Buying Condos And Doing Rental Business...profitable?

[heartnarrow]

Hello,

I am new to this forum, and this is my first letter. I am seriously thinking of doing condo rental business in Pattaya. I have saved up about $100,000 and want to know if it is profitable to buy condos with it rent them out. Of course, I would be investing all my money into it, and possible get a small loan from my bank (to make $4,000,000 baht).

The question is:

1. How many condos should I buy and which of the following is the most profitable?

a) 800,000 baht/condo X 5 condos

800,000 baht/condo + 200,000 refurbishing X 4 condos

c) 1,000,000 baht/condo X 4 condos

d) 2,000,000/baht X 2 condos

I'm asking this becuase i want to know which condos are more favorable for rent - cheap or expensive. If i buy 4 cheap ones, maybe it is easier to find guests and maintain easier occupancy?

2. Can i make 30,000 ~ 40,000 (1% of investment) per month?

I think I need at least this much to maintain a living.

3. What kind of taxes and maintainence fee do I have to pay and how much? and how often?

I don't want to invest in commercial businesses because of the high risk (i dont want to loose everything I have). If i do this rental business, at least the condos are mine even if everything goes bad. I want to play safe. and if nothing works out, i could maybe sell the condos.

Also, I'm planning to work in thailand. There is a company who wants to hire me for 45,000 baht/month (i don't think this is a lot..isn't it?). I will try to save 40,000/month and every two or three years, I want to buy condos and do the same rental business. then, in 10 ~ 15 years, I will have enough condos to quit my job and enjoy my retirement( is this a good idea?)

I need your most honest opinion on this..please help.

[Moonfruit]

Im afraid that you need a rather more detailed business plan, but im sure you already know that.

You really need to be looking at the the yields that you can generate from those condos. Generally, one bedrooms and studios rent better than 3 bedrooms, with two bedrooms being the least attractive for some reason.

It does sound to me like you have no idea about the real estate business, and not much clue about Thailand itself.

If i can borrow some words from a post of Astrals in another thread,

'Do not buy property overseas unless you really understand:

1.The country

2.The market

3. And not least the currency implications.'

They are very wise words. Think some more before you go ahead with your project. You have barely scraoed the surface of the research that you need to do. Having said that, good luck with your dream.

[number6]

If i can borrow some words from a post of Astrals in another thread,

'Do not buy property overseas unless you really understand:

1.The country

2.The market

3. And not least the currency implications.'

They are very wise words. Think some more before you go ahead with your project. You have barely scraoed the surface of the research that you need to do. Having said that, good luck with your dream.

agree totally and i have 2 condos 2 houses here but interested in others views - 5 years ago my plan was same as op's but im older now and wiser and keep my rental investments abroad - shame im still always really tempted but my thai wife has to remind me of my words - TIT not USA or UK

[simcity]

Hello,

I am new to this forum, and this is my first letter. I am seriously thinking of doing condo rental business in Pattaya. I have saved up about $100,000 and want to know if it is profitable to buy condos with it rent them out. Of course, I would be investing all my money into it, and possible get a small loan from my bank (to make $4,000,000 baht).

The question is:

1. How many condos should I buy and which of the following is the most profitable?

a) 800,000 baht/condo X 5 condos

800,000 baht/condo + 200,000 refurbishing X 4 condos

c) 1,000,000 baht/condo X 4 condos

d) 2,000,000/baht X 2 condos

I will said if it was profitable a lot already are doing it !

Perhaps it is why if you look a rental condos in thaivisa Rental Websites something like fairproperties, you can see pages after pages of condos waiting to be rent or sale !

I am a firmed believer to achieve your income from you own country and not from Thailand !

[backflip]

"quit my job and enjoy my retirement( is this a good idea?)"

That's a great idea, but buying and renting condos in Thailand is not the way to do it. Your post seems to give conflicting info. You want to live off of the rental. You want to get a job. If you're going to work in Thailand, why not live complement your salary with interest on the $100K. Which bring up a good point. You mention you have $100,000...and then you mention that you're going to borrow $100,000. If you "borrow", that means you have to figure out how to "repay" the loan with "interest".

[billaaa777]

As somebody that buys, designs, renovates and sells condos in Pattaya I would be glad to offer a little constructive advice.

