Thinking Of Buying Condo

[dee123]

I would like to know how you went about buying your condo,in pattaya,....who was your estate agent ,how much did they charge etc.....are there any estate agents to avoid?....I am looking for a lower ground apartment near swimming which can be anywhere along coast.....Basically give me a name of a trustworthy agent where I should start my search and why I should use them.....Many Thanks all!.....

[DonTron]

Hi Dee123.

I was in your situation 6 months ago and since I wanted to invest in more than one condo, I visited 18 of the biggest agents in Pattaya.

Let me tell you that most of these were completely worthless. They never even bothered to listen to what I was looking for or what my budget was. Several of them wasted my time showing me complete wrong condos or showed up at the condo without a key and couldnt even get the price or get in touch with the owner.

Others either failed to get back to me with information or forgot appointments or had me waiting 60 minutes because they were late (and didn’t even bother to call me and reschedule or inform me that they were late).

And this was not only done by Thais, most of these terrible brokers were foreigners.

So after almost giving up I stumbled over Town & Country Properties…..

At Town & Country I met a Dutch guy named Mr. Cees and here is what he did:

- He started by taking good time to analyze precisely what I was looking for

- He provided me with all information I requested, along with his personal recommendations of the different properties

- He remembered every appointment we ever had and he was ALWAYS on time! (only one in Pattaya who managed that)

- He was honest, helpful and after understanding my needs he showed me exactly what I was looking for, no more, no less

- He even advised me not to take certain properties, even thou he would have made more profit. I respect that a lot!

- He helped me thru the whole purchase process, being at my side, in my corner, and found a great legal assistant also so I felt safe the whole time.

Today I am the owner of 3 properties in Pattaya, all bought thru Mr. Cees, all purchases went smooth without any problems at all.

And I can tell you – Mr. Cees and Town&Country Properties will also get my next 3 purchases

You can find them here: http://www.towncountryproperty.com/

Hope this is helpful.

Best,

DonTron

[puuchai299]

์์์์Normaly the agent wont charge you for actualy buying the property,as he makes his profit from the seller.He may charge you for helping you make the transaction safely at the land office,

I found a good way is to go around yourself,calling into many condo buildings and just asking if there are condos for sale in the building,often reception staff are aware of whats for sale,as they too are on the commision hunt.look at many and many locations to give yourself a very thorough idea as to whats available,take your time and don't show too much interest in what you look at.Location and the age of the building are important factors to think about should you want to resell at some point.You may find a bigger room cheaper in a poor location but could be stuck to sell it on,whereas a smaller room in a good location and popular builing will hold it's value better and be easier to sell.If it's your first time buying and your unsure as to channotes/title deeds etc then use a lawyer for your own peace of mind,They are generaly not expensive....

[Humphrey Bear]

Are you looking for an agent to act on your behalf, or are you looking for a portfolio of properties already on the agent's books?

If you are going to search the properties already on the market, you should first look through some of the many (free) property magazines available in Pattaya. In this case the agent will be acting for the vendor and will be safeguarding the vendor's interests, rather than yours.

Make a list of prop's that could meet your requirements, visit those agents and review what the actually have available at that time - which may be different from the brochures, which were photographed and typeset long before.

If you want the agent to act on your behalf, it will cost you, because he is your agent, not the agent of the vendor. To avoid wasting his time and your money, make sure you know exactly what you want, price-wise, location, size, so on.

Some realtors specialise in lower-end (Winnie's is good here), some cover the middle (Northern Thai; East Coast) and some are only interested in the high-end.

Do your research - save yourself a lot of time and money. Make sure that what you want is purchaseable by a foreigner.

[djinn]

Hi Dee123.

I was in your situation 6 months ago and since I wanted to invest in more than one condo, I visited 18 of the biggest agents in Pattaya.

Let me tell you that most of these were completely worthless. They never even bothered to listen to what I was looking for or what my budget was. Several of them wasted my time showing me complete wrong condos or showed up at the condo without a key and couldnt even get the price or get in touch with the owner.

Others either failed to get back to me with information or forgot appointments or had me waiting 60 minutes because they were late (and didn’t even bother to call me and reschedule or inform me that they were late).

And this was not only done by Thais, most of these terrible brokers were foreigners.

So after almost giving up I stumbled over Town & Country Properties…..

At Town & Country I met a Dutch guy named Mr. Cees and here is what he did:

- He started by taking good time to analyze precisely what I was looking for

- He provided me with all information I requested, along with his personal recommendations of the different properties

- He remembered every appointment we ever had and he was ALWAYS on time! (only one in Pattaya who managed that)

- He was honest, helpful and after understanding my needs he showed me exactly what I was looking for, no more, no less

- He even advised me not to take certain properties, even thou he would have made more profit. I respect that a lot!

- He helped me thru the whole purchase process, being at my side, in my corner, and found a great legal assistant also so I felt safe the whole time.

Today I am the owner of 3 properties in Pattaya, all bought thru Mr. Cees, all purchases went smooth without any problems at all.

And I can tell you – Mr. Cees and Town&Country Properties will also get my next 3 purchases

You can find them here: http://www.towncountryproperty.com/

Hope this is helpful.

Best,

DonTron

I hope you discussed their prices

When I look their website they are hugely overpriced compared with the same condos proposed in other websites

Edited July 15, 2007 by djinn

[DonTron]

Hi Djinn

All I know is that the seller sets the price, not the real estate agent.

