Use Of "wah" In Real Estate

[USNret]

I've never bought a house in Thailand, but wife & I are starting to look around. We were looking at a new moo baan this week in Northern Thailand and got all confused about measurements. The moo baan had one-story & 2-story homes. The one story were shown as around 100 sqm, and after touring some I agreed that was truly about their size.

But the 2-story were also listed as 100, and the realtor (through a translator) was saying this was square yards. I flat didn't believe it, and my mental calculation was that if you took square yards & reduced by about 10% that would give you square meters, meaning the 2-story homes had less floor space than the 1-story homes. It didn't make sense.

There were no 2-story homes to tour, but looking at the floor plans, they were clearly larger.

Finally, after leaving, my wife figured out the mistaken translation & said no, they were talking about wah, not square yards. I google wah and learn it is a linear measure, but often used colloquially as a measure of area (square wah is still called wah). One wah is 4 square meters (2x2 meter area). This being the case, the 2-story homes would have had 4 times as much floor space as the 1-story home which still doesn't make sense (should have been roughly double), but at least it was trending in the right direction.

Is wah used in this way, or is it generally used to measure only land area, not floor space of a home? In Bangkok, I see everything in square meters but perhaps this isn't so in the rest of the country. Thanks!

[BlackPuddingBertha]

One wah is 2 metres. One square wah (tarangwah) is 4 square metres. (2x2=4)

For surface area one uses the square wah as the unit measurement. Or square metres if you prefer. Either way the calculation is easy.

Yards and feet should never be used here, any more than one would use miles or gallons.

As for the 2-floor homes, there may be some confusion over the plot area, the ground area of the building and the total area over the two floors. Either way they should all be measured in square wah or square metres.

[dave111223]

Note that if they tell you the size in square Wah they are probably referring to the lot size (size of the land) as opposed to the living area within the house which would generally be in square meters.

I find it odd here that people often list the size of their land when advertising the size of the house..."How big is your house?...3 acres..." type of mentality.

Edited April 23, 2013 by dave111223

[USNret]

Note that if they tell you the size in square Wah they are probably referring to the lot size (size of the land) as opposed to the living area within the house which would generally be in square meters.

I find it odd here that people often list the size of their land when advertising the size of the house..."How big is your house?...3 acres..." type of mentality.

Agreed, it was really strange. On the 1-story floor plans, they had a detailed table showing square meters of the home, plus extra if you added the driveway & outdoor patio. It was good & valuable information.

The 2-story floorplans had no such table. I had to look at the price list to tell the size, and this is where they wah vs sq m thing came up. It was inconsistent & confusing, not at all helped by the translation to square yards which I knew was ridiculous.

[wayned]

As sad wah usually refers to lot size, not internal house area.

1 sq. wah = 4 sq. m. 1 acre = 2.471 rai or 43,560 sq. ft.
1 ngan = 100 wah (or 400 sq. m.) 1 hectare = 6.25 rai or 10,000 sq. m.
1 Rai = 4 Ngan (or 1600 sq. m.)

[chiang mai]

He's asking how much? Wah.....!

Clear now

[SamuiRes]

Quoted measurements in Thailand can be very misleading.

We always quote usable internal living area and specify decks and balconies etc separately.

Developers in particular like to quote gross areas which include everything to make their properties sound bigger.

It is standard practice to quote house areas in sqm and land areas in Rai - Ngang - Talung Wah but usually with a sqm conversion.

[Mr Red]

Quoted measurements in Thailand can be very misleading.

We always quote usable internal living area and specify decks and balconies etc separately.

Developers in particular like to quote gross areas which include everything to make their properties sound bigger.

It is standard practice to quote house areas in sqm and land areas in Rai - Ngang - Talung Wah but usually with a sqm conversion.

Very true -- when we bought our home in Samut Prakan in a moo baan built by Land & Houses developer, I had to adjust my thinking to counting all space, not just usable space in the sqm calculations. Hard for me to accept the balconies and carport were part of the space, but that is what it is. Including those spaces inflated the sqm size by over 25%.

[Evolare]

Indeed something confusing but TiT so we have to adjust our thinking if we don't we will walk around being frustrated instead of enjoying life every time we come across thai logic.

when we bought our house we where looking in different moo bans and one common issue that we came across qas this example:

From the pricelist

70 sqw land 200sqm house 3.0 million baht

1 ngan land 200sqm house 4.1 million baht

I asked why they said more land so the extra 30 sqw cost 1.1 million i replied it doesnt make sense then they said it is extra because corner property? As i said TiT i realize now its probably considered luxury to have a little more space outside most thais think expansion of the house.

