Is now a good time to buy a condo in Bangkok?

[Hamus Yaigh]

23 hours ago, TPDH said:

would now be a good time to buy it from a financial perspective?

It's never a good time when you need to ask if it's a good time.

[Ketyo]

Depends. If you are a poor person, it's always a stupid thing to buy a condo in Thailand. If you are a rich person then its usually a good idea.

 

Discounts are to be had now. Sellers, especially those that want/need to sell relatively soon will be very happy to find a buyer, so make sure to go in low and see how they respond.

 

But if it were me, I'd wait a bit longer. The market might go down even more. Especially if the vaccine takes a long time to come and the political side gets out of control. Even if those two things don't happen, there will still be good discounts to be had for a few months ...or more. In my opinion.

[Surelynot]

10M baht.....invest it, get 5% return, that gives you 500,000 pa, rent somewhere (very nice) for 20,000 pm and then spend the rest or reinvest the income.

 

You'll have somewhere to live, you are getting richer and your capital is not (so much) at risk.....it just seems a no brainer to me.

 

Renting also maintains flexibility .....keep your options open as to where you live.

[Kinnock]

Maybe - if you are going to live in it long term.  Compare the rent you'd be paying to live in Bangkok to the mortgage payments.  Also check if probable rental value covers the loan repayments - but be realistic, it's a tough market.

 

But no if you think it will be an investment.

[scubascuba3]

12 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Some of us think never is a good time to buy property in LOS.

I know a couple of guys in Pattaya who have rented for 15 years and regret not buying, it would have paid for itself by now

[mike787]

Buy now and buy big...best time is now before prices go way up.

[ThailandRyan]

20 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

He's not wrong though.

Absolutely golden words he has spoken Brit.  I was not being sarcastic as sometimes I can be.  Not the time to buy, nor will it truly ever be with the shifting tide and the unsure times we live in.  If someone wants to gift a possibly future ex-spouse a golden egg then "Up to them", but as most of us have said before and continue to say, never spend more than you can walk away from at the end of the day, and still be able to move forward, instead of living a lie.  I have done it now twice, once here, and once in the US.  Still able to live the dream and be comfortable. 

 

As Horace once said "

“Happy the man, and happy he alone,
he who can call today his own:
he who, secure within, can say,
Tomorrow do thy worst, for I have lived today.

Be fair or foul, or rain or shine
the joys I have possessed, in spite of fate, are mine.
Not Heaven itself, upon the past has power,
but what has been, has been, and I have had my hour.

[BritManToo]

2 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

I know a couple of guys in Pattaya who have rented for 15 years and regret not buying, it would have paid for itself by now

I know a couple of guys in Pattaya who bought a house in their hooker wife's name, and were evicted within the year.

If you buy her a house, does she really need you anymore? 

[Surelynot]

3 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

I know a couple of guys in Pattaya who have rented for 15 years and regret not buying, it would have paid for itself by now

What on earth did they do with the capital they DIDN'T invest???

[Surelynot]

Just now, BritManToo said:

I know a couple of guys in Pattaya who bought a house in their hooker wife's name, and were evicted within the year.

If you buy her a house, does she really need you anymore? 

Love and affection...555

[ThailandRyan]

2 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

I know a couple of guys in Pattaya who have rented for 15 years and regret not buying, it would have paid for itself by now

You can not change the past, for a fool and his money are soon parted.  To think that if you had made a different choice many years ago from the ones you actually made and you would have been better off today is only fools thinking.  Life experience makes us stronger and for every action there is a counter reaction where things may have turned out different today than they actually have.  Be happy with the choices made, if they were not good when you made them, then learn from the mistakes as you move forward. Never live in the past or on your past laurel's. 

[scubascuba3]

6 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

I know a couple of guys in Pattaya who bought a house in their hooker wife's name, and were evicted within the year.

If you buy her a house, does she really need you anymore? 

I agree I wouldn't get married here or put a property in her name

[scubascuba3]

6 minutes ago, Surelynot said:

What on earth did they do with the capital they DIDN'T invest???

most likely just sat in cash losing money

[alien365]

A Thai friend of mine has been looking recently to buy a new condo for her son. She went to roughly ten places and no seller offered any form of discount on their advertised prices, continuing to hold the line that these shoeboxes are selling out fast.

[Caldera]

I'd wait and see how things develop. Prices might just as well go down further. Pretty much everything is looking "uncertain" at this point.

[khunjeff]

52 minutes ago, AlfHuy said:

23 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Tell that to all the foreign guys that bought, and can't get back into the country.

10MBht as a gift for a Thai chick  ..... you'd have to be bonkers.

In Isaan, you can build yourself a castle.

Or more precisely, you can build someone else a castle ????

[BritManToo]

16 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

most likely just sat in cash losing money

Whenever I invested in anything, I lost money faster than just having it sitting in a zero interest bank account.

Now any spare cash I have sits in a UK bank account losing value.

[Surelynot]

17 minutes ago, alien365 said:

A Thai friend of mine has been looking recently to buy a new condo for her son. She went to roughly ten places and no seller offered any form of discount on their advertised prices, continuing to hold the line that these shoeboxes are selling out fast.

Took me 5 minutes to get down from 26,000 to 17,000 a month.....only to find my neighbor got his for 14,000.

 

They must be looking in the wrong place.

