Does It Make Sense To Buy A House Here

[bowerboy]

Thanks for all the thoughts.

Yes it does come down to personal preference largely....i do very much like (and even crave) change and the main reason for buying would be only for stability...as in "shit I just lost my job but at least we have a roof over our head and can get by" type of thing.

However even then it doesn't make much sense as we may need to move to another country for work if that ever happened.

I do think, as a side note, that Bangkok prices are pretty high at the moment especially for 2 or 3 bedroom places on the BTS and the fact is you MUST be on the BTS in Bangkok or your life will be a living hell.

I must say that overall I am inclined to rent and invest in managed funds.

My own personal need is not really for a place I can call my own unless it was absolutely the perfect dream place for me but then would be out of my budget anyway (15 million baht and up for something I would truly want to live the rest of my life in).

[rgs2001uk]

Thanks for all the thoughts.

Yes it does come down to personal preference largely....i do very much like (and even crave) change and the main reason for buying would be only for stability...as in "shit I just lost my job but at least we have a roof over our head and can get by" type of thing.

However even then it doesn't make much sense as we may need to move to another country for work if that ever happened.

I do think, as a side note, that Bangkok prices are pretty high at the moment especially for 2 or 3 bedroom places on the BTS and the fact is you MUST be on the BTS in Bangkok or your life will be a living hell.

I must say that overall I am inclined to rent and invest in managed funds.

My own personal need is not really for a place I can call my own unless it was absolutely the perfect dream place for me but then would be out of my budget anyway (15 million baht and up for something I would truly want to live the rest of my life in).

the fact is you MUST be on the BTS in Bangkok or your life will be a living hell.

Dont know how you reached the conclusion you MUST be on the BTS, or that life will be a living hell.

Why would I need the BTS, where does it go to that I need to get to?

I have lived in Bang Kapi for the last 9 years and honestly cant remember the last time I used the BTS.

If I need to get to VFS in the Trendy building on Suk 13, I take the canal boat and get off at Nana Chart on soi 15, if I need to get to the Brit embassay I take the boat and get off at Wireless Rd.

The BTS is of little use to going to immigration at CW, and was off no use when going to immi when it was located on Lat Prao.

Within 20 minutes of where I live there are 4 large Malls, The Mall Bang Kapi, Fashion Island, Seacon Square and Paradise Park, none of them served by the BTS.

Certainly, life for me aint a living hell, ho hum, each to their own I suppose.

[bowerboy]

rgs.. do you have a job you have to get to everyday?

Living in Bangkapi and only venturing out for immigration needs = living nightmare.

[KittenKong]

for the record: people exist who don't consider the roof under which they are living an "investment".

There are many ways of looking at this.

Personally I make an investment every time I spend money. As a return on my investment I may be getting a roof over my head, or a full stomach, or something to wear, or a car that will lose value every single day of its life but will also enable me to drive around.

Just because I invest in something that I dont expect to show any sort of cash profit ever doesnt mean that it is any less an investment.

[KittenKong]

Yes it does come down to personal preference largely....i do very much like (and even crave) change and the main reason for buying would be only for stability...as in "shit I just lost my job but at least we have a roof over our head and can get by" type of thing.

If you bank the money that you would have spent on a house then even if you lose your job you will still have the bank balance, which should keep you going for some time.

[pistachios]

I am looking at a house for 6,000,000THB that would cost me 35,000THB per month if I wanted to rent it. Therefore that is 15 years of rent. If I bought it then on average it would probably be another 150,000 per year in maintenance and corporate body fees.

you qualify for the award certificate "possesses a wealth of no idea concerning property maintenance"

Why don't you, for a change, post something useful and informative instead of systematically trying to belittle others, when you are not bragging about your personal wealth ? (has the 25k electricity bill scan been posted yet? )

You could say, for example "I think your estimation is way too high/low, in my experience yearly property maintenance cost about x% of property value".

See? It's not that hard.

Sent from my iPad using ThaiVisa app

[pistachios]

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.

right you are! your Honda Jazz will be worth peanuts in 15 years. but a bit over a year ago i bought a 44 year old car, price in 1969 £ 2,345.-

using GBP/THB exchange rate of may 23, 2013 i paid £ 105,900.-

My bad! Not the elec bill, but the nice car...

[i claudius]

Living on the outskirts of Pattaya as we do ,the only house i would contemplate buying ,that would be reletivly easy to sell ,would be in the 1.5 to 2.0 mill range ,larger houses on the whole seem to stick around for years(in fact one we looked at 8 years ago for rental is still empty ,after beinfg rented for 6 months in all that time) however as we have been accoustomed to living in larger houses the sort i like start at about 5 mill ,so that is one of the reasons we rent ,other reasons i have posted before.,as for condo"s i really do not know ,but from the ones i have seen when my wife has had to inspect them i feel are so expensive for what they are (5 mill rang) i would hate to live in one of them ,just like boxes on the whole ,tiny compared with our house.

