Condos in Chiang Mai

[beau thai]

This brings up a good question -- is there such a thing as a "buyer's agent" in Chiang Mai? There is in the U.S. -- where a prospective buyer (or renter) pays a real estate agent to work on HIS behalf.

buyinchaingmai.com - Stig Vinck

[onthedarkside]

Posts with self promotion of own rental units removed. Just send a PM direct.

[woodfromthetrees]

I have no problem increasing the budget, my problem is finding something I like (with a good location).

Been looking through a lot of the agent sites, and it seems there is an overrepresentation of Nimmanhaemin and renovated (small) units in 20-30 year old barely maintained buildings.

What I am asking for here is merely areas of interest (that satisfy my requirements) or names of specific condominiums that people can recommend. From my experience, there are many condominiums that do not list their available units on the various real estate agent sites.

I have recently gone through this process. I found all the property agents in CM to be totally useless regarding my needs and was taken to countless properties that had no resemblance to my requirements, many of them over-priced dumps. They were not interested in condos I spoke to them about where I had seen adverts in the public domain, or worse they would make up disaster stories!

From my experience there are one or two good well managed condos in the city, but my final choice was Baan Suan Greenery Hill in the North West of the city near the new convention center. Well worth a look. A superb building with exemplary building management, a proactive and accountable committee and JPM, A sinking fund intact on deposit and the annual accounts balanced and in profit. Not least a really nice place to live, close to a little known market on the back-roads to the university, plenty of local restaurants and easy fast access to Rimping Michok and Central Festival around the outer ring road. Nimmanheiman road quite close too and is the local lake at the Tribal Museum and the beautiful Hua Tung Tow Resevoir.

Baan Suan Grenery Hill Condo.jpg

I should add if you are planning to buy (and even rent long term) your should check out the accounts.

Has the condo maintained its sinking fund or even better never touched it?

Is the operating daily account solvent, well maintained and fully audited?

Does the condo have a good committee and is it well supported by both Thai and Expat co-owners?

Is the Juristic Person Manager, the building admin manager and other staff accountable? Do they report to, and work closely with the Committee?

These questions are rarely answered accurately by agents, either for the buyer or the seller, they just want their easily earned commissions. In my experience there are few Condominiums in the city that can answer the above questions in the affirmative, other that the Brand New buildings of course. The critical thing is what happens when the developer ups sticks and moves on and leaves no management framework in place? More often than not, the condo goes down hill very very quickly. Hope this helps