What are your thoughts on an apartment complex as an investment?

[blackcab]

Sometimes people have a cash ~$100,000 burning a hole in their pocket and there is really no need for them to make such an investment. Alternatively they are desperate for income. Is this one of those scenarios?

No, I don't think it is. In Bangkok (and I do understand prices are much higher here), the going rate to buy a low end (ie 2,500-3,000 baht a month) apartment block is something like 500,000 baht per room.

On that basis 100,000 USD or 3.5m baht won't get you too far. As apartment blocks are a scale business, in my opinion you need a minimum of 50 rooms in one place to make things work well, but the more the merrier.

One key to success is owning multiple units as close together as possible. Your cleaner, maintenance guy and manager can then handle more than one property and your overhead per building can be reduced.