Is buying a few condos in cm a good pension/little income plan for the future?

[TommyUK1960]

Investing in Thailand is risky. The odds are stacked against you.

Locking your money up in condo's is a bad move.

What you going to do if you need to access the cash quickly because selling used condo is hard.

How to become a million-air in Thailand?

Start with 10 million.

ABSOLUTE TRIPE my Wife sells "used" condos day in day out and also rents condos regularly earning 220k a month doing this in Bangkok, they sell easily no problems if at realistic prices , she is forever at the land office doing this you have no idea what you are talking about, I sold mine within 3 weeks of advertising because they werent at stupid prices,

It is correct any condo will sell at the right price, This guy is talking CM not Bangkok. its a different market.

Good luck to your wife making 220k a month,

[Hugh Jarse]

1. Timing of buying and selling critical to profit - Your point in a property cycle. If you buy near the bottom, you should get a higher rental yield even when rents have fallen.

2 Location - The prime consideration when investing in real properties.

3 there are always some bad tenants - Can be minimized by choosing the right location for a targeted group of clients.

4 it will be more work than you think - Maintenance is a must, upkeeping the assets that are earning for you.

5 if you have any diy skills you will save a lot of time and hassle fixing it yourself ( and you will be fixing stuff) - I fix minor stuff, and have a reliable contractor to fix larger issues like repainting, fixing cabinets, plumbing and electrics.

6 Tenants dont care one bit about your room - Japanese clients do undertake to fix minor issues themselves.

7 Money talks no deposit no room

8 Dont ever give an inch on deposit money up front

9 Trust no one although you do get some good tenants and sometimes even they go bad

10 Good money was to be made in Bangkok but due to timing now not so good, anywhere else i dont know but suspect way lower rents than BKK - Old larger condo units (2-3 bedrooms) along Sukhumvit are still giving rental yields of 6% or more. Oversupply is mainly in studios and 1-bed sector.

My comments are in red above. Old condo units (15 years or older) in good locations are probably a better bet for such an investment.

Your time horizon for such an investment should be about 12-15 years, which is appropriate for retirement income. Old condo units have lesser price variance in a property cycle, thus have lesser rise and fall in rental yields.

The level of economic activity of a city/town will determine the demand for rental space, esp from foreign clients. Pattaya is tourist based with high and low seasons. What about CM?

I restrict myself to Bangkok, along Sukhumvit, and between Asoke and Prakhanong in particular. This is where my targeted group of clients choose to reside.

Anyone here know about the condo market in Hua Hin and how the 1bed, 2 bed condos are doing ref. rental yields.?

[johnnyk]

I own a house that I rent to holidayers. There is ALWAYS stuff to fix or replace. There are plenty of petty hassles from people incapable of changing light bulbs to cleaning up the "work" of incompetents.

That's just one dwelling, I sure wouldn't want more than one!

Overall I make about 5% ROI. There are better, easier ways to make 5% for sure.

Back in Europe I did holiday rentals very successfully for 20+ years. We rarely had anything expensive to fix or replace but we did keep the place in extremely good order. Our tenants appreciated this and would normally pay for replacement items such as cracked saucers themselves, even though I would have considered this as normal wear and tear and would not have charged them.

One person did manage to break half a porcelain handbasin off the wall (God knows how) but they were very keen to pay the entire bill for replacing it.

How many condos do you rent out in Thailand?, you are speaking as a tenant, holiday rentals are TOTALLY different kettle of fish especially in another country. You usually meet the tenant at start and finish of their time with you so its MUCH easier to keep an eye on whats going on + they know they will lose any deposit if stuff gets broken.

APPLES and ORANGES

[johnnyk]

I own a house that I rent to holidayers. There is ALWAYS stuff to fix or replace. There are plenty of petty hassles from people incapable of changing light bulbs to cleaning up the "work" of incompetents.

That's just one dwelling, I sure wouldn't want more than one!

Overall I make about 5% ROI. There are better, easier ways to make 5% for sure.

Back in Europe I did holiday rentals very successfully for 20+ years. We rarely had anything expensive to fix or replace but we did keep the place in extremely good order. Our tenants appreciated this and would normally pay for replacement items such as cracked saucers themselves, even though I would have considered this as normal wear and tear and would not have charged them.

One person did manage to break half a porcelain handbasin off the wall (God knows how) but they were very keen to pay the entire bill for replacing it.

How many condos do you rent out in Thailand?, you are speaking as a tenant, holiday rentals are TOTALLY different kettle of fish especially in another country. You usually meet the tenant at start and finish of their time with you so its MUCH easier to keep an eye on whats going on + they know they will lose any deposit if stuff gets broken.

APPLES and ORANGES

[johnnyk]

I own a house that I rent to holidayers. There is ALWAYS stuff to fix or replace. There are plenty of petty hassles from people incapable of changing light bulbs to cleaning up the "work" of incompetents.

That's just one dwelling, I sure wouldn't want more than one!

Overall I make about 5% ROI. There are better, easier ways to make 5% for sure.

Back in Europe I did holiday rentals very successfully for 20+ years. We rarely had anything expensive to fix or replace but we did keep the place in extremely good order. Our tenants appreciated this and would normally pay for replacement items such as cracked saucers themselves, even though I would have considered this as normal wear and tear and would not have charged them.

One person did manage to break half a porcelain handbasin off the wall (God knows how) but they were very keen to pay the entire bill for replacing it.

How many condos do you rent out in Thailand?, you are speaking as a tenant, holiday rentals are TOTALLY different kettle of fish especially in another country. You usually meet the tenant at start and finish of their time with you so its MUCH easier to keep an eye on whats going on + they know they will lose any deposit if stuff gets broken.

APPLES and ORANGES

[OnMyWay2]

Whatever you do dont rent out your condo for 5 years so that it ends up looking like a used hotel room and expect to

get more than you paid for it when it was brand new.

Edited September 22, 2013 by OnMyWay2

[Khun Jean]

We have small condo's around Sukhumvit. Typical 25-35m2 studios. None of them more expensive then 450K. Most of them were bought around 200k over the past 10 years. No borrowing, slowly build up by 2-3 condos per year.

Rent them out without furniture. Tiled floor, painted walls.

Every few years a thorough cleaning and new paint.

Have a handy man who fixes small stuff. The ones we bought ten years ago are now tripled in price.

ROI has been 10% or more and occupancy is very close to 100%. We rent out to Thai working people. Rental price is around 3-4k per month.

The work i do for it is drive around and find these places. When retirement age is reached this will generate enough without a problem. Slowly selling a few, starting with the oldest ones will generate extra money, the rest are for the kids.