Condominium Or House?

[Rossi]

Dear Friends,

as I wrote in another thread, I am considering to invest in property in Bangkok or Pattaya. I was first only looking for condos, but while looking at the property-sites in the internet I found out, that in most cases you will get much more quality and space for the same price, if you buy a house/townhouse. Can anyone tell my why??

So what are the advatages/disadvantages of condos and houses?

Condo:

+ Eventually high floor with views

+ Better air at high floors

+ Usually 24hr security

+ Foreign ownership possible

House:

+ Eventually a nice garden

+ Usually less noise from neighbours (loud music, crying babys,...)

+ More space

- Only usufructs or 30yr lease possible

Which advantages / disadvantages did I forget?

What is your experience (or guess) regarding

- easiness of renting out the condo/house

- obtainable rent compared to buying price

- easiness of selling out the condo/house

- development of the value of the property

It would really be interesting to discuss the differences/advantages of condos and houses.

Bye,

Mike

[Irene]

Dear Friends,

as I wrote in another thread, I am considering to invest in property in Bangkok or Pattaya. I was first only looking for condos, but while looking at the property-sites in the internet I found out, that in most cases you will get much more quality and space for the same price, if you buy a house/townhouse. Can anyone tell my why??

So what are the advatages/disadvantages of condos and houses?

Condo:

+ Eventually high floor with views

+ Better air at high floors

+ Usually 24hr security

+ Foreign ownership possible

House:

+ Eventually a nice garden

+ Usually less noise from neighbours (loud music, crying babys,...)

+ More space

- Only usufructs or 30yr lease possible

Which advantages / disadvantages did I forget?

What is your experience (or guess) regarding

- easiness of renting out the condo/house

- obtainable rent compared to buying price

- easiness of selling out the condo/house

- development of the value of the property

It would really be interesting to discuss the differences/advantages of condos and houses.

Bye,

Mike

Mike,

I wrote the below a year ago to one the threads. Please bear with me with this long essay but I think some of the comments could help you to decide:-

"The choice of either a condo unit or a house is dependent on each person’s preference.

The disadvantages of a condo are lack of substantial land ownership, obligations of having to pay management fees even when not occupied, relatively smaller area of privacy, earthquake, high- rise, sharing of common area usage, far from nature, not much storing space and lesser rise in resale value if in badly managed condo.

The advantages of a condo are safer, no fear of flood, quieter and surprisingly less contacts with neighbours, less transportation-most condos are near to town centres and other conveniences, more common facilities like fitness centre, swimming pool, garden, availability of handymen, lovely to have shower with strong water flow, no water pump required, more privacy, away from the crowd once in your own condo, less dusty and noise from the land (however noise can be piercing from the ground if your unit is in the right angle to the noisy lane), no mosquito, cockroaches, rats, and pests, more functional and easy to manage since the design of a condo has to be functional with limited space.

The pros for a house are on the ground and nearer to nature, your sense of complete ownership with no sharing concept, more property-care activities with your small garden, no lift taking especially after shopping, and believed to have a better resale value.

The cons are less safe because you are more isolated, more risk of burglary, more risk of the property being flooded by rainfall, nearer to pests, daily mosquito biting, less privacy since closer to your neighbours, harder to find people to mend things, necessity of having to use water pump, lesser pressure of water flow and sometimes problems with drainage. Some of the disadvantages of home-buying can be eliminated with purchases in a housing development area, though not as good as in a condo.

Let me share our experiences. We returned to Thailand forty years ago and at first lived in a house of 50 square wah after having lived in a flat in England for more than ten years. Burglary, mosquitoes and cockroaches, flood from rainfall, and long traveling time (even in those days), prompted us to move upward and to inner city. We had many edges over others in term of normal life in a condo. We were in a condo for more than thirty years. Now we are back on the ground when we find it unnecessary to live in the inner city and because of our fear of earthquake. (The day of tsunami hitting Phuket, we were shaken at 8 am and rushed to the ground one hour before the sad tragedy hit Phuket and Khao Lak). Since that day, on the urging of our son, we searched for our ground abode and reached our consensus (which I thought we would never reach) on the current house. In my inner thought at that time, I was hoping that we would never agree on any house. We now find other disadvantages in living in a house as bearable but still feel annoying. But when sitting in the garden with no rush and hearing birds chirping, then you say to yourself that is life. Contrary to the general belief, the resale value of a house is not greater than our condos. Our 40-year house with the land right in the fringe of the Bangkok centre has a rise of 3% per year when our condo units are with 6% to 12% per annum at least."

So there is no hard and fast rule. It is the question of the liking of each person and the liking of the property either on the ground or up in the air. We moved to the house furnished by the developer for show two years ago. When we saw the design, all of us hardly had any criticisms. It has proved to be so functional and also ideal since it is in a cul de sac. One regret we have is travelling to town centre. It could take about 20 minutes to two hours, depending on the timing. It could be two hours during rainy season. When I was in the town condo, it took 10 minute drive and never late for any appointment. Now I realise why people are late because you simply cannot time your travelling time.

