Bangkokhatter Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 Since moving here a few years ago i have been staying in rented apartments. My lease is up soon at my current place and now i am thinking maybe i should look for a house instead. I do like my apartment building, it has a very nice pool and garden area, security is fine and the general area is nice, but i am getting bored of apartment living i think. What are peoples views on the pro's and con's of house or apartment living ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrRealDeal Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 It all depends on the house or apt ..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffreyMcCollum Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 I love my home I can do as I want. I pay government rates for water and electric No worrys about dings on my car or noisy neighbors Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bangkokhatter Posted May 30, 2012 Author Share Posted May 30, 2012 It all depends on the house or apt ..... Thanks for that insightful input Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aneliane Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 Condos are only good if you really use the pool/gym or believe that you would be murdered if you don't have some security guard 24/7. Once you are over those, you feel like you live in a box that could be any box anywhere and that you're not fully experimenting Thai life and its outdoors activities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bangkokhatter Posted May 30, 2012 Author Share Posted May 30, 2012 I agree with the living in a box feeling, one of the reasons i am thinking of renting a house. Security is an issue, but not a deal breaker. It's the pool thing, i do use mine regularly and the area i'm living in is lacking in moo bahns with pools Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brit1984 Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 The benefit of an apartment is that you share the costs of the shared facilities (and porter, security, etc). However, by definition, you have to share the shared facilities. Houses are better if you either don't want some of the shared facilities / services (and hence can go without and pay a lower price per SQM) or you don't like sharing. Sent from iPhone; please forgive any typos or violations of forum rules Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrRealDeal Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 sorry I wasnt very insightfull .... I would say that imo housing developments are generally more sociable and have a larger sense of comunity than apt bulidings , your neighbor with a house will probabbly be a better friend than the guy next door in an apt. I am talking free standing houses not thai "houses" in a row type setting. One drawback to a house if you are single, is you might feel like you are spending more money that you need to on rooms you dont use just to have a nice sized living room. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bangkokhatter Posted May 30, 2012 Author Share Posted May 30, 2012 Would living in a house mean more exposure to all the annoying insects etc ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bangkokhatter Posted May 30, 2012 Author Share Posted May 30, 2012 sorry I wasnt very insightfull .... I would say that imo housing developments are generally more sociable and have a larger sense of comunity than apt bulidings , your neighbor with a house will probabbly be a better friend than the guy next door in an apt. I am talking free standing houses not thai "houses" in a row type setting. One drawback to a house if you are single, is you might feel like you are spending more money that you need to on rooms you dont use just to have a nice sized living room. Thanks, i never thought about the friendly side of it, just assumed the housing developments would be similar to apartment blocks where people can look straight through when passing. Having the feeling of more space is what appeals, but as you say is it worth the money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrRealDeal Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 That pretty much depends on how you take care of your house and where it's located but thats a decent consideration ..... I have the friendly neighborhood Cobra slithering around on occation and I doubt many apt buildings do ! But overall I suppose that you would find more pests at ground level than 5 or 10 stories up in the air. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrRealDeal Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 Space is pretty important to an enjoyable life ... Next time you see a drunken Farang ask him about where he lives, a dime will get you a dollar he lives someplace that's to small to enjoy so he has to go out and ends up at the bar instead of the park because he is disatisfied with his living conditions. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimonD Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 (edited) I think the preference stems from conditioning. I have always lived in a stand-alone house while my best mate has always lived in an apartment (back in the UK). In Thailand, we each continue to live the same way, he in his condo on the 12th floor and me on my moo ban. We both have roughly the same internal area and facilities but I have immediate access to the outdoors. My friend has to take the elevator. His pool is on the roof, mine is a short motorbike ride away, and on the way there I'll give the folks at my local mom 'n' pop shop a wave. I prefer the feeling of space, not being enclosed. Nobody living right next door, or below, or above. There is no corridor out side my front door. The people in my soi sit outside their houses during the evening, sharing food and drink and talking. Their children play in the road and everyone is friendly and engaged with each other. You don't get that with apartments. At least, I don't find it so. In a house you also don't have so far to fall either... edit: As posted while I was typing this, the feeling of SPACE is the difference! Edited May 30, 2012 by SimonD 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrRealDeal Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 Another consideration might be that people in houses tend to spend a fair amount more on decorations , furnature , kitchen stuff , ect. Not just because their is more room to fill up but because houses tend to make people want to personalise it more than someone elses apt even if they are renting. All kinds of little stuff like floor mats to pictures to lamps ect tend to be sold to home owners\renters at a much higher rate than apt renters who generally take it as is and don't improve it much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
farang000999 Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 well the most obvious question is where you live. if you live in bkk as the name suggests, you will need to buy a car and add hours daily to your commute time to and from work, assuming you are not self employed or retired. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barefoot1988 Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 living in an apartment is fun if you got the right neighbors. however for a family or a couple, i think a house would be better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bangkokhatter Posted May 31, 2012 Author Share Posted May 31, 2012 Thanks for all the replies. Live on the outskirts of BKK, Bangna/Sinarkarin area. From the replies it would seem the main difference is the feeling of space and more personalised living conditions. Not sure i like the idea of sharing my garden with a cobra, but like the idea of living among a community rather than the secular feeling you can get with apartment blocks. Now just need to find a moo baan with shared pool within my price range Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rsquared Posted May 31, 2012 Share Posted May 31, 2012 I lived in an apartment most of my adult life, and now living in a house on 6 rai. If you are working full time then an apartment is easier as little to no maintenance required. If you are retired (as I am) then living in a house gives you plenty of time to do things around the house, as there is ALWAYS something that needs doing, if there isn't, then the wife will always find something that needs doing. As for the annoying insects, yes as we spend most of our time outside, but you get used to it. They also get inside the house too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
giddyup Posted May 31, 2012 Share Posted May 31, 2012 (edited) I think a lot depends on the kind of lifestyle you have. If you like the bar life and spend most of your time in bars and restaurants, maybe a condo will suit your needs more. In terms of value for money a house wins over a condo every time. I bought a brand new fully furnished house (the show home) in Pattaya on 97 sq,w for 3.8 million baht. It's a beautiful house with a lovely garden (surprisingly very few bugs) in a quiet gated village of 50 houses, only 15 minutes drive to Tesco, Makro etc. My Thai lady would go absolutely stir-crazy in a condo as she loves pottering around the garden for hours a day. We have insect screens on all windows, so never get bugs inside, but we sit outside in the evenings and maybe get the odd mosquito, but a lot less insects than I had around my house in Australia. Edited May 31, 2012 by giddyup Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aneliane Posted May 31, 2012 Share Posted May 31, 2012 Thanks for all the replies. Live on the outskirts of BKK, Bangna/Sinarkarin area. From the replies it would seem the main difference is the feeling of space and more personalised living conditions. Not sure i like the idea of sharing my garden with a cobra, but like the idea of living among a community rather than the secular feeling you can get with apartment blocks. Now just need to find a moo baan with shared pool within my price range Ohh I would not go Moobahn Moobahns are just like apartments with decorative one or two meters of lawn around it. Thai people don't have the same conception of privacy as we do, and are not into garden anyway, it's just a space to put cars. Farangs in Moobahns, don't ever use the outside, because you are right in the full view of all the neighbors and passers-by. I have been to many of them, like in nice ones such as Nichada, terraces, patios, pools are all in full view of everyone, so despite the beautiful tropical garden, the village feel, the air being better than downtown, everyone lives inside with the AC on 24/7. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tfc Posted May 31, 2012 Share Posted May 31, 2012 After living in an apartment for a couple of years and now living in a house I miss apartment living. Don't know why exactly but I just do, there's something about the simplicity of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nocturn Posted May 31, 2012 Share Posted May 31, 2012 Would living in a house mean more exposure to all the annoying insects etc ? yes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary A Posted May 31, 2012 Share Posted May 31, 2012 I lived in a house outside of Bangkok for several years. It was in a small gated community. I was burglarized twice. I also have a condo in a gated complex and have never had a problem. I now live in a house upcountry in a small village. I have a two meter high wall around the entire property and a 45 KG dog. No problems here either. I would say that you should be careful when choosing a house. A house in a remote area would certainly be a target. If the house is in a gated community, check with security and the neighbors to see if break ins are a common occurrence. I strongly suspect that the security at the Bangkok house was was involved with my burglaries. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bangkokhatter Posted May 31, 2012 Author Share Posted May 31, 2012 I have heard of security problems with houses and i don't particularly want to live some place that felt more like a prison. I do like living in a naturally light room and not sure i would like bars on all the windows. giddyup, your place sounds great. Although i do work full time and enjoy a regular beer, i do still get bored sometimes and would enjoy the extra work a house brings. I have seen the numerous estates around the Pattaya area and if my work was not so far away I would move to one of them, but in my area there does not seem to be any places like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigJohnnyBKK Posted May 31, 2012 Share Posted May 31, 2012 I went over to renting houses in my second year here over a decade ago and wouldn't consider staying in a flat anymore even if it were a nice one for free. Full choice on your comms services, no markup on utilities, re-wire for proper grounding, critical if you have lots of expensive electronics. But it only makes sense if you'll be in the one place for a while (few years), that is if you want to make it nice. Houses are much better value for money if you're willing to put in time looking, they're not as easy to find as flats at the low end (5-20K). Don't go near anything advertised, you only find good value by exploring your target neighborhoods yourself - if you don't speak Thai have to bring one along. If you don't have a car, the best values are on the little sois too small for them, plenty under 10K for 2BR/2bath but try to avoid getting too close to the many slums around if you have Thai dependents, the terrible quality of the language you'll be listening too will be offensive to most. If you really want a specific area (eg walking distance to your full-time job), then it's worth getting to know the hair salons, street food vendors and motorcycle taxi guys. I ended up making up little handouts offering B2000 reward for putting me in touch with the landlord, probably took a total of 20-30 hours over a month, have a 5-storey row house just off Charoen Krung near Sathorn BTS for B12K a month, rolling 3-year lease, been here for 7 now. Negotiate for the right to sublet and the ability to run a business out of it. And of course all the neighbors will know your business, so if you're a player but want to remain respectable keep a separate cheap flat for playtime activities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
giddyup Posted May 31, 2012 Share Posted May 31, 2012 I have heard of security problems with houses and i don't particularly want to live some place that felt more like a prison. I do like living in a naturally light room and not sure i would like bars on all the windows. giddyup, your place sounds great. Although i do work full time and enjoy a regular beer, i do still get bored sometimes and would enjoy the extra work a house brings. I have seen the numerous estates around the Pattaya area and if my work was not so far away I would move to one of them, but in my area there does not seem to be any places like that. I don't have any security screens, because like you, I don't want to live in a prison. However, I will get an alarm system fitted soon, just for peace of mind. My house has an abundance of natural light, lots of windows, and very high ceilings, around 15ft in the lounge area. Actually, it's a nicer house than the one I had in Australia for a third of the price. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cdnmatt Posted May 31, 2012 Share Posted May 31, 2012 Security is an issue, but not a deal breaker. Not really. Just get a couple dogs, take good care of them, and that's all the security you need. Our door is generally open 24x7, and not once has anyone ever tried to break in over the 2 years we've been here. I'm sure some people have thought about it, but when they see a 40kg lab yelling at them to fuc_k off because they're too close to the gate, I'm guessing they have second thoughts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigJohnnyBKK Posted May 31, 2012 Share Posted May 31, 2012 I have full-time staff and other dependents rather than dogs, a bit more expensive but then they take care of things a bit better when you're out of the country. And by expensive I'm still talking much less than the rent. . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bangkokhatter Posted May 31, 2012 Author Share Posted May 31, 2012 Working 5 days a week will make it kinda hard to keep a dog, as much as i like the idea of a dog. I do have a car so will do as suggested and drive around my area and have a look. Some of the websites i looked at have very inflated prices, but there were some lovely gaffs around if you have the money. Am in no rush but am pretty certain am staying for the long term so want to make my next place somewhere i can call home. . Thanks for all your posts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samran Posted May 31, 2012 Share Posted May 31, 2012 I live in a pretty big apartment - 250 sqm. Big enough not to feel boxed up. Only one other apartment on our floor. Have done houses and don't like them. Mozzies get in. I hate mozzies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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