How Safe Is It To Buy An Apartment

[Shoeboat]

With a budget of about 70 grand UK I am considering (after exploring many options) buying an apartment in Bangkok. It would make perfect sense to do so as I live here anyway, I suppose the reason I have not done it before is because I'm not sure I trust Thailand, much as I love it. Things change so easily here, so would it be safe to buy a condo - or buy 2 condo's, live in one and rent the other out?

Could any future event result in farangs losing everything they invested in? I am aware that unlike land you can actually own an apartment outright.

I would also like to know a good area to buy and what sort of prices (stirling) I would be looking at.

Many thanks.

Edited October 27, 2007 by Shoeboat

[xbusman]

You will always be, and always only be, a guest here in the LOS. The only hard and fast rule is never ever invest more than you can walk away from. If that 70K would hurt to lose, just dont do it.

As to the question if its wise to, or not to, thats always according to individual circumstance and available opportunities. However, to some degree, we all have to live with the "Never ever, never invest more than you can walk away from" dictum.

[Jingthing]

I would rate such a purchase medium risk. I often take high risks, so for me buying a Thai condo is easy to handle, but it depends on your risk tolerance.

[YoungFarangNa]

its pretty low risk but you are forced to sell in a short time frame you should expect a big loss. property doesnt change hands here as easily as it does in the west, people want to buy new.

[naka]

Do you have a long term visa ? If not then you may not be able to live in it !

Also safer to buy one that is already built

Foreigners can only own 49% of units (by area) in any condo so do not

buy a unit that is currently Thai owned.

Naka.

[Shoeboat]

^ I thought a forigner could own only 49% of a house or lot of land but as the land an apartment block is built on is already owned, and apartment can be owned outright.

As for visa, I am currently on a 60 day and plan to get a business visa now that I have started. The business is a unique service that a Thai could not do and I work mainly from home catering for farangs.

I should add that it is not something dodgy! I make exceptionally creative souveneir DVD's of people's events, I'm a videographer and a perfectionist.

My visa status should be taken into consideration I guess, and I will do my very best to make my business legit but if I can't then I can't, but I'm not going to turn down a colleague of an aquaintance of a friend who wants their 40'th birthday immortalised and needs a creative farang perspective and flavour instead of a Thai standing there with a bulky shoulder camera idly shooting away who will provide a standard edit and a DVD 6 weeks later.

If even half the expats on this forum are 100% legit then I'll eat my camcorder so please refrain from flaming.

Edited October 28, 2007 by Shoeboat

[sabaijai]

Do you have a long term visa ? If not then you may not be able to live in it !

Also safer to buy one that is already built

Foreigners can only own 49% of units (by area) in any condo so do not

buy a unit that is currently Thai owned.

Naka.

Buying a condo worth 3 million baht or more entitles foreign buyers to a long-term investor's visa.

[backflip]

"Could any future event result in farangs losing everything they invested in?"

Sure, you could put the condo in your GF's name, and she'll sell it. Too, isn't "Stirling" a type of engine? I'm surprised that a Brit would misspell "Sterling".

[Pattaya46]

With a budget of about 70 grand UK

How much is that ???

Please do not use €, £, $, buck, brick, grand,... or any currency that only a few can understand.

We are on a forum about Thailand, so please speak using THB

[listenup]

Why not buy a small flat in the UK to rent out? Sure, you won't get nowhere near as much for your buck but you have a safety umbrella under your head. Plus, UK property will always rise (in my opinion!).

[BalthazarBeefheart]

Do you have a long term visa ? If not then you may not be able to live in it !

Also safer to buy one that is already built

Foreigners can only own 49% of units (by area) in any condo so do not

buy a unit that is currently Thai owned.

Naka.

Buying a condo worth 3 million baht or more entitles foreign buyers to a long-term investor's visa.

Are you sure about this ? I was under the impression that the investment visa was scrapped in October 2006.

Cheers BB

[rgs2001uk]

i suggest you trot over to the housing real estate forum, the one under this one.

look at the topic titled buy to rent, and form your own opinion.

£70 k is roughly 5 million, if you bought 2 flats at 2.5 million, what do you expect to be the montly rental income from a 2.5 million baht flat, do you need the money from the rent?

no one knows what changes will be made to the visa rules, but suan plu want to see capital, not capital tied up in property. i know at least one person who bought land with what he considered was spare cash, visa rules changed and the following year he could no longer meet the new financial requirements.

if you can afford it, then its a no brainer, just do it.

[Jingthing]

Buying a condo worth 3 million baht or more entitles foreign buyers to a long-term investor's visa.

No. It does not. This visa class was abolished last year.

[backflip]

"...would rate such a purchase medium risk."

Based on your intimate knowledge of the Thai economy, or an irrational fear of everything Thai?

If the OP checked through the hundreds of real estate-related threads, he would see that 100% of the bad predictions have failed to materialize. Not a single one of them became true. The predictions were totally wrong. Completely wrong. Hilariously wrong. But, those afraid keep trying to find converts.

[xbusman]

Backflip is right. It might go up, it might go down, no one knows. What we do know from hard earned experience of hordes of expats who have come and gone, come and stayed, come and jumped out of their condo window, is this:

NEVER EVER INVEST MORE IN THAILAND THAN YOU CAN WALK AWAY FROM

[Jingthing]

"...would rate such a purchase medium risk."

Based on your intimate knowledge of the Thai economy, or an irrational fear of everything Thai?

If the OP checked through the hundreds of real estate-related threads, he would see that 100% of the bad predictions have failed to materialize. Not a single one of them became true. The predictions were totally wrong. Completely wrong. Hilariously wrong. But, those afraid keep trying to find converts.

What's your point? I didn't say high risk. Foreigners buy condos. In the west, condos are usually kept maintained. In Thailand, they are often left to rot. To me, plus some political risk, this makes this not a low risk buy. I would say if you buy a condo in the US and one in Thailand, if you sell 20 years later, chances are the US condo will make more long term profit.

Also, sometimes there are problems exporting sales money out of Thailand. Technically, you can prevent this with the proper paperwork, but surely any uncertainty at all over such a large amount of money, translates into more risk.

Edited October 28, 2007 by Jingthing

[Manchester]

Do you have a long term visa ? If not then you may not be able to live in it !

Also safer to buy one that is already built

Foreigners can only own 49% of units (by area) in any condo so do not

buy a unit that is currently Thai owned.

Naka.

Buying a condo worth 3 million baht or more entitles foreign buyers to a long-term investor's visa.

Errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr??? I think not.

Edited October 28, 2007 by Manchester

[naka]

Do you have a long term visa ? If not then you may not be able to live in it !

Also safer to buy one that is already built

Foreigners can only own 49% of units (by area) in any condo so do not

buy a unit that is currently Thai owned.

Naka.

Buying a condo worth 3 million baht or more entitles foreign buyers to a long-term investor's visa.

I believe this 3 mil. rule was overturned some time ago.

To the O.P. :-

Foreigners can only own 49% (by area) of a condominium. If you buy from a foreigner who owns the

condo in his own name then you can have the title transferred to you.

If you buy from a Thai then you cannot unless the condo already has less than 49% foreign ownership (unlikely).

Naka.