The first recommendation is to disregard the non productive and insulting comments different users are going to post under your thread. Unless I am mistaken, if you were an expert on the matter you would not of placed your thoughts here hoping to get some helpful guidance.

That being said, your idea has merits and there are people that live here and follow your business plan. There is a problem with rentals in Pattaya though. Pattaya is very seasonal by nature. In the high season there are not enough condos to go around and you can get top dollar, but in the low season if you don’t have long term renters your condos will not be easy to rent and you will need to offer substantial discounts. The key to enduring success is to get long term renters, which is not easy. Since most of the people renting your condos could easily buy them due to there low cost.

Don’t forget, you are going to need an agent showing and renting your condos who will charge you a fee of some kind. Usually the cost is one month rent on long term deals and some kind of percentage or markup on short term rentals. After a customer leaves you will also have expenses, such as clean up or repairs and maintenance. The condo fees should run you somewhere in the 300 to 400 BHT per month. Which can usually be paid on a yearly basis, but some condos require monthly.

.

Your estimate on renovation of 200,000 per unit of a 30 to 37 SM condo is right in the ball park. You can do a pretty good job with those funds which would include a small kitchen. Where you off a little is your condo prices. It is not easy to find condos in a good location and good building at the price level you quoted. But, it can be done. You will need a network of suppliers of condos that never hit the general real estate market which will take considerable amount of time and effort on your part. I spend a few hours each day looking for condos, so I quite aware how difficult it is to find deals you can make money on.

This year I will have a return on my investment in excess of 100 % from buying, designing, renovating and selling condos. My strongest suggestion concerning your business proposal would be to alter it slightly and no longer consider rentals, but look to sell your condos quickly and move on to the next project. I usually am aware of more deals than I have funds to due. If you require any additional assistance please feel free to PM at your leisure and I will be glad to help you out.

[heartnarrow]

"quit my job and enjoy my retirement( is this a good idea?)"

That's a great idea, but buying and renting condos in Thailand is not the way to do it. Your post seems to give conflicting info. You want to live off of the rental. You want to get a job. If you're going to work in Thailand, why not live complement your salary with interest on the $100K. Which bring up a good point. You mention you have $100,000...and then you mention that you're going to borrow $100,000. If you "borrow", that means you have to figure out how to "repay" the loan with "interest".

Well, I have $100,000, but that is not enough to make 4M baht....maybe only 3.7M baht. I need to loan money equivalent to 300,000 baht from my bank.

How much is the interest rate in thailand? (How much money would i earn monthly from interest if I were to just put my money in the bank?)

Anyway, thank you for your advice

[heartnarrow]

As somebody that buys, designs, renovates and sells condos in Pattaya I would be glad to offer a little constructive advice.

The first recommendation is to disregard the non productive and insulting comments different users are going to post under your thread. Unless I am mistaken, if you were an expert on the matter you would not of placed your thoughts here hoping to get some helpful guidance.

That being said, your idea has merits and there are people that live here and follow your business plan. There is a problem with rentals in Pattaya though. Pattaya is very seasonal by nature. In the high season there are not enough condos to go around and you can get top dollar, but in the low season if you don’t have long term renters your condos will not be easy to rent and you will need to offer substantial discounts. The key to enduring success is to get long term renters, which is not easy. Since most of the people renting your condos could easily buy them due to there low cost.

Don’t forget, you are going to need an agent showing and renting your condos who will charge you a fee of some kind. Usually the cost is one month rent on long term deals and some kind of percentage or markup on short term rentals. After a customer leaves you will also have expenses, such as clean up or repairs and maintenance. The condo fees should run you somewhere in the 300 to 400 BHT per month. Which can usually be paid on a yearly basis, but some condos require monthly.

.

Your estimate on renovation of 200,000 per unit of a 30 to 37 SM condo is right in the ball park. You can do a pretty good job with those funds which would include a small kitchen. Where you off a little is your condo prices. It is not easy to find condos in a good location and good building at the price level you quoted. But, it can be done. You will need a network of suppliers of condos that never hit the general real estate market which will take considerable amount of time and effort on your part. I spend a few hours each day looking for condos, so I quite aware how difficult it is to find deals you can make money on.

