Hi All,

the wife had to sacrifice her lunch break to come as well. Then we could not get in and the owner failed to take the agent's phone calls.

This is a good deal - the condo owner is certainly under water (54 m / 7,000 Baht rent) so I'm a bit suspicious that this is an underhanded way to keep unwanted competition away while someone is scrambling to raise the money for the security deposit.

Is such conduct common over here?

I mean - the owner used to live there at some point himself, so he should know how many keys it takes to enter the condo for showing?

Amazing Thailand!

***

So we looked at a town house, the rent is 6,500.

Very annoying loud dog next door, otherwise nice neighborhood. The owner had the house all renovated for some farang who never signed the lease. then left it vacant for "a year". No moving in special, no sign, no advertising.

***

A relative I never met is in financial distress in Udon Thani. So we were offered some land in that town complete with a ramshackle, neglected old home. Here the amount needed to let them do what they want is behind the asking price. forget FMV or any attempt to price the property aggressively to make that all important sale happen. Instead, it's take it or leave it, no discounts - we would rather go down in flames and have the bank foreclose and lose our credit than reduce the asking price or spent money on 5 galons of paint to make the place look nicer / or have some shrubbery removed.

Elsewhere, I would expect some adjustment to market reality, like seen in Florida where homes are sold at 40% their 2006 value.

Sawasdee krap!

Chris

Is it the house or the photo at an 'interesting' angle?

7000 baht a month might be a good deal. Depending on where it's located.

And about 5000 other variables.

In my building it costs 300 baht to open a door. They will know a locksmith.

this is very normal.

nothing about the business or the way they "calculate" its just Thailand

zero professionality, zero energy to sort things out, the salery comes anyway... and if not .. somewhere in esaan, a mango will fall down to eat sooner or later. so why spend energy to get things sortet out.

Florida

fyi, ur not in florida anymoore

UHU, it's the house which is built crookedly .

It was just the usual lack of professionalism, as today I was able to view the condo. But then, it was a tight call. Get a call, the agent wants to show right away. I drop everything and get over there. No agent. The receptionist speaks not English. I scribble the condo number on a piece of paper and she goes with me to another floor, where the agent has his private condo.

Here are some impressions - not bad for 7,000 Baht in a gated community.

Dude

maybe you should go back to the USA

This place is going to eat you alive if such anal things make you post pics and get you all flustered...

Thais are just Thai... the words professional here mean nothing - its all about feeling good, not working too hard, and not having to use more than 1% of the brain but still get paid.

sounds good too me, just terrible for us...

The air conditioner in the 1st pic looks a bit small. How many square metres is the room? Is it one room?

UHU, it's the house which is built crookedly .

It was just the usual lack of professionalism, as today I was able to view the condo. But then, it was a tight call. Get a call, the agent wants to show right away. I drop everything and get over there. No agent. The receptionist speaks not English. I scribble the condo number on a piece of paper and she goes with me to another floor, where the agent has his private condo.

Here are some impressions - not bad for 7,000 Baht in a gated community.

Furniture looks ok but it looks like the cheap stuff from index. Don't know if it lasts long.

7000 can be very expensive and cheap at the same time for a studio, it all depends on the location.

Care to share where it is?

You're describing a typical Thai Real Estate Agent. I doubt if any of them would survive a month in the US or UK. I lived on commission sales for 10 years and I'm just appalled at the lack of professionalism here.

"I'm a bit suspicious that this is an underhanded way to keep unwanted competition away while someone is scrambling to raise the money for the security deposit."

Huh? It seems as though if there was more than one person interested, the possible competition for the condo could raise the price. Your scenario would assure that the price wouldn't increase. Please explain how this scheme would work out to the agent/owner's benefit.

Forget about any pre-conceived notions about the term "real estate agent" brought with you from farangland. Here anyone can and does call themselves an agent. This includes someone off the street who calls the owner (or the real agent) and asks for the keys to inspect the property. They place an ad for the property and offer to show people through at the sale price they think is achievable. Unsuspecting buyer takes the bait and pays deposit to the <agent/owner/whatever they call themselves). That person then signs a contract for the real (lower) price and pays deposit using buyers money. They then sign a contract with the genuine buyer at the higher price. Later, at the land office the difference goes straight into their pocket.

I know the above example is about buying rather than renting, but it does set the context. More related info at www.burning-bison.com Welcome to Thailand