Buying a condo off the plan at or near Phuket

[OzJim]

Hi I'd like to look sometime this year or next year for a condo off the plan no real rush but as a holiday home to and from AUSTRALIA until I retire. Does anyone have any recommendations, only need a small studio.

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[blackcab]

I have a recommendation:

 

Don't buy off plan unless you are absolutely certain about the developer and your ability to understand the deal.

[Peterw42]

Lots of existing condos, no reason to buy off the plan and risk problems, and probably cheaper. Phuket is the size of Singapore 500 sq kilometers, depends on what you are looking for as to recommendations, quiet beach, nightlife, city, country etc .

Edited January 20, 2017 by Peterw42

[KittenKong]

Yes, why buy an unknown new unit off-plan when Thailand has tens (hundreds?) of thousands of existing condos for re-sale?

[AJBangkok]

With all the bargain condo''s in Phuket at the moment you'd be crazy to buy off the plan. For price you pay for a studio condo off the plan you should be able to buy a 1 or even 2 bedroom condo built within the last 5-7 years if you're prepared to spend hours and hours on the net researching.

[xylophone]

14 hours ago, blackcab said:

I have a recommendation:

 

Don't buy off plan unless you are absolutely certain about the developer and your ability to understand the deal.

 

And with two, possibly three off-the-plan condo/apt developments now unfinished and most likely bust in Patong, that should give you a clue!

[OzJim]

Ok thanks for that I'll look at a resale condo later early next year


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[carlyai]

Ok thanks for that I'll look at a resale condo later early next year


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Don't buy a cheap condo. Don't buy a condo.

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[anfh]

I know of three "off plan " sites that have taken deposits etc over two years ago in Patong and never started construction !!!!

 

very unwise to buy "off "plan" as many others available.

 

Also, the newer projects are very small units, some are listed as one bedroom , and are only around 28-30 sqm !!! Older ones are much better value 

[SOUTHERNSTAR]

Dont do it. Here between HH and Chaam we have one development of 6000 units that going bust. Even big cmpanies are struggeling. Buy a completed one and at present its a buyers market. Be careful and learn about the local market before you buy. 

[lkn]

On 1/22/2017 at 0:12 PM, anfh said:

Also, the newer projects are very small units, some are listed as one bedroom , and are only around 28-30 sqm !!! Older ones are much better value 

I saw a 22 sq. m. studio offered for sale.

 

Though there are a few builds with proper room sizes, but they are few and far between.

[SiSePuede419]

There are 3 things that real estate agents in Phuket don't tell you:

 

Tsunami, tsunami, tsunami. ?

Edited January 23, 2017 by SiSePuede419
Clarify.

[trogers]

1 hour ago, SiSePuede419 said:

There are 3 things that real estate agents in Phuket don't tell you:

 

Tsunami, tsunami, tsunami. ?

Perfectly fine in a condo on top of a 20m cliff...

[zaZa9]

Ive been here 9 years and I'd NEVER buy.

Imagine a place where there are rules that are rarely followed , let alone policed.

So a garbage collector can set up across the road and pile his property with rubbish , further down the street a trucking company can move into a cottage and  park 10 trucks nightly out on the 1 and a half lane road , and downstairs the owner of 3 apartments constantly rents them out  daily to noisy tourist families. And the old fellow behind likes to burn stuff !

And then the head of the Body Corp absconds with the sinking fund and everything goes to pack.

The 'Authority' for these issues will usually do nothing. The Thai  generally will laugh at your complaints.

 

Condos go down in value here , rarely up.

But dont believe me.

Come and stay and ask around.

You will be knocked over by people telling you its great , and then trying to sell you their place.

There are so many empty places here in Phuket , you can rent something like you describe for  $100 to $150 AUD a week.

Then move when there are the inevitable  problems to another newer one.

But come and look FIRST !

[funandsuninbangkok]

Be smart. Put you money in Australian property or stock market and rent in Thailand. Much cheaper to rent if you calculate return. 

 

Condos dont appreciate in Thailand (or Japan ). They depreciate and are torn down and replaced after 40 or 50 years. 

 

 

[mcfish]

Be smart. Put you money in Australian property or stock market and rent in Thailand. Much cheaper to rent if you calculate return. 
 
Condos dont appreciate in Thailand (or Japan ). They depreciate and are torn down and replaced after 40 or 50 years. 
 
 

Australia Is a massive bubble. Very bad advice [emoji46]

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[funandsuninbangkok]

4 hours ago, mcfish said:

Australia Is a massive bubble. Very bad advice

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Wow!

 

you are a bubble guru!  No bubble here in Bangkok but Australia ready to pop!

 

Tell that to the doorman at Q House Nana showroom. I've walked by him a thousand times  last two years and never seen him once open the door.  

 

Buy now!  Can you get me in the front of the line?  I'll take two!  

[trogers]

5 hours ago, funandsuninbangkok said:

Be smart. Put you money in Australian property or stock market and rent in Thailand. Much cheaper to rent if you calculate return. 

 

Condos dont appreciate in Thailand (or Japan ). They depreciate and are torn down and replaced after 40 or 50 years. 

 

 

I prefer Toronto or London...

[mcfish]

Wow!
 
you are a bubble guru!  No bubble here in Bangkok but Australia ready to pop!
 
Tell that to the doorman at Q House Nana showroom. I've walked by him a thousand times  last two years and never seen him once open the door.  
 
Buy now!  Can you get me in the front of the line?  I'll take two!  

It is what it is. A massive bubble and Sydney is 2_3x times bangkok.

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[lkn]

8 hours ago, funandsuninbangkok said:

Be smart. Put you money in Australian property or stock market and rent in Thailand. Much cheaper to rent if you calculate return. 

