Negotiating the price of a condo

[Stanley78]

Does anyone have any experience with negotiating the price of a condo?

More specifically, how much lower did you manage to get the actual purchase price compared to the asking price?

Thank you in advance!

Edited May 16, 2014 by Stanley78

[CharlesHH]

Dealing with the actual owner...........

Get a comparable price and use that to leverage the price down. Also, desperation of the seller works in, of course. So it is open season on individual sellers.

Via an agent...........

If you get 2%, less, you are doing miraculous.

Thai hate to give discounts almost as much as they hate to give money back on return purchases. However, often they will throw in something like furniture to sweeten the deal... likely they already have that, anyway.

In buying my wife a home, I had a lower price on the house across the street and stuck to that. As my hand touched the exit door, the seller agreed. Of course, you have to mean it if you threaten to walk away.

[PattayaPhom]

You get what you pay for.

[worgeordie]

Anything is only worth what YOU think it is,and what YOU are willing to pay for it,

Always try and buy from the owner,Estate agents always hype the price,before

you start to negotiate you decide what its worth to you,ask the owner the selling

price(this will always be more than he is expecting to get,how much more depends

how greedy he is), I always find its best to negotiate with a smile and a bit of banter,

If they are asking too much and will not lower the price,don't worry theres always a

lot more properties out there.

regards Worgeordie

[Stanley78]

Dealing with the actual owner...........

Get a comparable price and use that to leverage the price down. Also, desperation of the seller works in, of course. So it is open season on individual sellers.

Via an agent...........

If you get 2%, less, you are doing miraculous.

Thai hate to give discounts almost as much as they hate to give money back on return purchases. However, often they will throw in something like furniture to sweeten the deal... likely they already have that, anyway.

In buying my wife a home, I had a lower price on the house across the street and stuck to that. As my hand touched the exit door, the seller agreed. Of course, you have to mean it if you threaten to walk away.

Thank you CharlesHH, that's exactly the kind of information I wanted.

[mrfaroukh]

The best negotiation is not to buy Condo at all. Stay here for few years, then you will learn not worth buying. Probably the prices will slum if couple of years. Over 50 000 unsold condo and more than 300 000 to be build. Hummmmmmmmm who wants to live there???????

[JeremyBowskill]

My fathers favorite advice (which I have always used) is, you can always go up but can almost never go down.

If a private seller, I would be looking to get a minimum of 10% off (assuming its priced correctly in the first place) and trying to get near 20% off. Its a buyers market and that is only set to be a stronger position in the next half dozen years or so.

Oh and another way to make it look like they are getting near their required price, is to agree a price but only on the basis they take care of all transfer fees.

Edited May 17, 2014 by JeremyBowskill

[Stanley78]

Anything is only worth what YOU think it is,and what YOU are willing to pay for it,

Always try and buy from the owner,Estate agents always hype the price,before

you start to negotiate you decide what its worth to you,ask the owner the selling

price(this will always be more than he is expecting to get,how much more depends

how greedy he is), I always find its best to negotiate with a smile and a bit of banter,

If they are asking too much and will not lower the price,don't worry theres always a

lot more properties out there.

regards Worgeordie

Obviously anything is only worth what you pay for it.

But knowing what people usually manage to negotiate off the price is good to know before trying to negotiate a price in a new country.

Even if I think a property is worth say THB 10m, and an owner is asking for THB 10m, doesn't mean that I wouldn't mind paying less.

More specifically why I asked is because if you take Spain as an example, there are annual reports showing the difference between asking and sales prices, and there the difference is 20%+.

That's of course an extreme example but I thought it would be useful to know what the situation is like in Thailand, and the almighty Google was unfortunately not helpful in that matter.

[Stanley78]

My fathers favorite advice (which I have always used) is, you can always go up but can almost never go down.

If a private seller, I would be looking to get a minimum of 10% off (assuming its priced correctly in the first place) and trying to get near 20% off. Its a buyers market and that is only set to be a stronger position in the next half dozen years or so.