This year I will have a return on my investment in excess of 100 % from buying, designing, renovating and selling condos. My strongest suggestion concerning your business proposal would be to alter it slightly and no longer consider rentals, but look to sell your condos quickly and move on to the next project. I usually am aware of more deals than I have funds to due. If you require any additional assistance please feel free to PM at your leisure and I will be glad to help you out.

hm..thank you for your advice. I've never thought about that

[heartnarrow]

is 4M baht enough to start this condo business? (rental or buying/rennovating/sellling) Can I make over 40K baht monthly?

or should I think of something else?

[Inspector 2211]

is 4M baht enough to start this condo business? (rental or buying/rennovating/sellling) Can I make over 40K baht monthly?

or should I think of something else?

At first glance, it sounds like a compelling idea:

Buy 4 condos at 800000 or 1000000 Baht each (which seems to be pretty much the low end of the market in Pattaya, in my humble opinion), rent them out at, say 8000 Baht per month (which also seems to be the low end of the rental market in Pattaya, again only in my humble opinion).

In other words, the theoretical return-on-investment is approximately 10% per annum.

HOWEVER:

- who guarantees that you can really rent them out 100% of the time ?

- who guarantees that some renter doesn't totally trash the place, cigarette burns, water damage, damage by pets, you name it ?

If you figure in all of this, the return on investment will probably be closer to a typical stock market type of investment. Still good, you say, real estate is more secure than the stock market. And this is where you could be wrong, as:

- Condo buildings in Thailand are not maintained as well as condo buildings in the west, and it may happen that the condo building (and all condos in it) actually DEPRECIATE due to that.

- There could be another "Asian economic crisis" or "crash" just like in 1997 that erases property values.

Now, about your 45000 Baht per month job offer:

This seems slightly better than what Joe Average English Teacher makes (30000) and better than what Joe Average Programmer makes (20000, according to a programming job offer recently posted on TV). If you serious about moving to Thailand, take this offer. But (read on):

About your $100000 net worth:

This is *not* enough to move to Thailand for good.

What if your 45000 Baht job evaporates / you get fired?

Are you willing to work for 30000 Baht as an English teacher?

My advice:

- Don't move to Thailand until you have a net worth of, say, $250K or $300K (there are some people on this forum who will laugh even at that amount of money and will suggest that you need $500K or $600K to be comfortable).

- If you decide to move to Thailand anyway, rent an apartment for some time and thus you can experience the condo rental market from the renter's side. Then, after, say, a year or so, if you really want to stay in Thailand for good, buy one condo to live in and start looking for another one to rent out. After a few more months, buy a second condo to rent out and view it as a "test balloon". You will see how difficult or easy it is to find a renter, and will get a much better idea about the real costs and the real cash flow. After another year or so, if you still think it is a good idea to expand your rental business, buy one or two more. By employing such a step-by-step strategy, you are not putting all of your eggs into one basket and can call a stop to this renting-out-condos experiment when it doesn't turn out to be such a good idea after all.

Just my 2 cents.

[heartnarrow]

is 4M baht enough to start this condo business? (rental or buying/rennovating/sellling) Can I make over 40K baht monthly?

or should I think of something else?

At first glance, it sounds like a compelling idea:

Buy 4 condos at 800000 or 1000000 Baht each (which seems to be pretty much the low end of the market in Pattaya, in my humble opinion), rent them out at, say 8000 Baht per month (which also seems to be the low end of the rental market in Pattaya, again only in my humble opinion).

In other words, the theoretical return-on-investment is approximately 10% per annum.

HOWEVER:

- who guarantees that you can really rent them out 100% of the time ?

- who guarantees that some renter doesn't totally trash the place, cigarette burns, water damage, damage by pets, you name it ?

If you figure in all of this, the return on investment will probably be closer to a typical stock market type of investment. Still good, you say, real estate is more secure than the stock market. And this is where you could be wrong, as:

- Condo buildings in Thailand are not maintained as well as condo buildings in the west, and it may happen that the condo building (and all condos in it) actually DEPRECIATE due to that.

- There could be another "Asian economic crisis" or "crash" just like in 1997 that erases property values.

Now, about your 45000 Baht per month job offer:

This seems slightly better than what Joe Average English Teacher makes (30000) and better than what Joe Average Programmer makes (20000, according to a programming job offer recently posted on TV). If you serious about moving to Thailand, take this offer. But (read on):

About your $100000 net worth:

This is *not* enough to move to Thailand for good.

What if your 45000 Baht job evaporates / you get fired?

