maintained it will cost more in monthly fees but hold it value.

I rent my house and despite the desire to buy another house doubt very much whether I will do it. The disadvantages are too many to make it in my opinion worth the risk especially in the current political and financial climate

CB

I'm in the rent camp. But, I got a good deal on some land so I bought it (in GF's name of course). The GF has signed a 30/30 lease. So, when I build a house (waiting for the baht/USD to get better) I'll feel pretty secure.