Finding Land For Sale

[SlyAnimal]

First a little background information:

My fiance and I have been looking for some land for sale, in my fiance's home town (about 50km south of RoiEt) for around 3 or 4 months now, and simply can't find any (At least not at a reasonable price).

I have to buy in this area, as it's where I work and where her family live, so I don't want to save money on land only to spend 1000 THB a week on petrol going to/from work lol.

But we simply can't find land for sale.....

We see soo much bare land everywhere, but it's apparently not for sale

We find land, but it's only 1/2 or 1/4 of a Rai (And I want minimum 1 Rai, ideally 2+)

We find land with signs saying it's for sale. We call them, and the price is 1,000,000 per Rai or something equally crazy

We hear that land is for apparently for sale, but then the person who told us it's for sale, can't contact the owner.

We hear that someone will sell their land, but it's owned by 4 or 5 different people, and one or two of them don't want to sell (Without even discussing price)

We hear about land for sale, but it's got a house on it, and so the price is more than 1 Rai

We find land for sale on the internet, the price is right, size is right, then can't contact the owner on the number advertised.

We find land for sale on the internet, the price is right, size is right, it's via a real estate agent, but they can't even tell us where the land is, and they can't contact the owner to find out either.

We did find 1 piece of land which was for sale, price is right, size is right.....but my gf then said it's no good, because the people who live nearby do yaa baa and so might rob it or something, not to mention that it used to be a graveyard aswell. Both of which I have no problems with, but if she's not comfortable with it, then it wouldn't be very good.

The ones who say 1 million THB a rai are often without them even knowing that farang are going to be buying the land (My gf just calls a phone number from a sign, I stay quiet in the background). I don't know why they want crazy prices, for rice fields which aren't even on/near the main road, so wouldn't even be useful as a commercial property (And we're only in a small countryside town, not a city). I could understand if they weren't advertised, because they don't really want to sell, but when they have a big sign up.....

This has been really starting to frustrate me. As I want to get a new house built before our wedding (2014) so that my family have somewhere nice to stay, and to leave a good impression on them etc. But it's starting to just get a bit too much now.

Any sensible suggestions on what we could do to find suitable land? Other than just hoping that we might be able to contact the owner of one of the suitable pieces of land.

[swissie]

Take a look at the topic "Land Prices- Once again" in this Isaan Forum. Might give you a clue.

Cheers.

[jamescollister]

OP be very, very careful if buying farm land to build a house on. Know Thais and farangs do all the time, BUT it can come back and bite you. This no problem, no one cares, is OK until someone decides to care.

My understanding, planing permission can not be back dated. See a land lawyer before spending any money, also remember you will never have a right to that land. It will be your wife [to be] land

Be careful. Jim

[Squigy]

Brian, be dam_n careful as Jim said it might come back to bite you.

Maybe think about moving to some other area that does have a job for you and land available??

Just a thought.

Cheers

B

[jcb2001]

I think you need to have an incentive, like a small percentage of the sale going to a person that finds you a piece of land you and the wife like and buy. This reward money will motivate a lot of friends and family to help find you the right piece of property. I also agree that having an attorney look over the deal before any money transfers. It will save you alot of headaches. Good luck.

[swissie]

I think you need to have an incentive, like a small percentage of the sale going to a person that finds you a piece of land you and the wife like and buy. This reward money will motivate a lot of friends and family to help find you the right piece of property. I also agree that having an attorney look over the deal before any money transfers. It will save you alot of headaches. Good luck.

Not a bad idea (if in a hurry to buy land). In other coutries it's called "Real-Estate Brokers-Fee", here it"s called "Commission". It amouts to the same. Cheers.

[jcb2001]

By the way, have you visited the Thai Visa classified section for real estate listed for your area? You may get lucky and find something there.

[Lickey]

Find the biggest money lender in your area, he will have the papers to land he lent money to, people that cant repay him/her, thats what the for sale signs say, "weve broke,please lend money"

But not in Thai writing, but thats what they are implying, it happens all the time here in our area of Issan,

Also SA, find a place that has easy access to electricity,water and internet, to add these things later could cost 100/150k bht, and think about getting a 30 year lease, [in case the family decides to out you,or your Mrs dies] then you will be protected,

Theres lots of stuff to mull over and consider, Good Luck,

[DILLIGAD]

OP be very, very careful if buying farm land to build a house on. Know Thais and farangs do all the time, BUT it can come back and bite you. This no problem, no one cares, is OK until someone decides to care.

