Some Condo Questions.

[otherstuff1957]

I've got a bit of money (about $22,000) sitting in my US bank account earning almost no interest and would like to do something a bit more creative with it. I've found some condos for sale in my general area for 650K - 800K (baht) and am considering bringing the money over, buying one and renting it out. I know that an older condo, like the ones I'm looking at, won't appreciate much, but I don't think they will lose value and if I can get better than 5% return on my money, I'll be happy.

So here are my questions:

1. I have heard that there is a minimum amount of money you must bring over to buy a condo. I searched and found one post from 2005 that said that that amount is $20,000. Is that still true? Is is actually $20,000 in US dollars or is it some similar amount in Thai baht. I wouldn't want to do the transfer & then find that I was 10,000 baht short!

2. Can anyone tell me where to get the correct form for the money transfer? Or would my bank know how to do this if I told them what the transfer was for?

3. Has anyone else bought a cheap condo like this? If so, did you encounter any problems that I should look out for?

I'm still early in the planning stages, but if the baht goes over 36/dollar I want to be ready to move.

Thanks in advance.

Edited January 31, 2009 by otherstuff1957

[BEENTHEREDONETHAT]

Not sure but I don't think there is a minimum. The minimum is to get a tor tor sam from the bank. The tor tor sam shows you brought the money into the country and you will need it when you take it out of the country.

Things have changed so this might not be up to date, they have changed the name on the tor tor sam but can't recall what it is now.

[yabaaaa]

I've got a bit of money (about $22,000) sitting in my US bank account earning almost no interest and would like to do something a bit more creative with it. I've found some condos for sale in my general area for 650K - 800K (baht) and am considering bringing the money over, buying one and renting it out. I know that an older condo, like the ones I'm looking at, won't appreciate much, but I don't think they will lose value and if I can get better than 5% return on my money, I'll be happy.

So here are my questions:

1. I have heard that there is a minimum amount of money you must bring over to buy a condo. I searched and found one post from 2005 that said that that amount is $20,000. Is that still true? Is is actually $20,000 in US dollars or is it some similar amount in Thai baht. I wouldn't want to do the transfer & then find that I was 10,000 baht short!

2. Can anyone tell me where to get the correct form for the money transfer? Or would my bank know how to do this if I told them what the transfer was for?

3. Has anyone else bought a cheap condo like this? If so, did you encounter any problems that I should look out for?

I'm still early in the planning stages, but if the baht goes over 36/dollar I want to be ready to move.

Thanks in advance.

Cheap condo's (excuse my French) can mean shitty neighbours with the tv turned up full all night or their music + the frequent rows screaming shouting etc etc. Also they seem to get huge cockroaches in these older places about 3 inches long, generally you can also get leaking water in bathroom ceilings from the neighbour upstairs who will walk like an elephant at 3 am . Zero interest from the NITI office in the building with everything broken and crap security etc etc.

My advice is steer clear you may get a few thousand a month in rent until the last person decides not to pay and goes leaving all the taps on and blocking the drains and running up a huge electric/ phone bill. Welcome to the wonderful childlike world of the cheap rentals...........enjoy!!

[PattayaParent]

Not sure but I don't think there is a minimum. The minimum is to get a tor tor sam from the bank. The tor tor sam shows you brought the money into the country and you will need it when you take it out of the country.

Things have changed so this might not be up to date, they have changed the name on the tor tor sam but can't recall what it is now.

I think the new name for the form is FEFT1 but they will surely konw what you are talking about if you ask for the TT3.

If you transfer less than the amount required for the TT3 you can ask the bank for a Bai Rap Rong which is a staement of the transaction.

When sending the money from overseas be sure to send it in US$ and the tranfer reason is to Buy a Condo.

[otherstuff1957]

^ Thanks, I just downloaded an FCTF from my Thai Bank and that looks like the right thing. Thanks a million.

One more question that I forgot to mention earlier. What sort of annual or monthly condo fees should I expect. The places that I've been looking at are in the Ratchada area and have condos from about 28 sqm to about twice that.

[hhgz]

"What sort of annual or monthly condo fees should I expect. The places that I've been looking at are in the Ratchada area and have condos from about 28 sqm to about twice that."

Since you've already checked out several condos, and you have the respective monthly condo fees, I'm not sure what more information that you require to calculate the monthly fee. If the monthly fee is 28THB/sqm/mo, and your condo is 100 sqm, I would calculate the monthly condo fee to be (28THB/sqm * 100 sqm). The sqm term in the numerator and the denominator cancel each other out, and the answer would be 2800THB/mo.