Does It Make Sense To Buy A House Here

[MJP]

It makes very little sense unless you are Thai!

6,000,000 is a silly figure

True BKK will be under water and everything moved to Khon Kaen or CM..but at 64 you might not live to see it

Do you have children who are Thai. If so buy it in their name/s...that should speed up any marital disagreements

Most sensible posts I have read are all"Caveat Emptor"

We did the same as the guy in CM. 2 million house, perfectly liveable. Expect it to fall down or be undermined by wildlife in 20 years. Kids will still have the land. Never supposed it could be sold. Now we live off the rent elsewhere!

Yup. The newer of the two houses is mostly made of wall putty now and the outside kitchen wall needs re-building. Frankly, it's got all the construction qualities of a glorified cow shed. I even resorted to expensive paint to try and hold the thing together.

If one is to build . . . be there during the process and command!

Begin with foundations. This is by far the most important phase of construction. Pile if possible for your columns to sit on and build walls on RC ring beam or deep footings (with proper concrete, vibrated in).

1x1m pads and 15cm footings don't actually work!

[Neeranam]

It makes sense financially to buy of course. The fact that every month the money I pay to the bank is not going into a Thai/Chinese bank account makes it worthwhile.

In 1 year my house value has risen 20%. Land is rising so fast here. BTW don't buy in Bangkok as it is sinking.

If I want to leave the city I'm in I can rent but the property will always be in my family. When I'm dead, my kids will have somewhere to live.

But will they want to live where your house is now? i know my son will not live here in Pattaya as he will no doubt work for a company based in BKK ,my wife will build a house in her hometown on her land , houses on our estate have been for sale for between 4 and 10 years ,one that was on the market for 6 years sold last year for less than it cost ,our landlady is lovely ,we have been here 8 years and she pays for anything i need doing (i know we are lucky) i can do anything i want here ,her attitude is up to you. she did ask once if i wanted to buy it ,its a large 3 bed detached house ,nice neighbours but on thinking about it ,it would take 17 years and thats without interest to buy it at the rent i pay ,also as my wife said ,when i die ,she would be stuck with it for years trying to sell it ,so rent or buy? everyone is different up to you.

Khon Kaen will be the capital city one day so yes. My wife works as a Realtor and it's amazing the number of Bangkokonians buying up thousands of rai around this city.

17 years will soon pass - how long have you lived there already? Once you have bought it there is always the option to rent it out.

[bowerboy]

Yeah I have seen the houses being built here in some of the estates and they are pretty much made of cardboard (a slight exaggeration but not much!)

A house in our village was a good deal...3,000,000 which included an old (but very serviceable) Volvo and a motorbike and was renovated to European standard...I was tempted to buy it. So the guy who bought it got a 5,000 baht water bill after the 3 rd month of living there and a big sink hole in his driveway...turns out all the water pipes under the house have burst or leaked or whatever and have to now be replaced or repaired or whatever you do. Happened to 2 or 3 houses in the village now.

[bowerboy]

Yeah Khoan Kaen has done well in recent years for sure...i actually prefer Udon Thani as a town though...

Everything upcountry is becoming gentrified now...salaries arent icreasing to match though...a bit of a concern long term perhaps

[Neeranam]

Your personal circumstances can change too. Mine did. I am glad I rented. Add to the fact a house is never yours.

A condo seems a better idea to buy but they too have problems especially if you get bad neighbours renting next door or above you.

I prefer not to buy but that is my personal preference.

Possibly if I was in a stable relationship I'd buy / build a house in the village at a fraction of the cost the OP mentioned and use that as a base to travel from.

If you want a stable relationship, not a good idea to marry a village girl.

[taony]

My brother in law and i were chatting over the weekend. He told me that he knows he will never be able to sell his house in his nice moo bahn. He is there for the long haul.

-*I typed this myself*-

[AnotherOneAmerican]

Khon Kaen will be the capital city one day so yes. My wife works as a Realtor and it's amazing the number of Bangkokonians buying up thousands of rai around this city.

17 years will soon pass - how long have you lived there already? Once you have bought it there is always the option to rent it out.

Bangkok Thais earn more than everyone else in the country.

They are buying up land everywhere and forcing the land prices up beyond the reach of locals.

One of the most convincing arguments for un-chanoted land.

Local land for local families.

[i claudius]

It makes sense financially to buy of course. The fact that every month the money I pay to the bank is not going into a Thai/Chinese bank account makes it worthwhile.

In 1 year my house value has risen 20%. Land is rising so fast here. BTW don't buy in Bangkok as it is sinking.

If I want to leave the city I'm in I can rent but the property will always be in my family. When I'm dead, my kids will have somewhere to live.

