What If?

[robint]

If ownership rules where changed,would there be massive inflation on the property market/overall economy.

Yes for sure, prices would double in the non tourist areas overnight and god knows what would happen in the resort locations

please see my post above. why does everyone seem to talk price explosion?

If it did happen,would it have a negative impact on the poorer communities??? or would that be offset by more employment opportunities/cash in circulaton??Would they really be any worse off?

Could they be any worse off? the poor are already shafted, the shafting will continue regardless of property value

and i daresay they will continue to be shafted at the current state of the low quality education they receive - especially in the poor parts.

It would certainly open the country up,no end..Its already seen as one of/or not the,most desirable location in SEA.It seems every time I read something about BKK/Thailand(from top end newspaper articals),it seems to shake off a bit more of the "sex tourist destination only" label that it once held..

Top end newspaper articles overlook the "sex tourist destination only" label but the undercurrent flow stronger than ever.of the farangs who live here came looking for girls and the other 10% are gay.

what about me, I am a beast Dont forget that all media relies mostly on advertising - especially from realtors and developers and the TRT party

Im sure we would see many more european retirees,looking toward winding down in LOS..

We will see many millions of retirees heading here in the next few years, the baby boomers in the USA are now realising that they dont have enough income to retire on and face poverty in their old age. The moment the world wakes up to the fact you can retire here and live like a king on pennies you wont be able to move for viagra fuelled coffin dodgers on Sukumvit

have you been in soi buakhoa recently, can hardly get a seat at any of the mom n pop stores anymore for the geriatric cheap charlie drunks

So,with a change of goverment looking possible if not likely,does this fill at least some of you with hope for the future??

chnage of current government scares me stiff, but its got to be done. Mr T will do the Marcos mambo and run off to live in his huge mansion in uk along with poodle blair whlo helped him buy it

The government will in my opinion NEVER change the laws to allow farangs to own land. They already have the perfect system of allowing a kind of ownership that is not ownership and they can pull the rug by moving the goalposts at any time they like. They have your money and they still own "your" land.

With a beautiful system like this in place, who in thier right mind would ever change it?

Why wont thaksin give in,and let anyone own their own land??What are the resons for him slamming the door on foreign property investors..Am i missing something here (probably)

yes, see above

I suppose most thais don't see the need for change.if it were to happen,it may even cost him the support of some ...

mai bpen rai, they guys counting the votes are good friends of Mr T.

It would be interesting to know what some of you think would happen,if the unthinkable did actually happen..

The unthinkable happens every day. Dumb farangs arrive here and are parted from their cash by cunning females and a smokescreen of property "ownership" methods. Long it may continue!

IMHO the real threat of land grabbing would come from the north, know what i mean, lots of relatives and extended family up there

[gurkle]

I think the government should make it impossible for any farangs to own any land ever.

I think they should also negate any current ownership, forcing them to give up any land they currently own.

Why would any Thai citizen want farangs to buy up the land? So they can encourage more sex tourists to come live here? So they can drive up prices like they already have in their own country?

Thais are not stupid enough to believe lax ownership laws would increase foreign investment. They know the difference between a farang living here and the farangs living overseas that do business with Thailand.

[BKK90210]

Why would any Thai citizen want farangs to buy up the land? So they can encourage more sex tourists to come live here? So they can drive up prices like they already have in their own country?

Thais are not stupid enough to believe lax ownership laws would increase foreign investment. They know the difference between a farang living here and the farangs living overseas that do business with Thailand.

Most thais are nationalist....and the opinion above is the general view of the thais. They may smiles at you but most of them don’t like farangs and it’s the fact here!

[Maigo6]

They may smiles at you but most of them don’t like farangs and it’s the fact here!

Massive generalisation, maybe they just don't like you.

[Gary A]

I am continually AMAZED at the knowledge of some people on this board. They simply know EVERYTHING about EVERYTHING! In the the ten years I have lived here (full time) I find that I still know very little. Maybe I'm just a slow learner.

As far as land prices, they vary from reasonable to astronomical. Near our small up country village I know of four plots for sale now. One plot is low land and the asking price is 500,000 baht per rai. A kilometer or so on the same road is a better located higher plot for 190,000 baht per rai. Recently I bought 10 rai for my wife for 18,000 baht per rai. Land is worth exactly what someone is willing to pay for it.

[Mobi]

I am continually AMAZED at the knowledge of some people on this board. They simply know EVERYTHING about EVERYTHING! In the the ten years I have lived here (full time) I find that I still know very little. Maybe I'm just a slow learner. UNQUOTE

No, you're not. I've been coming here off and on for over thirty years, and that includes well over fifteen years of continous living in LOS.

The longer I stay here, the more I realise how little I know.

Occasionally I try to drop few well chosen anecdotes into my posts, but I guess I'm just regarded as a senile old biugger.

QUOTE As far as land prices, they vary from reasonable to astronomical. Near our small up country village I know of four plots for sale now. One plot is low land and the askin

g price is 500,000 baht per rai. A kilometer or so on the same road is a better located higher plot for 190,000 baht per rai. Recently I bought 10 rai for my wife for 18,000 baht per rai.

Land is worth exactly what someone is willing to pay for it.

Couldn't agree more. I'm about to pay a similar price for 20 rai up in Sa Kaeo. Cheaper than building a house!

Edited March 13, 2006 by Mobi D'Ark

[steveromagnino]

As far as land prices, they vary from reasonable to astronomical. Near our small up country village I know of four plots for sale now. One plot is low land and the asking price is 500,000 baht per rai. A kilometer or so on the same road is a better located higher plot for 190,000 baht per rai. Recently I bought 10 rai for my wife for 18,000 baht per rai.

Land is worth exactly what someone is willing to pay for it.

I added in the bold, because for someone buying land, this is indeed the key to understanding price.

In the property business, developers and buyers have to appraise value of various lots based on what we would use it for. For instance, one area may have a certain zoning allowing tall buildings that another may not. One may be near a main road, whereas another may not. This is how they see whether something is good value to buy....or not.

This gets down to the difference between the price or something. And the value of that same thing.

Therefore, virtually all the major property developers have some models that calculate what a fair value for any given land is. It may be very wrong sometimes, and it cannot factor in the opinions and ideas of specific buyers and sellers, but it is certainly a good approximation.

On a personal level ,we also are acquiring land in our family, and we do much the same thing. Big things are access to road, height, water access/water table, surrounding properties, that sort of thing.

So while it is true to say that land is worth exactly what someone is willing to pay for it; that applies to every single product in the world - and it reflects the price. It is perhaps more useful to know the approximate value of the property, which is something based on however many factors one is willing to use to calculate and will be long debated, but is probably more useful for overall assessment, and a guideline when starting negotation to buy something.

In general, the more transactions, and the more transparency, the more likely the value and the price converge.

Mobi - SaKaew is going places ; I looked at land around that area a while back....make sure you don't spend too much time at Poi phet