House Or Condo?

[PattayaPhom]

..... I think that the vast majority are aware.

I've met several people, fresh off the banana boat, who have purchased company name condos from the developer in new Pattaya buildings without being made aware of any of the disadvantages of doing so.

Moral: dont trust agents selling you new builds, or used places for that matter.

If somebody wants to save a few quid because its cheaper buying Thai/Company name rather than Foreign name thats their fault....Agents will explain in detail the differences between the two and should recommend Foreign name in most circumstances.....Trouble is the customer always wants to save a couple of pennies and wont take on board what is recommended...nothing to do with morals or agents.

[thaiwanderer]

..... I think that the vast majority are aware.

I've met several people, fresh off the banana boat, who have purchased company name condos from the developer in new Pattaya buildings without being made aware of any of the disadvantages of doing so.

Moral: dont trust agents selling you new builds, or used places for that matter.

I love that last sentence.......But as for buyers, while never surprised by anyone's stupidity, greed or whatever any foreigner unaware of pros/cons of buying condo units in Thai or Foreign name IMHO only has themselves to blame.

[Darrel]

Agents will explain in detail the differences between the two and should recommend Foreign name in most circumstances.....

My point was that this had not been explained at all to these buyers.

They didn't choose to take the possible risks; they weren't informed that there were any. Company ownership of Thai-quota units was presented to them by the agents (different agents) and the developers (different developers) as something "that everyone does" that carried no inherent disadvantage or risk, apart from the yearly fee.

I would describe this as a criminal omission.

[PattayaPhom]

Agents will explain in detail the differences between the two and should recommend Foreign name in most circumstances.....

My point was that this had not been explained at all to these buyers.

They didn't choose to take the possible risks; they weren't informed that there were any. Company ownership of Thai-quota units was presented to them by the agents (different agents) and the developers (different developers) as something "that everyone does" that carried no inherent disadvantage or risk, apart from the yearly fee.

I would describe this as a criminal omission.

And those agents that alledgely did that would definately be out of business now.......and even if everything is explained in detail by an agent I would hope that the buyer would do their own research to confirm what they have been told..

[pkrv]

The main advantage of condo ownership is that you can.

The main disadvantage of house ownership is that you cant.

Many people with an axe to grind (agents, lawyers, vendors) will tell you that you, farang, can buy a house and land here, but the truth is that you cant except by legal trickery that may backfire on you one day.

Other advantages/disadvantages?

In a condo you probably wont need to think about security, alarms, getting someone to do the pool, repairs to the building structure or roof, mowing the lawn, termites, snakes, dogs barking, karaoke bars, flooding.

But of course you will be sharing your surroundings and pool with a few hundred other people, and your immediate neighbour may be the world's noisiest drunk. But if he is then he will probably be annoying several other people as well as you, and by the time you have all complained to the building management it may well turn in your favour. Good luck trying to do the same in a house.

I'm sure some other posters will have a few ideas of relative merits also.

Many posters with an axe to grind against property ownership in Thailand. Hundreds of Thousands have bought land and houses and are very happy...differences between a house and condo are obvious really.

Umm.....The best information we have is

http://www.siam-lega...in-Thailand.php

about 50 thousand condominium units in Bangkok the major investment area. Do you have an update on this? And if so please demonstrate it via some form of web link.

Edited January 10, 2012 by pkrv

[PattayaParent]

The last condo unit I lived in had termites on the 12th floor, the current condo building has termites but not in my unit.

Snakes are sometimes found in the trees of the car park and one time caused a power outage by dropping onto the transformer and shorting it out.

Lots of soi dogs around barking day and night (and attacking passers by) and although no karaoke the bar next door can get noisy on the rare occasions it has a customer. But then I always have the windows open so get more noise than most.

Flooding is a problem if you are trapped in the condo building because the streets around are under water.

I did say "probably" wont have trouble.

I've seen them here also (Metro, Sky Beach) but termites in condo buildings are fairly rare, and the management should sort it out before it becomes a real problem.

Snakes in the car park and flooding outside the building doesnt bother me too much. At least my unit will not be directly affected. Dogs and other pests should be removed by the management.

Unfortunately the dogs are not in the property but are mostly dogs owned by neighbours and allowed to run free.