It was something similar in most moo bans finally we bought a land slot consisting 4 connected plots and built one house on it...it wasnt easy to find a moo ban that would allow it.

Edited April 23, 2013 by Evolare

[dave111223]

When we bought our house we where looking in different moo bans in

70 sqw land 200sqm house 3.0 million baht

1 ngan land 200sqm house 4.1 million baht

Moo baans can charge some eye wateringly overpriced amounts for extra lot size.

We bought land for 15K per wah, about 5 minutes up the street there is a moo baan selling their extra land for something like 75K per wah...

[Evolare]

When we bought our house we where looking in different moo bans in

70 sqw land 200sqm house 3.0 million baht

1 ngan land 200sqm house 4.1 million baht

Moo baans can charge some eye wateringly overpriced amounts for extra lot size.

We bought land for 15K per wah, about 5 minutes up the street there is a moo baan selling their extra land for something like 75K per wah...

Absolutely and there is no real market price the seller charge what ever they feel comfortable with. We paid 10k per wah and that with a 30% discount her ordinary price was 15k per wah as well this because the owner really liked my gf and the kanom (snack) that my gf's family was making and she was a regular customer.

[Naam]

But the 2-story were also listed as 100, and the realtor (through a
translator) was saying this was square yards. I flat didn't believe it,
and my mental calculation was that if you took square yards &
reduced by about 10% that would give you square meters, meaning the
2-story homes had less floor space than the 1-story homes. It didn't
make sense.

not exactly because 1 square yard = 0.836m² (-16.4%)

[oneday]

I've also recently been looking at real estate sites to buy a home. The real estate industry, real estate websites, realtors, etc are a bit out of whack in this country. Real estate sites contain loads of mis-information or just incorrect information or homes that have been sold for some time. I've seen sites list the land area and living area with the sizes obviously reversed.

As someone else said, typically they talk about land area as Sq Wah or Talag Wah or Wah, but they can also list it as square meters. There is absolutely no consistency about real estate in this country. However, they almost never speak in terms of Sq Wah for the size of the house. They typically call it living area and list it as Sq Meters. That doesn't mean there aren't exceptions due to stupidity.

[USNret]

But the 2-story were also listed as 100, and the realtor (through a translator) was saying this was square yards. I flat didn't believe it,

and my mental calculation was that if you took square yards & reduced by about 10% that would give you square meters, meaning the

2-story homes had less floor space than the 1-story homes. It didn't make sense.

not exactly because 1 square yard = 0.836m² (-16.4%)

Thank you for the precision. As I said, I was doing a rough mental calculation in the sales office. Didn't feel like whipping out a calculator & being a total anal jerk. If it got down to actual negotiation then yes, I would go after precise numbers.

[chiang mai]

But the 2-story were also listed as 100, and the realtor (through a translator) was saying this was square yards. I flat didn't believe it,

and my mental calculation was that if you took square yards & reduced by about 10% that would give you square meters, meaning the

2-story homes had less floor space than the 1-story homes. It didn't make sense.

not exactly because 1 square yard = 0.836m² (-16.4%)

Thank you for the precision. As I said, I was doing a rough mental calculation in the sales office. Didn't feel like whipping out a calculator & being a total anal jerk. If it got down to actual negotiation then yes, I would go after precise numbers.

Your idea was right, it's just that you got it the wrong way round, take square yards and increase by 10%.

[Naam]

But the 2-story were also listed as 100, and the realtor (through a translator) was saying this was square yards. I flat didn't believe it,

and my mental calculation was that if you took square yards & reduced by about 10% that would give you square meters, meaning the

2-story homes had less floor space than the 1-story homes. It didn't make sense.

not exactly because 1 square yard = 0.836m² (-16.4%)

Thank you for the precision. As I said, I was doing a rough mental calculation in the sales office. Didn't feel like whipping out a calculator & being a total anal jerk. If it got down to actual negotiation then yes, I would go after precise numbers.

relax! i confess using a calculator

[Naam]

But the 2-story were also listed as 100, and the realtor (through a translator) was saying this was square yards. I flat didn't believe it,

and my mental calculation was that if you took square yards & reduced by about 10% that would give you square meters, meaning the

2-story homes had less floor space than the 1-story homes. It didn't make sense.

not exactly because 1 square yard = 0.836m² (-16.4%)

Thank you for the precision. As I said, I was doing a rough mental calculation in the sales office. Didn't feel like whipping out a calculator & being a total anal jerk. If it got down to actual negotiation then yes, I would go after precise numbers.

