A single man, 63 Years old,  has about 3.5 million baht available for a condo.  Waht would be your choice in Chiang Mai?

I personally liked the Astra next door to the Shangri'La hotel, but these days the landscape of businesses that are still open has changed considerably, especially on the east side of the old town.  I don't think I'd want to stay over there anymore, as the night bazaar was struggling to stay alive even before covid.

 

Really depends what kind of lifestyle you are looking for.  If you want to walk everywhere or catch a red songthaew, possibly Hillside 4 or Nimman area just beyond the moat would suffice.  Condos aren't very expensive in Chiang Mai, you should have a decent selection.  I'd recommend Perfect Homes Chiang Mai to help you in your search, my Thai wife used them to rent a condo for a couple months while in Chiang Mai and they were honest, helpful and responsive.

Good luck!

Rent before you buy.

Rent until the end of next April, when the air quality will be at its worst, before you consider buying.

While the advice give above are sound, if you want to buy a condo now it is the right time as you can find many bargains and fire sales, just do your home work where and what you are buying...

I know Facebook are for teenagers,  but join a few Chiang Mai real-estate group and post your offer there.

Maybe a seller with the perfect unit is sitting 5,000 miles from Chiang Mai.

With 23k members, you get better exposure in FB groups. 

 

 

 

9 hours ago, Trac said:

has about 3.5 million baht available for a condo

Before or After Thai girlfriend ?

5 hours ago, tonray said:

Before or After Thai girlfriend ?

Has to be before ????

14 hours ago, Trac said:

63 Years old,  has about 3.5 million baht available for a condo.

How long could one rent a condo for that much cash? I'm pathetic at arithmetic, but I think it works out at about 20 years if paying 15,000 a month.

IMO no contest given the problems that arise from owning property in LOS

Three things to seriously consider.....before you buy.......

 

1. Don't ever buy, rent

2. Don't ever buy, rent

3. Don't ever buy, rent

4. If you have the option, rent before you decide to rent.

D-Condo Ping has a very nice swimming pool.

https://www.thailand-property.com/condo/12453/d-condo-ping

 

30m2 Condo 8kbht/month rental or 2.4Mbht to buy. (renting far better value for money IMHO)

 

At 63 you are best just renting, keep your capital liquid, rents are so reasonable,

you buy a condo and find you have bad neighbors ,your stuck with them, renting

you can quickly move, till you find a good one. 

regards worgeordie

12 minutes ago, Surelynot said:

Three things to seriously consider.....before you buy.......

 

1. Don't ever buy, rent

2. Don't ever buy, rent

3. Don't ever buy, rent

4. If you have the option, rent before you decide to rent.

It's a good job  I didn't follow that advice, for the OP at 63 ,that's sound advice,

but  I have bought and sold quite a few properties, with my wife, the ones we

kept have paid for themselves 3 times over , we bought in good areas and at

a good price when the bubble burst, when the interest rates crashed , I moved from cash

to property , with the rates banks are offering now,it's the best thing i have done.

waiting for this bubble to burst...

regards worgeordie

6 minutes ago, worgeordie said:

It's a good job  I didn't follow that advice, for the OP at 63 ,that's sound advice,

but  I have bought and sold quite a few properties, with my wife, the ones we

kept have paid for themselves 3 times over , we bought in good areas and at

a good price when the bubble burst, when the interest rates crashed , I moved from cash

to property , with the rates banks are offering now,it's the best thing i have done.

waiting for this bubble to burst...

regards worgeordie

Can't argue with that.....as a younger person with earning capacity in front of them I did the same, albeit in the UK and moved six times........but as you say, at 63......buying is not a good move.

 

Capital is tied up, it is not earning anything...........you might need to access capital urgently for ill health/family......you might find your self with noisy neighbors or in a badly managed condo and your life is hell and you are stuck with it.

14 minutes ago, worgeordie said:

It's a good job  I didn't follow that advice, for the OP at 63 ,that's sound advice,

but  I have bought and sold quite a few properties, with my wife, the ones we

kept have paid for themselves 3 times over , we bought in good areas and at

a good price when the bubble burst, when the interest rates crashed , I moved from cash

to property , with the rates banks are offering now,it's the best thing i have done.

waiting for this bubble to burst...

regards worgeordie

With respect

On the crow again,may i borrow your crystal ball???? Cmai,s property market in all area,s has been in Sh$tters ditch for approx 6 yrs,been there and done that????and now a busted flush with Covid raising it,s nasty head.

To the O/P  my kindly advice is ,sit back and smoke a pipe????,you are in the Driver,s seat with 3.5 mil at your dispsosal, sure  go through the Real Estate agent,s but if your whim,s is to buy a particular Condo, discounut the opening price by one third,if no deal,walk away the Cmai market is overloaded,it is a Buyer,s market with No Buyers????and summing up a  private buy ,perhap,s be a better option,in any case you hold all the Ace,s,

Good Luck????

Saw an older double shop house, 3 floors, sign said 10.5M

Damn near drove off the road I was laffin' so hard

9 hours ago, ExpatOilWorker said:

I know Facebook are for teenagers,  but join a few Chiang Mai real-estate group and post your offer there.

Maybe a seller with the perfect unit is sitting 5,000 miles from Chiang Mai.

With 23k members, you get better exposure in FB groups. 

 

 

 

Actually Facebook is for old people these days, youngens prefer Instagram.