Are you willing to work for 30000 Baht as an English teacher?

My advice:

- Don't move to Thailand until you have a net worth of, say, $250K or $300K (there are some people on this forum who will laugh even at that amount of money and will suggest that you need $500K or $600K to be comfortable).

- If you decide to move to Thailand anyway, rent an apartment for some time and thus you can experience the condo rental market from the renter's side. Then, after, say, a year or so, if you really want to stay in Thailand for good, buy one condo to live in and start looking for another one to rent out. After a few more months, buy a second condo to rent out and view it as a "test balloon". You will see how difficult or easy it is to find a renter, and will get a much better idea about the real costs and the real cash flow. After another year or so, if you still think it is a good idea to expand your rental business, buy one or two more. By employing such a step-by-step strategy, you are not putting all of your eggs into one basket and can call a stop to this renting-out-condos experiment when it doesn't turn out to be such a good idea after all.

Just my 2 cents.

Thank you very much for your opinion.=)

The reason why I want to live in thailand is because i've lived there for 3 years in the past and liked it. That's why I want to live there for good. While I was there, I aslo rented condo and thought that i could maybe make stable income if i do this business. However, I do not know anything about this market.

I am 33 years old right now, and I think I have plenty of time to save more money by the time I retire. I guess I have more than 20 years left to work? I just want to move to thailand right now and start with 4M baht and work. I figured that I could live with my salary and save the money from rental business. and maybe in 20 years I might have $300k ~ $500k savings?

Anyway, i didnt know the condo's value could depreciate over time, because in Korea (I'm korean by the way) real estate never depreciate. The value goes up significantly over time...sometimes even 3 ~ 5 times higher. If I have enough money, I would like to buy house in Korea, but It is sooooo expensive to buy one here. It is almost impossible for salary man like me to buy one. It is a life time dream to buy a house here. let's say...two bedroom apartment would cost over $300,000 ~ $1,000,000 in Seoul, Korea. And depending on the area, it could cost way more. Since it is so hard living here, I want to move to thailand. And with the same money, maybe i could do more there.

Thank you again for your opinion. I must give some thought for sure.

[heartnarrow]

As somebody that buys, designs, renovates and sells condos in Pattaya I would be glad to offer a little constructive advice.

The first recommendation is to disregard the non productive and insulting comments different users are going to post under your thread. Unless I am mistaken, if you were an expert on the matter you would not of placed your thoughts here hoping to get some helpful guidance.

That being said, your idea has merits and there are people that live here and follow your business plan. There is a problem with rentals in Pattaya though. Pattaya is very seasonal by nature. In the high season there are not enough condos to go around and you can get top dollar, but in the low season if you don’t have long term renters your condos will not be easy to rent and you will need to offer substantial discounts. The key to enduring success is to get long term renters, which is not easy. Since most of the people renting your condos could easily buy them due to there low cost.

Don’t forget, you are going to need an agent showing and renting your condos who will charge you a fee of some kind. Usually the cost is one month rent on long term deals and some kind of percentage or markup on short term rentals. After a customer leaves you will also have expenses, such as clean up or repairs and maintenance. The condo fees should run you somewhere in the 300 to 400 BHT per month. Which can usually be paid on a yearly basis, but some condos require monthly.

.

Your estimate on renovation of 200,000 per unit of a 30 to 37 SM condo is right in the ball park. You can do a pretty good job with those funds which would include a small kitchen. Where you off a little is your condo prices. It is not easy to find condos in a good location and good building at the price level you quoted. But, it can be done. You will need a network of suppliers of condos that never hit the general real estate market which will take considerable amount of time and effort on your part. I spend a few hours each day looking for condos, so I quite aware how difficult it is to find deals you can make money on.

This year I will have a return on my investment in excess of 100 % from buying, designing, renovating and selling condos. My strongest suggestion concerning your business proposal would be to alter it slightly and no longer consider rentals, but look to sell your condos quickly and move on to the next project. I usually am aware of more deals than I have funds to due. If you require any additional assistance please feel free to PM at your leisure and I will be glad to help you out.

hm..thank you for your advice. I've never thought about that

If I were to buy a condo for 1.5M baht and rennovate it for 300k, how much can I sell it for?

