Moving To Chiangmai

[elvaman]

All this is new to me but I have fallen in 'love' with Chiangmai and have been negotiating the purchase of a house ... not without some frustrations! Maybe nothing new there!! I think I have understood the 'rules' about land-vs-house ownership and the options including the 30+30 year leasing, but as yet I have not seen paperwork detailing the Lease arrangement, the Agreement between the lovely Thai lady and myself other than the actual purchase Contract. Okay, I know what you must be thinking ... dump the Lawyer, or maybe dump the whole idea, or is this just the Thai way?? Lots of you must have trodden this path and it seems that some have fallen into a ditch full of very smelly stuff, but I still want this to happen so any thoughts and advice would be REALLY appreciated.

[et33.com]

i too fell in love with chiangmai

but look

rental is real cheap

rent first

or find a lease rental-cum-buy deal

in case you need to exit fast

hold back the buying...

stay awhile

soak in the sun and scene

and go from there

take it abit slow...

can't go very wrong in this way...

[Guest IT Manager]

Yes that is my view, expressed thousands of times as well. Seems people know best so I don't even complain any more. I just say fine, instruct the lawyers again, do the deal and move on.

Guy in the next village to me bought a house few months ago, that is wet from the ground up. The inspection identified enough repairs to build a new house.

Since for the same amount you spend on a pile, say 8 million for this particular one I reckon, could have rented forever and had change.

Madness.

[cdnvic]

Yes, rent first and if you decide you want to buy then build your own. I've visited a few construction and a couple demo sites here and I would definitly feel better putting my money into something I had seen built myself. Not saying that all contractors here are shoddy... and working in seismic upgrades has made me overly paranoid, but at least when you build from new you know who did it, and have a chance to see it being put together.

cv

[elvaman]

Thank you guys ... your comments most helpful. My dilemma is that I cannot retire for around another year being a 58 year old who still thinks '21' (until I look in the mirror) and I had the notion that just MAYBE that is a good time to buy ... why?? Well the exchange rate is pretty good and it seems that Chiangmai is developing quite quickly plus the world gets smaller and folk are moving further afield. Yep, I know that is in the lap of various Gods and it could all go belly up, but at the end of the day I really like the place from what I have seen so far. So I will get back to Chiangmai for a week or so very soon and nudge things forward ... or take the rental option. Any recommended lawyers ?? Just in case!! Cheers

[Nam Kao]

Before you buy, have a thai go in and ask what price it is

We look at houses sometime and I will roll in alone, get a tour, get a price

on the model i like, then later my wife goes in and gets a quote on the same

house for 30-50% cheaper ! Like Clockwork !

Same w/ hotels

[chanchao]

Let me chyme in on the "rent & feel the water first before diving in" chorus.

What you write about prices going up and Chiang Mai being ready for another boom and land prices not going down is definitely true. However you would just take a year or so to feel the water, and things are unlikely to seriously explode in that time, but you will be gaining a $#)(#*$*U-load of local knowledge in that time. You could spend less than half.

As it won't hurt, can you give us some rough specs of what your thinking to get? Say rough price, rough style for the house (# of floors, # of rooms, land area), and location of the house? (distance from town)?

Cheers,

Chanchao

[et33.com]

hard to get a thai to ask for you

still might be taken for a ride

go yourself

anything they ask for

cut seventy percent and watch the face

see what is their next price and note it down

do it at least five times

average out the prices

take average price

pay twenty percent below that average

if still no good

just get a guest house

bargain for long term stay

throw in washing and meals (if you want)

rent for six months

then see how you feel about it

still want to stay ?

then buy...

DON'T MISS THE SIX MONTHS STAY on rental first...

[cutethaigirl]

Elvedan

I have lived in CM for a good few years.

Do not let the heart rule brain.

Three tips

!., RENT

2. RENT

3. RENT

If you need a lawyer we have a good one that speaks English but see above:-)

You would not buy in an instant using a 'thai lady' as inbetween in ANY COUNTRY in the world so see above first:-)

So to sum up the advice is to

RENT first.

Got that

When you retire then do as my friend just did. Huge house and land on a 60 year lease. Contract in English and Thai change from 2 mil.

D

[CM451]

Rent,

If your worried about the exchange rate go ahead and exchange a couple of years rent into B.

Boom? I wonder what it's based on... plenty of "1/2 and never to be finished" houses around. If it's booming because money is cheap to borrow and you are paying cash...... sucker.

in closing..... Rent.

[Maverick]

Almost the first rule of buying real estate ANYWHERE in the world is 'know your market'. Its also hard to move second hand property here if problems arise later.

