Plan To Sell Condo In Bangkok

[Dreamsnow]

Hi folks,

I need some advice. I'm a foreigner who have bought a 57sqm condo at Rama 9, Central Bangkok early last year. At that time, I made the purchase with a view to own occupation whenever I'm in THailand for a holiday. Longer term, I have the intention of renting or sell the unit. But the political uncertainties in the country have left me cold. Moreover, with the widening global recession, I'm now thinking of selling the unit as cash is King, if you ask me. So far, I have paid in full the 25mth installments. I need to pay the outstanding amount upon the transfer date, which is approx in June 2009, according to the developer.

Please advise if I should sell the unit prior to the completion date. Also, how's the seller market in Bangkok? Many thanks

[tangoll]

If you want anything resembling a decent response, you need to provide a bit more information: Name of project, developer, which floor is your unit, facing which direction, exact location if it's not evident from the project name, the original contract price, what price other units have traded at recently, how much is still due to developer upon transfer of ownership.

Offhand from what you say the project being on Rama 9, I'd say you will have a tough time trying to sell your contract holding (you don't own any unit yet; all you have to sell is your holding of the purchase contract with the developer). If it's a very well known project on Rama 9 like the Pano, you might be able to get some indication of what sales are being made from prakard.com, though that site is mostly in Thai.

A seller's market doesn't exist, period. Even if you are willing to drop your price, it would still be very hard to find a buyer. Buyers are far and few between; and the flipper type buyers will avoid the inconvenient location/non-prime areas like the plague, whatever the price.

[think_too_mut]

Please advise if I should sell the unit prior to the completion date. Also, how's the seller market in Bangkok? Many thanks

You may visit prakard.com site and join tens of thousands Thais trying to sell their failed speculation to someone else.

I can't read Thai, my wife told me there are some amazing stories people posted as why they are selling - one caught his girlfriend snorting cocaine at a party only 6 months before the building is complete and wanted to break with her.

What may happen, be prepared for that, nobody will even blink at your ads until the building has windows and aircons fitted.

Then, the punters may try to make you absorb your 30+ months down payments.

If you can't go back to the original idea of using it when on hols in BKK, you may end up with a sizable loss, even property that is unsellable at any price.

[donx]

If you want anything resembling a decent response, you need to provide a bit more information: Name of project, developer, which floor is your unit, facing which direction, exact location if it's not evident from the project name, the original contract price, what price other units have traded at recently, how much is still due to developer upon transfer of ownership.

Looks like the OP decided to provide some of this information is a separate thread:

More Info Here

[ralfbkk]

Please advise if I should sell the unit prior to the completion date. Also, how's the seller market in Bangkok? Many thanks

There is a saying in Bangkok, which is around since about 10 years. It is harsh but it does hit the nail !

"There are 2 things hard to get rid of in Bangkok - HIV and a 2nd hand Condo"

Yours is new of course and is before completion, however the market right now is so jamed up with new projects that Buyers have an extremely wide choice. Your plus is, that the size is 57sqmtr and therefore the chance of selling it might be a bit better than everything what is over 75 sqmtr. Friend of mine has a super nice 3 year old condo with 115sqmtr. A very well known project in upper Sukhumvit. His place is on the market since March 2008 and NO one seems interested. Of course, I do not know your financial situation but if I would be you, I would go trough this and have it completed, paid for and rented out. You have to sit this out in order to make a gain and this can take plus 10 years from now.

My 2 cents.

[ray08]

Please advise if I should sell the unit prior to the completion date. Also, how's the seller market in Bangkok? Many thanks

There is a saying in Bangkok, which is around since about 10 years. It is harsh but it does hit the nail !

"There are 2 things hard to get rid of in Bangkok - HIV and a 2nd hand Condo"

Yours is new of course and is before completion, however the market right now is so jamed up with new projects that Buyers have an extremely wide choice. Your plus is, that the size is 57sqmtr and therefore the chance of selling it might be a bit better than everything what is over 75 sqmtr. Friend of mine has a super nice 3 year old condo with 115sqmtr. A very well known project in upper Sukhumvit. His place is on the market since March 2008 and NO one seems interested. Of course, I do not know your financial situation but if I would be you, I would go trough this and have it completed, paid for and rented out. You have to sit this out in order to make a gain and this can take plus 10 years from now.

My 2 cents.

The problem is that you cannot always make a profit in real estate , one of the main reasons properties are unsold is that the vendors have a higher asking price than what the market wants to pay , much more so here ,sometimes the reason is that they paid too much in the first place , and more important second hand property is hard to move in Thailand , that shou ld be taken into consideration when buying a new property , how easy is it to sell without doing your shirt

[Dreamsnow]

THanks for the views, folks! It gives me a better idea of the situation in Thailand.

