Best Condo Project On Canal Road?

[TaiKai]

Hello,

does anybody know if in front of the Karnkanok 5 Building there is further construction planned? For right now it seems that Touch Hill will place its 7storey building in front of the northern section of Karnkanok 5.

Mountainfrontview Condos seems to be quite a nice project, but are they going to complete? They have had only one project before here in Chiang Mai which already looks quite alright.

Anybody willing to exchange ideas?

Thanks!

[TaiKai]

c'mon... anybody?

Well, I just received an E-Mail from the promotor of Karnkanok 5 saying that Touch Hill could not start as they could not have a proper building license for a 7-storey building. That would make buying there risky. Does anybody know if it is possible to get first hand information from the town hall regarding this issue?

Nobody outthere with ideas, comments or a kind hint where I should start?

[SoloFlyer]

Where is K5?

There's one of the low level ones already well on its way up not far from MtV.

One project in the area got stopped because the piling was causing nearby damage, but i think since restarted.

Lawyers have the right to look at permits. Hit and miss for average Jo.

[TaiKai]

Where is K5?

There's one of the low level ones already well on its way up not far from MtV.

One project in the area got stopped because the piling was causing nearby damage, but i think since restarted.

Lawyers have the right to look at permits. Hit and miss for average Jo.

Thanks for your reply, SoloFlyer. Karnkanok 5 is on Canal Rd. towards 700 Year Stadium, 2 kms away from Phucome intersection on the left hand side. Huge signs on the left, too. At the very same bridge to cross the canal you would cross to get to Touch Hill and to Mountainfrontview.

I just had to lookup the word "piling" and found out it must be the concrete piling they are driving into the earth. And yes, it seems to cause cracks on other buildings.

Nevertheless, I will try to get a copy of the building permission and check with a lawyer tomorrow. By law, the building permission should be attached to the contract.

[john b good]

There were amendments to the "condominium laws" in July of this year.

They provide more protection for purchasers "which were long overdue" as there is a great deal of shonky dealings by developers selling condo's.

Before buying get yourself acquainted with the new provisions.

[SoloFlyer]

No worries. Thats where i thought it was... just cant remember which is which.

What are the prices / m your getting?

Would be interested to know if they've reverted to drilling the piles on that one (at nearly double the cost).

One of them only seems to have access though a very narrow soi, which is packed with cars at the nearby restaurants at night...

What makes you question why MtV wont complete? The crash? Or have you heard something?

[john b good]

No worries. Thats where i thought it was... just cant remember which is which.

What are the prices / m your getting?

Would be interested to know if they've reverted to drilling the piles on that one (at nearly double the cost).

One of them only seems to have access though a very narrow soi, which is packed with cars at the nearby restaurants at night...

What makes you question why MtV wont complete? The crash? Or have you heard something?

Drilling the piles (as opposed to driving them) will require a whole new engineering design change.

Drilled piles are designed to take the load on their base (assisted by friction) , driven piles are often (mostly) friction taking the load on the friction against the surrounding earth.

If a building is designed for (or with driven) piles you don't just say "oh oh" we are gone change to drilled (bored) piles.

Leastaways not in the real world.

[Gravelrash]

Just some food for thought, ok...

New condos are appealing because...they are currently new.

However they are usually built out of town as the land is cheap, existing condos occupy the prime expensive inner city locations. Time will tell how well this current crop are built as things start to break down, the building quality is probably par for the course despite what the glossy brochures may say.

Many renters want inner city for the convenience (understandable) so there could be a battle there, buyers wanting new buy out there as it is cheaper than say Twin Peaks etc. Thus future new buyers probably wont be potential customers if selling as they wont be new anymore.

So after they are a few years old, sitting out in the middle of nowhere, how will their prices fare compared to the inner city quality (not the dumps) buildings with convenient locations? I think you can see where my thinking lies, everyone to their own, but I would think those condos out there will be hard to sell later, which of course doesn't matter if that is never an issue.