[paperwerks]

I think your plan is sound but you overestimate the rental yields in Thailand now especialy pattaya. Nice, expensive condos usually yield around 5% which is too low imo. The best yields that I have seen are about 10% on cheapie 250,000 condos in BKK (. Most falangs would call these 2000-2500 baht per month- 10-15 year old condos "slums" because they sort of look like it. I am talking about Nirun condos. But if you have experience as an owner operator of "working class" apartments I think these will be very good investments in the long run for many reasons.

That being said, I would not attempt to do this business as a falang unless I had a long term Thai g/f or wife. All repairs cost triple for falangs and you need to speak fluent thai to answer adverts for rent etc. plus occasionaly throw out bad tenants. Renting to working thais seems a more stable business than renting to falangs in pattaya.

My opinion is not to be discouraged by some of the negative posters. What they said has merit but if you persevere I do believe that you could get a nice business going with a 10%+/- yield and much higher in future years as rents for cheapie condos are going up and will contunue to go up with the high inflation times we are in here.

[heartnarrow]

I think your plan is sound but you overestimate the rental yields in Thailand now especialy pattaya. Nice, expensive condos usually yield around 5% which is too low imo. The best yields that I have seen are about 10% on cheapie 250,000 condos in BKK (. Most falangs would call these 2000-2500 baht per month- 10-15 year old condos "slums" because they sort of look like it. I am talking about Nirun condos. But if you have experience as an owner operator of "working class" apartments I think these will be very good investments in the long run for many reasons.

That being said, I would not attempt to do this business as a falang unless I had a long term Thai g/f or wife. All repairs cost triple for falangs and you need to speak fluent thai to answer adverts for rent etc. plus occasionaly throw out bad tenants. Renting to working thais seems a more stable business than renting to falangs in pattaya.

My opinion is not to be discouraged by some of the negative posters. What they said has merit but if you persevere I do believe that you could get a nice business going with a 10%+/- yield and much higher in future years as rents for cheapie condos are going up and will contunue to go up with the high inflation times we are in here.

Thank you for your advice. May be I should think about renting out to working thais. I need high occupancy rate and high rental rate to get this business going.

[Khun Jean]

Paperworks is right. I did the numbers on it too.

Don't target foreigners, but target the low end of the market. Buying is cheap. Use the buy and lease back method. Preferable in the neighbourhood of a big factory or in the centre of a big city. You are guaranteed to have a very high aoccupancy rate. It probably will be 100%. Try to spread out your properties. Don't invest to much in appartments in one building. If it is of a worse quality than you estimated or if some bad things happen like a fire you can loose a lot.

There are always people in need of money and if you do a buy and lease back it can be a win/win situation. The person needing money is helped and you will have invested in a condo that already has an occupant. Rent without anything, only the empty space between the walls. No furniture. That will keep maintenance low. Just take care of the structure. If you do this right it can be profitable for many many years. ROI of 10-30% are possible.

[OldAsiaHand]

......May be I should think about renting out to working thais. I need high occupancy rate and high rental rate to get this business going.

I'm rather at a loss as to why you think renting to Thais would produce a more stable income stream and lower vacancy rate than renting to foreigners. My guess is the result would be exactly the opposite.

[Jiminthesun]

I am absolutely not an expert, but concerning borrowing capital for land or condo purchase here in Thailand, I think you will discover that the main Thai Bank who is exploiting that Business is the Bangkok Bank. However they manage this business from their Singapore Branch. If their website is to be believed they calculate their interest on the basis of the "Bangkok Bank’s US dollar prime lending rate + 0.5% per annum." This would therefore currently stand at 8.75%. They also charge 5000 US Dollars as a set up fee.

This raises the return you must get back from your investment, for example, if borrow 50% of the value of the property, you are equivalently paying 4.5% on the total. If you add in the commission you pay to an agent to manage your property locally, you could end up actually earning only 4% on your own capital. This is not enough to justify the risk, however, if you choose the right location and get a significant capital gain, then it would become worthwhile in the longer term.

Be wise and enjoy.

Edited August 10, 2006 by Jiminthesun

[creation2474]

I have had the same idea as you, heart.

The main reason I did not do it was because I realized, that it would not be stress-less at all, and that it is very possible to optain the same level of return from other much more maintainable investments. I invested in a mutual fund.

[heartnarrow]

I have had the same idea as you, heart.

The main reason I did not do it was because I realized, that it would not be stress-less at all, and that it is very possible to optain the same level of return from other much more maintainable investments. I invested in a mutual fund.

