Rent Too Cheap Related To Buying?

[kenallday]

My own living quarters

Outside Cm, 3 bedroom furnished House rental 7000bht/month, sale price 1,700,000 = 20 years rental

Doing the math

1.7 million Baht invested offshore trust fund (no tax), return 5 to 10 percent, 85,000-170,000 bht return per annum

12 months rental at 7,000 bht a month = 84,000 bht

So in the worst case renting gives a profit of 1,000bht a year with no expenses.

In the best case renting gives a profit of 86,000bht a year.

(last year I made about 100,000bht profit by renting as my investments made a 12 percent gain, I'll let you know about next year)

Considering the risk you are taking by buying as well (total loss, bad neighbours, etc), buying just doesn't make sense to me.

Hah! Offshore trust funds? Got an FDIC gurantee? Offshore invest fund invested in what? More like you loss 10% last year!

you are clearly a financial genius - LOL, LOL what an idiot ha ha

[trogers]

My own living quarters

Outside Cm, 3 bedroom furnished House rental 7000bht/month, sale price 1,700,000 = 20 years rental

Doing the math

1.7 million Baht invested offshore trust fund (no tax), return 5 to 10 percent, 85,000-170,000 bht return per annum

12 months rental at 7,000 bht a month = 84,000 bht

So in the worst case renting gives a profit of 1,000bht a year with no expenses.

In the best case renting gives a profit of 86,000bht a year.

(last year I made about 100,000bht profit by renting as my investments made a 12 percent gain, I'll let you know about next year)

Considering the risk you are taking by buying as well (total loss, bad neighbours, etc), buying just doesn't make sense to me.

Trust funds have been know to failed. House may collapse, and land dissappear into a sink hole. Which is most likely?

Thats what remains of my last 'million dollar villa' !!

And which bright spark goes to buy a villa next to a cliff? Should learn some common principles of Feng Shui before investing in real estate...

[bushwacker]

Let me muddy the waters a bit

I've been in Thailand for seven years on a retirement visa. However, my visa is really "A One Year Extension of Stay." Why on earth would I want to buy a long term asset (to live in) when the Thai government only allows me to remain here year by year?

I think you are 100% on the money. I may end up buying something but it has always bothered me that the government has no skin in the game i.e. no risk. Sure .... bring your money they say and spend it here .... but we will not let you own the land and you only get permission to stay one year at a time. Not much of a guarantee and any warm feelings is only due to the 38degree c weather.

[123ace]

Rents are going down whilst supply has seen a massive increase. Sales values have dropped off slightly, but not at the very premium high end.

Numbers of expats are dropping as well and this not likley to change, so rents will remain too cheap compared to buying for many years to come.

The one bed, high density, prison - condo - combo's much touted by the leading developers are going to suffer with oversupply, rising interest rates, declining salaries and declining exports soon.

Good luck speculators!

[tangcoral]

I guess my question is kinda related to this thread.

Trying to asset the value of my inherited house near chatuchak area.

3bedroom 3bath about 170sqm 30 year old house which has gone through moderate restoration and remodling.

Family members are saying the house is worth around 3.5 million

The going rent in the neighboring houses are about 10K-13K.

Which leads to me to believe the house is no where near the 3.5million but more like 1.8million considering the rental rates mentioned above.

Who in their right mind would purchase this house for 3.5million when it can be rented for 13K? I would see no takers if the property was to be sold.

Anyone with any insight?

[rgs2001uk]

I guess my question is kinda related to this thread.

Trying to asset the value of my inherited house near chatuchak area.

3bedroom 3bath about 170sqm 30 year old house which has gone through moderate restoration and remodling.

Family members are saying the house is worth around 3.5 million

The going rent in the neighboring houses are about 10K-13K.

Which leads to me to believe the house is no where near the 3.5million but more like 1.8million considering the rental rates mentioned above.

Who in their right mind would purchase this house for 3.5million when it can be rented for 13K? I would see no takers if the property was to be sold.

Anyone with any insight?

