What's your top advice for buying a house in Thailand?

[Grumpy one]

On 10/31/2020 at 10:11 AM, FritsSikkink said:

My wife owns 3 lots, 8,5 / 0.5 / 1,5 rai.

2 of them with a house, other Durian farm.

Renting a house in BKK as the land is too expensive.

So you own sod all 

[Seeall]

On 10/31/2020 at 9:47 AM, jaideedave said:

Good advice.Make the effort to check out the neighbors . The ones across the soi moved in after me and they are proper <deleted>. They ripped me off dealing with a tradesman.They said the job was 20 k. Later the trades guy told me he was paid only 12k.I sincerely hope their house burns to the ground.

Where I come from you wouldn't even consider ripping off a neighbor.Of course unless he deserved it.lol

its the way things work over here....

[FritsSikkink]

4 hours ago, Grumpy one said:

So you own sod all 

It is for my kids, got enough money.

[talahtnut]

Its great fun doing DIY on your own house, first attempt was putting up shelves in the kitchen,

somehow it wasn't quite level and the plates rolled off the end, and the wife called me a stupid C.

havent done much since, but transferred ownership to the missus 18 years ago, still waiting

to get chucked out.

[Pinoydave]

The Pandemic has thrown a new spanner in the works...... do you have family somewhere else you might need to return to urgently?

the political situation could turn very nasty, a friend holidayed in Sharm El Sheik yearly for over 20 years, bought a small place, a plane blew up and he hasn’t visited his home since!

if your retirement age are you a young 60........ healthcare costs are only going in one direction.

Do you really want to live in the same area forever, or wouldn’t your life improve by changing country ever 2 or 3 years

 

[Yellowtail]

1 hour ago, Pinoydave said:

The Pandemic has thrown a new spanner in the works...... do you have family somewhere else you might need to return to urgently?

the political situation could turn very nasty, a friend holidayed in Sharm El Sheik yearly for over 20 years, bought a small place, a plane blew up and he hasn’t visited his home since!

if your retirement age are you a young 60........ healthcare costs are only going in one direction.

Do you really want to live in the same area forever, or wouldn’t your life improve by changing country ever 2 or 3 years

 

 

How would moving every couple years improve one's life?

[Kinnock]

Consider having one built. 

 

House prices for good properties in desirable areas are quite high, but there's still some plots for sale that can be reasonable, or more likely a plot with a poor quality, old house on it that a family wants to sell (better option as will have water and power).  And building costs here are much lower than in the West.  You can also manage the quality during the build.

 

Prices are all over the place at the moment, but choose an area and ask about any people serious about selling.

 

I assume you already have a trusted Thai partner (the people saying never buy in Thailand are probably not at that stage in their life), and you want to live here long term, as houses are not normally a good investment here.

 

If demolishing and rebuilding, you need local government permisions for both stages - something for the wife to manage.  You also need to find a good builder - standards vary a lot.

 

I was lucky, there's an experienced architect and a housebuilder in my wifes extended family.

 

We bought land just outside Bangkok in Samut Prakarn (much lower cost than Bangkok, still near the BTS) and in Chonburi.  First demolition and build in Bangkok was a good learning experience, went OK, but could have been smoother.  Second one much better.

 

Cost of the build was about 25% of costs in home country - the labourers lived on site and building paused at harvest times.   Cost of fitting out is reasonable, and if you buy Thai made bathroom fittings etc, cost is about 50% of back home.

 

I didn't want a mooban house, and had two specific locations in mind.  We also wanted a specific design, so it took time for design approvals.

 

I think it would have been extremely challenging without a good Thai partner, and she's now an expert project manager ????

 

And we made Thai Wills plus a Usufruct, but my aim is for the properties to go to my wife in the end anyway.  I also have some property in home country for family back there). 

 

And for any posters making the cliched comment about hiding all the knives at home - all I can say is that you don't know what real Thai girls are like.

 

[Pravda]

I have lived in a house that my ex wife owned for 6 years. I'm sorry to start a flame war with all the house loving people who argue you can't swing a cat in a condo, but living in 2 different condos here I have so much more peace and quiet than living in a house with loso thais, their kids screaming and bonfire parties at night. Also I don't get attacked by Soi Dogs every time I try to enter the house. Sure I didn't live in a 60 million baht villa, I'm sure I'd have a different experience. 