[Gravelrash]

Sorry, one more thing, last I saw Prom Paradise had closed up, has anything changed?

[el jefe]

I know where KKK3 is, but if this is KKK5 two kms north of Huay Kaew Rd on the west side of Canal Rd, where is KKK4?

I have a fiend who has owned several condos in CM and he enquired about a new KKK project which sounds like this one. He asked how close the adjoining property would be and was told by the sales agent "3 meters". He asked "do you mean 30 meters?" and the agent replied "No, 3 meters." He's not buying there.

If I was going to buy something outside of town, I don't need to be that close to my neighbors that they can look in my windows.

Hello,

does anybody know if in front of the Karnkanok 5 Building there is further construction planned? For right now it seems that Touch Hill will place its 7storey building in front of the northern section of Karnkanok 5.

Mountainfrontview Condos seems to be quite a nice project, but are they going to complete? They have had only one project before here in Chiang Mai which already looks quite alright.

Anybody willing to exchange ideas?

Thanks!

[cm das]

Anyone know exactly where Mountainfront View is going to be? I know the soi, but I can't tell from the map how far towards the mountain the site is.

[sendbaht]

Anyone know exactly where Mountainfront View is going to be? I know the soi, but I can't tell from the map how far towards the mountain the site is.

Driving towards 700 studium it is on your right. A brick bulding. Can not miss it. One their web site qualitycondo.co.th they claim they are 5 minutes from CM airport, ya right, by Lear Jet.

[Colonel_Mustard]

I know where KKK3 is, but if this is KKK5 two kms north of Huay Kaew Rd on the west side of Canal Rd, where is KKK4?

I have a fiend who has owned several condos in CM and he enquired about a new KKK project which sounds like this one. He asked how close the adjoining property would be and was told by the sales agent "3 meters". He asked "do you mean 30 meters?" and the agent replied "No, 3 meters." He's not buying there.

If I was going to buy something outside of town, I don't need to be that close to my neighbors that they can look in my windows.

Hello,

does anybody know if in front of the Karnkanok 5 Building there is further construction planned? For right now it seems that Touch Hill will place its 7storey building in front of the northern section of Karnkanok 5.

Mountainfrontview Condos seems to be quite a nice project, but are they going to complete? They have had only one project before here in Chiang Mai which already looks quite alright.

Anybody willing to exchange ideas?

Thanks!

KK4 is, according to their website, a moobaan type project rather than condominiums and is on on the new Sankampaeng road.

[TaiKai]

Anyone know exactly where Mountainfront View is going to be? I know the soi, but I can't tell from the map how far towards the mountain the site is.

yes, 18°49'14.74"N 98°57'40.86"E

.....or look at this approximate overview. Especially on Touch Hill I am not quite sure if the buildings will be placed the way I marked it. Please correct me, if anyone has any better information.

I have a fiend who has owned several condos in CM and he enquired about a new KKK project which sounds like this one. He asked how close the adjoining property would be and was told by the sales agent "3 meters". He asked "do you mean 30 meters?" and the agent replied "No, 3 meters." He's not buying there.

Hola Jefe, as a matter of fact, the next plot is 3 mts in front of KK5's western side and to the northern side the same. The North facing units have an advantage, as the neighbouring buildings are smaller, individual houses and can be easily overlooked. The nicest view for right now have the West facing units, but if Touch Hill builds in front, they might be a bit obstructed. And still there are sale signs for smaller plots between Touch Hill and KK5.... nothing granted on what would happen on these plots.

What are the prices / m your getting?

MountainFrontView: 35-43 K Baht/sqm. They promise to apply better qualities which they currently use in their first building, Convention Condos. The quality is definitely superior and workmanship excellent, even compared with German standards.

Would be interested to know if they've reverted to drilling the piles on that one (at nearly double the cost).

No, they are driving the piles into the ground with brute force.... I felt the vibration even on the other side of the ground. The noise is definitely annoying for the neighbourhood.

One of them only seems to have access though a very narrow soi, which is packed with cars at the nearby restaurants at night...