Where I live, here's an example of some rents and house prices,

2 storey townhouse, for sale at 2 million baht or rent monthly for 6,000 baht.

3 bedroom detached house (sits on about 56 TW) rent for about 8,000 baht per month, needs a bit of a touch up, could be repainted etc for less than 100,000 baht.

I once asked the question on here can you determine a houses worth by its rental value and vice versa, a few seem to operate on the montly rent being 1/100 th of the houses value, so in theory you buy a house, rent it out and it pays for itself after 100 months, that may work for estate agents and gullible farangs, but its not the way things work here.

Depending on the location and how much land the house sits on I think you would be surprized at how easy the house would be to sell.

Lets assume the house sits on 60 TW at 35,000 baht per TW, theres 2.1 million straight away.

There are areas of BKK where older properties are in demand,dont believe the old farang tales about Thais not being interested in second hand homes.

I know of areas where second hand homes of roughly the age you talk of are being bought, not for the house but where the house is located, the buyers are basically buying the land and getting the house for free.

The first thing that happens is the house is demolished and a new house is constructed, at savings way below what some of these property developers are asking for new builds on these rabbit hutch moo baans.

I know of house that were bought for 3 or 4 million baht, and new house built that cost from 3 to 5 million baht, so total outlay was 9 million baht, take a look at what 9 million baht buys on some of these new developments in the sticks.

Dont know where in Chatuchak you live or whether you read Thai or not, but the following should give an insight,

http://www3.thailisting.com/default.aspx?a=Bangkok&c=Jatujak&u=0&p=0&minP=0&maxP=999999999&su=0&proT=House&l=en

One thing you havent taken into consideration is the rate the property is increasing in value, how much will the land be worth in say 10 years?

Post some more details, the mrs may well be interested in taking it off your hands for 1.8.

I would be more inclined to believe family members and locals on this one, take a walk round the area and see whats being asked.

Go to any 7-11 and buy a magazine called Talat baan, costs 40 baht, may well be the best 40 baht you spend.

[trogers]

I guess my question is kinda related to this thread.

Trying to asset the value of my inherited house near chatuchak area.

3bedroom 3bath about 170sqm 30 year old house which has gone through moderate restoration and remodling.

Family members are saying the house is worth around 3.5 million

The going rent in the neighboring houses are about 10K-13K.

Which leads to me to believe the house is no where near the 3.5million but more like 1.8million considering the rental rates mentioned above.

If you think rental rates of landed properties in Thailand are too low compared with their selling prices, try Singapore.

A semi-detached (duplex) house can be selling for S$2.5m while the next door unit is renting out at S$3k a month, while property tax is at 10% of annual rental value.

[tangcoral]

I guess my question is kinda related to this thread.

Trying to asset the value of my inherited house near chatuchak area.

3bedroom 3bath about 170sqm 30 year old house which has gone through moderate restoration and remodling.

Family members are saying the house is worth around 3.5 million

The going rent in the neighboring houses are about 10K-13K.

Which leads to me to believe the house is no where near the 3.5million but more like 1.8million considering the rental rates mentioned above.

Who in their right mind would purchase this house for 3.5million when it can be rented for 13K? I would see no takers if the property was to be sold.

Anyone with any insight?

Where I live, here's an example of some rents and house prices,

2 storey townhouse, for sale at 2 million baht or rent monthly for 6,000 baht.

3 bedroom detached house (sits on about 56 TW) rent for about 8,000 baht per month, needs a bit of a touch up, could be repainted etc for less than 100,000 baht.

I once asked the question on here can you determine a houses worth by its rental value and vice versa, a few seem to operate on the montly rent being 1/100 th of the houses value, so in theory you buy a house, rent it out and it pays for itself after 100 months, that may work for estate agents and gullible farangs, but its not the way things work here.

Depending on the location and how much land the house sits on I think you would be surprized at how easy the house would be to sell.

Lets assume the house sits on 60 TW at 35,000 baht per TW, theres 2.1 million straight away.

There are areas of BKK where older properties are in demand,dont believe the old farang tales about Thais not being interested in second hand homes.

