Double Pricing For Apartments?

[RueFang]

It's a pretty well established fact that Thailand does the double pricing thing for farang/Thai for things like entry fees, etc. I'm wondering if this ever happens when looking around for apartments to rent in Bangkok. Do you think that places quote inflated 'farang' prices or are most decent and give standardized prices? Thinking about places under 10,000 b/p/mth. What's your experience of 'house' hunting in Bangkok?

[Khun Jean]

It is the same as everywhere in the world. A 'rich' looking person will get a higher starting price. Eventually when you bargain hard you'll get the same price.

If you are not good at bargaining send a Thai friend.

House hunting for places under 10.000 requires footwork and to increase your changes friends that live in areas and know what is available. Not an easy task.

A friend of us (Thai) rented an appartment on Sukhumvit, very close to soi 24 actually opposite of the big fitness place.

Whole floor around 100m2. Price...... 3000 baht a month.

It was the top floor of a furniture shop that used the first 3 floors. But is that a good deal or what!

Maybe other shops have empty floors they are not using, asking will not hurt. Who knows.

Just for a small comparison for this dual pricing, in this case quadruple pricing. I once went with a broker to see a house in Austria. Price was 150.000 euro. Next day a different broker showed me the same house for 175.000 euro. The same house again in a flashy magazine 190.000 euro.

3 Months later i suprisingly met the owner (old guy in the high 70's) who complained his house was on the market longer than he thought. His asking price was 110.000. So there you go, honest people in real estate everywhere.

[allane]

In several years here, I have rented five different apartments. I never felt that a prospective landlord increased his asking price when he saw me walking up the driveway wearing my white skin. Especially if you show up unannounced, at a place unlikely to be full of farangs, you will probably be quoted the same price as would anyone else.

In one place, I had my rent REDUCED part way through my tenancy. This was during the recession that hit Bangkok housing from 1997 - 2004. The management did not want to lose a quality tenant with a steady job, who did not have to be chased every month to handover his rent money.

[samran]

Many landlords will only take farangs, given that Farangs tend to take better care of properties and pay the rent on time. I've seen it time and again when I ring up enquiring (speaking Thai) and the landlord thinks I am just another Thai. They then start asking what I do for work, being evasive about the property etc etc, until the penny drops that I'm half Thai and then all of a sudden it is "come on down, we've got lots of places for you".

Not once do I feel like I've been ripped off, especially given that there a limited supply of non-thai's out there, they are forced to price pretty fairly.

[007]

My landlord in Bangkok, Indian race, nationality: ? actually rented my place out to me for a discount. Also, instead of a 1-year contract he went for a 6-month as I said I'd pay him upfront for six months. There went a month's salary..

[007]

Many landlords will only take farangs, given that Farangs tend to take better care of properties and pay the rent on time.

Then again, quite a few places I went to recently asked for a 'local (=Thai) guarantor'.

[kingwilly]

It's a pretty well established fact that Thailand does the double pricing thing for farang/Thai for things like entry fees, etc. I'm wondering if this ever happens when looking around for apartments to rent in Bangkok. Do you think that places quote inflated 'farang' prices or are most decent and give standardized prices? Thinking about places under 10,000 b/p/mth. What's your experience of 'house' hunting in Bangkok?

of course.