Please advise if I should sell the unit prior to the completion date. Also, how's the seller market in Bangkok? Many thanks

There is a saying in Bangkok, which is around since about 10 years. It is harsh but it does hit the nail !

"There are 2 things hard to get rid of in Bangkok - HIV and a 2nd hand Condo"

Yours is new of course and is before completion, however the market right now is so jamed up with new projects that Buyers have an extremely wide choice. Your plus is, that the size is 57sqmtr and therefore the chance of selling it might be a bit better than everything what is over 75 sqmtr. Friend of mine has a super nice 3 year old condo with 115sqmtr. A very well known project in upper Sukhumvit. His place is on the market since March 2008 and NO one seems interested. Of course, I do not know your financial situation but if I would be you, I would go trough this and have it completed, paid for and rented out. You have to sit this out in order to make a gain and this can take plus 10 years from now.

My 2 cents.

The problem is that you cannot always make a profit in real estate , one of the main reasons properties are unsold is that the vendors have a higher asking price than what the market wants to pay , much more so here ,sometimes the reason is that they paid too much in the first place , and more important second hand property is hard to move in Thailand , that shou ld be taken into consideration when buying a new property , how easy is it to sell without doing your shirt

[glyph]

"There are 2 things hard to get rid of in Bangkok - HIV and a 2nd hand Condo"

I was thinking "ignorance", and "stupidity".

[bingobongo]

"There are 2 things hard to get rid of in Bangkok - HIV and a 2nd hand Condo"

I was thinking "ignorance", and "stupidity".

my sympathies on your burdensome existence glyph

[zorro1]

Hi folks,

I need some advice. I'm a foreigner who have bought a 57sqm condo at Rama 9, Central Bangkok early last year. At that time, I made the purchase with a view to own occupation whenever I'm in THailand for a holiday. Longer term, I have the intention of renting or sell the unit. But the political uncertainties in the country have left me cold. Moreover, with the widening global recession, I'm now thinking of selling the unit as cash is King, if you ask me. So far, I have paid in full the 25mth installments. I need to pay the outstanding amount upon the transfer date, which is approx in June 2009, according to the developer.

Please advise if I should sell the unit prior to the completion date. Also, how's the seller market in Bangkok? Many thanks

There has always been political uncertainty, many coups have not affected the buying frenzy. The global recession may last a few years and probabaly the currency situation wont help you with potential buyers. Selling would give you a nice conversion rate especially if your from OZ. You could even sell for 30% less and pick up the balance on currency conv.

[rgs2001uk]

Please advise if I should sell the unit prior to the completion date. Also, how's the seller market in Bangkok? Many thanks

There is a saying in Bangkok, which is around since about 10 years. It is harsh but it does hit the nail !

"There are 2 things hard to get rid of in Bangkok - HIV and a 2nd hand Condo"

Yours is new of course and is before completion, however the market right now is so jamed up with new projects that Buyers have an extremely wide choice. Your plus is, that the size is 57sqmtr and therefore the chance of selling it might be a bit better than everything what is over 75 sqmtr. Friend of mine has a super nice 3 year old condo with 115sqmtr. A very well known project in upper Sukhumvit. His place is on the market since March 2008 and NO one seems interested. Of course, I do not know your financial situation but if I would be you, I would go trough this and have it completed, paid for and rented out. You have to sit this out in order to make a gain and this can take plus 10 years from now.

My 2 cents.

The problem is that you cannot always make a profit in real estate , one of the main reasons properties are unsold is that the vendors have a higher asking price than what the market wants to pay , much more so here ,sometimes the reason is that they paid too much in the first place , and more important second hand property is hard to move in Thailand , that shou ld be taken into consideration when buying a new property , how easy is it to sell without doing your shirt

not strictly true, but an often mistakenly held belief, its all to do with location.

as an example, there are on rama 4 what at best can only be described as slums, i will guarantee if they ever came on the market they would be snapped up.

there are others pockets of second hand properties all over bangkok that many people are willing to buy, just 2 quick examples are properties in udom suk and on nut.

as has been said before its all location location location.

[jimmybkk]

One advantage of selling now is that your buyer won't have to come up with the full amount immediately - just whatever you've paid + whatever profit you're looking for, which may appeal to some people. You/the buyer also won't have to pay any transfer fees at this time - just whatever assignment fee that the developer charges. Finally don't forget that offically, I think around the end of March next year, the discounted transfer fee promotion ends, so assuming there is no extension someone (you, the buyer or shared with the developer?) will be liable to the full 2%, not the 0.01% currently on offer.

As to whether you CAN sell now is a different matter and depends on a few factors - are any units still available from the developer? How many resale units are there on the market? Is yours considered a prime unit? How much profit are you looking for? Foreign quota or Thai quota? etc etc.

I like Zorro's comment about the benefits of current exchange rates - I guess most of us are suffering coz we're bringing money in. Different story if you're taking it out of course - assuming you want to take it out...