Oh and another way to make it look like they are getting near their required price, is to agree a price but only on the basis they take care of all transfer fees.

Thank you Jeremy, your advice is much appreciated.

[JeremyBowskill]

The best negotiation is not to buy Condo at all. Stay here for few years, then you will learn not worth buying. Probably the prices will slum if couple of years. Over 50 000 unsold condo and more than 300 000 to be build. Hummmmmmmmm who wants to live there???????

so If I was to offer to sell you 1 of my condos for 10 baht you wouldn't want it then?

[JeremyBowskill]

My fathers favorite advice (which I have always used) is, you can always go up but can almost never go down.

If a private seller, I would be looking to get a minimum of 10% off (assuming its priced correctly in the first place) and trying to get near 20% off. Its a buyers market and that is only set to be a stronger position in the next half dozen years or so.

Oh and another way to make it look like they are getting near their required price, is to agree a price but only on the basis they take care of all transfer fees.

Thank you Jeremy, your advice is much appreciated.

No worries, good luck!

[Stanley78]

The best negotiation is not to buy Condo at all. Stay here for few years, then you will learn not worth buying. Probably the prices will slum if couple of years. Over 50 000 unsold condo and more than 300 000 to be build. Hummmmmmmmm who wants to live there???????

so If I was to offer to sell you 1 of my condos for 10 baht you wouldn't want it then?

I think after what you said in your previous post he wouldn't want to pay more than 8 baht for it. 9 at the most.

[chiang mai]

...queue our resident, "never pay more than THB 25k per square metre" poster!

[JeremyBowskill]

Just out of curiosity, what area are you looking at Stanley? If its not Chiang Mai I really can't offer much advice on areas.

[chiang mai]

The best negotiation is not to buy Condo at all. Stay here for few years, then you will learn not worth buying. Probably the prices will slum if couple of years. Over 50 000 unsold condo and more than 300 000 to be build. Hummmmmmmmm who wants to live there???????

So...the expat who moved here six years ago and took your advice, they've now paid out say 20k on average per month over that period and now they've decided they now think your advice is, ahem, not the best! What to do!

It seems that expat has spent 1.45 million baht on rent plus now the price of the apartment he wanted to buy in the first place has increased by what, 20/30% (varies on location).

That expat can be forgiven for thinking that you're a bad man!

[belg]

thais are stubborn with their price and would rather leave it empty and detoriate for a number of years than to actually lower the price

my MIL tried to sell her condo for many many years, overpriced and everything... no one would buy, until the neighboor wanted to have a bigger condo and bought all condo's on the same floor ...

[JeremyBowskill]

The best negotiation is not to buy Condo at all. Stay here for few years, then you will learn not worth buying. Probably the prices will slum if couple of years. Over 50 000 unsold condo and more than 300 000 to be build. Hummmmmmmmm who wants to live there???????

So...the expat who moved here six years ago and took your advice, they've now paid out say 20k on average per month over that period and now they've decided they now think your advice is, ahem, not the best! What to do!

It seems that expat has spent 1.45 million baht on rent plus now the price of the apartment he wanted to buy in the first place has increased by what, 20/30% (varies on location).

That expat can be forgiven for thinking that you're a bad man!

I know its crackers innit! How could anyone be so closed minded? So far in 11 years the worst deal I have done on a property was to sell it for the same price I bought it. Lived in it 7 and a half years rent free, bought at 75 baht to the pound and sold at 45. What a stinker of a deal!!

[thewug]

I think it's wise to wait for the time being. I believe the bubble is about to burst here. Everything is way over priced. A lot of places still being built and yet a lot of places not being sold. It's a Buyers market , but if you wait some more time it's going get better for you as a buyer.

[JeremyBowskill]

I think it's wise to wait for the time being. I believe the bubble is about to burst here. Everything is way over priced. A lot of places still being built and yet a lot of places not being sold. It's a Buyers market , but if you wait some more time it's going get better for you as a buyer.

