Buying A Home In Bangkok

[mnbcm]

My wife and I are considering a move to Bangkok for the long term. What is the best way to begin our search for a home? Bangkok is huge and it's hard to even know where to begin. Are there any good websites we could start looking at?

[Capealava]

My wife and I are considering a move to Bangkok for the long term. What is the best way to begin our search for a home? Bangkok is huge and it's hard to even know where to begin. Are there any good websites we could start looking at?

http://www.homedd.com/HomeddWeb/homedd/fw_homedd_index.jsp

[Pib]

My wife and I are considering a move to Bangkok for the long term. What is the best way to begin our search for a home? Bangkok is huge and it's hard to even know where to begin. Are there any good websites we could start looking at?

On your next visit to Bangkok, you need to visit as many home developments as you can. See the homes, get the brochures (which have web sites listed), and ask "lots" of questions." Hopefully, you may have a Thai family member (I assuming one of you is Thai) who lives in Bangkok and could take you to various areas. If not, rent a van and driver for a week. "You need to ensure you visit as many developments as possible and be sure to also drive around the immediate area of the development." Ideally, you would be able to begin your search a few years before actually moving to Thailand...that way if you find a couple developments/homes that you like, you can listen to the sales pitch and then a year or so later come back and see if the sales pitch materialized--like the homes continuing to sale at a good pace, construction of homes still underway, etc. So many developments start out strong but then seem to slow to a dead stop, which leaves many unbuilt homes and other unfinished promised/projected facilities like a clubhouse/pool/etc. Visit...look...ask many questions...then revisit...relook...ask more questions. This is what I need over a two year period and I'm happy with my end result and home.

[filingaccount]

I'll be more than happy to share our experiences, suggestions, heartbreaks and success'. Just PM me.

www.prakard.com is decent enough to get an overview.

I can tell you one thing right away; any flaw you see now will only grow with time.

[oldgeezer]

My wife and I are considering a move to Bangkok for the long term. What is the best way to begin our search for a home? Bangkok is huge and it's hard to even know where to begin. Are there any good websites we could start looking at?

If you are not familiar with Bangkok, become intimately familiar, assuming you are talking about buying a house. We are renting an beautiful house in a very upscale Moo Baan (subdivision) built by "Land and House", one of the quality builders in Thailand. The house was purchased by a Thai for 7,700,000 Baht new, about four years ago.

We rent for 25,000 baht a month plus 2000 monthly fees. Houses now lease for about 1/350th of the sale value. I assume you are married to a Thai, as you cannot own a house as a farang. Only a condo, and then there are some restrictions. You must also decide if you plan on driving a car, as any subdivisions of quality and decent price are not close to central shopping district.

For pricing I found Acute Realty to be an easy site to navigate. Also check locations on Google Earth. We have moved three times and my Thai wife is intimately familiar with all areas as she did the driving and looking.

PM us for more info. We would be glad to help.

Just a note: Realtors do not drive you around. They are very territorial and may schedule an appointment to show a property, but will not drive you.

Edited August 3, 2009 by oldgeezer

[katabeachbum]

start with a budget

30 sqm at 1 mill or 500sqm at 60 mill?

[trogers]

I usually buy a home only when I am familiar with the city, and know which area suits my lifestyle, social and other needs.

Much more so in a city like Bangkok where you do not want to spend hour and a half in traveling time from home.

If you are new to the city, I suggest you rent for a couple of years to be familiar with conditions here before putting in a large amount of money.

[londonthai]

bacause of the crisis the house prices will be folling for the next few years, so rent and familiarise yourself with the environment, and than eventually buy when the prices start to rise

[Pushit]

Start with access choices, we have 5 different routes from our moobaan to take to central BKK and airport is 15 minutes away. On off peak hours we can be on Silom or Sukhumvit in 20 minutes.

[stgrhe]

My wife and I are considering a move to Bangkok for the long term. What is the best way to begin our search for a home? Bangkok is huge and it's hard to even know where to begin. Are there any good websites we could start looking at?

On your next visit to Bangkok, you need to visit as many home developments as you can. See the homes, get the brochures (which have web sites listed), and ask "lots" of questions." Hopefully, you may have a Thai family member (I assuming one of you is Thai) who lives in Bangkok and could take you to various areas. If not, rent a van and driver for a week. "You need to ensure you visit as many developments as possible and be sure to also drive around the immediate area of the development." Ideally, you would be able to begin your search a few years before actually moving to Thailand...that way if you find a couple developments/homes that you like, you can listen to the sales pitch and then a year or so later come back and see if the sales pitch materialized--like the homes continuing to sale at a good pace, construction of homes still underway, etc. So many developments start out strong but then seem to slow to a dead stop, which leaves many unbuilt homes and other unfinished promised/projected facilities like a clubhouse/pool/etc. Visit...look...ask many questions...then revisit...relook...ask more questions. This is what I need over a two year period and I'm happy with my end result and home.

That is exactly what I did. I started collecting information on the internet about four years before I moved to Thailand, which I followed up with on site information gatherings when was visiting Thailand. Once I moved here I started to visit all the areas I had pre-selected and altogether I surveyed about 120 developments before making my decision. What I learnt on the way was well worth the efforts as it is so easy to buy 'the pig in the bag' here in Thailand.

[hhgz]

"My wife and I..."

Is your wife Thai? If so, she undoubtedly has friends living in BKK. Are you looking for a "condo", or a single family residence? If the latter, you should check with a large real estate broker (for example: Property Plus, or CBRE).