I know of areas where second hand homes of roughly the age you talk of are being bought, not for the house but where the house is located, the buyers are basically buying the land and getting the house for free.

The first thing that happens is the house is demolished and a new house is constructed, at savings way below what some of these property developers are asking for new builds on these rabbit hutch moo baans.

I know of house that were bought for 3 or 4 million baht, and new house built that cost from 3 to 5 million baht, so total outlay was 9 million baht, take a look at what 9 million baht buys on some of these new developments in the sticks.

Dont know where in Chatuchak you live or whether you read Thai or not, but the following should give an insight,

http://www3.thailist...proT=House&l=en

One thing you havent taken into consideration is the rate the property is increasing in value, how much will the land be worth in say 10 years?

Post some more details, the mrs may well be interested in taking it off your hands for 1.8.

I would be more inclined to believe family members and locals on this one, take a walk round the area and see whats being asked.

Go to any 7-11 and buy a magazine called Talat baan, costs 40 baht, may well be the best 40 baht you spend.

Its makes me think that people are paying rent for the house and not the land it sits on.

I would think your correct on the going rate of 3.5-4 mil in my rundown neighborhood even if the rents are sub 10K's

thanks for the website. Many of these houses are a mess, at least tidy things up before you post pictures.

I noticed majority of the houses are kept in disarray, is it a common practice to keep houses this way?

Edited September 3, 2010 by tangcoral

[ESB7]

There will always be advantages and disadvantages of either buying or renting but the simple fact when it comes to getting value for money, buying wins hands down......thats if you do it right, buy land and build your own property at cost price in a location that will appeal to a buyers market in the future.....dont buy in gated communities or out in the jungle, thats a sure fire way to loose money.....yes, you could get 5% return on the money spent on a house and that will cover the rent is the old argument renters use.....its not that simple, as rents rise and so do property prices....I have built and sold 2 properties and made a very handsome profit to boot...which was even expoliated more by transferring it back into Sterling recently:D

[tangcoral]

I guess my question is kinda related to this thread.

Trying to asset the value of my inherited house near chatuchak area.

3bedroom 3bath about 170sqm 30 year old house which has gone through moderate restoration and remodling.

Family members are saying the house is worth around 3.5 million

The going rent in the neighboring houses are about 10K-13K.

Which leads to me to believe the house is no where near the 3.5million but more like 1.8million considering the rental rates mentioned above.

If you think rental rates of landed properties in Thailand are too low compared with their selling prices, try Singapore.

A semi-detached (duplex) house can be selling for S$2.5m while the next door unit is renting out at S$3k a month, while property tax is at 10% of annual rental value.

So in this scenario, Singapore and thailand having a rent to property value ratio much larger than lets say US.

Why would a a rental investor purchase property in this particular case or they wouldn't?

Yes I know there are some great deals to be had but in the scenario given above what incentive are there?

[LivinLOS]

Rents are going down whilst supply has seen a massive increase. Sales values have dropped off slightly, but not at the very premium high end.

Huge villa 600sqm covered area 480sqm airco space.. On a golf course..

Couple of years ago asking 38 mil planning to take 32 - 34..

Got a 28 mil offer and turned it down..

Progressive went 26 24 and recently is asking 18m.

I was told just yesterday its under offer at 12 million and the owner is seriously considering it.. 38 to 12 !!

Maybe you meant premium being above 38 million but its still not a bad indicator.

[LivinLOS]

My own living quarters

Outside Cm, 3 bedroom furnished House rental 7000bht/month, sale price 1,700,000 = 20 years rental

Doing the math

1.7 million Baht invested offshore trust fund (no tax), return 5 to 10 percent, 85,000-170,000 bht return per annum

12 months rental at 7,000 bht a month = 84,000 bht

So in the worst case renting gives a profit of 1,000bht a year with no expenses.

In the best case renting gives a profit of 86,000bht a year.

(last year I made about 100,000bht profit by renting as my investments made a 12 percent gain, I'll let you know about next year)

Considering the risk you are taking by buying as well (total loss, bad neighbours, etc), buying just doesn't make sense to me.

