How Are People Selling Properties These Days?

[dutchweller]

 

My wife and I own a 5-floor apartment/townhouse with 4 apartments and a shop, located in a busy area of Sukhumvit Road near BTS Bang Chak. The building was fully renovated about five years ago to a high standard and is fully furnished. All the apartments are rented to long-term tenants, and we've been told by locals that our pricing is reasonable.

We lived in the property ourselves and found it very comfortable, with a good income generated from the rentals. However, due to our children's education, we need to relocate overseas and are now looking to sell the property as is, with everything included.

Despite our efforts, selling has been challenging in the current stagnant market. We have clear "FOR SALE" signage in both English and Thai, and we've engaged an agent, but unfortunately, we've seen little effort or progress from her.

Most inquiries seem to come from middlemen without serious buyers. We even contacted Century 21 in Bangkok, but they were not very helpful, asking us to handle most of the work ourselves without even visiting the property.

We’re wondering how people are successfully selling properties these days. Are platforms like Facebook Marketplace, forums, or proper estate agents the way to go? Any advice or shared experiences would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Peterw42]

A lot of property gets listed and sold on Facebook marketplace nowadays, or Facebook property groups in your area.

Given you have a a niche property (investment/live in), the traditional places to sell probably don't apply.

Dont forget, everything sells for the right price, if you are getting no enquiries or lookers then its as simple as your price is probably to high. 

[dutchweller]

That's the thing 

We have no indication of price posted bar the agent who told us we are selling cheap...

We seem to get no inquiries regardless.

 

[bradiston]

3 hours ago, dutchweller said:

That's the thing 

We have no indication of price posted bar the agent who told us we are selling cheap...

We seem to get no inquiries regardless.

 

It took me 3 years to sell my 3 storey house on a "paradise island", with chanote on the land. To cut a long story short, I simply asked myself what was the bottom line to break even, given the huge currency difference between now and 15 years ago. It worked out that even selling at a huge discount on the Baht cost to buy and build, I still broke even. I sold everything included, furniture, linen, tools, wood, you name it. I had no use for any of it. The price I sold at seemed fair to me, and the buyer. Everybody was happy. Plus, I'd rented out over 7 years on Airbnb, so saw a decent return there.

Edited 5 hours ago by bradiston

[dutchweller]

2 hours ago, bradiston said:

It took me 3 years to sell my 3 storey house on a "paradise island", with chanote on the land. To cut a long story short, I simply asked myself what was the bottom line to break even, given the huge currency difference between now and 15 years ago. It worked out that even selling at a huge discount on the Baht cost to buy and build, I still broke even. I sold everything included, furniture, linen, tools, wood, you name it. I had no use for any of it. The price I sold at seemed fair to me, and the buyer. Everybody was happy. Plus, I'd rented out over 7 years on Airbnb, so saw a decent return there.

Thanks for the reply 

How did you end up advertising/marketing it?

 

[SportRider]

Since this would be an investment property to the buyer, it's worth crunching the numbers and showing realistic income possible (assuming your unit is also rented out). 

 

This figure will then allow you to do some yield comparisons to the market, which can guide your asking price. 

 

A buyer will most likely want to see these calculations anyway. 

[bradiston]

1 hour ago, dutchweller said:

Thanks for the reply 

How did you end up advertising/marketing it?

 

Ah, that's where I got lucky. I used a couple of websites but got nothing of any real interest. Some Chinese money launderers but they proved too dodgy even for my Hong Kong contact. I put up a for sale sign in Thai by the road and had a few enquiries. Finally a long standing friend got interested. He'd had a businesson on the island for ages. His wife got fed up with living in a small apartment and he had 2 grown up sons. Buying the house was a no brainer for him. Loads of room. Its own well.  So in the end we reached a deal. He could probably sell it tomorrow for twice what he paid for it. It wouldn't worry me. But finding a buyer.... I'm in the same position now in Philippines. Got a house I can't sell.