My wife and I are planning to buy a house in the Chiang Mai area. We're both young and have never even bought a house before but I get "rent" money for my job so rather then throw the money away we plan to invest it in a home. I have several questions for you more experienced and wiser expats.

1. What are some basic do's and dont's of home shopping in Thailand?

2. Do bank mortgages in Thailand work similar to those in the west (particularly the U.S.)?

3. What kind of rates can I expect?

4. Can you link me to some good places to do some online real estate shopping? (English or Thai) It seems to me that many places are overpriced, but then again I'm reading web sites in English which may having something to do with it.....

5. Can you recommend a reliable, honest real estage agent in the Chiang Mai area?

Just FYI, My wife is a Thai citizen so any purchases that require her ownership is fine with us.

If you can refer me to some good posts about this, that would be fine too. Thank you for your advice!

Hi,

2. Banks do only consider your wife's salary & employee record for mortagage approval. Eventhough you are legally married, you basically do not exist in this process. I just got a loan application rejected. My wife's salary was too low for the loan that we wanted.

3. Depends on the banks, first 1, 2 or 3 years can be as low as 2...3%. After that is usually linked to the MLR (minimum lending rate) that's again different from bank to bank. At the moment between 6...7%. Some banks offer something like MLR-1% after the initial low rate year(s).

4. If you can read Thai consider some magazines: "akaan le tii din" (weekly/monthly) for second hand and "Home Buyers" for new projects. And drive around the area where you want to live. Look for the billboards.

Cheers

Hi,

2. Banks do only consider your wife's salary & employee record for mortagage approval. Eventhough you are legally married, you basically do not exist in this process. I just got a loan application rejected. My wife's salary was too low for the loan that we wanted.

3. Depends on the banks, first 1, 2 or 3 years can be as low as 2...3%. After that is usually linked to the MLR (minimum lending rate) that's again different from bank to bank. At the moment between 6...7%. Some banks offer something like MLR-1% after the initial low rate year(s).

4. If you can read Thai consider some magazines: "akaan le tii din" (weekly/monthly) for second hand and "Home Buyers" for new projects. And drive around the area where you want to live. Look for the billboards.

Cheers

I wonder if a bank in the U.S. would loan the amount needed if I had significant collateral in the U.S.

better to ask them than to ask here, don't you think?

better to ask them than to ask here, don't you think?

I don't think so. There's a lot more people with experience in this then me so I want to know my options first. If you have some useful tips, that would be great.

I'm self employed and we have plenty of income to get a loan. My wife doesn't have income but we are on the same bank account so do you think we will we have a problem getting a loan?