Hi there

I am a bit tired dealing with short-term tenants. Any feedback where to advertise / offer a large luxury condo in very good central location to attract a long-term tenant. Thinking about some Falang manager of the big companies around. Rent often paid by company. Thanks for any ideas. Merry Christmas PF.

Sorry but you're probably aiming for the wrong market. Big-company managers go for houses on the outskirts of town, close to the golf and country clubs, private pool, close to the motorway. No matter how nice the property, a central location will always be more suited to short timers.

No matter how nice the property, a central location will always be more suited to short timers.

I disagree. There is a large demand for centrally-located long-term rentals at the right price. The problem is that most of the prices are silly.

If the owner revises the rental down to 4 or 5% of the real market value of the condo (not the absurdly over-inflated value that owners often erroneously believe it is worth) there will be takers for it. If he keeps asking 8 or 10% of some fantasy selling price then the long-termers will just pass him by and go for an owner who is less greedy. And he will end up with the newbie short-termers who party all night, break everything and leave the place looking like a tip. Only they are stupid enough to pay over the odds.

Anyone who has been here more than a couple of months (with his eyes open) will realise that quoted short-term prices bear no relation to reality as far as long-term rentals go. Even the Russians know that.

Sorry but you're probably aiming for the wrong market. Big-company managers go for houses on the outskirts of town, close to the golf and country clubs, private pool, close to the motorway. No matter how nice the property, a central location will always be more suited to short timers.

Pretty much spot on, especially for expat families, houses are the usual requirement.

Forget magazine advertising - very limited audience these days, plenty internet sites that are widely used; bahtsold, ThaiVisa Classifieds, Craigslist, etc. etc. get good pictures loaded up.

Good luck.

Thank you! PF.

No matter how nice the property, a central location will always be more suited to short timers.

I disagree. There is a large demand for centrally-located long-term rentals at the right price. The problem is that most of the prices are silly.

If the owner revises the rental down to 4 or 5% of the real market value of the condo (not the absurdly over-inflated value that owners often erroneously believe it is worth) there will be takers for it. If he keeps asking 8 or 10% of some fantasy selling price then the long-termers will just pass him by and go for an owner who is less greedy. And he will end up with the newbie short-termers who party all night, break everything and leave the place looking like a tip. Only they are stupid enough to pay over the odds.

Anyone who has been here more than a couple of months (with his eyes open) will realise that quoted short-term prices bear no relation to reality as far as long-term rentals go. Even the Russians know that.

Maybe so. Just out of curiosity, what kind of people are going for long term rentals in the central area?

Just out of curiosity, what kind of people are going for long term rentals in the central area?

Let's just say that they tend not to have a family, at least not one that lives with them! I know quite a lot of single men who work remotely over the internet who take yearly rentals in the centre, or in Jomtien/Pratumnak.

Another type of long-term condo renter in town would be the offshore worker who does a month on and a month off, or similar. There are quite a lot of those in the condo buildings at the back of The Avenue. Quite a lot of those units have been sold to those offshore workers also.

I think that expats with families would indeed want to be somewhere away from the town centre, and would also probably prefer a house on a gated community near an international school for obvious reasons. But what you have to remember with them is that they probably get a very healthy allowance for rent and probably have no idea what sort of prices are available for those who are prepared to look. They probably dont care much either. In fact the odds are that some HR person in their company found them the house via a local agent in the first place, and organised all the details for them. But of course that sort of tenant is not the most common type here.

Interesting. In that case the OP might consider advertising in magazines or websites that cater for offshore or other similar contract workers. You're right about the HR dept. often tracing rental properties so it might be worth researching large companies that place staff in Thailand and then direct mailing their HR section.

i consider myself very lucky to have very good long term tenants (one for ten years plus) so i charge a very reasonable rent and if repairs are needed get them done straight away and in general look after them and hopefully they will want to stay long term this seems to work cos i never need to advertise only by word of mouth.

As one poster pointed out, forget the mags, they are slow and out of date usually. There are many online sites, so just take some good photos, and give a good description. You can usually write a very long description in most of the adds, so use it. Just dont give a lot of dis-info, otherwise, you just waste your time and the perspective renters time.

Also, I think with Thailand, all the renters are not really sure of how long they will be here. Contracts get canceled, economy changes, and things happen! But your right about long time renters, they are of course the best, but short term may work out too, if you charge enough to cover the months that it sets empty, or repairs have to be made.