Well, MountainFrontView's access is quite alright, only the last 10-20 meters might be a bottleneck, but it is still not foreseeable if they would widen the access, as there is plenty of space to do so. Regarding the restaurants, I am not worried, I went there one night and you hear less from the restaurants and nearby Canal Road than you would hear in any city location or lifely MooBaan. It is actually quite calm.

What makes you question why MtV wont complete? The crash? Or have you heard something?

I don't think they will not complete. But I would like to be sure that they complete. And being quite a young company with only one building halfway completed and not even in time, I would rather trust KK5, which is maybe 3-4 months away from completion. Just with KK5, I am worried about the neighbouring buildings.

Edited October 14, 2008 by TaiKai

[cm das]

Thanks for the map TaiKai.

[Paagai]

Sorry, one more thing, last I saw Prom Paradise had closed up, has anything changed?

Interesting to see Prom Paradise gets a mention here. Having seen the very heavy advertising around town for "Mountain Front View" I was wondering what the catch was (there usually is one with such a hard sell ). Last time a condo complex was advertised and hyped so hard in CM it was Prom Paradise; AFAIK work halted several months ago with no sign of it restarting (as of a couple of weeks back).

I would share concerns about whether "Mountain Front View" will complete!

Karnkanok seem to provide good properties (I know several people who've purchased from them). However, they seem very willing to give substantial under the table commission to Thai wives, Thai facilitators etc who get Farangs to purchase, I know one Thai who's done very nicely out of this arrangement. But this is Thailand so I'm sure the practice isn't limited to one developer

Edited October 14, 2008 by Paagai

[TaiKai]

Interesting to see Prom Paradise gets a mention here. Having seen the very heavy advertising around town for "Mountain Front View" I was wondering what the catch was (there usually is one with such a hard sell ).

They have been offered a bank guarantee of the full purchase price, so they rest assured that they get paid if they finish. They would not accept it. So they need liquidity and will need to sell more in order finish the construction, I would assume.

Last time a condo complex was advertised and hyped so hard in CM it was Prom Paradise; AFAIK work halted several months ago with no sign of it restarting (as of a couple of weeks back).

I would share concerns about whether "Mountain Front View" will complete!

It seems quite a risky game and I am still not sure if the risk is opposed by a reasonable chance.

Karnkanok seems to provide good properties (I know several people who've purchased from them). However, they seem very willing to give substantial under the table commission to Thai wives, Thai facilitators etc who get Farangs to purchase, I know one Thai who's done very nicely out of this arrangement. But this is Thailand so I'm sure the practice isn't limited to one developer

Do you know how much this "under-the-table-commission" is?

In Spain, it was at one time 15 %, and the worse the project, the higher the commission. In some cases, they have paid up to 25 %. Luckily, Spain's real estate market has dropped so badly, that there is no gap anymore for such commissions.

[Gravelrash]

Sorry, one more thing, last I saw Prom Paradise had closed up, has anything changed?

Karnkanok seem to provide good properties (I know several people who've purchased from them). However, they seem very willing to give substantial under the table commission to Thai wives, Thai facilitators etc who get Farangs to purchase, I know one Thai who's done very nicely out of this arrangement. But this is Thailand so I'm sure the practice isn't limited to one developer

Good points. As a general rule many Thai wives don't like condos for obvious reasons, the developments do kickback a nice commission to facilitators. If your wife took you in and did all the talking, then perhaps you might wonder what she made.

There is always a commission somewhere here, if using your wife, a condo manager, taxi driver or even a real estate agent they are all getting a commission. Dare I say for those that buy houses in moobaans, there was a commission there exactly the same. Oops, she forgot to mention that did she?

[mcgriffith]

Nice to see some real world enlightenment for those not aware of Thai real estate market practices.