But will they want to live where your house is now? i know my son will not live here in Pattaya as he will no doubt work for a company based in BKK ,my wife will build a house in her hometown on her land , houses on our estate have been for sale for between 4 and 10 years ,one that was on the market for 6 years sold last year for less than it cost ,our landlady is lovely ,we have been here 8 years and she pays for anything i need doing (i know we are lucky) i can do anything i want here ,her attitude is up to you. she did ask once if i wanted to buy it ,its a large 3 bed detached house ,nice neighbours but on thinking about it ,it would take 17 years and thats without interest to buy it at the rent i pay ,also as my wife said ,when i die ,she would be stuck with it for years trying to sell it ,so rent or buy? everyone is different up to you.

Khon Kaen will be the capital city one day so yes. My wife works as a Realtor and it's amazing the number of Bangkokonians buying up thousands of rai around this city.

17 years will soon pass - how long have you lived there already? Once you have bought it there is always the option to rent it out.

We have actually lived here for 9 years full time, if i moved to my wife's hometown then i would definatly build a house and live there ,but i do not want to live in Roiet , she will when i die , rents on our estate have not risen in 9 years,it is very difficult to rent large detached houses ,in fact our rent has gone down ,she loves it that we want to live here till i die . the owner that is . she is happy we are happy ,its all that counts in the end.

[Neeranam]

Yeah Roi Et is pretty boring.

[MJP]

Yeah Roi Et is pretty boring.

. . . yet relatively civilized. Really an ideal base from which to explore more exciting rendezvous' . . . like Leeds or Dudley.

[KittenKong]

"Folung" added to Thaivisa collection "Farang spelling" as #22

farang

falang

farlang

farung

farong

faring

ferong

ferang

ferung

furung

furlong

furlung

forong

folong

forlong

pharung

felang

franansgs

farnags

ferlang

forang

Folung

Hmmm.

You missed one and it should be at the top of the list: ATM

[Neeranam]

Yeah Roi Et is pretty boring.

. . . yet relatively civilized. Really an ideal base from which to explore more exciting rendezvous' . . . like Leeds or Dudley.

Well they do have an airport where the runway doubles up as a main road. My uncle is a helicopter pilot there.

Edited July 14, 2014 by Neeranam

[KittenKong]

Personally I only buy things that I can own outright in my own name. Thai houses do not fit this category as far as I am concerned and so I would never even consider buying one, at any price.

If I was married and was certain that I wanted to spend the rest of my life in one house, regardless of what happened next door or to the nearby area, then just maybe I would buy a house for my wife to own. But that's a lot of maybes, none of which apply to me (praise the Lord).

Would I buy a condo? Much more likely, but even then I would have to be certain that I wanted to live there for a very long time and that nothing in particular could upset the nearby environment or spoil my view, and that the condo was unusual enough that there were not many more nearly identical ones for rent next door (this last was my case and I do own my condo). But if any of those weren't fairly certain then I would only consider renting.

Renting is very cheap here and involves no commitment, all of which sounds good to me. Buying/selling can be very expensive and comes with many potential pitfalls and precious little upside.

The difference between security and a millstone can be as little as one noisy neighbour.

[MJP]

Yeah Roi Et is pretty boring.

. . . yet relatively civilized. Really an ideal base from which to explore more exciting rendezvous' . . . like Leeds or Dudley.

Well they do have an airport where the runway doubles up as a main road. My uncle is a helicopter pilot there.

Takes me about an hour to get the airport, it really is handy. I was stuffed when PB Air went bust.

[zydeco]

Do Thais have an aversion to buying used houses? I've heard it claimed they do--but I really don't know. If so, another thing to consider. I do know that two houses on either side of the house I started renting four years ago are still empty and have been so for almost a decade.

[AnotherOneAmerican]

Do Thais have an aversion to buying used houses? I've heard it claimed they do--but I really don't know. If so, another thing to consider. I do know that two houses on either side of the house I started renting four years ago are still empty and have been so for almost a decade.

Houses as you have described are usually owned by a bank.

Repossession or developer default.

[chiang mai]

Do Thais have an aversion to buying used houses? I've heard it claimed they do--but I really don't know. If so, another thing to consider. I do know that two houses on either side of the house I started renting four years ago are still empty and have been so for almost a decade.

Thais traditionally don not like to buy used houses since they believe the house may contain ghosts of the previous occupants, they're very superstitious generally but in this regard, particularly so..

[NeverSure]

The last real estate salesman who told me I could own a house in Thailand was a farang named Ben Dover.

[i claudius]

The last real estate salesman who told me I could own a house in Thailand was a farang named Ben Dover.

I know his friend ,phil Mcavity

[trainman34014]

Do Thais have an aversion to buying used houses? I've heard it claimed they do--but I really don't know. If so, another thing to consider. I do know that two houses on either side of the house I started renting four years ago are still empty and have been so for almost a decade.

Thais traditionally don not like to buy used houses since they believe the house may contain ghosts of the previous occupants, they're very superstitious generally but in this regard, particularly so..

