6-month sabbatical with 2 children - accommodation & budget - your expert view?

[dkofodimos]

Dear All,

I and my wife are planning to do a 6-month sabbatical in Koh Samui starting January 2016 and I am writing this post to get experts' views on accommodation.

This is the context:

- We (will) have 2 kids when we arrive there: a 3 year-old and a 4-month old

- The main requirement is that we want to live literally by the beach. We want the place to be a few steps from the sea

- A nice garden is also required so that the kids can play

- A 2-bedroom place will be fine

- On location: we would like the beach to be great as we plan to spend a lot of time by the beach. Having amenities close is a nice-to-have. We plan to rent a car of course but I do not want to drive too much to be honest

- So far we have only checked out some of the Air BnB inventory.

Hope that is enough context, now moving over to the questions:

• What is a realistic budget we should set according to your opinion? I was expecting that we could get away with 2000 GBP per month (c 100K Baht) max but just checking AIr BnB it could be that we may have to increase this number to even 3000 GBP per month (150K Baht).
• Which locations do you recommend? Ideally, we would like to meet other families as well so that we could socialise and the kids have friends to play with
• Any other top sites that we could look for accommodation?
• Any particular tips when it comes to finding, negotiating and booking accommodation?

Many thanks in advance !!

[Mole]

Beach front houses are not easy to come by here in Samui and they always cost a premium. Of course the more central location, the more the price will be.

IMO, family wise, a good location would be around Maenam where there is a nice local Thai community and not so much clubs. However, there aren't really 2 bedroom houses by the beach that I know of. I know a 2 bedroom house which is about 150m to the beach though.

Beach front 2 bedroom house, I know one on the other side of the island, in Lipa noi. But staying here, you'll be pretty much far away from most things.

I think in the end, since you also have budget constrains, you will have to consider if you really need to stay right at the beach. In the end, staying such long term, I'm pretty sure you won't be going to the beach every single day. So perhaps finding a house within short walking distance to the beach at a more reasonable price may be a viable option.

[khunPer]

2-bed aircon nice beach-front villa centrally at Maenam Beach – literally a few steps down – but hardly any garden and a little pool (not good with small children), will cost you from around 125,000 bah/month. Walking distance to most daily needs, 24-hour convenient stores and a variety of restaurants. Good dream-location costs, as Mole said above. You can probably find some more affordable beach-front on the Southern or Western coast; or just getting 50-200 meter inland, prices will become affordable, if not quite affordable.

Edited June 13, 2016 by khunPer

[samuijimmy]

Agree pretty much with last two posts....^

January is not really the best time to start, as it's high season, is always harder to find places ... April would probably be better..

As Mole pointed out 2 bedrooms much harder to find .. but there are a few around if you are lucky... with that kind of budget, it should be an upmarket villa.... it's more than some us pay for a decent place for a whole year, within short walk to beach. Maenam, Ban Tai, Ban Por or SW side of the island... would be places to look....

[robertson468]

2-bed aircon nice beach-front villa centrally at Maenam Beach – literally a few steps down – but hardly any garden and a little pool (not good with small children), will cost you from around 125,000 bah/month. Walking distance to most daily needs, 24-hour convenient stores and a variety of restaurants. Good dream-location costs, as Mole said above. You can probably find some more affordable beach-front on the Southern or Western coast; or just getting 50-200 meter inland, prices will become affordable, if not quite affordable.

What!!!!!!!!!!!! 125,000 baht per month - really?! He only wants to rent the place, not buy it! That is one crazy price for a 2 bedroom house. We rent out 2 bedroom Villa with large walled garden, with shared pool, about 175 meters from the beach/sea. Price 25,000 baht per month. I believe you can 2 bedroom Villas for between 25,000 to 35,000 baht per month. We are pretty well booked up but happy to help you. Please PM me and let me have the dates, if you like. To give you a little confidence in us, we also operate through Airbnb and Booking.com. Look forward to hearing from you.

[khunPer]

2-bed aircon nice beach-front villa centrally at Maenam Beach – literally a few steps down – but hardly any garden and a little pool (not good with small children), will cost you from around 125,000 bah/month. Walking distance to most daily needs, 24-hour convenient stores and a variety of restaurants. Good dream-location costs, as Mole said above. You can probably find some more affordable beach-front on the Southern or Western coast; or just getting 50-200 meter inland, prices will become affordable, if not quite affordable.

What!!!!!!!!!!!! 125,000 baht per month - really?! He only wants to rent the place, not buy it! That is one crazy price for a 2 bedroom house. We rent out 2 bedroom Villa with large walled garden, with shared pool, about 175 meters from the beach/sea. Price 25,000 baht per month. I believe you can 2 bedroom Villas for between 25,000 to 35,000 baht per month. We are pretty well booked up but happy to help you. Please PM me and let me have the dates, if you like. To give you a little confidence in us, we also operate through Airbnb and Booking.com. Look forward to hearing from you.

I'm afraid you have to come up with some 25 million baht to buy the place – that's what the owner asks for, and that's pretty much within the going range from 20 million to 125 million baht beach-front Maenam; the latter however a 6-bed with pool, but fairly long time ago, so I presume similar may be more now...

So 125,000 baht a month is in the cheap low end, if you count 8% to 12% of investment in annual rent.

Compared to 2 lower quality bungalows – but same beach-sand and sea, at for example neighboring "Lolita Bungalows" – you will pay 1700 x 2 x 30 (without breakfast), equals some 100,000 baht a month; whilst renting 2 newly build 1-bed beach-front bungalows at Maenam Beach will be 3500 x 2 x 30 = around 200,000 baht a month. That's why folks renting a two-bed villa for 125,000 baht a month says it's cheap, and on top you have a private little walled garden pool, and nice living room, kitchen etc.

If you compare to luxury end 1-bed beach-front bungalows at Maenam – you will pay from some 25,000 to 65,000 baht a day – so renting a villa is a real bargain; "Mitcha Wan" is a good option if your are a number of people on vacation together...

And both of us – and SamuiJimmy too – are right, just 50 to 200 meters inland, and you can rent really nice villas for a huge lot less – when I came here looking for a 1-bed bungalow, I could choose between one night beach-front at Santibury, or a whole year walking 80 meters only...

[PoorSucker]

What!!!!!!!!!!!! 125,000 baht per month - really?!

Here you go, starting at 50.000 baht/night.

http://www.luxuryvillasamui.com/villamia

[Bredbury Blue]

Why not consider Koh Chang. If you do, then PM me and i'll send you details of a fantastic 3 bedroom new house we stayed at in May. On a very small beach with only 5 houses, grass and sand for the kids to play, water shallow until a distance out. Another major beach and clubhouse/50m swimming pool 5 minutes walk away.