[itsgottabedone]

I thought it was worth updating this thread as some of the developments are nearing completion. I checked out both the Convention Condo and KK5 today. I wasn't too impressed with CC ...it just wasn't my taste from either the outside or inside (too much noise from the canal road for one thing). The low rise development of KK5 however was impressive. It has an almost Balinese style to it, quiet leafy surroudings and the workmanship looked good. Best of all ..it's completed! As predicted the west side units have an obscured view now thanks to the Mountain Front View building in front (wasn't much sign of construction going on with MFV and the predicted completion date is now Feb 2010). No signs of any other life in this area including lack of a mini mart etc which would involve having some wheels and getting back onto the Canal Road.

I would be curious to hear to some first hand feedback from owners of any of these condos ...

[bojo]

Unbelieveable, does anyone actually know of anyone who's wife received commission for duping their husband into buying real estate without their husband knowing they're on the other team. You can't blame the marketing for trying though but it says alot about what they think of foreign purchasers I'd say, and even more about the wives.

Can you imagine finding out once you'd paid up and moved in that your wife had 15% of the value of the condo that you'd paid for, in her bank account! I say it again... unbelieveable... what do some people marry!

Regards Bojo

[chiang mai]

Unbelieveable, does anyone actually know of anyone who's wife received commission for duping their husband into buying real estate without their husband knowing they're on the other team. You can't blame the marketing for trying though but it says alot about what they think of foreign purchasers I'd say, and even more about the wives.

Can you imagine finding out once you'd paid up and moved in that your wife had 15% of the value of the condo that you'd paid for, in her bank account! I say it again... unbelieveable... what do some people marry!

Regards Bojo

Until someone posts some hard evidence of farang Thai wives receiving commission in this way, I'm going to regard all of this as malicious speculation and unsubstantiated gossip.

[lannarebirth]

Unbelieveable, does anyone actually know of anyone who's wife received commission for duping their husband into buying real estate without their husband knowing they're on the other team. You can't blame the marketing for trying though but it says alot about what they think of foreign purchasers I'd say, and even more about the wives.

Can you imagine finding out once you'd paid up and moved in that your wife had 15% of the value of the condo that you'd paid for, in her bank account! I say it again... unbelieveable... what do some people marry!

Regards Bojo

Until someone posts some hard evidence of farang Thai wives receiving commission in this way, I'm going to regard all of this as malicious speculation and unsubstantiated gossip.

I sold a piece of land once where my wife received a commission. Some agent called her and said they had a client that wanted to buy a piece of land we had. My wife and I decided on a price, added 3% commission and called he agent. My wife told them she was acting as sellers agent and 50% of the commission got kicked back to her. The other agent didn't bat an eyelash thinking it the most natural thing in the world.

[chiang mai]

Unbelieveable, does anyone actually know of anyone who's wife received commission for duping their husband into buying real estate without their husband knowing they're on the other team. You can't blame the marketing for trying though but it says alot about what they think of foreign purchasers I'd say, and even more about the wives.

Can you imagine finding out once you'd paid up and moved in that your wife had 15% of the value of the condo that you'd paid for, in her bank account! I say it again... unbelieveable... what do some people marry!

Regards Bojo

Until someone posts some hard evidence of farang Thai wives receiving commission in this way, I'm going to regard all of this as malicious speculation and unsubstantiated gossip.

I sold a piece of land once where my wife received a commission. Some agent called her and said they had a client that wanted to buy a piece of land we had. My wife and I decided on a price, added 3% commission and called he agent. My wife told them she was acting as sellers agent and 50% of the commission got kicked back to her. The other agent didn't bat an eyelash thinking it the most natural thing in the world.

And I'm happy with that because it was planned, known and agreed in advance by all parties. The implications of the earlier post are that Thai agents and Thai wives combine to plot these things without the knowledge of the farang husband.

[Rasseru]

And I'm happy with that because it was planned, known and agreed in advance by all parties. The implications of the earlier post are that Thai agents and Thai wives combine to plot these things without the knowledge of the farang husband.

Like you, I doubt whether that happens.

[Paagai]

And I'm happy with that because it was planned, known and agreed in advance by all parties. The implications of the earlier post are that Thai agents and Thai wives combine to plot these things without the knowledge of the farang husband.