Trust funds have been know to failed. House may collapse, and land dissappear into a sink hole. Which is most likely?

Thats what remains of my last 'million dollar villa' !!

And which bright spark goes to buy a villa next to a cliff? Should learn some common principles of Feng Shui before investing in real estate...

Hey I rented.. At about 2.x% per annum on its price.. Before the very high maintenance.

But the poster asked whats more likely an investment fund going down or the house 'vanishing into a sinkhole' in Thailand you need to realize properties are not built to last.. I am in a house on a few years old and its in a terrible state.

[trogers]

Hey I rented.. At about 2.x% per annum on its price.. Before the very high maintenance.

But the poster asked whats more likely an investment fund going down or the house 'vanishing into a sinkhole' in Thailand you need to realize properties are not built to last.. I am in a house on a few years old and its in a terrible state.

And you gave the reason why the house is rented at only 2% pa on its price...

Add: It is the way locals think that I am in the business of buying old condo units and refurbishing them and renting them out.

A recent 13-year old unit was bought at 10% above developer's price. Former owner did not invest to upgrade its interior and was left vacant 2/3 of the time.

Bought it over, refurbished it, and is leased out with net returns at almost 8% pa.

Edited September 6, 2010 by trogers

[LivinLOS]

Hey I rented.. At about 2.x% per annum on its price.. Before the very high maintenance.

But the poster asked whats more likely an investment fund going down or the house 'vanishing into a sinkhole' in Thailand you need to realize properties are not built to last.. I am in a house on a few years old and its in a terrible state.

And you gave the reason why the house is rented at only 2% pa on its price...

Add: It is the way locals think that I am in the business of buying old condo units and refurbishing them and renting them out.

A recent 13-year old unit was bought at 10% above developer's price. Former owner did not invest to upgrade its interior and was left vacant 2/3 of the time.

Bought it over, refurbished it, and is leased out with net returns at almost 8% pa.

No the villa was 2.x%.. The villa was slick.. 500sqm, 14 ft ceilings, and pretty nice throughout.. The management company of the landlord spent a fortune in maintaining that place (at a guess it was running them 25 - 33% of what I paid monthly) over the course of the term..

Shake it however you like, a farang bought a seaview king of the hill villa, sunk in a mil USD, got a terrible return for a few years, then lost the lot (Thai insurance wont pay up).

The house I am in now is just 20k a month for a home for sale at 12m.. So 2% return on this one.. When you minus the 170k he had to put in a water bore, the 60k curtains, the new kitchen, and various maintenance (that hes not doing so its crumbling) hes about breaking even between rent and maintenance a zero return. Given the state of the Phuket market I would say he is about double the actual sellable price and he has paid out more than that. So zero return with a capital loss, versus 20k a month !!

All that said I will probably build in the next year.. Mainly as I want things I just dont see in homes not self designed, I want a projection theater room, the pool areas laid out a certain way, a heated jacuzzi / hot tub, sauna, totally self contained guest annex, some workshop space, etc.. I have already made the mental choice that every baht sunk into it is money down the tubes and the house will never be sellable or sold, the value of the investment is a luxury place to live, exactly how I want it, the asset value or costs involved are unimportant.

[123ace]

Rents are going down whilst supply has seen a massive increase. Sales values have dropped off slightly, but not at the very premium high end.

Huge villa 600sqm covered area 480sqm airco space.. On a golf course..

Couple of years ago asking 38 mil planning to take 32 - 34..

Got a 28 mil offer and turned it down..

Progressive went 26 24 and recently is asking 18m.

I was told just yesterday its under offer at 12 million and the owner is seriously considering it.. 38 to 12 !!

Maybe you meant premium being above 38 million but its still not a bad indicator.

@ LininLos -

No, the resort style premium end has a broad range that starts at 'international grade' pemium and goes down to 'wishful thinking premium' - I would class this in the wishful thinking bracket by the sound of it. Golf course developments simply have not worked here, aside from a very few in Bangkok. And none of these are premium high end.