My understanding, planing permission can not be back dated. See a land lawyer before spending any money, also remember you will never have a right to that land. It will be your wife [to be] land

Be careful. Jim

Good advice from Jimbo. In addition to that I would suggest getting the wife (landowner) to make a will leaving you the land/propety just incase you succeed her. Check Thai inheritance laws and you will see why.

D

[meatboy]

you will find most peices of land are sold through a third party,we have looked at about 10 plots the last yr.just enough for the wf. to down size when i go to the land of a thousand virgins,but one thing you must do is stay at home,looked at one plot that the s.i.l.was interested in she was quoted 850,000bht for 100sq.wah.me and the mrs.went and was quoted 1.1mill.through a third party,we tried to find out the owner to no avail,s.i.l.did buy it 800,000 in the end,after my wf.went and offered 750,000.but you have to be careful that you have acess and there is no through way on the land or parts in front are gov.land.there is one nice piece behind us but there is a stretch of 1.5mts width by .400mts long at the back of it which has put a lot of buyers off.

[krisb]

When buying property anywhere in the world you will have a want list. Things you want the house and land to have, be near, price etc etc. What you will find is you will never tick all the boxes. Its obviously going to take you longer than you expected. It must be nice land up your way, 1mill for land is city prices. Good luck anyway.

[krisb]

OP be very, very careful if buying farm land to build a house on. Know Thais and farangs do all the time, BUT it can come back and bite you. This no problem, no one cares, is OK until someone decides to care.

My understanding, planing permission can not be back dated. See a land lawyer before spending any money, also remember you will never have a right to that land. It will be your wife [to be] land

Be careful. Jim

Good advice from Jimbo. In addition to that I would suggest getting the wife (landowner) to make a will leaving you the land/propety just incase you succeed her. Check Thai inheritance laws and you will see why.

D

Or if you have Thai children. Jim must have been burned because hes always stressing the point.

[tingtongtourist]

OP i think you do need to do some research before you go on with this plan. I am not an expert but from what i have read, your rights over this property may be very different if you do buy it before you are marrried. maybe others can advise

Actually because farang cannot own land under any circumstance in Thailand i guess it does not really matter.

[rgs2001uk]

OP be very, very careful if buying farm land to build a house on. Know Thais and farangs do all the time, BUT it can come back and bite you. This no problem, no one cares, is OK until someone decides to care.

My understanding, planing permission can not be back dated. See a land lawyer before spending any money, also remember you will never have a right to that land. It will be your wife [to be] land

Be careful. Jim

Good advice from Jimbo. In addition to that I would suggest getting the wife (landowner) to make a will leaving you the land/propety just incase you succeed her. Check Thai inheritance laws and you will see why.

D

Or if you have Thai children. Jim must have been burned because hes always stressing the point.

I dont know how many on here ever use the 305 Rangsit/Nakhon Nayok rd, I use it regularly.

Stretching all the way from the hospital at klong 16 all the way to Big c at klong 6 just before you turn left onto the #9 HW, take a look on your LH side.

There must have been about 200 house cleared in the last year, all built illegaly on govt land.

All the spit and a handshake, bag of a fag packet puu yai baan record of transactions and money paid, didnt count for shit.

The land was being bought and sold illegaly, everyone knew what they were doing, well when the govt decided to clean up the area as part of flood defences, the land was cleared of everything, no houses now stand.

The people didnt have a leg to stand on.

There was no compensation paid, many had to dismantle their houses and move them.

If Crossy reads this he will know exactly where I mean, his house is up that way.

[SlyAnimal]

OP i think you do need to do some research before you go on with this plan. I am not an expert but from what i have read, your rights over this property may be very different if you do buy it before you are marrried. maybe others can advise

Actually because farang cannot own land under any circumstance in Thailand i guess it does not really matter.

Thanks for the words of caution. Yep I'm pretty well researched, and understand my rights (or lack thereof). I trust my gf, but am also very careful, so put measures into place to protect my assets when we first moved in together.

However, this thread isn't about that, so I'd like to please ask people to refrain from comments regarding protection of assets. I might look into a 30 year lease when I find some land and am considering putting down money for it (or after), but I'll ask regarding that closer to the time, as I'd hate to derail this thread into something else.