Your idea was right, it's just that you got it the wrong way round, take square yards and increase by 10%.

nope! that would be still 8% off the correct mark.

[dunque]

But the 2-story were also listed as 100, and the realtor (through a translator) was saying this was square yards. I flat didn't believe it,

and my mental calculation was that if you took square yards & reduced by about 10% that would give you square meters, meaning the

2-story homes had less floor space than the 1-story homes. It didn't make sense.

not exactly because 1 square yard = 0.836m² (-16.4%)

Thank you for the precision. As I said, I was doing a rough mental calculation in the sales office. Didn't feel like whipping out a calculator & being a total anal jerk. If it got down to actual negotiation then yes, I would go after precise numbers.

Your idea was right, it's just that you got it the wrong way round, take square yards and increase by 10%.

Better make that 20%

[chiang mai]

Thank you for the precision. As I said, I was doing a rough mental calculation in the sales office. Didn't feel like whipping out a calculator & being a total anal jerk. If it got down to actual negotiation then yes, I would go after precise numbers.

Your idea was right, it's just that you got it the wrong way round, take square yards and increase by 10%.

nope! that would be still 8% off the correct mark.

I stand corrected, I took the difference bewteen 36 and 39 inches (1 metre) as being the 10%, which of course it is not when it is squared.

[USNret]

Your idea was right, it's just that you got it the wrong way round, take square yards and increase by 10%.

I stand by my original thesis. Although imprecise, my conversion is moving in the right direction.

For instance, 10 square yards equals 8.36 square meters. Since a meter is bigger than a yard, it takes fewer square meters to equal the same area in square yards.

FWIW, I have a great conversion app on my iPhone called AppBox Lite. It converts weights, temps, volume, area, distance and pressure. Only drawback is, it doesn't include Wah. :-)

[manarak]

to come back to OP's question, I use wah in real estate in the following way:

" päääääääng wah ! "

P.S.

wah and square wah are easier to use than feet, yards and inches!

[Longtooth]

One wah is 2 metres. One square wah (tarangwah) is 4 square metres. (2x2=4)

For surface area one uses the square wah as the unit measurement. Or square metres if you prefer. Either way the calculation is easy.

Yards and feet should never be used here, any more than one would use miles or gallons.

As for the 2-floor homes, there may be some confusion over the plot area, the ground area of the building and the total area over the two floors. Either way they should all be measured in square wah or square metres.

Yep. Figure how much floor space is wasted by the staircase, and consider that you may live to be old with bad knees or hips. I like single stories. Buying a house is fun. You sound like me, eight years ago. Also, consider renting.

[wayned]

My house is approximately 320 square meters, single story, built on 5200 square wah, or 13 rai in the country Most of the land is an orchard with mangos, noi na (custard apples) , jack fruit, bananas and Thai lemons. The land was purchased in early 1998 when the baht was 55.5 to the dollar at 167 baht/wah. My town house in Bangkok 100 square meters, is on 20 wah and it cost me 45000 baht/wah for the house and land in 1998 . In 2011, it was swamp land. Just depends on where you are located and if you are a gullible farang!

[trogers]

Measure the perimeter of the first floor using your normal steps in a stroll. Estimate the length of a stride. Convert to meters.

Formula to convert perimeter to area of a rectangle is in this link:

http://math.about.com/od/formulas/ss/areaperimeter_3.htm

Floor area of the 2nd floor should typically be similar or less than the first floor, as local designs do not have overhangs.

[SantiSuk]

Lots of falang accusing Thailand of making confusing statements in their (presumably) English language marketing material. TiT!

{If you are all talking about the Thai language version then I take back my implied slight}

[dave111223]

Lots of falang accusing Thailand of making confusing statements in their (presumably) English language marketing material. TiT!

{If you are all talking about the Thai language version then I take back my implied slight}

Yes, Thailand made some very confusing marketing statements to me.

[johnnyk]

Lots of falang accusing Thailand of making confusing statements in their (presumably) English language marketing material. TiT!

{If you are all talking about the Thai language version then I take back my implied slight}

Yes, Thailand made some very confusing marketing statements to me.

Like "Land of Smiles"? 555