chingmai331 Posted March 7, 2015 Share Posted March 7, 2015 I see some of these for sale around CM and wonder if these would be a better way to invest in living quarters compared to condo, assuming i could find the way to buy legally. Get small fenced front for car/scooter parking, open front door towards street for ??, upstairs for 2 more private floors for living in and often a roof-top for evening barbies and such. Seems so much more opportunity, comfort and space compared to condo. Does anyone has first-hand knowledge of 'life in a shop-house'? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
longstebe Posted March 7, 2015 Share Posted March 7, 2015 (edited) We've not long moved into one. The wifey has her business on the bottom floor and we have a middle floor for cooking, watching tele etc....Also on the middle floor is a closed off room which we sleep in. The top floor is our open top balcony, so in theory we only have two floors were most have three. The views we have from the top floor are excellent and you can have a right good nose down the main street. The only gripe I have is our rented accommodation only has a bathroom on the bottom floor, again, most have a bathroom on each floor. I've seen rent up to 25,000 baht per month but don't know how much they sell for. It crossed my mind too, especially having the extra floor in the newer buildings. I'd say rent one for a year and see what you think, it may be a bit of hassel carting your belongings up and down but you'll soon find out if its for you or not. Edited March 7, 2015 by longstebe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chingmai331 Posted March 7, 2015 Author Share Posted March 7, 2015 Lonstebe, you reminded me of my youth when we 5 guys rented a cheap-o flat with roof top and we pissed off the roof. What fun days. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeepholt Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 Well, I don't know about living in a shop house in Chiang Mai, but I have been living in my shop house in downtown Pattaya for more than 30 years now. I suits me just fine. Only problem is my Thai wife is not happy with having to clean 5 floors! To which I respond " we'll have to buy a bigger one". 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
longstebe Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 The balconies on each floor are a little bonus too. If you were to buy one, there would be nothing stopping you making a few adjustments inside to make it feel a bit more homely. Another bonus, the sets of stairs would keep you fit. @Jeepholt How do you go about keeping your place cool? Do you have a way of closing each floor off to one another? Our A/C is in the bedroom which is closed off from the rest of the second floor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ARISTIDE Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 Shop house is perfect only problem for those who like to BBQ in the backyard and like dogs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
longstebe Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 Shop house is perfect only problem for those who like to BBQ in the backyard and like dogs Very true my friend, our older dog can't do the stairs, muggins has to carry him. The younger dog can just about make it up and down with the odd slip here and there. As for the BBQ, perfect place on the rooftop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WinnieTheKhwai Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 Definitely interesting. They tend to be expensive when located on a main road, but down a soi can be quite reasonable. And you need to do some work on them (bathrooms, kitchen..) but once you do that it makes for perfect city living. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LawrenceChee Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 Plus those new ones have great windows ....you could do a show stopper dancing i neon nights when you are bored and see if anyone stops their cars and throw you a coin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
longstebe Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 Definitely interesting. They tend to be expensive when located on a main road, but down a soi can be quite reasonable. And you need to do some work on them (bathrooms, kitchen..) but once you do that it makes for perfect city living. You may be right mate but the ones the wife and I were looking at last year all had bathrooms on each floor (apart from ours). Given, majority of them were newly built. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
longstebe Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 Plus those new ones have great windows ....you could do a show stopper dancing i neon nights when you are bored and see if anyone stops their cars and throw you a coin Tried it mate, all I got was rotten vegetables. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DLock Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 I'm a big fan of converted warehouse or industrial spaces. What are your neighbors like - loud businesses or lots of noise? Thats the only thing that would worry me is the randomness of who could be your neighbor. Are the walls soundproof and anyone who has older shophouse, so they share the same roofspace (hollow) and connected)? I have thought about buying 4 or 5 shophouses and turning them into cool rental accommodation with business space on bottom, or drive in car space. Interesting topic. Appreciate knowing more, as there always seems to be shophouses going up around the town, so no shortage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WinnieTheKhwai Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 Definitely interesting. They tend to be expensive when located on a main road, but down a soi can be quite reasonable. And you need to do some work on them (bathrooms, kitchen..) but once you do that it makes for perfect city living. You may be right mate but the ones the wife and I were looking at last year all had bathrooms on each floor (apart from ours). Given, majority of them were newly built. Right, but they tend to have fairly basic, small utilitarian bathrooms, often tucked under stairs somewhere. For a nice house I'd want a bathroom about three times as big with some nice basins and a tub in it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