[wilcopops]

Thaivisa advertise property for sale....but a foreigner cannot own land in Thailand.

[Whale]

Inflation and market trends - needs to be taken into account in any projection of costs. I bought 12 years ago at 19,000 baht a square meter in prime area of sukhumvit

[Time Traveller]

OP this seems like a great opportunity to get onto the Thai property ladder, dont listen to the nay sayers, go for it buy it

Even leverage up and buy 3 or 4 houses. <insert cliche about real estate investing/business skills/rent money is dead money etc etc>

[impulse]

Big assumption that the place you rent today for 25,000 baht will still be renting for the same 25,000 baht in 10-20 years.

The assumption on the other side is that the 3 million baht I'd dump into a property purchase today would still be just 3 million baht if I had rather invested it for 10-20 years.

[thailiketoo]

Thaivisa advertise property for sale....but a foreigner cannot own land in Thailand.

OP (lets please put ownership issues aside to focus only on the numbers). Read OP before posting. Good idea.

[Naam]

in a country like thailand where you may never know in what moment you will have to use your saving and where scam, corruption and instability it's the sickness and the only antidote it's large amount of money, I would recomend if you can invest just peanuts of your capital then go ahead

i can't remember how often i visited Thailand during the last 40 years (minus the 10 years i am living here permanently). the only scams i experienced during this period originated from foreigners.

for the record: people exist who don't consider the roof under which they are living an "investment".

Well you do live in a br***el disguised as a holiday resort, reknowned for its criminal element.

i don't live in Pattaya, i live in my home.

[Naam]

I am looking at a house for 6,000,000THB that would cost me 35,000THB per month if I wanted to rent it. Therefore that is 15 years of rent. If I bought it then on average it would probably be another 150,000 per year in maintenance and corporate body fees.

you qualify for the award certificate "possesses a wealth of no idea concerning property maintenance"

Why don't you, for a change, post something useful and informative instead of systematically trying to belittle others, when you are not bragging about your personal wealth ? (has the 25k electricity bill scan been posted yet? )

You could say, for example "I think your estimation is way too high/low, in my experience yearly property maintenance cost about x% of property value".

See? It's not that hard.

Sent from my iPad using ThaiVisa app

it is quite hard to make an estimate because "home does not equal home" as an ignorant like you might think.

there are huge differences as far as maintenance is concerned whether or not

--difference in living area,

-you live in a row house without garden or in a home with one rai garden to maintain,

-you have a pool,

-you have half a dozen pumps for various purposes,

-you have instead of ceiling fans 19 aircon units to service,

-your wife cooks with charcoal, doing the laundry by hand and hang it in the sun to dry or uses an electric cooktop, a washing machine and a dryer,

-you use a laptop a couple of hours a day or have 6 PCs up and running 24/7.

the list is endless!

see, it's not so hard to realise the difference if a certain percentage of brain cells are used.

by the way, last month's electricity bill was 20,683 Baht and not as you assumed 25,000 Baht

[umbanda]

Properties are good deal only if you can rent for at least 0.7% to 1% of the value to local renters, even if you will buy for your residence. In Thailand that is happening in some areas with foreclosures properties or building by your self. Condos usually get better rentals. Example : If the property value is 3 miilions, rental value needs to be 21,000 to 30,000/month. That doesn't happen in most Thai cities.

Rental values are very low in Thailand. What some foreigners pay for rentals here, do not appy for the calculation. Most are overcharged, and vacation properties are not always occupied.

Right now, the best place to invest in real estate is the US. Values went down, rents went up. In the US still 30 years bank mortgages, no borrowers's age limitations, even for foreigners. In most cases monthly rental values are equal to the mortage's fixed monthly payments.

Chinesse and Russians are taking the opportunity.

.

[AnotherOneAmerican]

Property is only a good deal if you are young.

Over 50s will probably be dead before they break even on the rental.

I know one ozzie who buys condos in Pattaya to rent out as a retirement income.

Hang on a moment, I tell him, you've spent 10M on condos in a country you have no right to live in. You expect an income of 500k/year from these condos, but if you had put the 10Mbht in an ozzie bank account earning 3%, it would take you 25 years to spend all your money.

How much longer than 75 do you expect to live?

V

How much effort and risk from your condos?

[Razzler1973]

Yes one very bizarre thing about renting in Bangkok are the "super anomylies" that exist here..