Find the biggest money lender in your area, he will have the papers to land he lent money to, people that cant repay him/her

Thanks, that's a really good suggestion which I've passed onto my gf. She can hopefully have a chat with the money lenders, and see if there's anything else going which we're unaware of (Particularly if it's going cheap)

OP be very, very careful if buying farm land to build a house on. Know Thais and farangs do all the time, BUT it can come back and bite you. This no problem, no one cares, is OK until someone decides to care.

Cheers Jim, although I'm a bit of a stickler for the rules anyway, as it's just something within my nature. So I'll definitely get anything I want to do signed off by the local Amphur before I put down any cash.

I think you need to have an incentive, like a small percentage of the sale going to a person that finds you a piece of land you and the wife like and buy

Good idea, I'll probably wait until I've explored a couple more options though first, as we've expanded our search to within around 10km of the town where we work now, so hopefully something will come up soon. Although if I end up that far away from my school, it might not be practical to pop home between periods, which would be disappointing.

Maybe think about moving to some other area that does have a job for you and land available?? (Sif @ maximum number of quoted posts)

We could, but my current job is both relaxed and reasonably well paid (for teaching in the Isaan countryside), I don't think I'd want to take the risk of another job elsewhere which I might not enjoy as much (Particularly if I was then locked into that area via a land purchase).

Although in saying that, I won't be working all of my life, but then when I have enough money to not work, I'll hopefully also have enough money to not work in NZ, while living in a beachfront house (Comparing prices of land/houses in NZ and Thailand is depressing, makes me wonder why I'm even living in Thailand lol. land/house prices don't actually seem all that different, land is a lot cheaper in NZ, buildings are a lot cheaper in Thailand)

[manxninja]

If you fancy moving to buriram i can let you have 2 rai of good building land with electric and water supply for 30k per rai.

I can get more than double for the land but im prepared to help out another ex pat if you intend to build a house on the land.

[SlyAnimal]

If you fancy moving to buriram i can let you have 2 rai of good building land with electric and water supply for 30k per rai.

I can get more than double for the land but im prepared to help out another ex pat if you intend to build a house on the land.

Cheers for the offer, that's quite tempting (gf was almost tempted too), but I do need to stay closeish to my current job + gf's family.

[klikster]

Have you tried ddproperty.com? They now have an English language option.

We bought a house listed on the site, then sold it 2 years later .. on the site.

[jamescollister]

OP be very, very careful if buying farm land to build a house on. Know Thais and farangs do all the time, BUT it can come back and bite you. This no problem, no one cares, is OK until someone decides to care.

My understanding, planing permission can not be back dated. See a land lawyer before spending any money, also remember you will never have a right to that land. It will be your wife [to be] land

Be careful. Jim

Good advice from Jimbo. In addition to that I would suggest getting the wife (landowner) to make a will leaving you the land/propety just incase you succeed her. Check Thai inheritance laws and you will see why.

D

Or if you have Thai children. Jim must have been burned because hes always stressing the point.

The opposite, happily married, first wife/first husband, 2 kids born in OZ. Live in Thailand, have a 100 rai rubber plantation and a licensed rubber factory.

No others in the same boat as me, but have seen what happens when things go wrong, just like anywhere in the world divorces can get very bitter. Jim

[swissie]

Trying to read between the lines: If there is any assumption of a Farang that if having children with a Thai/Wife/GF or whatever will improve his status as far as his Visa-Status is concerned. Simply forget it ! Having 2 or 20 Children with a Thai Female will not change anything at all.

Different in Europe, but not here in Thailand. Off topic? Not really.

Cheers.

[jamescollister]

Trying to read between the lines: If there is any assumption of a Farang that if having children with a Thai/Wife/GF or whatever will improve his status as far as his Visa-Status is concerned. Simply forget it ! Having 2 or 20 Children with a Thai Female will not change anything at all.

Different in Europe, but not here in Thailand. Off topic? Not really.

Cheers.

No it does in fact change some requirements as per visa. You can get an extension of stay. 1 year, reporting of course, for support of child.

Difference from other extension, retirement or spouse, is that you only need 400,000 Baht in the bank for one day. Money does not have to come from overseas, you can borrow it.

OP on another point re planning permission. The type of land you seem to be talking about will not come under the Amphor control. You would need permission from the Amphor and the body that controls the usage of that land. BKK or province.

When we built our rubber factory we needed 3 sets of planning permission. The land had no title at all, possession land. If it had had a low type title for farming, permission would not have been granted as it would have been zoned for farming only.

