Real Estate Agent

[ryosuke]

I am thinking to purchase vacation house in Phuket.

Could any one recommend me good real estate agent who has lots of experience and good reputation in the market.

[petercallen]

Legally in Thailand you must be a Thai national/citizen to deal in land

and no license or training is required

That aside, everyone is a real estate agent here taxi driver to apartments owner

The only way to purchase a property here is to come and look for yourself

Different areas different prices but when you see 2 similar houses in the same

area and one is twice the price of the other you will understand

It took us 6 months to purchase a house here and i had been studying the

market for a long time before we started looking

Agents do not value the houses here the owners do, They do very little

accept take there commission if they manage to sell a house

[seaeagle]

Legally in Thailand you must be a Thai national/citizen to deal in land

and no license or training is required

That aside, everyone is a real estate agent here taxi driver to apartments owner

The only way to purchase a property here is to come and look for yourself

Different areas different prices but when you see 2 similar houses in the same

area and one is twice the price of the other you will understand

It took us 6 months to purchase a house here and i had been studying the

market for a long time before we started looking

Agents do not value the houses here the owners do, They do very little

accept take there commission if they manage to sell a house

Due to forum rules, it's not possible to say who's 'bad and without ethics' here. But, petercallen makes some very valid points. Agents will only look at their own slice, and take little account of buyer / seller preferences. There's no real estate 'governing body' from which they could get thrown out for doing dodgy dealings.

Some desperate sellers will promise up to 10% in commission to an agent, so you can guess which properties the agent will say are 'brilliant' and 'offer excellent value'!

Having said that, I feel I can offer support to 2 agencies who show a degree of professionalism over and above what is the norm here. Tropical Properties, based in Patong, and run by Belgians. And KB Real Estate in Nai Harn, run by a Danish guy. There's also a new kid on the block - Century 21, in Patong. As a franchise, they seem very proactive and have to toe the line of their franchise rules. Although i haven't dealt much with them yet, they communicate well and the office appears to be a hive of activity, rather than the sleeping dormitory that you find some agents offices to be.

As the above post says, I'd also suggest you drive around yourself. Anything for sale usually has a private 'for sale' board outside, so take a look and make a few calls. Don't be afraid to drive up some small streets / sois, as you'll find lots of houses that way.

[PattayaPhom]

Century 21 in Phuket now, I didnt know that..they are on a par with Knight Frank...although saying that I met one of their guys from Quebec and I wouldnt want him as my agent.

A good agent here will be the same as most places in the world, value a property and then the owner pays an agreed commission..yes there are agents that load prices but that can easily be avoided with a simple check.

You will get a lot of negative feedback on this forum with regards property and agents, a little due dilligence goes a long way...sent PM also

[PattayaPhom]

Legally in Thailand you must be a Thai national/citizen to deal in land

and no license or training is required

That aside, everyone is a real estate agent here taxi driver to apartments owner

The only way to purchase a property here is to come and look for yourself

Different areas different prices but when you see 2 similar houses in the same

area and one is twice the price of the other you will understand

It took us 6 months to purchase a house here and i had been studying the

market for a long time before we started looking

Agents do not value the houses here the owners do, They do very little

accept take there commission if they manage to sell a house

I must say a lot of agents will just list at the price the owner says...that is ridiculous if they do...an example, I recently viewed 4 properties from a guy and although he wanted my valuation I have declined to list them as in reality they are not a good purchase for my customers at any price due to ownership problems.

Edited April 12, 2012 by PattayaPhom

[petercallen]

Probably the worst case we had with a agent here but others were similar

We advertised for a house and the agents contacted us

We agreed to meet a lady agent who calls herself Ace, She showed us a

picture of a house which we were interested in and then showed us a

house of the same design in the same area but not the same house and

not as well maintained at the same price, we were not interested

She then told us about a house listed with her in the north of the island

which was for sale at 11M baht, she was living in the house but after the first

episode with her we did not bother looking at it

The following week another agent contacted us about a house in the north

of the island listed at 8.2M negotiable which sounded OK, We went to look

and guess who was living in the house Ace

11M fixed to 8.2M negotiable with different agents

[Boater]

seeing the property market in Phuket for over 7 years, if you have a low budget, IE 10 Million , use Siam Real Estate... been around for years, very honest, and have some international accreditations..

