Is It Really A Buyers Market For The Foreigner?

[TomBrown]

Well it would appear to be a 'sticky' Thai I am dealing with, who will only drop 100,000 off the price to maximise her profit. It turns out she invests in property usually buying off plan then sells later, so she probably could hold onto it much longer, has done so far.

LaoPo; really good advice, but I actually do like this property and its location and although we have seen other properties around Pattaya (for example Soi 10 Pattaya Tai, and in Ratanakorn developemnt at Thepprasit Road near Thappraya Road which we originally wanted to be as we thought this was going to be a good location for the future of the area/Pattaya/Jomtien, but we also like the town house in Nua. This could maybe be my biggest mistake ;-)

Gmac; As you said, not too much seems to be moving in the 2nd hand market at present, which I have kept an eye on. I see several of the same properties repeat appearances on the Carrefour notice board every week (as well as fresh 2nd hand property for sale), but was putting this down to it being the low season. Would you agree?

It is a town house I am looking to purchase, and as correctly said a foreigner cannot own land directly, so the land goes into my Thai partner's name and the town house into my name, using the 30 year lease route. Well that's the plan, I'll be confirming with the lawyer today.

Regarding purchasing a property with land via the company route, we visited several layers who all but one said that people who bought before the 1st July 2008 via a company would 'probably' be okay and unchecked, but going that route after that date would not be advisable and sure to be checked at some point. Only one foreign 'law advisor' not a lawyer, said that 'in his opinion the government will not check' so property via company is still okay, which in reality is not the case now, or possibly ever, as I read that the law was always there but just never enforced.

So, even though I have the funds ready, I do like the property and location in the city, have spoken to our lawyer and spoken to the property owner, there's still a little bit of doubt in my mind. The doubt is partly down to not getting a better deal from the property owner, and partly down to doom sayers who think this location has had it, and to be fair if things like taking down the Walking Street neon sign and replacing it with the steel framework but no money for the big TV that replaces the sign (rumour) happens, or not much customers in the Avenue Shopping Mall, I could maybe agree. Then again, much money does seem to be getting invested in the area with many new hotels and the new Central Festival Mall that opens in Jan'09, its hard to say what will happen.

Will see what happens over the next few days.

Tom.

Edited August 3, 2008 by lopburi3
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