Buying A Detached House In Bangkok .. Realtor Advice ?

[Househunter88]

Hi all,

I'm looking to buy a detached house in my wife's name for our family in Bangkok ( within 2km of BTS/MRT) but I'm having mixed fortunes in looking through internet sites.... Not a lot on offer , many out of date listings , maps not accurate etc.

Would anyone have any recommendations on a good real estate agent that has access to a LARGE amount of listings [ In the past , I've found any I tried to work with less than useless in that they have their own portfolio of 10-20 properties alone and no access to the whole market]

I would appreciate any recommendations either by posting response or pm as it's pretty frustrating for both of us.

Regards,

H

PLEASE NOTE: I am not in need of any advice on whether the house should be in my spouse's name , I'm fully aware of the legal standings of this move and do not have an issue requiring attention.

Edited May 25, 2013 by Househunter88

[rgs2001uk]

DDproperty.com

Choose Bkk then choose by area in Bkk, I would use the prices asked as a benchmark and not to be taken as gospel, there are some dreamers on there.

Its back to the old story, best decide on an area in which you want to live, then go for a drive round the area and get a feel for local prices.

[johnnyk]

No real estate bargains on the net.

[rickirs]

This might get you started http://www.thonburi-home.com/

[Somrak]

I know that "you " may do not like to here this:

Rent first for all the 3 seasons (renting is cheap compared with buying!) and then look around.

[Somrak]

Rent first something for at least a year and look around.

Compared with buying, renting is much cheaper and .....

May buy the Nation or the Bangkokpost if you nead the house immediatly and look at the offerings! ;-)

[Househunter88]

Hi All,

Thanks for the feedback. I appreciate each of you taking the time.

I have already been on ddproperty.com and prakardproperty.com.

I'll check out Chonburi site also.

If anyone can recommend a good agent I would love to meet one.

With regards to renting , I know that may be a good strategy but in my case , I feel property will continue to appreciate rapidly in the coming years so I want to jump in now.

I'm looking in the 4m-9m range for a 3/2 standard detached house , hopefully within 2-3km of a BTS/MRT

Regards and thank again,

H

[watcharacters]

.

There's nothing like an MLS here in Thailand. Real estate transactions seems to be generally done by word of mouth. Talk with the security guard about new places for sale and etc.

I'm from a country where there's a lot of information available about what is usually the single biggest investment a person ever makes and have to accept there's little to no information available here.

In the future I'd bet more information will be available for buyers of real estate in Thailand. But for now????

good luck.

[NanLaew]

Picking the area and then driving round each 'village' on a motorbike is still the best way to get most listings. Most home owners in Thailand tend to hang for-rent/for-sale signs outside the properties rather than list with agencies. Then you deal direct with the owner and not through a shonky realtor who's website is probably out of date anyway. Most realtors websites are only good for a rough guide to prices and locations IMHO.

Go ahead and jump in and buy now. But renting for a year is truly the best way to know if the locale has any infrastructure problems like shitty garbage collection or flooding. Why buy a house that may be inaccessible on foot for a couple of months a year? Guaranteed if it is, you won't be able to offload it in the 'rapidly appreciating' Bangkok property market.

[yourauntbob]

We drove around for 6 months before we finally settled on the right place. It takes time, if you jump right in your most likely to get burned.

During the floods we had almost a meter of water in our area. An acquaintance (Thai) purchased a house the next soi (Moo ban) over a few months ago. When i asked him what they said about the floods they told him there was no water near by and the main road was fine. We took a small boat to our complex (luckily they kept it out of the complex) to get our stuff and leave for a month. Moral of the story, due diligence is very important,

[rgs2001uk]

^^^^^, so true.

For the OP, suggest you look at for example Land & House website,

http://www.lh.co.th/

You make no mention of what you want, a new house on a new moo baan, an older house on an existing moo baan?

Do you want an older house you can demolish and rebuild?

Why not buy a strip of land and build your own house?

Why the need to be near the BTS?MRT ?

Basically you have two choices, north Bkk or east Bkk.

[Househunter88]

Hi All,

Thanks again for the tips, I'm really a novice at this stuff !.

To answer the various Questions:

1. Although not in a mad panic to buy, I would prefer to buy sooner (2-6 months) rather than later (>6 months) as we have a new member of the family on the way, the baht is continuing to appreciate as is the Thai property market itself.

2. I would ideally like a 3/3 two story house with garden, near BTS/MRT ( ~2km) and access to a shopping centre,park, facilities, expressways. I'm looking for a property in liveable state that is either in very good repair or requiring repairs that are not urgent or necessary immediately (e.g Kitchen very poor but could be reno'ed to western standards easily, house needing a good paint tc.)

