House Hunting To Buy

[britpop]

Been looking around at buying a 3 bedroom house in Kathu or Chalong, like everyone i'm looking for a good deal, i'd rather deal direct with the seller, so they don't incur a real estates 5% fee's, I would even consider a swap or P/X for a freehold condo i have in patong, currently valued at 3.4 - 4 million, over 20 condo's have sold in the past year in the building, so a bit of a hotspot. i check all the online media's, baht & sold, gazette, post, TV classifieds,real estate sites but then you have to inquire, there's that 5% fee for the seller, i driven around looking, but again you only know if they have a for sale sign outside, i'd be interested if any TV members know of anything for sale out there, please PM if you have any addresses/ details/ pictures or contact numbers, or any idea's where i should be looking that i might have missed!!!!

[soi41]

Before you even consider buying a house, do your homework. The agent fee is paid by the seller, not the buyer. (at least not directly)

[britpop]

Before you even consider buying a house, do your homework. The agent fee is paid by the seller, not the buyer. (at least not directly)

100% agree, i've sold a few places over here via real estate agents, i know what it's like to hand over that 5% fee money, normally when dealing direct with the seller, the non agents fee's brings the price down, i always do my dodiligence checks aswel

[N47HAN]

Theres a house being advertised on the tourist channel

Dont know if in your budget or not bit looks v.nice ( in kathu )

[NamKangMan]

"20 condo's in the building have sold in the last year" - and you would like to be number 21.

I don't know what the other 20 guys were thinking, but I would be thinking, "Why is everyone selling in this building????"

[britpop]

"20 condo's in the building have sold in the last year" - and you would like to be number 21.

I don't know what the other 20 guys were thinking, but I would be thinking, "Why is everyone selling in this building????"

The building for years was mis-managed, we got the old management out, all the maintenance fee's now get spent on the building, major work has been done over the last 2-3 years, it's a 2 way thing, where owners couldn't sell easy before, now with the buildings new reputation,look, security, size, pool, these owners have been able to sell so easily, 1 owner had 10-12 condo's on the market for years, but now he could have sold them ten times over, secondly, the size of the condo's, with all the facilities, beautiful pool, sea views or seen as a great deal and investment by new buyers that have made comparisons with other condo's. it's not owners leaving a sinking ship, rather new buyers wanting to board the new remodeled boat in town, either way it's always been a great rental income for me.

[NamKangMan]

"20 condo's in the building have sold in the last year" - and you would like to be number 21.

I don't know what the other 20 guys were thinking, but I would be thinking, "Why is everyone selling in this building????"

The building for years was mis-managed, we got the old management out, all the maintenance fee's now get spent on the building, major work has been done over the last 2-3 years, it's a 2 way thing, where owners couldn't sell easy before, now with the buildings new reputation,look, security, size, pool, these owners have been able to sell so easily, 1 owner had 10-12 condo's on the market for years, but now he could have sold them ten times over, secondly, the size of the condo's, with all the facilities, beautiful pool, sea views or seen as a great deal and investment by new buyers that have made comparisons with other condo's. it's not owners leaving a sinking ship, rather new buyers wanting to board the new remodeled boat in town, either way it's always been a great rental income for me.

So why do you want to get off the "new remodeled boat?" :)

[lufc74]

Private message sent regarding villas for sale,

[britpop]

"20 condo's in the building have sold in the last year" - and you would like to be number 21.

I don't know what the other 20 guys were thinking, but I would be thinking, "Why is everyone selling in this building????"

The building for years was mis-managed, we got the old management out, all the maintenance fee's now get spent on the building, major work has been done over the last 2-3 years, it's a 2 way thing, where owners couldn't sell easy before, now with the buildings new reputation,look, security, size, pool, these owners have been able to sell so easily, 1 owner had 10-12 condo's on the market for years, but now he could have sold them ten times over, secondly, the size of the condo's, with all the facilities, beautiful pool, sea views or seen as a great deal and investment by new buyers that have made comparisons with other condo's. it's not owners leaving a sinking ship, rather new buyers wanting to board the new remodeled boat in town, either way it's always been a great rental income for me.

So why do you want to get off the "new remodeled boat?"

i never said i wanted to sell, it was only a option, as a rental income it's a great rental yield for what i paid as a percentage, either way it's a asset,

[SDM0712]

I have a Real Estate Agency myself with offices here in Phuket and London. This view that buyers will save the agents fee by going direct to the seller always amuses me. The buyers makes any offer they chose and the seller will either accept or not. Most sellers just take the view that they will want the same as a property being advertised by an agent and build the 5% or whatever into what they want to achieve. Also for any buyer to rule out every property that is being marketed by an agent means only that they are effectively restricting their choice.

SDM

[KarenBravo]

What happened to the standard 3% for the agent?

[SDM0712]

Some firms do charge that.

I have been an agent for around 25 years, have worked in London's West End, for some of the biggest UK firms in Senior management and actually came to Thailand to retire. When I was looking to buy myself I was amazed at the standard of agents here so after getting very bored, I extended my UK brand over here, I still have a London office.. I really believe that most of the agents here wouldn't last five minutes in London and we work to London standards over here, so hopefully providing a better service. With that in mind I charge 5% for sales and 10% for lettings

SDM

[steelepulse]

I agree with you SDM. In my early 20's after Uni, I studied, paid fees then after passing an exam attained a brokers license which allowed me to run my own shop and not be an agent for someone else. After this there were ongoing fees such as paying for annual access to MLS, continuing education etc., so at least there was a bar to entry if you wanted to have your own estate agency.

Unless somehow the law has changed very recently, to be an "agent" here doesn't require anything, except access to websites and a way to take potential customers to view property.