I thought this article was referring to Bangkok anyway, where the real high end has held up in terms of asking prices as evidenced at Saladaeng Residnences, Infinty, St Regis etc etc.

[wolf5370]

There will always be advantages and disadvantages of either buying or renting but the simple fact when it comes to getting value for money, buying wins hands down......thats if you do it right, buy land and build your own property at cost price in a location that will appeal to a buyers market in the future.....dont buy in gated communities or out in the jungle, thats a sure fire way to loose money.....yes, you could get 5% return on the money spent on a house and that will cover the rent is the old argument renters use.....its not that simple, as rents rise and so do property prices....I have built and sold 2 properties and made a very handsome profit to boot...which was even expoliated more by transferring it back into Sterling recently:D

Yes, this is what we plan to do. We have lived in 4 rented houses (all at least 3 bedroom) and paid between 6k and 18k per month (18k was a large 5 bed with nice gardens in a posh Thai area - not gated). We bought land some 13 years ago (when the Asian crash happened and rates wer as high as in the 90's to the £) - 12 acres give or take - in Lumpang. This is building land (acove th water table with drainage ditches and rn off on the main road - and a small river as the rear border) on a main road near a university. This was our nest egg and we plan to sell this later (and yes the difference in the rates is going to make a bg diference too - it was bought in sterling but will be sold in baht). In a year or two we will either sell the land or use it for student accomodation etc - we don't intend to live there. The idea is to build our dream house up here in Chiang Mai. We are offered land here all the time - and banks have lots of repossessed land for sale too.

I used to have a Australian friend in the UK who had been a very good architect (had patents in his name and many awards) - he had designed (invented) housing systems for Africa (and the outback) that are almost completely self sufficient - using dry toilets, self generated power, low power water pumps/filters fo sink holes, termite proof low cost/easy build materials. I intend to use some of the ideas he shared with me. One of the things he invented was a compressed treated paper 'brick' panel that is impervious to insects, keeps warm in when cold and heat out when hot, very light to work with and easy to cut into shape and repair - its water proof too. A metal frame allows the panels to slot in and the panels can just be cut to shape. Finishing panels outside for for cosmetic reasons(or a layer of brick/wood-siding) and plaster board inside too. There are companies that will literally deliver a flat packed house that can be put up over a few weeks with just four people - fittings/plumbing/etc excluded. I also expect to have my own generator and not link in to public electricity at all (there are gen's that switch on/off on demand and load power cells for consistant and smooth power) - these are cheaper than getting ripped off to connect to the mains. Rain water tanks, solar powered sprinklers (pump) for the garden. etc.

We will continue to rent here until we are ready to do the above, I doubt I wil ever buy a new or used prebuilt house here - the former are over valued (rabbit boxes jammed on to postage stamp land usually) and the latter are almsot as much work and expense as building your own anyway.

I wonder if building your own house is construed as working? I was thinking of bringing my brother in law over on a paid holiday to help too as he has built several houses before and worked in the building industry since he was 12 (he's Irish and gave up school very early and worked as a general labourer on building sites instead - by his 30's birthday he was a skilled and qualified carpenter, bricklayer and plasterer - he has supervised many projects too including teams on the the Euro-Tunnel). He is as strong as a ox with not a ounce of fat on him anywhere - when we last moved house in the UK he picked up our 4 foot safe (stil loaded) and carriied it to the van - it took three people to man handle it in and two to move it when we had to and that was empty! A valuable resource for me

[trogers]

Hey I rented.. At about 2.x% per annum on its price.. Before the very high maintenance.

But the poster asked whats more likely an investment fund going down or the house 'vanishing into a sinkhole' in Thailand you need to realize properties are not built to last.. I am in a house on a few years old and its in a terrible state.

And you gave the reason why the house is rented at only 2% pa on its price...

Add: It is the way locals think that I am in the business of buying old condo units and refurbishing them and renting them out.

A recent 13-year old unit was bought at 10% above developer's price. Former owner did not invest to upgrade its interior and was left vacant 2/3 of the time.