after anything expensive, use sotherbys

[petercallen]

seeing the property market in Phuket for over 7 years, if you have a low budget, IE 10 Million , use Siam Real Estate... been around for years, very honest, and have some international accreditations..

after anything expensive, use sotherbys

Would not be in real estate by any chance like other posters on the forum

Legally and illegally operating

If people really look around privately what they can buy for 10M would cost 20M through a agent

[Old Croc]

seeing the property market in Phuket for over 7 years, if you have a low budget, IE 10 Million , use Siam Real Estate... been around for years, very honest, and have some international accreditations..

after anything expensive, use sotherbys

Siam Real Estate lost me as a potential customer when I worked out they never removed old listings from their website. They seemed to have many hundreds of properties, many at a good price, until I realised some had been listed for 3 or 4 years. Even found the place I was living in with an old paint job and sans swimming pool which had been built later. Stopped using it immediately

[PattayaPhom]

seeing the property market in Phuket for over 7 years, if you have a low budget, IE 10 Million , use Siam Real Estate... been around for years, very honest, and have some international accreditations..

after anything expensive, use sotherbys

Low budget $300,000 US ..you must be a millionaire then.

[petercallen]

seeing the property market in Phuket for over 7 years, if you have a low budget, IE 10 Million , use Siam Real Estate... been around for years, very honest, and have some international accreditations..

after anything expensive, use sotherbys

Low budget $300,000 US ..you must be a millionaire then.

Yes i agree some people must live in fantasy land and certainly have no idea what is available if you look around

Plenty of spec builders who follow this forum that have properties they cannot sell

[SeanPhuket]

Get out there and have a look on your own... People on here can recommend areas then all you have to do is focus on these.. As mentioned, there is no set price so just look around so you can get your own ideas on it and how it works.

Just get a decent lawyer who won't fib and try to sell you his own listed properties!

I used to be an agent, successfully, for some time so know how it works. Was cheated out of lots of money by lawyers, agent companies and developers so I suppose I do have an ax to grind a little, however you will prob find better and cheaper going it alone anyway and then get the 5/15% commission discounted. In their defence, employee agents, there are good ones and it is tough - long hours, no security, hands tied etc. - but still their opinion is gagged by the company owner and they must abide to practices to keep their jobs. I do mortgages for foreigners now - my own show with much less BS and politics!

Good luck with the search, be patient, be open minded, be calm and you will find what you are looking for.. There ARE bargains out there!

[LivinginKata]

conversation between two members removed. Better to use the PM function.

[petercallen]

conversation between two members removed. Better to use the PM function.

I will repeat a previous question since it has been delete

Is a PM (personal message) private or is it read by other people

If it is not why is a swear word in a PM deleted or modified when this

does not happen with my personal Emails

[cdmtdm]

seeing the property market in Phuket for over 7 years, if you have a low budget, IE 10 Million , use Siam Real Estate... been around for years, very honest, and have some international accreditations..

after anything expensive, use sotherbys

and very very lazy ..... imo stay away

[stevenl]

conversation between two members removed. Better to use the PM function.

I will repeat a previous question since it has been delete

Is a PM (personal message) private or is it read by other people

If it is not why is a swear word in a PM deleted or modified when this

does not happen with my personal Emails

AFAIK private. The Thai Visa software will automatically adjust certain words, whether on open forum or by PM.

[LivinginKata]

AFAIK private. The Thai Visa software will automatically adjust certain words, whether on open forum or by PM.

Correct, there is an automatic software checker. PM are not read by anyone other than the sender and the receiver (and anyone else copied). Now lets's stay on the topic

[steelepulse]

Oh dear, why would a swear word be in a pm? Agreed best to look around on your own to find houses. Quite often agents here are given a price, and they try to mark it up to make themselves a few mil out of one transaction instead of being happy with the "commission" for listing the house on their website.

[KarenBravo]

Standard agent commission used to be 3% of the sale price.

Now it seems that has increased to 5%.

Totally unjustifiable IMO.

Do as others have advised; cut out the middle man and look around yourself.

[petercallen]

Standard agent commission used to be 3% of the sale price.

Now it seems that has increased to 5%.

