Land Price Doubled

[Dakhar]

It’s the same rule for every thing on sale and has nothing to do with your being a falang, the seller sees a white face and thinks he can increase his profit, its simple business 101

Caveat emptor

And that's why I decided to use my brain to learn intellectually demanding subjects (physics and mathematics) and share this knowledge to earn a modest living. I am not interested in exploiting others.

Wow, now I feel so ashamed for earning above "modest." If only I could give it all back.... But, I would want my taxes back too.... Do you think the IRS would agree?

I'm afraid your only avenue is to donate all of your dishonest monies to charity, followed by immediate self-immolation.

You assume all those that earn above modest do so in a dishonest manner?

[Somtham]

my wife and i were going to buy some land 2 years ago..my wifes friend told us about it ..she is a school teacher and the other women is also..the women had been trying to sell this land for a few years and no buyers..my wifes friend told us the price..and so we all went to meet her..as soon as she seen me..she told us the price was double..to what she had been trying to sell it for before..and what she had told her teacher friend..i had this happen 2 other times in a short period..my wife had told me if we were going to buy land i needed to stay home so no one would see my face..but i need to go to make sure about papers..deeds..no money owed on land..size of land..my money i want to know. has anyone else had this happen.

Last year we spent quite a bit of time looking for land and this happened to us 3 times. First place near Mae Wong National Park was quoted at ~B8-9K per rai with a house but when we went to look at it the price jumped to B40K per rai plus they wanted another B700K for the home. Second time was 15 rai on a nice creek that flowed year round and quoted at B20K/rai. When we went to look at it the price jumped to B65K per rai. Third time was an 11 rai plot on the Ping river in Tak quoted at just over B1M but when we went to look it jumped to B3.5M!!

Very frustrating and needless to say we didn't buy any of the properties and all 3 of them are still for sale.

Do what Beardog suggests and stay in the background. Waaaaaaaaaaaay back!

rgds

[way2muchcoffee]

It’s the same rule for every thing on sale and has nothing to do with your being a falang, the seller sees a white face and thinks he can increase his profit, its simple business 101

Caveat emptor

And that's why I decided to use my brain to learn intellectually demanding subjects (physics and mathematics) and share this knowledge to earn a modest living. I am not interested in exploiting others.

Wow, now I feel so ashamed for earning above "modest." If only I could give it all back.... But, I would want my taxes back too.... Do you think the IRS would agree?

I'm afraid your only avenue is to donate all of your dishonest monies to charity, followed by immediate self-immolation.

You assume all those that earn above modest do so in a dishonest manner?

Nah, I was only trying to make a joke. Sometimes they don't read so well on the internet. No offense intended.

Edited April 7, 2008 by way2muchcoffee

[gosompoi]

Yes, it happened to me years ago. Long ago I realized that I must stay behind the scenes, whether it is purchasing land or buying materials to build a home. That doesn't mean I am ignorant of what is going on or that I am totally out of the plans, just that my active involvement stays behind the scene. It is just a quirk of living as a minority in Thailand. Don't take it personally.

This does not apply to Farang only. It applies to Thais as much, if not more so.

In many village areas cheap land is held back for locals, and outsiders from other areas of Thailand trying to buy land often have to pay at least double.

My experience play "hide the farang" when buying land until the price is settled and also check the local banks for forclosures. I found land I wanted only to have a thai run and tell the owner the farang will pay a million baht or more. I walked away from that one. I also check with the local banks as to the land values in an area or village. I found 2 rai and 8 rai plots from bank foreclosures at 1/4 the prices quoted for farang in the same area. But always best to find the lending amount/value per rai from the local bank offices for a village and send a thai that knows how to hide the farang until the price is set.

[Dakhar]

my wife and i were going to buy some land 2 years ago..my wifes friend told us about it ..she is a school teacher and the other women is also..the women had been trying to sell this land for a few years and no buyers..my wifes friend told us the price..and so we all went to meet her..as soon as she seen me..she told us the price was double..to what she had been trying to sell it for before..and what she had told her teacher friend..i had this happen 2 other times in a short period..my wife had told me if we were going to buy land i needed to stay home so no one would see my face..but i need to go to make sure about papers..deeds..no money owed on land..size of land..my money i want to know. has anyone else had this happen.