 

As for buying at 63 it's borderline worthwhile, maybe 15 years for payback so 78yo, time to sell it and rent. It is nice to have your own place though you can change as you want, just take your time to find the right place. If in doubt leave it out

2 hours ago, worgeordie said:

It's a good job  I didn't follow that advice, for the OP at 63 ,that's sound advice,

but  I have bought and sold quite a few properties, with my wife, the ones we

kept have paid for themselves 3 times over ,

Advise that was good 20 years back, when you were a young man and the Bhat was 90 to the pound, probably isn't that good today. 

Even 8 years back when I bought a 3 bed house for 1.8M, and that same house is 2.8M new probably isn't a good idea today.

I will only rent when I receive my pension , I see no point in buying when the rent is so cheap in Thailand.  I did own a unit I paid 1.4 million baht for in Pattaya, and sold it with a small profit , but those days are gone.  


 

4 hours ago, worgeordie said:

It's a good job  I didn't follow that advice, for the OP at 63 ,that's sound advice,

but  I have bought and sold quite a few properties, with my wife, the ones we

kept have paid for themselves 3 times over , we bought in good areas and at

a good price when the bubble burst, when the interest rates crashed , I moved from cash

to property , with the rates banks are offering now,it's the best thing i have done.

waiting for this bubble to burst...

regards worgeordie

Bla bla bla

3 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Advise that was good 20 years back

Advice ...........

Rent.  Get in a building you like and then you'll find there are units that are never advertised they just pass from one renter to the next by word of mouth.  The good owners get to know the good tenants.  Be nice to the building staff and fellow residents.  Pay your rent on time.  

 

With the right owner, you'll find one who will let you sign a long-term (3 - 5 year) bargain lease in exchange for you being able to make changes to the unit to make it your own.  We've been in the same building for over a decade.  Always renting. 

 

Now paying a bargain rent in a unit we totally gutted out and remodeled.  The owner is a bank manager who has never seen the unit, but she, her husband, my husband and I had enough mutual contacts to trust each other that the arrangement was agreeable.  This didn't happen when we were straight off the boat, however.  It took years of renting several units before we got to this point, but at our age I'd rather walk away from a couple million baht in remodeling and furniture than 4.5 million in a condo that would take forever to sell.  And it's easier for our heirs to get rid of appliances and furniture than a condo.

Thanks for SOOO much advice!

@NancyL: Will you tell me the condo project you live in, and you like?

Anybody else living in D-Condo Ping and can recommend it?

Is it the regular thing to get 30% discount from the price, first asked?

live 12 years in thailand rented all the way, easy to leave a rental very difficult to sell.

Returning soon being offered several discounted to buy still prefer to rent, have invested wisely outside thailand and can access those funds when ever I want, not possible with property unless its a give away.

Many dont see risks to ownership in thailand unlike your home countries.

Better use that money for a beer-bar ownership ????

If these Baht were allt he money, I have, i would agree with you.

And my question istn buy or rent. Its just what to buy, after the decision is fallen already.

 

17 hours ago, ExpatOilWorker said:

I know Facebook are for teenagers

 

This made me laugh. No self-respecting teenager would be caught using Facebook.

 

The current platform of choice is TikTok. Facebook is for the 40+ crowd in the west. Thailand is a little behind, but not that much.

 

That being said, FB is a good resource to reach the older demographic that sells condos.

Long time ago a man on a barstool once told me when you change ur western money to baht its never the same again it become more, makes you hansum, have good heart and stupid generous.

When it comes to changing it back again many, no hav

16 hours ago, Trac said:

 

Is it the regular thing to get 30% discount from the price, first asked?

Sincere appology,s for the late reply.

Yes, you would be a mug  if  u did,nt, personally i would throw a low curve ball of 50 % Discount, as starter,s to the Seller, and  let the barter begin,

Presently their are loads of Lemons,in your price range largely due  to a massive over supply, and very sadly Cmai has lost it,s golden shine for many reason,s ,not to mention the Covid Virus ,which is here now, and IMO for sometime  too,

Again,  you hold all the Ace,s,  importantly play hardball with your Agent and Seller ,as you have the Dough Ray Me ,not a lot around thease  days  in Cmai????

 

 

We're in Nakorn Ping condo near Kad Suan Kaew mall and not far from Maya.  Personally, I like the older buildings that have been well maintained.  You know what you're getting into and know that they have good committees at the helm if they've held up 15 - 20 years.  Others to consider are Hillside 3 and Hillside 4, Rim Ping, Riverside, Floral (the high rise, not the one that is pet friendly), Twin Peaks, the one next door, I think it's called Peaks Mansion or something similar and Doi Ping.  

 

There may be more in the Nimman area that I don't know about, these are just the ones I've been in and have known people who have lived in them.

 

Rent first and learn what's around them and how the building functions.  You want a building with a good staff, reasonable policies about renovations (yes, there will be renovation noises in these older buildings, but they should limit the hours for really noisy work), policies about minimal rental time so you don't have a constant stream of Air B-to-B tourists once the country opens, if there is shopping, restaurants, etc within easy distance, etc, etc.  

 

I'm not fond of the newer ones like Astra.  The units are small and they were bought by out-of-town investors and inhabited mostly by short-term renters, so there is a constant stream of people coming and going.  I don't like the security of that.  Personally, I like that our building staff knows everyone's business and reacts if someone seems to be having a health or other problem.  Single guys have moved out for this reason, however, because they don't want the building staff constantly inquiring about their ever-changing love life.