Reasonable Priced Condos

[vagabond48]

Can one buy a nice 2 bedroom 120+ sq meter condo with a good kitchen about 10km to 15km from the old city?

I would like to pay 15K - 20K baht per sq meter depending on the condition of the property.

I don't want to use a real estate broker.

I just saw a duplex 2 BR condo on Canal off of Huay Kaew. I was told it was a bit over 115 Sq meters but it did not appear to be that big, with a small LR and a tiny kitchen. The asking price was 3.2M which I thought was too high and without a realtor. At that price, it wasn't worth negotiating.

[elektrified]

Wait until after the crash and pick yourself up a condo at a realistic price.

[vagabond48]

I am not sure if a crash will lower the prices unless the average owner has a bank loan that they could not keep up with.

As long as foreigners are IMHO foolishly willing to pay very high rental prices, some owners especially foreign ones who probably paid 100% cash wont sell at a lower price since they are getting a good return on their investment. The (foreign) owner of the condo I saw said he was renting his for 22.5K/month which I thought was ridiculous for that small space that's one reason why I am looking for one further out of CM.

Edited March 8, 2013 by vagabond48

[CMweb]

What you have against brokers? We are not all so bad

[tango]

#2 'Wait until after the crash'

What crash?

[hellodolly]

I am not sure if a crash will lower the prices unless the average owner has a bank loan that they could not keep up with.

As long as foreigners are IMHO foolishly willing to pay very high rental prices, some owners especially foreign ones who probably paid 100% cash wont sell at a lower price since they are getting a good return on their investment. The (foreign) owner of the condo I saw said he was renting his for 22.5K/month which I thought was ridiculous for that small space that's one reason why I am looking for one further out of CM.

I have seen places where they figure the balcony into the total size.

I was in one where I am sure they also measured not from wall to wall but from the other side of the wall thus gaining about 8 to 12 more inches in with.

[cheeryble]

Vagabond

The fact of the matter seems to me that prices for the better older buildings are being drawn inevitably upwards by the cost of new units......which have to be more expensive because they cost more to build nowadays.

10-15km from the city may be OK for you but it will mean your condo is less desirable and therefore less liquid, and therefore less profitable, in future. Location location.

New buildings are generally starting at 40-45k per sqm, to buy something which if you are the least discerning needs "improving" before you move in. For better quality or location go to 50, 60 or in the case of the latest the Nimmana, 76k per sqm.

Sorry but IMO you are unlikely to find a unit which has quality or even the potential for quality in terms of common areas and outlook and management for the price you mention......and quality of common area and management is an absolute essential so if I were you I personally would therefore adjust my plan.

[cheeryble]

Wait until after the crash

Had you waited for the crash in Shanghai or a host of other places you would still be waiting, wonder where you would have lived in the meantime ........

Even after a true speculative bubble the govt had to step in to slow it and it kind of just, well, eased off.

By comparison things here have been sedate.

(If you have some actual data for sales rates....please let us have a peek.)

Edited March 11, 2013 by cheeryble

[cheeryble]

I have seen places where they figure the balcony into the total size.

I was in one where I am sure they also measured not from wall to wall but from the other side of the wall thus gaining about 8 to 12 more inches in with.

Please inform where the walls are 12 inches thick.

Would love to live there......

[ogb]

Be interested to hear some actual (honest) stories from people who have bought condo's in Chiang Mai and have subsequently sold them.

Would you do it again, or would you just rent and forget the hassle of paying management fees, dealing with management, and tring to find a buyer?

[Rancid]

Knew a guy that bought in an old "Thai Style" building, spent money on a great reno, place looked spectacular from the inside. Then he thought it would be a good idea if the management pulled their finger out a brought the rest of the slum block up to his units condition. That was when all his problems started, he was attacking someones cash cow and eventually he was strongly advised to back off.

Not saying that is always the case but be aware...

[bucklt]

Be interested to hear some actual (honest) stories from people who have bought condo's in Chiang Mai and have subsequently sold them.

Would you do it again, or would you just rent and forget the hassle of paying management fees, dealing with management, and tring to find a buyer?

Recently sold my condo - occupied for 6 years - at a 55% profit AND an estimated savings of c720,000 baht in rent (based on 90 sq.mtrs - fully furnished).

Now actively looking to purchase 3 condos - one to occupy and 2 as investment income. The earlier remark about older condos going up in line with new ones is 100% correct!

Have looked at 7 - since last Friday 8th - and this 'trend' is definitely visible here in CM.

Bucklt

[cheeryble]

.

The earlier remark about older condos going up in line with new ones is 100% correct!

Have looked at 7 - since last Friday 8th - and this 'trend' is definitely visible here in CM.

Bucklt

Thanks for the boots-on-the-ground confirmation Buckit.....

I would add that the (so far few) properly run older buildings have an advantage which will gain importance fast as traffic gets worse and worse, Ie. centrality. Also there are only so many spots on the river.......and they're all gone. Same goes for central yet with great mountain view.....anything left?

IMO what will happen is the older buildings will realise they have certain advantages and can be worth a whole lot more if they just pull their socks up and have impeccable cleaning and maintenance and common areas. This will happen with money as the driver and growing satisfaction with an improved building as a passenger.

They will then fully recover from the undervaluation that's the hangover of the 90s financial crisis and the long term rise from original early 90s prices to the new unit prices now is perfectly reasonable.

Will the new buildings which tend to be outside the centre or rather crammed in to any free space available fill up and prosper?

So far they certainly have. Whether they continue to or not is at least somewhat irrelevant to the older buildings of which I speak. They are a different animal. Other things being equal, good quality central units will always do well. As I said to someone the other day, even slightly peripheral (thou very well positioned) places like Riverside will in the not so distant future be at the heart of a much bigger metropolis, and in a decade or so buildings like that will have a massive facelift to merit their more big city centre promotion or be knocked down and rebuilt twice as high.

Either way owners will benefit enormously and of course will have had free rent all along.

Edited March 11, 2013 by cheeryble

[NeverSure]

OK, so go to classifieds on this site. Next go to advanced search. Next, choose Chiang Mai. Next specify a cheap price range.

There will be lots of them. I also don't believe that nearly all that are for rent are advertised on this site.

I don't know if this LINK will work. This is using the "ridiculous" parameter of 2000 to 6000 bht pm.

THIS is using the more realistic parameter of 7000 to 10000 pm.

THIS is 10500 to 15000 pm.

THIS, is houses instead of condos, 5000 to 15000 pm. There's only about 160 of them actually advertised here.

If the links work.