Bought it over, refurbished it, and is leased out with net returns at almost 8% pa.

No the villa was 2.x%.. The villa was slick.. 500sqm, 14 ft ceilings, and pretty nice throughout.. The management company of the landlord spent a fortune in maintaining that place (at a guess it was running them 25 - 33% of what I paid monthly) over the course of the term..

Shake it however you like, a farang bought a seaview king of the hill villa, sunk in a mil USD, got a terrible return for a few years, then lost the lot (Thai insurance wont pay up).

The house I am in now is just 20k a month for a home for sale at 12m.. So 2% return on this one.. When you minus the 170k he had to put in a water bore, the 60k curtains, the new kitchen, and various maintenance (that hes not doing so its crumbling) hes about breaking even between rent and maintenance a zero return. Given the state of the Phuket market I would say he is about double the actual sellable price and he has paid out more than that. So zero return with a capital loss, versus 20k a month !!

All that said I will probably build in the next year.. Mainly as I want things I just dont see in homes not self designed, I want a projection theater room, the pool areas laid out a certain way, a heated jacuzzi / hot tub, sauna, totally self contained guest annex, some workshop space, etc.. I have already made the mental choice that every baht sunk into it is money down the tubes and the house will never be sellable or sold, the value of the investment is a luxury place to live, exactly how I want it, the asset value or costs involved are unimportant.

When you choose a building site on a slope of a hill, be wary of one thing - proper drainage of storm water. Most local designers have little experience in soil mechanics of building on hill slopes. Improper drainage can cause the earth supporting the structures to fail, leading to collapse of structures..

[Englander]

Most new build places in Central BKK are renting for around 8% upwards.

Many asking 35000 for a 4 million bht apartment or 10% as this is the amount it used to rent for so always will in the economic genius minds of the natives.

[ESB7]

My own living quarters

Outside Cm, 3 bedroom furnished House rental 7000bht/month, sale price 1,700,000 = 20 years rental

Doing the math

1.7 million Baht invested offshore trust fund (no tax), return 5 to 10 percent, 85,000-170,000 bht return per annum

12 months rental at 7,000 bht a month = 84,000 bht

So in the worst case renting gives a profit of 1,000bht a year with no expenses.

In the best case renting gives a profit of 86,000bht a year.

(last year I made about 100,000bht profit by renting as my investments made a 12 percent gain, I'll let you know about next year)

Considering the risk you are taking by buying as well (total loss, bad neighbours, etc), buying just doesn't make sense to me.

Hah! Offshore trust funds? Got an FDIC gurantee? Offshore invest fund invested in what? More like you loss 10% last year!

30% per annum for the last 5 years..

Over 300% total since I moved to Thailand.

I suppose thats why all the multi millionaires only rent and never buy property:lol: :lol: .....having roots and somewhere you can do what you want is also very important for quality of life, and lets face it, if you were making 30% on a lot you would easily be able to buy somewhere and if you lost on it, would be no problem, so we can all assume your 30% profits each year are on a miserly amount of capitol and you would be skint if you bought somewhere. :D

[sirineou]

The Math concerning Buy vs Rent are debatable, buy they refer to a house, NOT a home. , that is not to say that a rented property is not a home, home is where the heart is. BUT......

For lack of a better analogy, I would compare rent to dating , and buying to marriage, easy to walk away from a rental, but there is less of an emotional investment, you are less likely to invest sweat equity on a rental, would you plan long term gardens on a rental? will you build that patio you always wanted.

I dont know ,

I guess there are different personalities, and to each his own, but for me, owning is the only way to go, good returns on your money is good, but being able to set your house on fire, and watch it burn while you play the violin, when the mood strikes....IS PRICELESS .

[donx]

The Math concerning Buy vs Rent are debatable, buy they refer to a house, NOT a home. , that is not to say that a rented property is not a home, home is where the heart is. BUT......

For lack of a better analogy, I would compare rent to dating , and buying to marriage, easy to walk away from a rental, but there is less of an emotional investment, you are less likely to invest sweat equity on a rental, would you plan long term gardens on a rental? will you build that patio you always wanted.