Totally agree, however it doesn't hurt to still keep an eye out for a really motivated seller.

[chiang mai]

I think it's wise to wait for the time being. I believe the bubble is about to burst here. Everything is way over priced. A lot of places still being built and yet a lot of places not being sold. It's a Buyers market , but if you wait some more time it's going get better for you as a buyer.

Folks have been waiting for property bubbles to burst throughout the past forty years, mostly they were mistaken and lost their pants as a result. And where they did lose their pants, they got a brand new pair, not too far afterwards! But, each to their own.

[JeremyBowskill]

Was thinking more from a political/exchange rate point of view as to why it may be prudent to wait a little while.

[thewug]

I think it's wise to wait for the time being. I believe the bubble is about to burst here. Everything is way over priced. A lot of places still being built and yet a lot of places not being sold. It's a Buyers market , but if you wait some more time it's going get better for you as a buyer.

Totally agree, however it doesn't hurt to still keep an eye out for a really motivated seller.

True. But I think that everything is over- valued. And at some point that place you buy for 10m is only worth 8m.

[Stanley78]

Just out of curiosity, what area are you looking at Stanley? If its not Chiang Mai I really can't offer much advice on areas.

Thank you but it's in Bangkok. I actually know exactly which buildings I'm interested in. Just wanted to get an idea of negotiating practices here.

[Thaiberius]

Unless you are married and/or have children and wish to provide security for them I'd steer away from buying any property or land in Thailand. Simply not worth it.

[JeremyBowskill]

I think it's wise to wait for the time being. I believe the bubble is about to burst here. Everything is way over priced. A lot of places still being built and yet a lot of places not being sold. It's a Buyers market , but if you wait some more time it's going get better for you as a buyer.

Totally agree, however it doesn't hurt to still keep an eye out for a really motivated seller.

True. But I think that everything is over- valued. And at some point that place you buy for 10m is only worth 8m.

Where as I kinda agree, it largely depends on how long you can hold on to it for. there are always peaks and troughs with property, and if you were living rent free through the troughs it may not matter too much.

[Stanley78]

I think it's wise to wait for the time being. I believe the bubble is about to burst here. Everything is way over priced. A lot of places still being built and yet a lot of places not being sold. It's a Buyers market , but if you wait some more time it's going get better for you as a buyer.

From a financial standpoint waiting for prices to drop, if that's what you believe will happen, or buying now is of course an important decision.

But buying property is a bit different from investing on for example the stock market since a property can be bought to be used to live in, not primarily as an investment to rent out and/or appreciate in value, and as such can have emotional and practical value as well.

[Thaiberius]

The market would not be my main concern, it is the increasing political uncertainty and the almost inevitable effect this will have upon farangs. Tying up capital in Thailand just makes no sense to me.

[thewug]

Look at the other condos that have sold in the past year in the same building or area. That. Should give you the price your looking at for final. Start about 20% below that price and negotiate with the seller. Give a little and see what he gives you. What his counter offer is will tell you about whether or not he wants to negotiate.

[thewug]

I think it's wise to wait for the time being. I believe the bubble is about to burst here. Everything is way over priced. A lot of places still being built and yet a lot of places not being sold. It's a Buyers market , but if you wait some more time it's going get better for you as a buyer.

From a financial standpoint waiting for prices to drop, if that's what you believe will happen, or buying now is of course an important decision.

But buying property is a bit different from investing on for example the stock market since a property can be bought to be used to live in, not primarily as an investment to rent out and/or appreciate in value, and as such can have emotional and practical value as well.

But if everything is over valued and it is, then it will readjust it self at some point. Therefore it's a loss.

[JeremyBowskill]

18 coups/attempted coups since 1932, this is par for the course with Thailand to a certain degree. If you had bought during the last coup in 2010 you would have made money (assuming you didn't pay over the odds).