3.

^^^^^, so true.

For the OP, suggest you look at for example Land & House website,

http://www.lh.co.th/

You make no mention of what you want, a new house on a new moo baan, an older house on an existing moo baan?

Do you want an older house you can demolish and rebuild?

Why not buy a strip of land and build your own house?

Why the need to be near the BTS?MRT ?

Basically you have two choices, north Bkk or east Bkk.

[Househunter88]

Thanks again for the tips, I'm really a novice at this stuff !.

To answer the various Questions:

1. Although not in a mad panic to buy, I would prefer to buy sooner (2-6 months) rather than later (>6 months) as we have a new member of the family on the way, the baht is continuing to appreciate as is the Thai property market itself.

2. I would ideally like a 3/3 two story house with garden, near BTS/MRT ( ~2km) and access to a shopping centre,park, facilities, expressways. I'm looking for a property in liveable state that is either in very good repair or requiring repairs that are not urgent or necessary immediately (e.g Kitchen very poor but could be reno'ed to western standards easily, house needing a good paint tc.)

3. Nearness to BTS/MRT is a thought from me in that I believe these areas will appreciate /maintain value more than other areas.... I'm open to correction on this view ?

4. With regards to building myself, I would love to do this but I work 50-60 hours a week so this project would not be possible now.

Again my thanks for all input.

H

[Jasun]

This should be the one moment in your life when those phone numbers stuck on telegraph poles around BKK don't annoy you.

[rgs2001uk]

Thanks again for the tips, I'm really a novice at this stuff !.

To answer the various Questions:

1. Although not in a mad panic to buy, I would prefer to buy sooner (2-6 months) rather than later (>6 months) as we have a new member of the family on the way, the baht is continuing to appreciate as is the Thai property market itself.

2. I would ideally like a 3/3 two story house with garden, near BTS/MRT ( ~2km) and access to a shopping centre,park, facilities, expressways. I'm looking for a property in liveable state that is either in very good repair or requiring repairs that are not urgent or necessary immediately (e.g Kitchen very poor but could be reno'ed to western standards easily, house needing a good paint tc.)

3. Nearness to BTS/MRT is a thought from me in that I believe these areas will appreciate /maintain value more than other areas.... I'm open to correction on this view ?

4. With regards to building myself, I would love to do this but I work 50-60 hours a week so this project would not be possible now.

Again my thanks for all input.

H

Only my thoughts, dont take as gospel.

You may end up cutting off your nose to spite your face with your insistence to be near a BTS/MRT, you may well have the proximity to them both, but does the moo baan and area have the facilities you seek.

If you need BTS/MRT for getting back and forth to work I understand.

As for areas that are likely to increase in value, why not have a look at the projected extensions, purple and orange lines I believe.

There are some nice areas out there that have the facilities you seek, but arent near a line extension yet, but will be in say the next 5 or 6 years.

Area such as upper Ramkhamheng/ Ram Intra area spring to mind.

[Khun Jean]

If there is a new family member on the way i would suggest going further away from bts/mrt to escape the highest concentration of pollution.

Those areas are the busiest with the most traffic and as such are not a healthy place to live.

Even when you are only a few hundred meters from a station it will be a nuisance to walk through busy streets with a baby. Remember the seasons in Bangkok, Hot, wet and hottest. Add severe pollution on streetlevel and closeness to a bts/mrt becomes a hazard.

Just take a taxi. Often the taxi is also cheaper when traveling with 2 or three people if that is a concern.

Being 2-3km away from a station will not be so important. In the time you need to travel those 2-3 km you can probably take a highway with a close exit to your destination. Being close to a highway entrance can be more convenient, especially when you have an own car.

Your time frame is short and is the biggest mistake you can ever make.

If you are a novice at this stuff, take it from someone who is not a novice and follow this advice:

DO NOT SET A TIMEFRAME!

If you want to find a HOME take all the time you need.

In the meantime, rent. Preferably in the area or moo ban where you plan to buy something. YOu will be the first to know if something is for sale in that area.

If you are worried about the baht appreciation against your own currency you can minimize its effect by transferring money to Thailand every month. This will even out the exchange rate. Rates go up and down all the time and doing a monthly transfer will give you some ease of mind.

[Househunter88]

Hi ,

Thanks for all the good advice. My greatest problem is lack of time as I work long hours. I will not rush in to a purchase but neither will I wait if I see the right spot. If anyone has advice on how to check out neighbourhoods other than the usual methods [scouting around, reading forums etc.] that would be great.

H

[RAZZELL]

There are some nice places up near Ramintra.

Have a look on the Sansiri site.

www.sansiri.com/

RAZZ