You really have to be careful, some titles are just a right to farm and if you don't farm the land for 3 years, someone can come and claim it, as you have not used it for the purpose.

Check, double and triple check before parting with money. The old days of a wink and a nod are disappearing fast, more and more goes through BKK. Jim

[Gary A]

I think the 30 year lease to a farang is pretty solid if it has been registered at the land office. Before I was married, I seriously considered a lease. I had a serious girlfriend at the time and decided the lease, when it is finished would leave her nothing after I am dead and gone. I think I made the right decision by putting it all in her name. After about 9 years of putting up with me, she has earned the right to keep it all even if she decides to throw me out tomorrow.

I was always hesitant about trusting lawyers and would rather take a chance trusting my wife rather than trusting a sleazy lawyer who is not responsible for anything he does for you. Most will tell you what you want to hear just to get your money.

I think the bottom line here is trusting your wife and not spending more than you can afford to walk away from. It's difficult for me to generate much sympathy for guys who spend their life savings on a woman or often a girl he really doesn't know.

[PattayaPhom]

What is the "right price" as you keep quoting? Maybe the listings you found on the internet with the right price are 5 years old, that's why they can't be contacted

[roiet]

I can help you . You are looking for land/ house 50 km south of Roi-et. We have land and house for sale 50km south of Roi-et. Just 1km to to center of this city in a upcoming suburb.It is a house with swimming pool and a resort. Built to solid european standard. European/thai run well established business. All in best condition. All paid. Chanot.The resort can generate nice profit for your thai family.

[SlyAnimal]

What is the "right price" as you keep quoting? Maybe the listings you found on the internet with the right price are 5 years old, that's why they can't be contacted

The right price, depends on the land. Land which is next to the main road, I can appreciate that a high price is justified as the land has a potential commercial use e.g. I was shown some land yesterday, which they (not the owner) estimated might be worth 1 million THB a rai based on a previous sale nearby, because it's directly behind PTT. That's maybe the "Right Price" for that piece of land, but sometimes others are quoting similar prices (or higher), for land which doesn't justify the price e.g. it has no possible commercial value other than as a rice field or maybe flats. However either way, as I don't need to be next to PTT, or next to the main road (I'd ideally prefer to not be next to the main road, regardless of price, although at this stage I probably wouldn't split hairs)

And thanks for the offer RoiEt, however I think your place is in a different amphur to where I live (And I need to stay in this amphur)

[Gonsalviz]

Depending on the stability of your relationship and what you want to do with it., Chanote land would be the best to buy. Options are better but that land is expensive. The lesser valuable land has some undesireable rules that go along with it. I forgot the titles but I know we have some of both.

In my opinion, in relation to the economy, land is not cheap anywhere in Thailand.

[swissie]

To look for land, there is another way: Every major Thai-Bank has a website. One section lists property for sale. Those are mainly properties, that the Bank had to re-posess because the owners have dafaulted on payments.

Usually, the Banks start with an "asking-price". If not sold at this given price within a certain time-frame, the Bank will lower the price. Again and again until property is sold.

Advantage: Good deals available AND the land-papers will be just fine, since banks don't lend any money for land where the papers are non- existent or not above doubt in the first place.

Good hunting. Cheers.

[manxninja]

Kasicorn bank used to have land and property on their books that they had repossesed. I had a look a couple of years ago and the prices were cheap.

Probably doubled now i know they have around the wifes village.

I wouldnt dream about buying more land in Thailand now. Way overpriced.

[swissie]

Kasicorn bank used to have land and property on their books that they had repossesed. I had a look a couple of years ago and the prices were cheap.

Probably doubled now i know they have around the wifes village.

I wouldnt dream about buying more land in Thailand now. Way overpriced.

Agreed, overpriced! More reason to go the way I described above. = If the bank has lowered the price for the second time, chances are, that a "fair" price is in the making. In a case like this I would seriously look at it.

Very much opposite to the GF, that proposes to "buy" land from her family!!! (Probably with no papers at all.) Heaven help us farangs.

At any rate: If "buying" Land, it is advisable to do this at least 700 KM away from "the Family". Have the land in the name of GF/Wife and live happily ever after, Knowing, that you will see "the Family" only once a year (usually around Songkran, as long as GF/Wife or you foots the bill for the bus-fare.)

Farangs could really live a worryfree live in Thailand if the relatoinship was limited to GF/Wife. No? Live and learn.

Cheers.