[Guest IT Manager]

I am so sick of telling people to Rent, and having them say "no it's dead money", that I have given up.

I can give you the name of an excellent lawyer and an even better psychiatrist.

You can't OWN the land ever. Got it/.... ever. Leases schmeases. RENT..RENT..RENT.

[Ajarn]

I am so sick of telling people to Rent, and having them say "no it's dead money", that I have given up.

I can give you the name of an excellent lawyer and an even better psychiatrist.

You can't OWN the land ever. Got it/.... ever. Leases schmeases. RENT..RENT..RENT.

My house has been on the market for 4 years.... The owner wants 1.8 million baht.

My rent has been 5,000 baht for the last 4 years- and will continue at that rate into the foreseeable future, for sure.

Would anyone suggest it's better to buy the house? I think not...

I've yet to hear of a farang being able to successfully sell their house when they wanted to, though there are plenty of stories about foreigners losing their homes...

Drive around Chiang Mai and see all the failed housing projects. I would estimate the number to be possibly more than 1,000 such failed places...

Keep your money.

I can give you the name of an excellent lawyer

IT, a good lawyer in Chiang Mai? Really?

[ovenman]

My house has been on the market for 4 years.... The owner wants 1.8 million baht.

Some of the asking prices for houses here in Thailand seem a bit shall we say, optimistic, on the part of the owners. With the overall number of properties on the market in Thailand, it's hardly a sellers market. There are any number of houses for sale in the project where I live, many of which have been for sale the entire five years I have been in this project. A real problem I see is that one can purchase a new house for the same amount of money (or less) then what owners want for older properties, most of which will require fixing up due to a combination of age and the fact that they weren't constructed all that well to begin with.

My rent has been 5,000 baht for the last 4 years- and will continue at that rate into the foreseeable future, for sure.

By my own rough estimate, I could rent the house in which I live for the next 300+ years before the money spent on rent would equal what I would estimate to be the selling price.

[Ajarn]

I agree that the market prices for used houses are about the same as they are for new, or even custom-made....Given that, the new housing market is what's been booming lately, not the used housing market, from my view.

I prefer renting because of the flexibility and freedom I have. If I ever find that dream bungalow on a quiet beach I've been looking for, I'm outta here in a flash!

[LoongJohn]

My rent has been 5,000 baht for the last 4 years...

Sawadee krup Ajarn

I'm very new to all this - but subscribe to the advice "Better to ask dumb questions than to make dumb mistakes".

You quote rent at 5,000 baht - that is the MONTHLY rent, right?

LoongJohn

.._

[chanchao]

> You quote rent at 5,000 baht - that is the MONTHLY rent, right?

Of course. Chiang Mai is cheap, but not that cheap that it could be yearly..

Note that I'm paying 5000/mo as well. Big 3 bedroom 4 bathroom + maid room 2 storey house in a popular compound. (Don't like compounds, but at this price for a nice house I'm not complaining).

[Ajarn]

> You quote rent at 5,000 baht - that is the MONTHLY rent, right?

Of course.  Chiang Mai is cheap, but not that cheap that it could be yearly..

Note that I'm paying 5000/mo as well.  Big 3 bedroom 4 bathroom + maid room 2 storey house in a popular compound.  (Don't like compounds, but at this price for a nice house I'm not complaining).

Yes, there really are quite a few good deals still to be found on houses for rent...In my mubaan (Tanawan), Most of the smaller houses are advertised for around 7,000 baht, fully furnished, with phone and air....I know of 4 that I've looked at personally.. I like the older muubaans, mostly because they usually have lots greenery and big shade trees...The new mubaans with big houses sitting in naked lots just looks hot and uninviting to me.

The first time I found a house, soon after I first arrived, I went out with a tuk-tuk driver who could speak for me, and read the for rent signs for me...That landed me a beautiful place off Suthep road, just across from cmu...That area still has some good deals for the creative and motivated house hunter. Rent prices in CM have remained very stable over the last 10-15 years, in my experience.

There is also an agent who advertises in CityLife (I think). I think it's now called Chiang Mai Habitat, and the guy's name is Teera. Nice guy, energetic, but not pushy. He's the one who showed us those 7,000 baht homes (We drove around the muubaan and found our gem for 5,000) Sorry, I can't remember his phone #...

Oh, and part of the reason my rent remains cheap is because I volunteered to pay a year in advance, every year. Landlords love that, but get to know your landlord first, before that kind of committment, I'd suggest. I also do any needed repairs myself. I take good care of their house because it's my Home...