I dont know ,

I guess there are different personalities, and to each his own, but for me, owning is the only way to go, good returns on your money is good, but being able to set your house on fire, and watch it burn while you play the violin, when the mood strikes....IS PRICELESS .

I really like this analogy. It rings true on a variety of levels.

Unfortunately, in my mind there is a big difference between buying or renting in Thailand versus buying or renting where I'm from which is in the US. For example buying a house in Thailand requires some tough decisions on how to "own" a house. Yes you can own the house but not the land underneath it which causes all sorts of issues. In the case of buying a house in the US, after a few years of house ownership, I'm paying less per month for my 5 bedroom townhouse than our friends are paying for their 2 bedroom appartment. And the rent is going up each year while I am refinancing and reducing my monthly payments. On top of that, the interest I'm paying reduces my income tax significantly. As far as I can tell, as a foreigner there isn't anyway to achieve the same results in Thailand.

If we are talking about owning a condo, then most foreigners find that they need to pay for the entire purchase up-front. Renting makes perfect sense for many because it can be very difficult to finance a condo purchase. If you have the money already saved then you still need to consider if you'd be better off investing the money in something else and renting. I do agree that lifestyle does come into play, but I still feel that most of us still need to consider the financial consequences of our decision to buy versus rent.

[trogers]

The Math concerning Buy vs Rent are debatable, buy they refer to a house, NOT a home. , that is not to say that a rented property is not a home, home is where the heart is. BUT......

For lack of a better analogy, I would compare rent to dating , and buying to marriage, easy to walk away from a rental, but there is less of an emotional investment, you are less likely to invest sweat equity on a rental, would you plan long term gardens on a rental? will you build that patio you always wanted.

I dont know ,

I guess there are different personalities, and to each his own, but for me, owning is the only way to go, good returns on your money is good, but being able to set your house on fire, and watch it burn while you play the violin, when the mood strikes....IS PRICELESS .

I really like this analogy. It rings true on a variety of levels.

Unfortunately, in my mind there is a big difference between buying or renting in Thailand versus buying or renting where I'm from which is in the US. For example buying a house in Thailand requires some tough decisions on how to "own" a house. Yes you can own the house but not the land underneath it which causes all sorts of issues. In the case of buying a house in the US, after a few years of house ownership, I'm paying less per month for my 5 bedroom townhouse than our friends are paying for their 2 bedroom appartment. And the rent is going up each year while I am refinancing and reducing my monthly payments. On top of that, the interest I'm paying reduces my income tax significantly. As far as I can tell, as a foreigner there isn't anyway to achieve the same results in Thailand.

If we are talking about owning a condo, then most foreigners find that they need to pay for the entire purchase up-front. Renting makes perfect sense for many because it can be very difficult to finance a condo purchase. If you have the money already saved then you still need to consider if you'd be better off investing the money in something else and renting. I do agree that lifestyle does come into play, but I still feel that most of us still need to consider the financial consequences of our decision to buy versus rent.

Buying real estate property in a country other then your own usually means you are intending to set roots there, whether for retirement or establishing a family.

Only the rich can afford a real property in another country as a playroom.

For the majority, renting is the only realistic option, especially if the intended stay is short term.

I came here in the early 80s and lived in rented premises and only bought my first condo in 1994, as a marriage home. Now I bought a few more to generate retirement income, and on my demise, will be passed on to my wife and the next generation.

[happyfish88]

Rents are going down whilst supply has seen a massive increase. Sales values have dropped off slightly, but not at the very premium high end.

Huge villa 600sqm covered area 480sqm airco space.. On a golf course..

Couple of years ago asking 38 mil planning to take 32 - 34..

Got a 28 mil offer and turned it down..

Progressive went 26 24 and recently is asking 18m.

I was told just yesterday its under offer at 12 million and the owner is seriously considering it.. 38 to 12 !!

Maybe you meant premium being above 38 million but its still not a bad indicator.

It shows that e property market is really bad :jap: