Buying Land In Chiang Mai/Lampang

[Sophon]

Hello ladies and gents.

I wasn't sure whether to post this in the real estate forum or the Chiang Mai forum, but thought this would be the best place for local knowledge. I assume that the Chiang Mai forum also covers provinces close by like Lampang, despite the forum description not specifically mentioning this.

My girlfiend is from Lampang and have lived in Chiang Mai when she attended university. We currently live in Bangkok and are quite happy being here, but in maybe 5 years time we plan to move to the north and buy/build a house. We have not yet decided whether to live in Chiang Mai or in Lampang (where her family lives), but are now starting to look for land suitable for building a house when the time comes. We don't like the "postage stamp" plots a lot of houses seem to be build on especially closer to the cities, so would be looking for a piece of land with a size of approximately 1 rai (or a little more).

So my question is how much the cost should approximately be for one rai of land suitable for building a house (with access to water, electricity and internet and on a decent access road);

- either 20-30 km from Chiang Mai city, or

- alternatively 10-20 km from Lampang city?

If in an area with good access to restaurants (Thai style) and shopping (local fresh market supplemented by a 7/11 is fine), further away from the city would also be acceptable. In Chiang Mai we would probably be looking for somewhere south or east of the city as not to make the trip to Lampang (and her family) longer than it already is.

The land would, of course, be in my girlfriends name and I would be happy for her to keep it should we break up one day. She will be paying part of the cost anyway. She already owns a small piece of land in Lampang, but I don't think it will be big enough for what we want. But if any of the neighbours want to sell some of their land it might be an option to add to that instead of starting from scratch somewhere else (assuming we decide on Lampang).

We would only be interested in land with full chanote title.

So any input on what the price should be for such land is very much appreciated. If you have any specific districts you would recommend as good value for money, that will be appreciated too. We like to live a very quiet life, so don't require the area to have bars or other entertainment venues as long as there are places to eat.

I assume that the price for building a house would be more or less the same in both provinces. Am I wrong about that?

So over to the experts, with my thanks in advance for any and all input you can give us.

Sophon

Edited October 22, 2011 by Sophon

[cloudhopper]

Here ya go - http://www.chiangmairealty.com/land.htm

[Gladiator]

I bought nearly two Rai of land in Ko Ka, Village close to Lampang, a few years ago (which i am now selling) for 200,000 THB. This may give you some benchmark. For sure the price of land will increase the closer to downtown Lampang that you wish.

Hope that this helps.

Good luck

Gladiator

[Sophon]

Here ya go - http://www.chiangmairealty.com/land.htm

Thanks, but I have already seen that link. As far as I can remember the prices quoted on the page has not been changed over the last several years so I don't know if they are still accurate, and I also don't know if I trust a price guide provided by a real estate agent. I would rather hear from people "on the ground" so to speak.

But thank you for your reply.

Sophon

[cloudhopper]

Well I think the answers you might get here are likely to be of little value since everyone's requirements are different. It would be time well spent for you and your wife to drive around areas of interest and when you get good vibes you will have no trouble getting more info from the friendly locals than you are likely to want about the current situation in that area.

[Sophon]

I bought nearly two Rai of land in Ko Ka, Village close to Lampang, a few years ago (which i am now selling) for 200,000 THB. This may give you some benchmark. For sure the price of land will increase the closer to downtown Lampang that you wish.

Hope that this helps.

Good luck

Gladiator

Thank you, that helps a lot. Was your land suitable for building a home or was it more like farm land? Also, if you don't mind telling, what kind of price are you selling/expecting to sell it for?

We don't really need to be too close to the city. As long as our day to day needs can be met locally, we can make weekly trips to Lampang/Chiang Mai to stock up on whatever else we need. But it's important for us to be able to get a nice size plot of land at a decent prize.

Thanks again.

Sophon

[Sophon]

Well I think the answers you might get here are likely to be of little value since everyone's requirements are different. It would be time well spent for you and your wife to drive around areas of interest and when you get good vibes you will have no trouble getting more info from the friendly locals than you are likely to want about the current situation in that area.

Not my wife, at least not yet and maybe never (she doesn't believe in marriage)

I agree with you about driving around seeing for ourselves. I am just trying to get a feel for the prices so we can drive around areas that are not only of interest, but also realistic for us to consider. I already know that close to Chiang Mai city will be too expensive.

Thanks.

Edited October 22, 2011 by Sophon

[Thaifan2]

Interesting question .I think the guy before is selling 2 Rai now for B200,000 which seems cheap if its suitable to build a house ( can connect to electric and has water ) .

[Boksida]

Suburban land close to Lampang city is going for about 3,000 baht per tarang wah, if that is any help.

[Sophon]

Suburban land close to Lampang city is going for about 3,000 baht per tarang wah, if that is any help.

3,000 baht per tarang wah equals 1.2 mio per rai (more than we want to pay), which is why we are looking further away from the city. Do you have any idea how quickly the price drops as we move away from Lampang city?

Thanks for your post, every bit of information helps.

Sophon

[Dean1953]

Six years ago, I bought 1 rai and built a house on it, near Bosang (about 14 kilos east of C.M.). I paid 1,000,000 baht for the land and spent 4.2 on the house (4 bedrooms, 2 stories and constructed out of teak). The area has developed in the last 2-3 years and, hopefully, the land prices have gone up ( I did buy/built on it when the exchange rate was 40-1 to the dollar, so it should be worth 25% more just on that). I don't think that I could live in an average thai house/lot, particularly in the city, with the constant noise).

[Beetlejuice]

The land would, of course, be in my girlfriends name and I would be happy for her to keep it should we break up one day.

I like you. At last an honest statement and someone of common sense who knows the score.

Taking an educated guess and from knowledge of having lived many years in Chaing Mai, you are probably looking at between 4000 baht to 5000 baht per wai (400 wai = 1 rai) for a plot of land, the good paper, at the distances from town which you mention.

You could have a house built from 600000 baht, average 3 bedroom bungalow, up to any price according to what you want and how much you are able to afford.

If possible, afford doing any property deals with farangs or real estate agents, otherwise you could end up paying hyped up farang prices.

[Gladiator]

I bought nearly two Rai of land in Ko Ka, Village close to Lampang, a few years ago (which i am now selling) for 200,000 THB. This may give you some benchmark. For sure the price of land will increase the closer to downtown Lampang that you wish.

Hope that this helps.

Good luck

Gladiator

Thank you, that helps a lot. Was your land suitable for building a home or was it more like farm land? Also, if you don't mind telling, what kind of price are you selling/expecting to sell it for?

We don't really need to be too close to the city. As long as our day to day needs can be met locally, we can make weekly trips to Lampang/Chiang Mai to stock up on whatever else we need. But it's important for us to be able to get a nice size plot of land at a decent prize.

Thanks again.

Sophon

Sophon,

I have sent you a PM.

Gladiator

[nikster]

Taking an educated guess and from knowledge of having lived many years in Chaing Mai, you are probably looking at between 4000 baht to 5000 baht per wai (400 wai = 1 rai) for a plot of land, the good paper, at the distances from town which you mention.

I looked recently and I think you can do a bit better than this. 3000-4000 if it's "out there", e.g. 20km from the city. There's lots of land there, reasonable access, and not too expensive. But you have to pretty much drive around yourself to figure out the what and where, and ideally talk to all the neighbors and people living there. Buying and selling property is extremely dis-organized, the more so the further away you get from the city.

If too expensive, just go further out - prices seem to level off quite predictably with distance from the city center. Outside Lampang (above) sounds way cheap though, I never ventured far enough to see if the same can be had "near" CM. 1 Rai is a really nice sized plot for sure.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

The land would, of course, be in my girlfriends name and I would be happy for her to keep it should we break up one day.

I like you. At last an honest statement and someone of common sense who knows the score.

Taking an educated guess and from knowledge of having lived many years in Chaing Mai, you are probably looking at between 4000 baht to 5000 baht per wai (400 wai = 1 rai) for a plot of land, the good paper, at the distances from town which you mention.

That looks little too high. You will find plenty of people who want that sort of money, but clearly 1.6-2 million for a single rai for land well out of town (20-30km!) is not a good deal, unless there are other factors in play. We paid about 200K for a rai about 2 years ago, so that's just 500 baht per sq. wah. Really pretty area too, but of course well out of town (though still -just- in the range mentioned; it's about 26 kms to Chiang Mai University, 27 kms to airport plaza.

So you can find good deals out there. The biggest issue we found was finding a good price, but then having to purchase 20 rai or whatever, making the overall investment too large. It's hard to find plots that are half a rai, 1 or 2 rais.

[muchogra]

Personally I don't like living in an isolated house in the stick. I don't like strange animals, like snakes, visiting. Additionally, you can't go out by yourself and leave the wife or gf alone in the house too often which means you set yourself up a prisoner than already is.

My moobaan in CM cost 12,900 per dara wah. Since I bought the house to live in and not longing for appreciation it's reasonable for me. Mine is what the op terms a postage size, about a fourth of what the op is looking for. For me I'm sick of taking care of a large lot.

I bought a large plot in Bangkok about 25 years ago with the intention of building our house. I used my Thai friend's wife's name. His wife's relative was an MP and knew the soi from the main road was going to be paved. He got 700 wah and I got 300 wah. His plot was on the main soi, mine was about 200 meters off the main soi. Subsequently I found out that that 200 meters road was private and belonged to the puuyai baan. So, op, be careful on this. I sold off the property in about 9 months for a 100% profit and bought my friend's wife 8 bahts of gold. Similarly at Pattaya around that time I bought 2 condos. The condo building was built by my BIL's then girl friend's relative. My friend did the electrical work for the entire building. I sold it at 120% profit in, about 1 year when many foreigners particularly some Russians were coming in and the condo was having some management dispute...The golden time in real estate is over particularly for middle-age people and up.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

Personally I don't like living in an isolated house in the stick. I don't like strange animals, like snakes, visiting. Additionally, you can't go out by yourself and leave the wife or gf alone in the house too often which means you set yourself up a prisoner than already is.

Right, we keep a house in town too. But it's also nice to have some land a bit out BECAUSE it feels a world away from town. I say 'feels' but it's really just 20-30 minutes into town of course.

My moobaan in CM cost 12,900 per dara wah. Since I bought the house to live in and not longing for appreciation it's reasonable for me. Mine is what the op terms a postage size, about a fourth of what the op is looking for. For me I'm sick of taking care of a large lot.

That's true. Takes a lot of work just to make sure it isn't overgrown with weeds. Planting trees will help, but it still takes work.

[Sophon]

Six years ago, I bought 1 rai and built a house on it, near Bosang (about 14 kilos east of C.M.). I paid 1,000,000 baht for the land and spent 4.2 on the house (4 bedrooms, 2 stories and constructed out of teak). The area has developed in the last 2-3 years and, hopefully, the land prices have gone up ( I did buy/built on it when the exchange rate was 40-1 to the dollar, so it should be worth 25% more just on that). I don't think that I could live in an average thai house/lot, particularly in the city, with the constant noise).

I am hoping to get the land for less than what you paid by looking a bit further away. I have seen one plot of 1.1 rai in San Patong for 425,000 baht so I think it should be possible to find something for a reasonable price.

Living in Bangkok at the moment I actually find it very quiet and peacefull here (when you get a bit away from the busy streets). But one of the main reasons for not wanting too small a plot is not to have to live to close to the neighbours ensuring some degree of peace and quiet.