Like you, I doubt whether that happens.

For those viewing this thread with the rose tinted glasses it's time to wake up and smell the coffee!

I know for certain it goes on; my friend and the girl at the Kankanok sales desk in Kad Suan Kaew still exchange smiles and Wais whenever we pass by, and that's a year or so after the event

[chiang mai]

And I'm happy with that because it was planned, known and agreed in advance by all parties. The implications of the earlier post are that Thai agents and Thai wives combine to plot these things without the knowledge of the farang husband.

Like you, I doubt whether that happens.

For those viewing this thread with the rose tinted glasses it's time to wake up and smell the coffee!

I know for certain it goes on; my friend and the girl at the Kankanok sales desk in Kad Suan Kaew still exchange smiles and Wais whenever we pass by, and that's a year or so after the event

Has it ever happened in the past, undoubtedly, does it happen as a matter of course on a regular basis in a significant percentage of transactions, no. To suggest otherwise implies that all Thai females married to farangs are on the take and I simply don't believe that is the case and strongly suspect that incidents are isolated and few.

[Paagai]

And I'm happy with that because it was planned, known and agreed in advance by all parties. The implications of the earlier post are that Thai agents and Thai wives combine to plot these things without the knowledge of the farang husband.

Like you, I doubt whether that happens.

For those viewing this thread with the rose tinted glasses it's time to wake up and smell the coffee!

I know for certain it goes on; my friend and the girl at the Kankanok sales desk in Kad Suan Kaew still exchange smiles and Wais whenever we pass by, and that's a year or so after the event

Has it ever happened in the past, undoubtedly, does it happen as a matter of course on a regular basis in a significant percentage of transactions, no. To suggest otherwise implies that all Thai females married to farangs are on the take and I simply don't believe that is the case and strongly suspect that incidents are isolated and few.

Come on, TIT, with 3000+ posts on TV you can't be a newbie. Don't be so naive!

If a large developer like Karnkanok uses this type of sales incentive once, you can be sure they do it on a regular basis, where its useful to close a sale. We're talking real estate business, not exactly renowned world wide for its moral integrity!

[chiang mai]

Come on, TIT, with 3000+ posts on TV you can't be a newbie. Don't be so naive!

If a large developer like Karnkanok uses this type of sales incentive once, you can be sure they do it on a regular basis, where its useful to close a sale. We're talking real estate business, not exactly renowned world wide for its moral integrity!

We don't disagree that the real estate companies are corrupt and would almost certainly use this approach where ever they could. But we do disagree that the Thai wives of farangs would play ball, in most cases, without the consent of the farang husband, as in the case of LRB's post earlier. To suggest that they would go along with it implies that the majority of females married to farangs are as corrupt as the real estate agents and whilst there will be some who may fit that description, my experience here tells me they are very much in the minority - or perhaps it's just that we hang around with very different types of Thai females, I don't know.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

Why is that corrupt? It's a commission. It applies to just about anything you might sell or purchase in Thailand. We strayed on to this thing in relation to condominiums, but rest assured it applies to everything and anything.

With regards to ex-bg-tg-spouses, many do it on the small stuff, i.e. just about any purchase. Could be as innocent as claiming that fixing the car or getting a hair cut costs a couple hundred/thousand baht more than actual.

And it goes all the way up to condo's, houses and land.

Also, there seems to be a misunderstanding that it's limited to Thai spouses of Westerners.. not so. My wife bought some land recently, and the land NEVER was referred to two different parties for the same price!! First of all the husband (Thai) of the (Thai) seller thought his wife was selling it for less money. Then the land department also was told the amount was less, though by a different amount, to be able to manage the taxes. Then the bank who suppplied a loan based on the value of the land was communicated a different price again, this time higher than the actual amount. And then finally in the middle of it all there was the question if a different price needed to be communicated to me, which my wife declined as it was her own $(&(#*$# money.

So there you go. Put on gloves and boots before doing anything financial in Thailand because it's guaranteed to get messy!