Where To Live In Chiang Mai

[scottie]

Absolutely CTG, the research I've been doing all points to that.

Looking at some of those websites, some of the houses have been on the market for a couple of years!

Definitely a buyers market...I'd imagine everything highly negotiable aswell.

Does anyone know of Mae sa ban doi??? Small project, looks nice...not cheap?

Scottie

[siamruby]

Thanks Scottie. I have seen most of those websites and to be honest I have never been to Chiang Mai yet!! Well, I myself come from Bkk. But I know given the chance most of Thai people would love to live in CM, nice weather and nice people there.

I have a rough idea what I want regarding the house

1. Security is my first priority,so a house in a compound should be nice.

2. Size of land must be minimum 100 sqw so my kids can play football to their heart content

3. Not too far away from market or supermarkets in case we have no car (broken down etc.)

Yes CTG I have read your post before and remember you alway say that,rent rent,rent. I will definitely have to rent first because I am not sure if we will be happy there in CM or to be precise in Thailand.

[scottie]

I know what you mean re security on compound, obviously important.

But one of my fears is living on a compound, & getting in some sort of a rut & ending up being afraid to leave it!!

Off the top of my head I'm not sure of the sort of plot most houses are on in the new developments. Most of the ones we looked at seemed pretty small.

Overlooked & if you've got noisy neighbours.......!!!

Think it was Chanchao who posted about a plot of land he was interested in & if anyone fancied going in with him, good idea.

All the best, keep us posted in the coming months.

Scottie

[francois]

hi'

thanks for the link ... a bit of dream waiting for the right day

http://www.chiangmaionestop.com/property/h...ting_browse.php ..this address is really nice , thanks again

cheers

francois

[chanchao]

As for security... I live in one of the most popular compounds (I don't like compounds, but hey, it's cheap and easy to find something to rent), anyway, one of the more popular compounds, and while they have 3 idiots in uniforms standing near the front gate opening the gate and getting ID from people entering who don't live there, there's another entrance in the back that's COMPLETELY open and ends up in some village. At night they close this up by pulling a gate closed but it's easy enough to open again. Or even if it wasn't, you could drive a truck in at 6pm and be inside all night and drive out again in the morning.

I really wonder how much extra 'real' security you get from a compound. Sure you get the show-security of having some dudes saluting you in front, but it's not quite the same thing.

And: Some compounds may give you 100 sq Wa total for house and a small garden, but will it be enough to play football on?? For a vast majority of compound houses the main design-target seems to have been to build them as close together as possible without the roofs actually touching each other.

(But they're cheap, convenient, fair build quality, not too far out of town, along major routes with public transport to town, etc, etc)

Cheers,

Chanchao

[Ajarn]

Chanchao, do you have any security riding around on a bike? Our muubaan got rid of the tuu yam at the entrance, but there is a guy riding around....

I have never been asked anything when going through any muubaan guard post. I assume, like they do me, if it's a farang face, they just salute them right in...

Thieves look for convenience.... If you like an easy mark, someone is likely considering how best to get your stuff.

Though we have a guard around, my house isn't far from the main road...a quick escape. I figure my best protection is to look like I care about my security. I do have a camera near the front gate since we can't see the gate from inside the house. The camera (and intercom at the gate) is quite visible, and it's my hope it will give a thief second thoughts....

Even if you lock all your doors, and bar all your windows, most Thai houses are no sweat to break into. Just remove a few roof tiles and climb right in...I learned about that when they were running cables from the satelite into my office....