Thank you for taking the time to reply.

Sophon

[Sophon]

The land would, of course, be in my girlfriends name and I would be happy for her to keep it should we break up one day.

I like you. At last an honest statement and someone of common sense who knows the score.

Taking an educated guess and from knowledge of having lived many years in Chaing Mai, you are probably looking at between 4000 baht to 5000 baht per wai (400 wai = 1 rai) for a plot of land, the good paper, at the distances from town which you mention.

You could have a house built from 600000 baht, average 3 bedroom bungalow, up to any price according to what you want and how much you are able to afford.

If possible, afford doing any property deals with farangs or real estate agents, otherwise you could end up paying hyped up farang prices.

4000 to 5000 baht per tarang wah equals 1.6 to 2.0 mio baht per rai, which seems high to me (but what do I know ). As mentioned in an earlier post I have seen 1.1 rai for 425,000 baht in San Patong (about 30 km south of Chiang Mai). But I don't know that area, so it may not be a suitable place for us to live.

I am thinking of about 1 mio baht for a 2 bedroom plus small office one storey house of around 110-120 sq.m. We don't need anything fancy, just comfortable.

Thank you for your input.

Sophon

Edited October 23, 2011 by Sophon

[Sophon]

We paid about 200K for a rai about 2 years ago, so that's just 500 baht per sq. wah. Really pretty area too, but of course well out of town (though still -just- in the range mentioned; it's about 26 kms to Chiang Mai University, 27 kms to airport plaza.

So you can find good deals out there. The biggest issue we found was finding a good price, but then having to purchase 20 rai or whatever, making the overall investment too large. It's hard to find plots that are half a rai, 1 or 2 rais.

I agree with this, most of the cheap per rai prices are for plots that are far larger than what we need. I wonder what the cost is of subdividing land if the owner is willing to sell part of his land?.

The good thing is that we have time to look around since we don't plan on building for at least another 5 years. Also, being from the north, my girlfriend has friends and family (mostly in Lampang but also some in Chiang Mai) that can help us keep an eye out once we decide where to settle down.

Thanks for the reply.

Sophon

[Sophon]

Personally I don't like living in an isolated house in the stick. I don't like strange animals, like snakes, visiting. Additionally, you can't go out by yourself and leave the wife or gf alone in the house too often which means you set yourself up a prisoner than already is.

My moobaan in CM cost 12,900 per dara wah. Since I bought the house to live in and not longing for appreciation it's reasonable for me. Mine is what the op terms a postage size, about a fourth of what the op is looking for. For me I'm sick of taking care of a large lot.

I bought a large plot in Bangkok about 25 years ago with the intention of building our house. I used my Thai friend's wife's name. His wife's relative was an MP and knew the soi from the main road was going to be paved. He got 700 wah and I got 300 wah. His plot was on the main soi, mine was about 200 meters off the main soi. Subsequently I found out that that 200 meters road was private and belonged to the puuyai baan. So, op, be careful on this. I sold off the property in about 9 months for a 100% profit and bought my friend's wife 8 bahts of gold. Similarly at Pattaya around that time I bought 2 condos. The condo building was built by my BIL's then girl friend's relative. My friend did the electrical work for the entire building. I sold it at 120% profit in, about 1 year when many foreigners particularly some Russians were coming in and the condo was having some management dispute...The golden time in real estate is over particularly for middle-age people and up.

Actually, 400 sq.m. is not a bad size plot for a house, when referring to the "postage stamp" I was thinking more about the 200 sq.m. size plots - barely bigger than your house and with your neighbors house only a few meters from your own. But yes, we are looking for a bigger plot with enough room for the dogs to roam around and possibly a small pond for them to swim in. We also want some fruit trees and room for a vegetable garden.

Before buying we will make sure that the land have a public access road, as well as easy hook-up for water and electricity. But you didn't seem to do to badly all things considered.

Thank you for the advice.

Sophon