You can look at condos for 100,000THB per month in a Soi and then one building will be 40,000THB per month for virtually the same thing as the other buildings....takes time to find them but when you do they are awesome..

Before our current place we lived in a 300sqm place in Soi 23 (next door to the building where my friend paid 85,000 for a 200sqm place...right next to SKU University) that was my favorite place I ever lived in over 10 years of being in Thailand. It was (and is) a bizarre anomaly.

Why did you move, did it go up in price or something?

[pistachios]

I am looking at a house for 6,000,000THB that would cost me 35,000THB per month if I wanted to rent it. Therefore that is 15 years of rent. If I bought it then on average it would probably be another 150,000 per year in maintenance and corporate body fees.

you qualify for the award certificate "possesses a wealth of no idea concerning property maintenance"

Why don't you, for a change, post something useful and informative instead of systematically trying to belittle others, when you are not bragging about your personal wealth ? (has the 25k electricity bill scan been posted yet? )

You could say, for example "I think your estimation is way too high/low, in my experience yearly property maintenance cost about x% of property value".

See? It's not that hard.

Sent from my iPad using ThaiVisa app

it is quite hard to make an estimate because "home does not equal home" as an ignorant like you might think.

there are huge differences as far as maintenance is concerned whether or not

--difference in living area,

-you live in a row house without garden or in a home with one rai garden to maintain,

-you have a pool,

-you have half a dozen pumps for various purposes,

-you have instead of ceiling fans 19 aircon units to service,

-your wife cooks with charcoal, doing the laundry by hand and hang it in the sun to dry or uses an electric cooktop, a washing machine and a dryer,

-you use a laptop a couple of hours a day or have 6 PCs up and running 24/7.

the list is endless!

see, it's not so hard to realise the difference if a certain percentage of brain cells are used.

by the way, last month's electricity bill was 20,683 Baht and not as you assumed 25,000 Baht

You gave an award certificate "possesses a wealth of no idea concerning property maintenance" with a mocking emoticon to a guy who dared approximate those costs, so his estimate, for you, was ridiculous.

I, for sure, have a wealth of no idea concerning property maintenance, so I didn't even know if the figure he gave was way too much or way too low (and still don't).

I incorrectly assumed you were the expert in property maintenance costs since you were giving awards left and right.

But now, you are dodging the question, basically saying "it depends". Well, thank you captain obvious.

[Naam]

what part of "there is a difference" in maintenance cost depending on the home is it you don't understand?

is there no difference whether a home is 2, 5, 10, or 20 years old?

is there no difference between a home that is fitted with a bunch of technical gadgets and a bread-and-butter house?

if a landlord (according to the OP) rents out a home for 420k p.a. will the assumed maintenance be 150k, i.e. ~36% of the rent?

does it require rocket science or just some basic arithmetic and logical thinking to conclude that the OP has no idea?

you Sir have nothing to add to this discussion than an unwarranted and totally irrelevant personal attack plus a little yada yada yakety-yak without substance.

i suggest you go back to your dark corner and froth around your mouth thinking of my electricity bill.

[kjhbigv]

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!

I can afford to buy another house in CM, I have also owned and "lost" a house in CM due to me naively buying one a long time ago....how exactly would the OP buy a house securely, without any worries that some official "body" deeming it was illegal to do so? Unless, you want to put it in someone elses name.

As for an apartment, always carries a lot of risk and potential hassle anywhere in the world.

You are basing your facts on the growth in CM continuing at the pace it has been.....have you tried selling a house? I have, it is not easy and takes a long time. I have seen many many houses in good locations that just sit there for years. Overpriced? Possibly.

Will this pace continue? I am not so sure.

I would rent for a few years and see where the ground lies.....ie. continued political instability/economy vs western recovery could make for interesting times ahead. We have already seen about a 15% increase in GBP (for example) against the THB over the past year. Western economies are now coming out of recession, I would (and I am) taking a step back to see what transpires.

A house is only worth what someone is prepared to pay for it, I wonder how many of those THB40m houses have sold?

I can potentially see cash strapped, loaned up Thais trying to offload property in the forseeable future.

We shall see.....

[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!

I can afford to buy another house in CM, I have also owned and "lost" a house in CM due to me naively buying one a long time ago....how exactly would the OP buy a house securely, without any worries that some official "body" deeming it was illegal to do so? Unless, you want to put it in someone elses name.

As for an apartment, always carries a lot of risk and potential hassle anywhere in the world.

You are basing your facts on the growth in CM continuing at the pace it has been.....have you tried selling a house? I have, it is not easy and takes a long time. I have seen many many houses in good locations that just sit there for years. Overpriced? Possibly.

Will this pace continue? I am not so sure.