[pkrv]

Dear Friends,

as I wrote in another thread, I am considering to invest in property in Bangkok or Pattaya. I was first only looking for condos, but while looking at the property-sites in the internet I found out, that in most cases you will get much more quality and space for the same price, if you buy a house/townhouse. Can anyone tell my why??

So what are the advatages/disadvantages of condos and houses?

Condo:

+ Eventually high floor with views

+ Better air at high floors

+ Usually 24hr security

+ Foreign ownership possible

House:

+ Eventually a nice garden

+ Usually less noise from neighbours (loud music, crying babys,...)

+ More space

- Only usufructs or 30yr lease possible

Which advantages / disadvantages did I forget?

What is your experience (or guess) regarding

- easiness of renting out the condo/house

- obtainable rent compared to buying price

- easiness of selling out the condo/house

- development of the value of the property

It would really be interesting to discuss the differences/advantages of condos and houses.

Bye,

Mike

Mike,

I wrote the below a year ago to one the threads. Please bear with me with this long essay but I think some of the comments could help you to decide:-

"The choice of either a condo unit or a house is dependent on each person's preference.

The disadvantages of a condo are lack of substantial land ownership, obligations of having to pay management fees even when not occupied, relatively smaller area of privacy, earthquake, high- rise, sharing of common area usage, far from nature, not much storing space and lesser rise in resale value if in badly managed condo.

The advantages of a condo are safer, no fear of flood, quieter and surprisingly less contacts with neighbours, less transportation-most condos are near to town centres and other conveniences, more common facilities like fitness centre, swimming pool, garden, availability of handymen, lovely to have shower with strong water flow, no water pump required, more privacy, away from the crowd once in your own condo, less dusty and noise from the land (however noise can be piercing from the ground if your unit is in the right angle to the noisy lane), no mosquito, cockroaches, rats, and pests, more functional and easy to manage since the design of a condo has to be functional with limited space.

The pros for a house are on the ground and nearer to nature, your sense of complete ownership with no sharing concept, more property-care activities with your small garden, no lift taking especially after shopping, and believed to have a better resale value.

The cons are less safe because you are more isolated, more risk of burglary, more risk of the property being flooded by rainfall, nearer to pests, daily mosquito biting, less privacy since closer to your neighbours, harder to find people to mend things, necessity of having to use water pump, lesser pressure of water flow and sometimes problems with drainage. Some of the disadvantages of home-buying can be eliminated with purchases in a housing development area, though not as good as in a condo.

Let me share our experiences. We returned to Thailand forty years ago and at first lived in a house of 50 square wah after having lived in a flat in England for more than ten years. Burglary, mosquitoes and cockroaches, flood from rainfall, and long traveling time (even in those days), prompted us to move upward and to inner city. We had many edges over others in term of normal life in a condo. We were in a condo for more than thirty years. Now we are back on the ground when we find it unnecessary to live in the inner city and because of our fear of earthquake. (The day of tsunami hitting Phuket, we were shaken at 8 am and rushed to the ground one hour before the sad tragedy hit Phuket and Khao Lak). Since that day, on the urging of our son, we searched for our ground abode and reached our consensus (which I thought we would never reach) on the current house. In my inner thought at that time, I was hoping that we would never agree on any house. We now find other disadvantages in living in a house as bearable but still feel annoying. But when sitting in the garden with no rush and hearing birds chirping, then you say to yourself that is life. Contrary to the general belief, the resale value of a house is not greater than our condos. Our 40-year house with the land right in the fringe of the Bangkok centre has a rise of 3% per year when our condo units are with 6% to 12% per annum at least."

So there is no hard and fast rule. It is the question of the liking of each person and the liking of the property either on the ground or up in the air. We moved to the house furnished by the developer for show two years ago. When we saw the design, all of us hardly had any criticisms. It has proved to be so functional and also ideal since it is in a cul de sac. One regret we have is travelling to town centre. It could take about 20 minutes to two hours, depending on the timing. It could be two hours during rainy season. When I was in the town condo, it took 10 minute drive and never late for any appointment. Now I realise why people are late because you simply cannot time your travelling time.

Well written - deeply insightful, thank you 'Irene' - life is but of course an ever changing dynamic.

[Rossi]

Dear Irene,

thanks for your thought... very interesting indeed. The longer I am thinking about this issue, the more I tend to have a closer look at houses. Nevertheless I will insist in livin in one of those communities that offer 24hr security service and probably a community pool. Furthermore I will try to look for bigger plots. I think something like 100-150 square wah (400-600 sqm) should be OK. I don't want to fell like sitting on my neighbours table if I go outside... But of course there are still a lot more things to consider before to buy a house.

Mike