[scubascuba3]

15 minutes ago, alien365 said:

A Thai friend of mine has been looking recently to buy a new condo for her son. She went to roughly ten places and no seller offered any form of discount on their advertised prices, continuing to hold the line that these shoeboxes are selling out fast.

I looked at 10 Condos in a block that needed a total refurb and were overpriced and probably empty for years and will stay empty for years, Thais don't seem to realise what they have I.e. a overvalued sh*ty condo needing a refurb 

[Surelynot]

6 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Whenever I invested in anything, I lost money faster than just having it sitting in a zero interest bank account.

Now any spare cash I have sits in a UK bank account losing value.

That always seems to be the case if you invest for "short" periods (less than 5 years say).......unless you have a fixed % deal.

 

As Buffett said.... the stock market is a device for taking money from the impatient and giving it to the patient.

[scubascuba3]

8 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Whenever I invested in anything, I lost money faster than just having it sitting in a zero interest bank account.

Now any spare cash I have sits in a UK bank account losing value.

I agree that's what most people do, it's a bit mythical for some posters to claim the alternative to buying is investing the money and getting 5%. It just doesn't work like that, it's all about timing, markets go up and down

[Surelynot]

1 minute ago, scubascuba3 said:

I agree that's what most people do, it's a bit mythical for some posters to claim the alternative to buying is investing the money and getting 5%. It just doesn't work like that, it's all about timing, markets go up and down

Try P-2-P lending I have two accounts...one averages 5.1% the other 6.8%.......

[scubascuba3]

2 minutes ago, Surelynot said:

Try P-2-P lending I have two accounts...one averages 5.1% the other 6.8%.......

yeah I've never fancied that, I'm mostly in the stock market

[Surelynot]

9 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

yeah I've never fancied that, I'm mostly in the stock market

Eggs....basket

[DaLa]

1 hour ago, AlfHuy said:

In Isaan, you can build yourself a castle.

Yeh, but in Bangkok you can have a condo with a moat around it every few years. Maybe permanently in 10 years time. And if the youth are still demonstrating you get to pour boiling oil on them from the 7th floor upwards.

[CM Dad]

If you cannot consume it, wear it, or easily pick it up and carry it, then I would not personally buy anything.

[hoopsandyoyo]

23 hours ago, Peterw42 said:

Its very easy to see what appears to be a heavily discounted property, and think its a bargain, in reality it was never worth the original price.

 

Its all smoke and mirrors when it comes to asking prices of condos.

 

You really need to just look at a condo in terms of its value to you and your circumstances

 

 

 

 

...I too looked long and hard at properties in bkk.  I’ve owned a condo before in bkk and twice in Pattaya. 

 

The units I looked at in bkk were in my opinion already overpriced and even with it’s current price/discount, didn’t feel like much of a deal.  

 

In Pattaya, I had a general location I was looking for.  The place I just closed on this week, was in the exact location I wanted, the size I wanted- #130 sqm, and from it’s original listing price from 12 months ago has been relisted 3 times at a lower price.  I gave a even further, low ball offer and the seller countered with his offer which was still less than #25,000 per square 

 

As in the comments above “value to you”

 

I’ve looked for a condo to buy for over 24 months, never finding one that was, location I loved, price I liked, size that I wanted.  Then came across the unit I closed on earlier this week.  It’s in Central Pattaya - location I wanted with malls and shopping close by, still walking distance to the beach, less than #25,000 sqm, and the size I wanted.  

 

...maybe prices due come down even further, but everything I wanted/check off all the boxes were there, so I pulled the trigger.  Very happy with my decision.  

[BritManToo]

4 minutes ago, hoopsandyoyo said:

In Pattaya, I had a general location I was looking for.  The place I just closed on this week, was in the exact location I wanted, the size I wanted- #130 sqm, and from it’s original listing price from 12 months ago has been relisted 3 times at a lower price.  I gave a even further, low ball offer and the seller countered with his offer which was still less than #25,000 per square 

3M is too much for a condo in Thailand IMHO.

What happens when they reject your VISA extension for some bogus reason?

[murraynz]

1 hour ago, BritManToo said:

I know a couple of guys in Pattaya who bought a house in their hooker wife's name, and were evicted within the year.

If you buy her a house, does she really need you anymore? 

Yes,but only a very silly person,would buy a house in their wifes name..yet many do.

Good luck to them..

[BigStar]

3 hours ago, BritManToo said:

I've not noticed anything 'loosening up' in the world since the day the borders closed.

If anything, in the west it's tightening up.

So now you concede it's not just Thailand. But you'd have to read the news and have your eyeglasses prescription up to date. In Pattaya, First Optic is most recommended. Or perhaps the usual paranoia creates such selective perception.

 

Since last week:

 

https://forum.thaivisa.com/topic/1187191-foreigners-offered-new-‘smart-visa’-if-they-buy-a-condo-in-thailand-elite-card-holders-offered-work-permits/

https://forum.thaivisa.com/topic/1187695-here-they-come-120-chinese-from-guangzhou-set-to-arrive-at-bangkok-airport-on-tuesday/

https://forum.thaivisa.com/topic/1186794-foreign-property-owners-now-allowed-to-return-to-thailand/

and

https://forum.thaivisa.com/topic/1185879-stv-preliminary-country-list/

 

Note "foreign property owners." So that's definitely loosening from the total lockdown before, and the trend looks to continue as pressure mounts. Not to omit the salutary effect of the vaccines coming down the pike.