I would rent for a few years and see where the ground lies.....ie. continued political instability/economy vs western recovery could make for interesting times ahead. We have already seen about a 15% increase in GBP (for example) against the THB over the past year. Western economies are now coming out of recession, I would (and I am) taking a step back to see what transpires.

A house is only worth what someone is prepared to pay for it, I wonder how many of those THB40m houses have sold?

I can potentially see cash strapped, loaned up Thais trying to offload property in the forseeable future.

We shall see.....

I agree it takes a lot of time for many houses to sell, that doesn't seem to prevent new ones from being built and for prices to stop climbing. A large part of the issue is not growth in Chiang Mai but growth in the Thai economy and its currency, already in the past 36 hours we've started to see a reversal in the strength of the Thai Baht, it's only small but it reaffirms direction and the fact that western currencies are relatively weak - real estate is a convenient place to park cash whilst waiting for a currency to appreciate.

And when you talk about cash strapped loaned up Thai's I immediately think of cash strapped loaned up Brit's and the state of the UK housing market, mortgage income ratio's continue to climb and people simply borrow more in order to afford the higher prices, no reason why the Thai's wont do the same thing - I thought prices were crazy back in 200 and that the market had to crash, fifteen years later it still hasn't done so and prices are now stellar, crazy stuff indeed.

Those 40 million baht houses, all five have sold and it didn't take long at all.

[KittenKong]

there are huge differences as far as maintenance is concerned whether or not

.....

-you have half a dozen pumps for various purposes,

.......

i suggest you go back to your dark corner and froth around your mouth thinking of my electricity bill.

I expect you need at least two of those pumps just to move your ego around.

[mrtoad]

there are huge differences as far as maintenance is concerned whether or not

.....

-you have half a dozen pumps for various purposes,

.......

i suggest you go back to your dark corner and froth around your mouth thinking of my electricity bill.

I expect you need at least two of those pumps just to move your ego around.

You have to admit though, his response was quite amusing.

[ATF]

there are huge differences as far as maintenance is concerned whether or not

.....

-you have half a dozen pumps for various purposes,

.......

i suggest you go back to your dark corner and froth around your mouth thinking of my electricity bill.

I expect you need at least two of those pumps just to move your ego around.

You have to admit though, his response was quite amusing.

I wonder if his living room is modelled on the bridge of the Starship Enterprise complete with calculators glued to the wall to open the sliding doors.

[craigt3365]

there are huge differences as far as maintenance is concerned whether or not

.....

-you have half a dozen pumps for various purposes,

.......

i suggest you go back to your dark corner and froth around your mouth thinking of my electricity bill.

I expect you need at least two of those pumps just to move your ego around.

You have to admit though, his response was quite amusing.

I wonder if his living room is modelled on the bridge of the Starship Enterprise complete with calculators glued to the wall to open the sliding doors.

Not exactly, but from what I understand, he's implemented some pretty neat engineering features. I'd let him design a house for me any day...if I had enough money!

[Naam]

there are huge differences as far as maintenance is concerned whether or not

.....

-you have half a dozen pumps for various purposes,

.......

i suggest you go back to your dark corner and froth around your mouth thinking of my electricity bill.

I expect you need at least two of those pumps just to move your ego around.

do you have anything to contribute concerning the cost of maintaining a home?

[Naam]

I wonder if his living room is modelled on the bridge of the Starship Enterprise complete with calculators glued to the wall to open the sliding doors.

your curiosity can be satisfied.

[Naam]

Not exactly, but from what I understand, he's implemented some pretty neat engineering features. I'd let him design a house for me any day...if I had enough money!

i am glad that, as opposed to my initial plans, i did not implement more "neat" features because many of the features need considerable preventive maintenance and quite often repairs.

reason: the quality of material and technical gadgets available in Thailand when i built did not match exactly German DIN specifications. that also applies (even nowadays) to things sold under the brandname of well known German/European companies who produce and sell sh*tty quality at inflated prices in Asia. add to that the "quality work" of local subcontractors and your result is...

without my fulltime "technical assistant" i'd be up sh** creek without a paddle.

[KittenKong]

there are huge differences as far as maintenance is concerned whether or not

.....

-you have half a dozen pumps for various purposes,

.......

i suggest you go back to your dark corner and froth around your mouth thinking of my electricity bill.

I expect you need at least two of those pumps just to move your ego around.

do you have anything to contribute concerning the cost of maintaining a home?

I made my contributions to the topic of the thread a week or so ago. Having done so I sat back quietly, until your playground taunts moved me to action.

Do you think that comments like "i suggest you go back to your dark corner and froth around your mouth thinking of my electricity bill." are in some way beneficial to the discussion? I don't. Unless perhaps the topic is actually willy-waving and not house purchasing at all.