Property On Koh Samui

[gunner1981]

Hi,

I'm considering buying a holiday home in Koh Samui and have found the following: Twilight Pavilions. Not knowing what the property market is like in the area, can anyone tell me if they think this particular place looks good value for money?

I don't have anything to compare it to and looking at property whilst i was there last year showed a real range of pricing.

Looks good to me - near the beach, sounds like a good area - I asked someone about the area on the Koh Samui forum. Looks nice inside and has a BBC design guy on the project. Plus, it's cheaper than my 2-bed terrace in the UK!

Any input much appreciated - especially if anyone has gone through the process of buying in Thailand.

Thanks

Mart

[naturalpoints]

Hi,

I'm considering buying a holiday home in Koh Samui and have found the following: Twilight Pavilions. Not knowing what the property market is like in the area, can anyone tell me if they think this particular place looks good value for money?

I don't have anything to compare it to and looking at property whilst i was there last year showed a real range of pricing.

Looks good to me - near the beach, sounds like a good area - I asked someone about the area on the Koh Samui forum. Looks nice inside and has a BBC design guy on the project. Plus, it's cheaper than my 2-bed terrace in the UK!

Any input much appreciated - especially if anyone has gone through the process of buying in Thailand.

Thanks

Mart

Hi mate,

Unlike your property back home............this one has not got a freehold lease to it.

Usually its about a 30 year lease only............

£140k is still quite a lot of money considering Thai Standards.................

You need to physically see it and check out the island properly before parting with any cash.

Is this your first purchase in Asia??? Its totally different world out here...........Loans, etc. don't come easy..........There are a lot of red tape with regards to landed properties too.

Good luck

[peterjackson]

Hey

I have looked at the website in your link and would make a few comments, that I hope you feel are helpful for you.

Firstly, the house is not set onto Standard Foundations, it is on a raised sub-floor, this would normally indicate that the house if built of wood framing as opposed to concrete block or solid concrete structure.

I would want to know why the ground wasn't levelled and the house built on a standard footing foundations.

Also, it mentions this magnificent free form pool, yet shown no pictures of it. Also no pictures of the sea view. It also says that there will be SIX villas, although at present only one has been built. It doesn't mention payment scheme for house building phases, no mention of the number of rental weeks to be given over to agent.

There is mention of on-site staff, but no mention of the cost of these and any annual maintenance contract etc.

Finally, the number for contacting the person on, is not a UK landline, which would always make me uncomfortable.

As far as I am aware and I could be wrong, the only way to purchase non-condo/apt. property, as a sole foreign national is via a company and use that as the purchasing mechanism. Which can go badly wrong, quickly, as can be seen in other posts on the forum.

Good luck

Peter

[gunner1981]

Thanks guys - definitely something to think about regarding the land. I guess this is the sort of thing where you need a legal team to be there for you. I didn't think I'd be able to do this alone anyway, so I'm not phased by the prospect.

I got in touch with them and the company is based in the UK and is partnered with REMAX who I have heard of. They've given me a landline number - website to be updated. I took all your concerns on board and the construction is overseen by a UK firm and built with standard footing and a solid concrete structure.

The on-site staff cover household and external maintenance, plus other options - laundry etc.

You can only purchase completed villas, and two further properties are nearing completion. They seemed very open and honest to me. They're sending me a brochure and updating their website based on my comments! (or rather your comments ;-) ).

Thanks for all your help.

Mart

[peterjackson]

Hey

The picture doesn't lie. The house in the picture is NOT built on a Standard Footing as there is clearly a gab between the foundation at the house frontage. You can clearly see it. With a footing, there is no gap between the footing and the house walls.

Someone is telling 'porkies'.

Definately a case of.....Buyer Beware....even when you are enthusiastic. Many con men have gone before and they always seemed open and honest to the 'victim' otherwise they wouldn't be able to accomplish their con.

ReMax is purely a Franchise and anyone can buy inyo the ReMax system. If it all goes 'pear' shaped, ReMax won't be bailing you out. Somthing similar happened with Century 21 about 6 years ago in the UK, when the franchisees, pushed the fact that they where part of the Century 21 system and ran up hundreds of thousands in debt, before disappearing.

I hope that the development is genuine, but you need to take every available safeguard.

LOS doesn't always stand for Land Of Smiles, some say Land Of Scams.

Regards

Peter

[RAZZELL]

Quote

Basic Plan

"The starting price for these magnificent villas is £140,000.

This price can be reduced to £123,200 by selecting the A.R.P. option (see right)."

In other words the property is only really "worth" £123,200 to start with...

Just goes to prove that from my observation that property prices are all over the place in "farang" areas...

Get a lawyer...

My advice if you're considering spending that sort of money, is to look at the cost of renting a similar property...there are hundreds in Samui...

For £500 or £600 a month you can get a cracker...without the hassle of "ownership" and your money safe and secure in the UK...Plus the flexiblity to move on if life in a "tropical paradise" is not your thing after all...

Of course no capital gains...but you can't guarantee that anywhere...And I think the boat has well and truly been missed in Samui anyway...

Although, if you were talking about a few million baht...its a risk worth taking IMHO...

Just my personal point of view...Good luck in whatever you decide...

Edited July 12, 2006 by RAZZELL