Totally unjustifiable IMO.

Do as others have advised; cut out the middle man and look around yourself.

A agent ended up finding the house we bought last year charged 4% commission to owner

The actual listing agent who we told what we wanted in a house, did not show it to us

Just wanted to show us houses which where very over priced and getting higher rate of

commission on, bad luck she missed out on the sale and commission

[Muaythai4ever]

Having read the post, I think although agents get a lot of bad press there is an advantage to having one. If you are married to a native person and have the time to drive around the streets of Phuket and negotiate with owners then go ahead, but given time constraints and language barriers I recommend using an estate agent. When I had problems with getting my deposit back from an owner I had rented from my estate agent came to my rescue. I have been on the Island for a number of years working in hotels (so does my wife - we are both expats) and I have had dealings with most of the agencies mentioned, including Ace who Peter Callen mentioned, and they were all reasonable and explained the pitfalls. I have rented from Siam (2 years) and they were great, I never had any problems at all, the staff were nice and pleasant. When I left I got my deposit back in full and no problems, I would rent from them again. I have rented from Ace (or Ayse, I think is the correct spelling) and I am renting in the development you visited (I’ve been here 3 years). There are 8 villas in total and prices vary between 8m – 11.5m, I thought about buying here but the owner keeps changing his mind about the asking price for the various villas. The deal she got me for rental was 35,000TH/month including bills, On my own it would have been difficult to get a large 3 double bedroom villa 2 story with a large pool and huge garden, western, landscaped fully furnished for 35,000 per month. She negotiated the rental including bills and gardening. I needed a villa with high walls because of my young son and that’s why I took it. She was pleasant and very helpful and a great neighbor.

I have had dealings with most agents and they are pretty reasonable. If that’s the “worst scenario” you can come up with I can let you know several incidents where owners have ripped off buyers and renters with hefty deposits and overvaluing properties. Or buying a property where the title deeds are not correct. So my advice is if you have a Thai spouse then you could do it alone but if you don’t understand the language and don’t have anyone in your corner then go to an estate agent, they can at least check title deeds and do some basic groundwork. They may not be that great but just find one you like and go for it.

[petercallen]

Having read the post, I think although agents get a lot of bad press there is an advantage to having one. If you are married to a native person and have the time to drive around the streets of Phuket and negotiate with owners then go ahead, but given time constraints and language barriers I recommend using an estate agent. When I had problems with getting my deposit back from an owner I had rented from my estate agent came to my rescue. I have been on the Island for a number of years working in hotels (so does my wife - we are both expats) and I have had dealings with most of the agencies mentioned, including Ace who Peter Callen mentioned, and they were all reasonable and explained the pitfalls. I have rented from Siam (2 years) and they were great, I never had any problems at all, the staff were nice and pleasant. When I left I got my deposit back in full and no problems, I would rent from them again. I have rented from Ace (or Ayse, I think is the correct spelling) and I am renting in the development you visited (I’ve been here 3 years). There are 8 villas in total and prices vary between 8m – 11.5m, I thought about buying here but the owner keeps changing his mind about the asking price for the various villas. The deal she got me for rental was 35,000TH/month including bills, On my own it would have been difficult to get a large 3 double bedroom villa 2 story with a large pool and huge garden, western, landscaped fully furnished for 35,000 per month. She negotiated the rental including bills and gardening. I needed a villa with high walls because of my young son and that’s why I took it. She was pleasant and very helpful and a great neighbor.

I have had dealings with most agents and they are pretty reasonable. If that’s the “worst scenario” you can come up with I can let you know several incidents where owners have ripped off buyers and renters with hefty deposits and overvaluing properties. Or buying a property where the title deeds are not correct. So my advice is if you have a Thai spouse then you could do it alone but if you don’t understand the language and don’t have anyone in your corner then go to an estate agent, they can at least check title deeds and do some basic groundwork. They may not be that great but just find one you like and go for it.

The house you are renting is in the north of the island, a small group of houses

in the middle of no where, there are no other houses near them just rubber trees

The same houses would rent for 50 to 60K in a good location

When i asked about Internet and phone connection no one would give me a firm answer

You are correct the name is Ayse she sent me a PM trying to explain why her price

was so much higher than the asking price, just codswallop