Can you kindly educate me on mutual fund? Sorry, I'm korean and i don't understand the term.

[migrant]

Can you kindly educate me on mutual fund? Sorry, I'm korean and i don't understand the term.

A mutual fund is a investment where your money is pooled with others. This money is then invested in a variety of (usually) companies.

A benefit is they are large enough to hire some good people to do the investments and research.

anyang i ge se yo

[Scenium11]

I would just add that buying a house or condo in Thailand is pretty much risky.

- You have no guarantee that you won't have a high tower that will be built up next to your sweet house, maybe a brand new expressway.

- If you buy a condo, your building will certainly be run down years after years. I can see some building that were very nice few years ago and becoming totally run down these days. Maybe it will be smashed and a new building will be built.

Real Estate doesn't seem to be a good investment for the time-being. Purchasing prices are low but risks are high. And you may lose money when you'll sell it.

If you start to mess with your Thai neighbor in yoru counpound, you'd better move away or your life will start to turn to a nightmare.

That's why a prefer renting out places and move around to a next valuable location.

[cleggit]

<quote>

I'm rather at a loss as to why you think renting to Thais would produce a more stable income stream and lower vacancy rate than renting to foreigners. My guess is the result would be exactly the opposite.

<end quote>

As there is something like 60 millions Thais and considerably less foreigners I think it is a fair assumption to make.

[~G~]

I have had the same idea as you, heart.

The main reason I did not do it was because I realized, that it would not be stress-less at all, and that it is very possible to optain the same level of return from other much more maintainable investments. I invested in a mutual fund.

And what kind of yield did your mutual fund do since the beginning of the year?

[OldAsiaHand]

<quote>

I'm rather at a loss as to why you think renting to Thais would produce a more stable income stream and lower vacancy rate than renting to foreigners. My guess is the result would be exactly the opposite.

<end quote>

As there is something like 60 millions Thais and considerably less foreigners I think it is a fair assumption to make.

I would have thought it fairly obvious that I was speaking to the issue of tenant quality, not quantity.

Apparently I have once again woefully overestimated the intelligence of some people reading this board. In the future, I will try to keep that lesson clearly in mind.

[Chang_paarp]

Apparently I have once again woefully overestimated the intelligence of some people reading this board. In the future, I will try to keep that lesson clearly in mind.

[billaaa777]

When I first saw your thread I thought it would provide some valuable insight into the property market in Thailand. I live in Pattaya and made over 2,000,000 BHT or in excess of 100% of a return on my initial investment buying, designing, renovating and selling condos.

It was not easy and took a lot of hard work, but it is certainly an accomplishable goal. I methodically researched the market to ensure I knew the range of selling prices I could expect on each condo. I developed a building plan detailing each aspect of the renovation process. Next I constructed a budget based on the building plan and interview each sub-contractor I need to complete the renovation.

By the time I purchased my first condo I knew what the purchase price was, the renovation expenses and the range of high to low selling prices I could expect. I made sure that even if I sold the condo at the low end of the selling range I would still have a good profit margin.

The first condo I bought was on a low floor, had a bad view, in a company name (which you can not do anymore) and was in an eight year old building that is in need of a good paint job. I bought if for 1,150,000 and spent 600,000 renovating it. The so called experts, which is pretty much like everybody that has replied to this thread said I would never make money on it and not only that they said I would never sell anywhere near the price I was asking.

But, I did my homework prior to starting and was very aware of my competition. That condo I listed at 2,600,000 and sold in ONE week for 2,400,000! Since then I have bought as many as I can get my hands on that meet my standards. I have never had a condo take longer than three months to sell and never made less than a 20% return on my investment, so you figure out what my yearly return is.

Is 4M baht enough to start this condo business? (Rental or buying / renovating / selling Can I make over 40K baht monthly?

It is more than enough? I have made more than 550,000 on one deal that took 3 months from start to finish!!!

If I were to buy a condo for 1.5M baht and renovate it for 300k, how much can I sell it for?

I have one condo I bought for 870,000 and spent 420,000 renovating that I have just finished listed at 1,995,000.

I have another one I am working on that I bought for 1,520,000 and am spending 420,000 to renovate I will list at 2,600,000.

And any offer I get with in a few hundred thousand of the asking price and they are sold.