longstebe Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 ^^^^^^^ Yeah pretty much mate, basic sink, toilet and shower. Not enough room to swing a cat. The other thing I noticed with a few of them was if the property had any space at the back of the unit, this would be the kitchen area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfokevin Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 (edited) It is possible... But the wild card is who your neighbor would be now and in the future... Have you seen a shophouse that is over 5 years old that you would like to live in?... They do not age well as a group... The Thais tend to not keep up any property and are even less caring when it comes to shophouses... they tack on cheap awnings, if they do replace anything that wears out - it will be with the cheapest replacement... Huge signs... or even worse they rent the front for advertising (Pizza 1-2-3, True 4G...)... A nice neighbor will move and rent to a noodle restaurant of a motorcycle repair guy... There is no rules to control this... Have you looked a some of the townhouse developments?... Check out the townhouse development at the intersection of Samoeng & Canal Road as an example. Edited March 9, 2015 by sfokevin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WinnieTheKhwai Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 (edited) ^ Townhouses are pretty much the same though in terms of upkeep of a whole block. So yes, it's a bit hit and miss with the upkeep next door, but at the same time you get downtown urban living with a heck of a lot more space than you have in a typical condo. If the location is good then chances are that sooner or later most units in a block will be snapped up by people willing to spend some money on it. (Or, like, paint it at least. ) On another form that focuses on building and construction there is a very good topic on converting a double shophouse into several apartments. It all looks a lot niver after some time and effort (and a modest amount of money). Edited March 9, 2015 by WinnieTheKhwai Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DLock Posted March 10, 2015 Share Posted March 10, 2015 It is possible... But the wild card is who your neighbor would be now and in the future... Have you seen a shophouse that is over 5 years old that you would like to live in?... They do not age well as a group... The Thais tend to not keep up any property and are even less caring when it comes to shophouses... they tack on cheap awnings, if they do replace anything that wears out - it will be with the cheapest replacement... Huge signs... or even worse they rent the front for advertising (Pizza 1-2-3, True 4G...)... A nice neighbor will move and rent to a noodle restaurant of a motorcycle repair guy... There is no rules to control this... Have you looked a some of the townhouse developments?... Check out the townhouse development at the intersection of Samoeng & Canal Road as an example. Kevin, I live on Samoeng, so I pass that intersection everyday. Are you talking about Malada? That looks reasonably well designed and put together, but those shophouses seem to be suffer from poor traffic and not a lot are sold...and thats what gave me the idea. Buy the last 4 or 5 in the block and convert to interesting residential, rather than buying a random shophouse in the middle. Interestingly, the shophouses directly opposite have been there for 5 years and only 3 out of 20 or so ever got rented out. I guess thats because people can't easily stop or park, but again, interesting for residential, and I bet they are really cheap...or logic would suggest that... But I agree with what you say. That's why I would prefer to buy a standalone block of shophouses and control some of the risks that you mention...or even build my own shophouses with residential in mind...and if they fail, sell back as shophouses. I think too much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfokevin Posted March 10, 2015 Share Posted March 10, 2015 ^^^ Yes those are the ones... I would not want the ones on the corner that are shophouses... The corner is busy with traffic and a bit polluted from the cars and such... But back in there at the end might be a nice quiet townhouse... Buying a few in a row and furnishing and decorating the outside with plants and you could rent to farrangs via airbnb... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bangmai Posted March 10, 2015 Share Posted March 10, 2015 Shop houses are good alternatives to SFH in areas where land is prohibitively expensive. You get a lot of space for the money and no yard to maintain. My experience in Virginia has been that the folks who bought TH 10 miles from the city, did a lot better than those who bought the same priced SFH, 20 miles from the city. That extra 10 miles can add an hour to a one way commute, on a bad day. I was in some new shop houses last week...3 level, 15 x 4 m, small back yard with room for kitchen/laundry, half bath on ground level, 2nd and third floors are one big BR and full bath on each. Four small balconies.......Very nice construction, but there is no kitchen, or air-con...that's up to the tenant. 2 very coveted parking spaces in front of each unit. Rent is 25K per month, and 28K for the end units. No takers, yet. Prime CMU location. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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