Hi there. Ok, I believe I know the basics (though not the fine details) of the idea that a foreigner can own a house (not speaking of a condo here...nothing wrong with them, but I'm distinctly a house person) though not the land the house is on, and a leasehold of thirty years is attainable.

My main questions right now, are

1) How frequent ARE those opportunities for a decent place? Looking around the areas of Thailand that interest me (not that I have looked everywhere or on all possible websites for a given location) I see an awful lot of homes listed freehold and few listed as anything else. Are we talking about a needle in a haystack portion of the real estate market here?

2) Am I limited to new builds? (not my favorite). Again, I have heard of the transfer of a pre-existing or previously occupied building, but how common is this?

3) If a Thai is selling her/his home on the freehold market how likely is it that they might be prepared to consider a leasehold structure instead if they know that a foreigner is interested in it?

4) Finally, given the answers to the above (whatever they may turn out to be: I don't know!) how long would people recommend I set aside to have a good look around in a target area once chosen, and also have time for these opportunities to actually show up?

Many thanks in advance for anyone offering their thoughts in the thread.

Question

1) How frequent ARE those opportunities for a decent place? Looking around the areas of Thailand that interest me (not that I have looked everywhere or on all possible websites for a given location) I see an awful lot of homes listed freehold and few listed as anything else. Are we talking about a needle in a haystack portion of the real estate market here?

Reply

It depends on where you are looking. The more touristic places are full of leasehold offers. However, only because a property is offered with a freehold land, it could might as well be available as leasehold.

Question

2) Am I limited to new builds? (not my favorite). Again, I have heard of the transfer of a pre-existing or previously occupied building, but how common is this?

Reply

No.

Question

3) Finally if a Thai is selling her/his home on the freehold market how likely is it that they might be prepared to consider a leasehold structure instead if they know that a foreigner is interested in it?

Reply

I don't see a reason for why a Thai would say no to a sale that involves an leasehold. The selling price would be the same and the Thai would still own the land.

Question

4) Finally, given the answers to the above (whatever they may turn out to be: I don't know!) how long would people recommend I set aside to have a good look around in a target area once chosen, and also have time for these opportunities to actually show up?

Reply

First you need to spend time to find out where you want to live. For me that took six months. After that you should, preferably, learn the local market and this took also about six months for me. Doing a proper research is well worth the time spent.

Good luck to you!

Are you buying on your own or with a Thai lady ? I bought with my Thai GF later she became my wife .The house is in her name then i took out a Usufruct ( like a lease ) ,and my name is now listed on the house deeds ( Chanote in Thailand ) .

We rented in Chiang mai for nearly a year first and then when we were sure that is where we wanted to live we bought a house we heard of through word of mouth .An Estate Agent was never involved but we did hire a Solicitor .

<br />Are you buying on your own or with a Thai lady ? I bought with my Thai GF later she became my wife .The house is in her name then i took out a Usufruct ( like a lease ) ,and my name is now listed on the house deeds ( Chanote in Thailand ) .<br />We rented in Chiang mai for nearly a year first and then when we were sure that is where we wanted to live we bought a house we heard of through word of mouth .An Estate Agent was never involved but we did hire a Solicitor .<br />

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No Thai wife or GF.

Of course, I don't rule that out but it is not in itself my reason for coming, and at this point I can't imagine it being part of a real estate deal.