I have had the same idea as you, heart.

The main reason I did not do it was because I realized, that it would not be stress-less at all, and that it is very possible to obtain the same level of return from other much more maintainable investments. I invested in a mutual fund.

Please let me know a mutual fund that returns over a 100% year after year. They do not exist. If they ever hit 100% return they made quite a few risky investments that paid off that year and invariably there return next year drops drastically.

I would just add that buying a house or condo in Thailand is pretty much risky.

- You have no guarantee that you won't have a high tower that will be built up next to your sweet house, maybe a brand new expressway.

- If you buy a condo, your building will certainly be run down years after years. I can see some building that were very nice few years ago and becoming totally run down these days. Maybe it will be smashed and a new building will be built.

Real Estate doesn't seem to be a good investment for the time-being. Purchasing prices are low but risks are high. And you may lose money when you'll sell it.

If you start to mess with your Thai neighbor in yoru compound, you'd better move away or your life will start to turn to a nightmare.

That's why a prefer renting out places and move around to a next valuable location.

This is just so negative it hard to even know where to start addressing some of the issues you raised. At my condo in Pattaya I can look out my window and literally see over 5,000 new condos under construction, which in a city with a population of 250,000 is just staggering. These condos are not being sold for the most part to the present residents but to vacationers and retirees from around the world. The new condos developments are priced higher than the previous condo developments which has had the effect of increasing the value of all condos in one year and this is just a rough guess somewhere 15% to 20%.

So in essence, if you purchased a condo here a year ago and sold it this year not only would of lived rent free you would of sold that condo and put a nice little profit in your pocket.

Just reading you comments gets me so frustrated, I wonder why you even attempted to post anything since you obviously have no idea what your saying. I will address one last thing you mentioned. I live in View Talay 1, a development that was built eight years ago. These condos are badly needed of a paint job, both on the outside and the inside. The original selling price of these units depending on the floor you were on was somewhere between 300,000 to 400,000 BHT. If you did nothing to your condo at all that condo would sell for approximately 1,000,000 BHT today, you figure out the return on your investment.

For all of you that are adverse to risk and a little hard work then don’t do it. For those of you that want to make money, are willing to take a little risk and do a little research the condo market in Pattaya is booming. I am always aware of more deals than I can do, so if your interested just PM me.

[creation2474]

I have had the same idea as you, heart.

The main reason I did not do it was because I realized, that it would not be stress-less at all, and that it is very possible to optain the same level of return from other much more maintainable investments. I invested in a mutual fund.

And what kind of yield did your mutual fund do since the beginning of the year?

It's a long-term investment. Must accumulate for a minimum of 3 years. It's a company splitted up in seven companies all with different risk/yield profiles. You must choose yours.

3 compagnies have existed more than 10 years. Their average return on aggregate over the last 10 years is 17,67% p.a., not accumulated.

If you really need to know this years return to date, it is respectively 6,3 and 7,4% for the 2 companies in which I have invested. But one years yield is not relevant with this kind of investment concept.

To the OP I will have to say, that even though my advise would be that you invested your money in a unit trust (joint-stock company) with a long term, low risk concept, I must warn you against letting people, who don't know how to invest your money, take care of them. Take all the time you need searching the internet, to find a good company. There are many weak ones out there, which mainly live off substantial (more or less fixed) costs of "managing" other peoples money.

If you manage to find a good company, I have no doubt that this solution will be far better for you.

Less risk, less stress, more time.

[creation2474]

For those who like to practice their danish, the returns will be apparent from then following: www.formuepleje.dk/sw170.asp

[number6]

I have had the same idea as you, heart.

The main reason I did not do it was because I realized, that it would not be stress-less at all, and that it is very possible to optain the same level of return from other much more maintainable investments. I invested in a mutual fund.

And what kind of yield did your mutual fund do since the beginning of the year?

ask about last 3 years miones averaged about 10% but this year since jan has been bad lost about half gain but still up about 5-7% per annum compounded - i look at long term 10+ years and in UK and USA property has been thing but here in LOS i tihnk your better of with mutuals - but who knows u takes your chance and live with it or just blow it all and go back to UK or USA and live of social

[expatgaz]

Iam no Expert but if handled correctly in can be very profitable.I have maintained at least 10% clear on mine.Doesn't bring a lot but its a steady 30k per month.