Last year we spent quite a bit of time looking for land and this happened to us 3 times. First place near Mae Wong National Park was quoted at ~B8-9K per rai with a house but when we went to look at it the price jumped to B40K per rai plus they wanted another B700K for the home. Second time was 15 rai on a nice creek that flowed year round and quoted at B20K/rai. When we went to look at it the price jumped to B65K per rai. Third time was an 11 rai plot on the Ping river in Tak quoted at just over B1M but when we went to look it jumped to B3.5M!!

Very frustrating and needless to say we didn't buy any of the properties and all 3 of them are still for sale.

Do what Beardog suggests and stay in the background. Waaaaaaaaaaaay back!

rgds

That does sound like great property. What if you send a cousin of the family and a lawyer out to negotiate for you...? Do you think you will get any where further?

[Maigo6]

The folks who would knowingly charge a large premium to another foreigner or wealthy Thai really disappoint me. It speaks volumes about the character of some of the people here.

To sell something below market to a family member, or to a charity case is fine, but to add a 'perceived wealth' surcharge is opportunistic and disgusting.

[burman]

The folks who would knowingly charge a large premium to another foreigner or wealthy Thai really disappoint me. It speaks volumes about the character of some of the people here.

To sell something below market to a family member, or to a charity case is fine, but to add a 'perceived wealth' surcharge is opportunistic and disgusting.

Is the wealth so wrongly perceived though?

Were the OP to not know the original price he might very well have happily gone ahead with the purchase.

[misterman21]

Just pretend you are interested (even at the higher price), keep the pretense up for a few weeks and the seller will wind up loosing sleep making plans for the easy money the are going to have off you.

Good advice Or try this: offer them twice as much - it just confuses them, and they usually refuse as they have no concept of such a thing

[Gary A]

My wife found a piece of land a couple years ago and was quoted a decent price. As soon as they found out she had a farang husband the price went up. Not double but it was raised substantially. I told my wife to tell them nothing and if they call to tell them we are no longer interested. They did call and the price went back to the original asking price. They were quite disappointed that we were no longer interested. As far as I know, it never did sell.

[burman]

So in the end you didn't buy this decent priced bit of land you wanted. Cut your nose off to spite your face didn't you?

And I realise you was say 'principles' which I do fully understand, but the reality is you lost out didn't you?

[Maigo6]

but the reality is you lost out didn't you?

No, he saved his money and the wife lost out.........

Edited April 7, 2008 by Maigo6

[ray08]

To Buy is easy , to sell something is very hard , if you beleive you are going to pay more for something , simple , don,t buy

when you have the money in your pocket , you can control the deal not the greedy seller

[Johpa]

Were a Thai to turn up in a Ferrari you can bet the price would have gone up as well.

Spot on! I remember back in the early 1980s at the original funky "Night Market" in Chiang Mai that the women running the shops and stalls had three prices: the lowest prices were for those who were speaking Kham Muang, the language of Lanna Thai; the middle prices were for western tourists, mostly lower budget backpackers as not many other tourists were showing up at the time; and the highest prices were for "Khon Thai", Thai tourists, mostly from Bangkok, who only spoke Central Thai.

[gregchambers]

Only twice as much? Seriously, I have known Thais try to get FIVE times the going rate for land from farang, just because they are farang and it is a matter of FACE to do it! As mentioned, send the gal alone to do the deal. BTW the land office where the chanote's name is changed have the official land value for taxation and I believe you can get a lawyer to find out the official value of the land - not going to be hundred percent accurate but will help give an idea if the figure is in the right ballpark. Also, it all depends on the women and whether she will collude with the vendor - real land value one million baht, get farang to pay five million baht and split the profit between the gal and the vendor, nice easy two million baht each!

[Maigo6]

Problem is Greg, in a village situation everybody will already know she has a Farang, and in the city where people may not know her, the prices are high for everyone.

I think you have to be sensible and do a little homework locally, as you say, the land office is a good place to start.

I was offered a 7 Rai farm for 180,000, I said I would think about it, then I said I wasn't really interested but I'll give 150,000, the people said no, OK, no problem I said.

I left it like that, a few months later again it was offered at my price of 150,000, I said I never had that much spare cash now, I can only offer 120,000 but I could pay immediately.

I got it for 120,000.

I was like this cos I knew the guy had swapped an old pick up for that Farm 2 years previous, it stood him about 80,000 Baht all in, he had a real result swapping the old pick up for that land, so I reckoned to myself that he was making 50% profit in 2 years and thats pretty good.

If any Farang is interested in buying the Farm from me, the price is at least 350,000.

God ain't making any more land.

[Beardog]

BEARDOG

I didnt know talk with small mouth was thai,sounds like english to me lol.

I think in english Humble would be the correct word. Humble Thai people refer to the act(in English )as talking with a small mouth. Kinda cute. But true. I have seen several people get laid away when their Thai girl tells them how much their rich farang has....as the price goes up up up. Do I hear 1.6 mil 1.6 1.6 1.8 1.8 to the rich farang over there , do I hear 2 mill. etc.

I am sure it is the same in any country- You tend to do better if you don't come off as the Monkey upstairs syndrome.

[Gary A]

So in the end you didn't buy this decent priced bit of land you wanted. Cut your nose off to spite your face didn't you?

And I realise you was say 'principles' which I do fully understand, but the reality is you lost out didn't you?

Lost out ?? Hardly. After that I was approached by a Thai man who wanted to sell me a much nicer and better located piece of land. I really wasn't interested in ten rai and since the land had two separate chanotes, I offered to buy the three rai parcel. The three rai had road access on two sides leaving the balance with no access. I then explained to the seller that I couldn't own land anyways so I was not interested. I did make an offer of half the asking price and got a one word answer. "IMPOSSIBLE"! My wife was a little upset because she thought I insulted the guy. I explained to her that he approached me and that I made an offer. He contacted me many times after that and I told him I simply wasn't interested but I would honor my original offer. I ended up buying the ten rai for my original offer. He tried to sell that land for a couple of years and had NO offers other than mine. We already have a house on two rai and I certainly didn't NEED to buy more land.

In the past four years, we have bought four parcels of land at MY offered price. I can't own any of it but I consider it an investment for my wife's future. If our relationship were to fall apart I could walk away knowing that she will have at the least a meager income and that she will be far better off than before I came along. I certainly hope our marriage doesn't go bad but you can be assured that if it does, I will still have a roof over my head and I won't miss any meals. I think it is a far better idea to buy land than to build a mansion that would simply be an anchor around her neck when I pass away or if things go bad.

[Maigo6]

I think it is a far better idea to buy land than to build a mansion that would simply be an anchor around her neck when I pass away or if things go bad.

Amen to that.

[torrenova]

Agreed about the mansion.

One further thing to consider about Thais is that they often make their mind up to buy something and then try to get the best price whereas a westerner will only buy at a favourable price and will walk away. To that extent, you cannot have Thais doing all the negotiating.

[Theyreallrubbish]

If Bill Gates or Warren Buffet want to pay me or you double for something, will we sell it to them at that double price? Yes we will, and if some hundred-dollar bills fall out of their wallet, we might forget to tell them. The Romans said caveat emptor, and it's in lots of dictionaries now.

When quoted an obviously inflated price simply because of my blond hair, I smile, tell them it is worth even more than that to some other farang, wai, and leave.

There is a HUGE difference between your two scenarios. Rich people may pay more for something because the value to them is high enough to justify the price. Maybe the value of their time in finding another supplier is greater than the price difference. In any case, they made the transaction of their own free will and they wouldn't have made the transaction unless the price equalled the value they were getting in their calculations.

If they drop hundred dollar bills and you keep them, there is no agreement on their part that you could have the money. Its simply stealing because you think they can afford it. Precisely what so many complain about the Thais do.

[Theyreallrubbish]

Yes, it happened to me years ago. Long ago I realized that I must stay behind the scenes, whether it is purchasing land or buying materials to build a home. That doesn't mean I am ignorant of what is going on or that I am totally out of the plans, just that my active involvement stays behind the scene. It is just a quirk of living as a minority in Thailand. Don't take it personally.

This does not apply to Farang only. It applies to Thais as much, if not more so.

In many village areas cheap land is held back for locals, and outsiders from other areas of Thailand trying to buy land often have to pay at least double.

A Thai friend of mine was driving his mercedes in Bangkok and while stopped at a traffic light waved over a fruit seller to buy some fruit. She told him a price double the price on the card on her trolley! When he pointed this out and asked why she said, "Because you are in a Mercedes"

He came back to the office spluttering and just as indignant as any farang charged an extra 10 Baht for a tuk tuk ride.