Ane every agent in pattaya charges 3% of the sales price (except one Thai broker who charges 10%)

[djinn]

Hi Djinn

All I know is that the seller sets the price, not the real estate agent.

Ane every agent in pattaya charges 3% of the sales price (except one Thai broker who charges 10%)

Sorry for you if you bought at their asked price.Now it is a buyer market.YOU propose a price.They are so much condos on the market...

And for your next 3 condos I suggest you make some homework.You compare the prices on each site

The goooood brokers have all the same price for the same condo;the others.....well you check yourselve

A good broker on my experience is East Coast.

But I must admit I bought my condos myselve,asking in the places I liked if they had something for sale(I did my homework...)

Took me 2 years to find the one in which I live now.

.I helped 2 friends recently to have 2 condos on beachside for 35 000b/sqm.All around here it is between 70 000 and 110 000 (asked price I mean) .

And I am not a broker;no commission;only help to friends

[Thaifan2]

Hi Djinn

All I know is that the seller sets the price, not the real estate agent.

Ane every agent in pattaya charges 3% of the sales price (except one Thai broker who charges 10%)

Sorry for you if you bought at their asked price.Now it is a buyer market.YOU propose a price.They are so much condos on the market...

And for your next 3 condos I suggest you make some homework.You compare the prices on each site

The goooood brokers have all the same price for the same condo;the others.....well you check yourselve

A good broker on my experience is East Coast.

But I must admit I bought my condos myselve,asking in the places I liked if they had something for sale(I did my homework...)

Took me 2 years to find the one in which I live now.

.I helped 2 friends recently to have 2 condos on beachside for 35 000b/sqm.All around here it is between 70 000 and 110 000 (asked price I mean) .

And I am not a broker;no commission;only help to friends

If it took you 2 years to find a property ,then you are not as clever as you make out .Prices would have gone up at least 15% in that time .

You may be right about Town and Country being more expensive though .There is a condo in Majestic Jomtien ,they have advertised at 3M ,and the same Condo is only 1.8 M with East Coast East Coast Majestic Condo .

The same Condo with Town and Country Town and Country Majestic Condo at 3M

Edited July 15, 2007 by Thaifan2

[BIGTOE3]

[Thank you for info and I looked at both sites - Great post

BT

If it took you 2 years to find a property ,then you are not as clever as you make out .Prices would have gone up at least 15% in that time .

You may be right about Town and Country being more expensive though .There is a condo in Majestic Jomtien ,they have advertised at 3M ,and the same Condo is only 1.8 M with East Coast East Coast Majestic Condo .

The same Condo with Town and Country Town and Country Majestic Condo at 3M

[pattayamick]

Hi Djinn

All I know is that the seller sets the price, not the real estate agent.

Ane every agent in pattaya charges 3% of the sales price (except one Thai broker who charges 10%)

Unfortunately not always true, as many agents add on top of the sellers price.

Edited July 20, 2007 by pattayamick

[Taijitu]

Hi Djinn

All I know is that the seller sets the price, not the real estate agent.

Ane every agent in pattaya charges 3% of the sales price (except one Thai broker who charges 10%)

Unfortunately not always true, as many agents add on top of the sellers price.

Even worse, as it's my experience that most, if not all agents inflate the asking price set by the seller; even as much as 20%.

Edited July 20, 2007 by Taijitu

[farangfool]

Hi Djinn

All I know is that the seller sets the price, not the real estate agent.

Ane every agent in pattaya charges 3% of the sales price (except one Thai broker who charges 10%)

Unfortunately not always true, as many agents add on top of the sellers price.

Even worse, as it's my experience that most, if not all agents inflate the asking price set by the seller; even as much as 20%.

Some smart ass offered me a condo. I easily played the fool and listened with puppy eyes. The place was over-priced but there was a catch. The agent offered to rent it from me for a year. 8% return for my investment, not bad. It was too good to be true - in reality, the person asked 100 000 Baht over the advertized internet price of a different agency. So it is fun to spent some time with pattaya's finest. 40 000 per sqm without pool etc. These people renovate old thai "projects" (rental buildings) and label them condos.

The 1 year lease trick is perhaps an offer to make buyers believe that there is a huge demand for places that in reality are unattractive. The lease cost is then covered with the further inflated price on top of a ridiculously rate per sqm.

Maybe Pattaya is no longer a place to buy. Traffic will get crazy within the next 5 years, if it is not so right now. The crime rate is going more and more north and pattaya police volunteer vigilantees (foreign or local breeded) give me bad vibes. Not to mention the perfectly corrupt local emergency health system (no hospital named, of course ).

[HowardJohnson]

Hi Djinn

All I know is that the seller sets the price, not the real estate agent.

Ane every agent in pattaya charges 3% of the sales price (except one Thai broker who charges 10%)

Hi Djinn

All I know is that the seller sets the price, not the real estate agent.

Ane every agent in pattaya charges 3% of the sales price (except one Thai broker who charges 10%)

Unfortunately not always true, as many agents add on top of the sellers price.

Even worse, as it's my experience that most, if not all agents inflate the asking price set by the seller; even as much as 20%.

Just a couple of points here to clarify.

Most agents charge 3% but there are a few who will not accept any less than 5%.

Some agents will inflate a price and pocket the difference but my company will not do that. I have turned away business from owners who have their properties lised with several agents at different prices. The owner has stated that they want to clear a certain figure and some agents take is as meaning that they can list at whatever they think they can get away with. As I said, we will not do this.

I have sent you a PM so if you have any questions, let me know.

HoJo