Like everything else this does not apply to all Thai's. Not far from us we had a house where a Thai Guy murdered his wife and then hung himself. House passed to his Mother who waited the '100 days respect period' and then sold it to another young Thai couple within a month. They were aware of what happened in the house but they got it about 30% lower than the normal price for the size house and plot so they are happy. That was two years ago and so far, surprise surprise, no ghosts have turned up !

Edited July 15, 2014 by trainman34014

[thailiketoo]

The last real estate salesman who told me I could own a house in Thailand was a farang named Ben Dover.

The OP "Lets please put ownership issues aside."

[laolover88]

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Yeah Roi Et is pretty boring.

Yeah Roi Et is pretty boring.

. . . yet relatively civilized. Really an ideal base from which to explore more exciting rendezvous' . . . like Leeds or Dudley.

Mahasarakham is better..but only airports are at Roi Et and Khon Khaen

has most things plus, well by standards here, a moderately well regarded University. But Chiang Mai it is not.

I can't imagine why anyone would want to buy, or even build a new house! (Having done it!) Land may go up in value, of course. But the main reasons why many Thais don't want to buy 2nd hand houses are listed above. There is plenty of land. It is not like a South Kensington Mews House of which I gather they are not building any more!

The refreshing thing about rural Thailand is that while there are obviously people who are 'Yuppies' about houses, huge numbers of people don't give a toss if they have a decent, waterproof, sunproof place to live, with some land and a HUGE chromium gate. In Issan I am not encountering supper parties where the conversation is mortgages and property values. My inlaws built their own 200 square metre house outside an Issan town with an Airport/Immigration/Tesco/Big C and Makro, if that's what you want for 500,000 Baht. OK they owned the land....We rent a 4 bedroom house here for 6,000B a month and another the same by the sea,(That leaves a little surplus from the 30,000 Chiang Mai rent) the kids go to school 4 minutes down the road, 1 minute to PO and Hospital....No traffic jams11 The OP does not really say what kind of life he is looking for!! We lived in BKK for many years! Never again!

[lostsoul49]

Use the money to buy a flat or small house in your home country and rent it out.

The income will easily cover your rent here and maybe a bit left over.

Then in 20 years you still own a house and will probably have increases massively in value.

Here, I doubt you could ever sell a 20 year old house unless it was on real prime land.

If it is just a village.... forget it.. Chances are you will never sell it and it will fall down by then anyway if the rest of the village is anything to go by.

[ignis]

If we were to have another 2011, makes no difference if the house was 2 million or 12 million.. Friends both Thai and non Thais with 6 - 12 million houses got totally flooded.

As for ownership of a house there are some projects that you can own in your own name... looked at 2 in 2003, not what I wanted, nor did I want to live in a concrete Jungle east of BKK

[chiang mai]

I'm guessing that posters who say that buying a house in Thailand is silly are the ones who can;t afford to buy one any way. Regardless, here in in CM: the houses that were selling for 2 million on decent sized lots six years ago are now selling for 4 million, the condo that I sold seven years ago for 6.3 is now fetching 8.5 (if you can ever find them), the condo 95 sm condo five years ago was 3.4 million, now it's 6.5 million - the new builds in Watkate are selling for 9 million plus, seven years ago that would have been 5 mill at best. And just down from Rimping are five new houses, 40 million each!

Sure, go ahead and rent, just don't change your mind in five years time because you may not have a choice!

[Thanet]

Houses and condos in Thailand are treated just like cars - people all want new ones and they depreciate with age.

Only buy a house here if the land on which it sits is reasonably priced - it's the only part of the deal that will go up in value.

[thailiketoo]

Houses and condos in Thailand are treated just like cars - people all want new ones and they depreciate with age.

Only buy a house here if the land on which it sits is reasonably priced - it's the only part of the deal that will go up in value.

Go to the bank and ask them to see the homes that they own and have repossessed. Lots of them sell. Lots of good deals and lots not so good. The good ones sell.

[chiang mai]

Houses and condos in Thailand are treated just like cars - people all want new ones and they depreciate with age.

Only buy a house here if the land on which it sits is reasonably priced - it's the only part of the deal that will go up in value.

I've never seen a property depreciate in Thailand.

[AnotherOneAmerican]

Houses and condos in Thailand are treated just like cars - people all want new ones and they depreciate with age.

Only buy a house here if the land on which it sits is reasonably priced - it's the only part of the deal that will go up in value.

Go to the bank and ask them to see the homes that they own and have repossessed. Lots of them sell. Lots of good deals and lots not so good. The good ones sell.

I've never seen a bank repossession sold for a reasonable price either.

[zydeco]

Do Thais have an aversion to buying used houses? I've heard it claimed they do--but I really don't know. If so, another thing to consider. I do know that two houses on either side of the house I started renting four years ago are still empty and have been so for almost a decade.

Houses as you have described are usually owned by a bank.

Repossession or developer default.

Don't know what is usually true, but in the case i describe, my landlord knows both owners who retired civil servants from the Education ministry. In fact, just about everybody around me fits that description. At least it leaves me quiet in my house.