What Are Apartment Rents In Chiangmai?

[Weho]

Just curious if you can give any idea what nice apartments go for in the Chiangmai area... I'm looking for a 2 or 3 bedroom in a nice building, with 24 hour doorman security, some kind of pool. How much more expensive does it get in one of those "serviced apartments"? How far out of town does one have to go for the prices to drop?

I've seen some on the internet, they seem expensive. Where is the best place to find an apartment, (real estate agent, classified ads, etc.)? Any help appreciated! Thanks, Jim

(weho)

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[chanchao]

> I'm looking for a 2 or 3 bedroom in a nice building, with 24 hour

> doorman security, some kind of pool. How much more expensive does

> it get in one of those "serviced apartments"?

Bad news: Those are NOT the most common kind. There's no shortage of land around Chiang Mai, so the upper-scale condominiums that do exist really target a niche market, especially when they have multiple rooms and a swimming pool. You can easily pay twice as much fore a 2-3 bedroom condo as you would for a 2-3 bedroom house. Figure 8000 baht at the absolute minimum.

> I've seen some on the internet, they seem expensive.

Yup. Condo's don't really make all that much sense in Chiang Mai.

> Where is the best place to find an apartment, (real estate agent,

> classified ads, etc.)?

None of those. (Well, do a tour with a real estate agent if only for the free trip to get your bearings, and by all means check out any classifies in the magazines.) But to actually find something, jusgt walk into condominium building and ask.

> How far out of town does one have to go for the prices to drop?

Why does it make sense to build a hi-rise condominium far out of town in between rice fields where land is real cheap? Condos' make sense in Banngkok, New York and Tokyo. In Chiang Mai however...

Cheers,

Chanchao

[chanchao]

Anyway, there's a '103' condo WAY out off the Superhighway near the new Middle Ring road. God knows why they built it all the way out there. Perhaps another bright idea during the 'bubble economy' years.. But anyway, the thing is still there and still standing. Haven't seen it up close, don't know how grim it looks or even if it has units with more than one room.

There's a bunch off the Canal Road North of Huay Kaew as well.

Also a friend of mine has a unit for rent in THE most flash condo in Chiang Mai, the one right on the River near Nakorn Ping bridge.. I think he's taretting diplomats and Japanaes expat families though.. He's looking for quite a sum of money, pretty much what a multi bedroom condo on Sukhumvit in Bangkok would cost.

Cheers,

Chanchao