I wondering if CM properties is a good place to invest on. At present I am renting a studio unit (a typical hotel room) near Thanin Market and I am paying 5000 baht per month. The rate is attractive considering it covers satellite tv and unlimited wireless broadband internet access.

I am not a local and I am not familiar with the properties market here. My home country has seen a steep rise in property price of 20-25% in a spate of recent 2 years. And I wondering if the same had happened here in CM, and if the current property price is at it peaks now.

I have looked around for new condo project in CM, and my personal preferences wil be Mountain Front and Punna Residences 3. For Mountain Front I like it's exclusive, high ceiling and wide window. And for Punna Residences 3, I like it's location. And I believe Residences 3 may fetch higher income and greater rental demand as compared to Mountain Front.

I have dropped emails via their websites, unfortunately none have had reply.

I have arrived in CM for more than a week, personally I would feel that the hotel rate is dirt cheap or rather there is a wide spectrum of options in terms of affordability. I have seen a hotel along Arrak Road renting room at 2500 baht monthly. It seems there is a glut of hotel rooms here in CM, and I believe it will spillover to the supply of serviced apartments and condominium.

If I gotten a unit in Mountain Front and Punna Residence 3, what would be the chances that it could be rented out? And what would be the monthly rental income (considering a studio unit of 45sqm)? And what would be the chances that the developer fails to deliver?

BTW, I will be in CM for a month, and I stay near Thanin Market. My intention here in CM is to pick up Thai language through self study, watching Thai DMC Channel and lisening to mp3. And if there is someone who are proficient in Thai language and would like to learn Chinese language, perhaps we can meet up and we can share our knowledge and it will definitely make our learning more interesting, memorable and enjoyable. Please PM me if you are keen to learn Chinese.

I wondering if CM properties is a good place to invest on. At present I am renting a studio unit (a typical hotel room) near Thanin Market and I am paying 5000 baht per month. The rate is attractive considering it covers satellite tv and unlimited wireless broadband internet access.

I am not a local and I am not familiar with the properties market here. My home country has seen a steep rise in property price of 20-25% in a spate of recent 2 years. And I wondering if the same had happened here in CM, and if the current property price is at it peaks now.

I have looked around for new condo project in CM, and my personal preferences wil be Mountain Front and Punna Residences 3. For Mountain Front I like it's exclusive, high ceiling and wide window. And for Punna Residences 3, I like it's location. And I believe Residences 3 may fetch higher income and greater rental demand as compared to Mountain Front.

I have dropped emails via their websites, unfortunately none have had reply.

I have arrived in CM for more than a week, personally I would feel that the hotel rate is dirt cheap or rather there is a wide spectrum of options in terms of affordability. I have seen a hotel along Arrak Road renting room at 2500 baht monthly. It seems there is a glut of hotel rooms here in CM, and I believe it will spillover to the supply of serviced apartments and condominium.

If I gotten a unit in Mountain Front and Punna Residence 3, what would be the chances that it could be rented out? And what would be the monthly rental income (considering a studio unit of 45sqm)? And what would be the chances that the developer fails to deliver?

BTW, I will be in CM for a month, and I stay near Thanin Market. My intention here in CM is to pick up Thai language through self study, watching Thai DMC Channel and lisening to mp3. And if there is someone who are proficient in Thai language and would like to learn Chinese language, perhaps we can meet up and we can share our knowledge and it will definitely make our learning more interesting, memorable and enjoyable. Please PM me if you are keen to learn Chinese.

I'm also looking at buying condo for investment. But in BKK, not CM, as I'm not sure there's much rental demand in CM, other than from retirees etc, but I could be wrong. Another concern I have is that why would any Thai buy condo in CM when they can buy landed properties instead? However condo prices in CM are much cheaper than BKK. BKK condo prices has run up a lot in the past 3-4 years and buying there now is like buying peak prices. That doesn't mean it can't go up even higher though, as there's quite a lot of speculation there. Would suggest you go through the posts in the Real Estate subforum, as well as go to Prakard.com which lists mainly BKK condos.

Buying a condo off-plan in Thailand is a very high risk affair. Again if you read the posts in the Real Estate subform (as well as BKK, Hua Hin, Pattaya, PHuket forums), you will see what I mean. Generally, I would only consider buying offplan from SET publicly-listed property companies (excluding Raimon which is having financial difficulties it seems), and even then you have to do due diligence that the company is financially strong.

Another thing to beware of is that condos that are targetted at foreigners (and priced accordingly) can have their 49% foreigner quota sold out while the local quota (51%) suffer from low sales. This means that the condo, if completed, will only be half occupied, and will be poorly maintained over time because of this. Of course, the whole project could stall during construction as loan disbursements by the financing bank are tied to sale progress. There's quite a few high priced condo in BKK which are completed recently, or soon to be completed, which are suffering from poor sales for the local quota portion. Generally speaking, my view is that BKK condo market is/will be suffering from oversupply as lots of condos launched in the gogo years of 2005-2007 are being completed.

No one can ever own a condo; they are only glorified tenants living under the terms and clauses of a lease.

Leaseholders are normally imposed by the terms of the lease to pay service changes to the Estate management company for communal area maintenance, repairs, block insurance coverage, the Management Company's administrative fees, a sinking fund plus demands for lump sum payments for repairs that could be for any amounts. Management company fees will probably increase annually.

Maintenance is mostly carried out by the management companies own subsidiaries, which means it`s an old boys network or money for the lads. In the long term, these estate managements make more profit from the running of an estate, rather than from the sales of them.

The directors of the Management Company (can be Thai and foreign partnerships) are the juristic persons responsible for imposing the terms of the lease and ensuring leaseholders pay their management fees.

Their are 2 ways that an estate management company can be formed. Firstly turn it over to the residents themselves (a company limited by guarantee) or use an outside management company (a company limited by shares).

The problem is that many property developers are also the owners of the management company that they create to run the estate. So in fact the juristic persons can be the Management company belonging to the actual developers that built and sold the estate in the first place, meaning they are only answerable for any breaches of contract or misleading advertising to themselves.

I wondering if CM properties is a good place to invest on. At present I am renting a studio unit (a typical hotel room) near Thanin Market and I am paying 5000 baht per month. The rate is attractive considering it covers satellite tv and unlimited wireless broadband internet access.

Save your money and invest it in the stock market. When the world economic crisis is over and the market has rebounded, you will make a very nice return. Buying condos in Chiang Mai as an investment is not a wise idea. Have you noticed how many there are on the market already?

Rents in Thailand and especially in Chiang Mai can't be beat. Rents are very cheap here.

Thanks to all the responses. The poll probably reflected whatever property investment in CM is not encouraged. Indeed one may rent cheaply in CM, as low as 2500 baht for a hotel room monthly. However in 10 years time, what will be the value of say Punna Residence 3? 10% or worse -10% appreciation?

I had invested in shares, unit trusts, unfortunately my gains still negative. And I had missed the recent bull since March 09, at current high, I doubt it is substainable. Yes, probably I shall park my monies and wait for a dip in the share market and make a killing.... Will Citibank go down to 1USD and AIG at 40 US cents again?

Putting monies in Bangkok definitely make more money sense than putting them in CM. However I would feel Bangkok properties are overheated, and the red, blue, yellow shirt Thais in Bangkok could have make the matter worse.

For now I will enjoy my stay and mingle with pretty puying in CM.