Flipping New Condos-Fit Out Then Sell

[lovetotravel]

I have a Thai friend who is doing this with great success. Buying newly built condos, fitting them out, then reselling. Prices are from 500-1.5MB new, fit out for 50-200k or so, then resell and make a decent, though small profit. Somewhere in the 20-25% range. Strictly Thai market...quite a few in Sri Racha near the Uni for students.

Just curious if anybody is doing this. I know this guy really, really well. Have done some other business with him in the past, as have several of my friends. He fitted out our houses after we purchased them.

I look forward to hearing from you.

[cheeryble]

Sounds a real stretch especially for new units. How many students like paying a premium of 20-25% + renovation of 50 to 100k for a fancier looking unit?

I'd be looking for hard evidence.

[ShopBoy]

Possible. But he could be sitting on it for a period of time before it's sold.

[rgs2001uk]

Sounds a real stretch especially for new units. How many students like paying a premium of 20-25% + renovation of 50 to 100k for a fancier looking unit?

I'd be looking for hard evidence.

Lets assume 4,000 baht per month rental or 48,000 per year, uni course 4 years, total cost for 4 years rent less than 200k baht.

The numbers dont match up.

[lovetotravel]

I understand the skepticism here. But I know this guy really, really well. And have done quite a bit of biz with him. As have many of my friends. He's heavy into the construction business on the Eastern seaboard, owning several different companies. My other good friend helped him when he was first starting out years ago. And seems to have done really well since then.

I have seen 2 of the places he is talking about. They are new construction. Oriented towards the Thai market. No farangs are buing into these sites. He buys them while they are under construction, fits them out, and the resells. These 2 buildings were sold out well before construction was finished. So, prices have gone up. Strictly Thai oriented. And with this new incentive going on for first time Thai buyers, the market seems to be doing quite well. As opposed to developments oriented towards foreigners.

One took him 6 months to sell. In the other building, he bought a block and is selling them one by one. He has already sold one and feels the rest will go within 6-9 months. If you know the Thai market, the wealthier Thais like to buy real estate and hold onto it. We all know how they will hold onto a property and not drop the price even if it's not selling. Different mentality here vs. back home.

[steelepulse]

What would the ROI be for the buyer who then rents out the new units to school kids? If it's high enough it could work, otherwise why would Thai investors buy these units if the ROI is bad. That having been said, there is one poster here on TV I've seen that buys a lot of the 500K units and rents them out for a good ROI and he hires an inlaw or someone he trusts to do the day to day running of the biz. Check out this forum and you'll find it.

[lovetotravel]

In this one building he has 5 units in, wealthier Thais are buying them for thier kids to live in while going to school. So they are not really renting them out. I'm sure some are, but many are being purchased outright.

I've considered the rental angle, but prefer just flipping units if that is possible. I've done this before back home, but with homes. Of course that market is dead now!!! Being a landlord has some issues that I'd prefer not to deal with. But it's not a bad deal for sure.