 

I find that because more people live in a condo there is more sense of community and respect. Also I always pick a condo where most Thais actually work instead hore around for Baht. 

[Peterw42]

24 minutes ago, Pravda said:

I have lived in a house that my ex wife owned for 6 years. I'm sorry to start a flame war with all the house loving people who argue you can't swing a cat in a condo, but living in 2 different condos here I have so much more peace and quiet than living in a house with loso thais, their kids screaming and bonfire parties at night. Also I don't get attacked by Soi Dogs every time I try to enter the house. Sure I didn't live in a 60 million baht villa, I'm sure I'd have a different experience. 

 

I find that because more people live in a condo there is more sense of community and respect. Also I always pick a condo where most Thais actually work instead hore around for Baht. 

I agree, for all the reasons you mention.

We actually have a  4 Br house in BKK and a 1 BR condo in Pattaya, and we choose to live in the 1 Br condo. 

I dont have a need to swing any cats, the condo is just the right amount of space, easy to clean, air-con, maintain, mothball if we leave for an extended period. Someone else does the gardens, cleans the pool, Someone else responds to and shuts down noisy neighbours.

My experience has always been peaceful one in a condo over a house.

[billd766]

6 hours ago, Pinoydave said:

The Pandemic has thrown a new spanner in the works...... do you have family somewhere else you might need to return to urgently?

the political situation could turn very nasty, a friend holidayed in Sharm El Sheik yearly for over 20 years, bought a small place, a plane blew up and he hasn’t visited his home since!

if your retirement age are you a young 60........ healthcare costs are only going in one direction.

Do you really want to live in the same area forever, or wouldn’t your life improve by changing country ever 2 or 3 years

 

In my 50 year working life I lived and worked in about 38 countries. I retired back to my wife's house here in Thailand and I haven't left Thailand since 26 May 2009. I have a son, DIL and 2 grandchildren, a few friends and an ex-wife in the UK so I have no real urgent need to return to anywhere.

[Seeall]

8 hours ago, Yellowtail said:

 

How would moving every couple years improve one's life?

New Giks!

[patman30]

Buy outside BKK
Buy Mine.

Edited November 15, 2020 by patman30

[2009]

Buy old

[chrisandsu]

On 10/31/2020 at 6:55 PM, polpott said:

I don't own anything in Thailand. House, cars, bikes are all in my wife's name.

You do own all the bills though right ?

[polpott]

7 hours ago, chrisandsu said:

You do own all the bills though right ?

Nope. All in the wife's name. Even my SIM card.

[bermondburi]

On 10/31/2020 at 4:48 AM, johng said:

All/any  "bargains"  would have been snapped up by  friends and family of the bank employees long before they get advertised the banks  don't care either way   they just keep the  price high  and the property on their books  so as not to declare them as "non performing loans"  hoping one day a buyer will materialise.

That's not true in my experience. My wife was in contact with the woman from the bank for a long time and she regularly updated her on properties available. She even arranged to sell to my wife before it went to the public auction. Originally it was 2.5m reduced to 2.2m. We got a further reduction and ended up paying 1.89m.  Having seen what other properties in the village go for, we got a great deal. Would definitely consider buying this way again. 

[Damrongsak]

On 10/31/2020 at 4:26 AM, PatOngo said:

Married a Thai girl 30 years ago, bought 2 houses, still married and still have the houses !  

 

Married a Thai gal 42 years ago. Bought ~ 1 rai of land and built her Mom a house in Loei.  Sis-in law took over the house and built us another on the same land.  My wife invested in her sister's house just outside BKK, to the west.    Sis-in-law got divorced and moved to USA. It's taken years to sell the BKK area house for 3.8 million baht.  We get back 2 million, less 3% commission.   Basically our cost. Stranded investment, but it's done.  We did make a few bucks on two plots of land near there that we unloaded.       

 

But we have a house handy if we ever get back there.  At least we have a nice view from our back porch.