 

Condos dont appreciate in Thailand (or Japan ). They depreciate and are torn down and replaced after 40 or 50 years. 

Without any data or specifics, this advice is rather useless.

 

I’m sure you can do lots of bad real estate investments in Australia, and most certainly in the stock market.

 

Condos not appreciating in Thailand or Japan seems to be a sweeping generalization. Japan’s economy has been affected by both natural disasters and financial bubbles, but the numbers published by the Japanese government does show condo appreciation (but how much depend on time period and area).

 

For Thailand, we all know that the market is saturated with 30 sq. m. budget condos, but when it comes to larger quality condos, they are few and far between, and the ones I have found (for resale), had all appreciated in value.

 

Your last statement about condos being torn down and replaced after 40-50 years, that again seems to be a sweeping generalization.

[trogers]

3 hours ago, lkn said:

Without any data or specifics, this advice is rather useless.

 

I’m sure you can do lots of bad real estate investments in Australia, and most certainly in the stock market.

 

Condos not appreciating in Thailand or Japan seems to be a sweeping generalization. Japan’s economy has been affected by both natural disasters and financial bubbles, but the numbers published by the Japanese government does show condo appreciation (but how much depend on time period and area).

 

For Thailand, we all know that the market is saturated with 30 sq. m. budget condos, but when it comes to larger quality condos, they are few and far between, and the ones I have found (for resale), had all appreciated in value.

 

Your last statement about condos being torn down and replaced after 40-50 years, that again seems to be a sweeping generalization.

That last statement has not yet come to pass, because Thailand's first condo building is yet to become 40 years old...?

[blackcab]

6 hours ago, trogers said:

That last statement has not yet come to pass, because Thailand's first condo building is yet to become 40 years old...?

Only about 3 years to wait...

[OzJim]

Thank you all for the good advice, I'll have to come back in next year and do some homework, but it looks like renting would be the way to go first.


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[xylophone]

13 hours ago, OzJim said:

Thank you all for the good advice, I'll have to come back in next year and do some homework, but it looks like renting would be the way to go first.


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Sensible move OzJim not only because of the precarious state of the developers and the market here, but because you will need to get a "feel" for the place, the neighbours/neighbourhood, infrastructure and nearby facilities.

 

Take your time as a poor decision could leave you out of pocket or saddled with a property you can't sell.

[zorro1]

Sensible move OzJim not only because of the precarious state of the developers and the market here, but because you will need to get a "feel" for the place, the neighbours/neighbourhood, infrastructure and nearby facilities.
 
Take your time as a poor decision could leave you out of pocket or saddled with a property you can't sell.

This the truth especially if you were unfortunate enough to hold property in the USA during the sub prime crises. Millions of properties still at 80% under value even today but let's not invest in Thailand

LMAO!

[madmax2]

As advised do not buy of plan people are ripped of all the time in phuket on projects that are never started or abandoned when partially completed and the developer has collected all the deposits and progress payments if there are any

You can drive around any of the areas in phuket popular with expats and find hundreds in not thousands of completed condo's for sale and you will also see the partially completed abandoned ones as well, sometimes right next door to new developments

[xylophone]

3 hours ago, madmax2 said:

As advised do not buy of plan people are ripped of all the time in phuket on projects that are never started or abandoned when partially completed and the developer has collected all the deposits and progress payments if there are any

You can drive around any of the areas in phuket popular with expats and find hundreds in not thousands of completed condo's for sale and you will also see the partially completed abandoned ones as well, sometimes right next door to new developments

Yep...........over 900 off the plan units stalled for well over 2 yrs in "The Park", Nanai road, Patong; not sure of the numbers but must be around 50 unfinished units in the ACE development in Patong; the Dinso project in Nanai also seems to have stalled and there are unfinished apartments in "The Green Places" project in Phuket town, close to Bangkok Phuket hospital.

 

I'm sure there are more but the above should give a clue as to the security of such projects!

 

 

[funandsuninbangkok]

On 1/31/2017 at 7:00 PM, xylophone said:

Yep...........over 900 off the plan units stalled for well over 2 yrs in "The Park", Nanai road, Patong; not sure of the numbers but must be around 50 unfinished units in the ACE development in Patong; the Dinso project in Nanai also seems to have stalled and there are unfinished apartments in "The Green Places" project in Phuket town, close to Bangkok Phuket hospital.

 

I'm sure there are more but the above should give a clue as to the security of such projects!

 

 

Most real estate "investors" here in Thailand have very little understanding of investing. 

 

For example, during the recent building boom, some buyers of  off-plan projects sold for prices 50% higher they paid. They assumed that real estate in Thailand is going up. What they failed to understand is most of the increase was due the risk of project failure being over once the building was completed. A well built finished building is worth much more than  a promise from Thai developer. 

 

Unfortunately for those that believed this and doubled down(my doctor bought five new off-plan units with his profits ) they are now going to see what happens to a highly leveraged and risky bet in a down market. 100 % loss 100% of the time. 

 

Supply has doubled in four years for a population that is not growing (Western expats with housing allowances). Interest rates are now raising fast, most from 0% teaser first three years to the normal Thai ripoff rate RRM of 8%. 

 

Buyers never included transaction costs, interest, maintenance, agent fees, vacant periods in their returns. 

 

Bangkok is in the mist of a horrendous real estate meltdown with tens of thousands of empty units which will probably never be occupied. 

 

Just my opinion. 

[trogers]

47 minutes ago, funandsuninbangkok said:

Most real estate "investors" here in Thailand have very little understanding of investing. 

 

For example, during the recent building boom, some buyers of  off-plan projects sold for prices 50% higher they paid. They assumed that real estate in Thailand is going up. What they failed to understand is most of the increase was due the risk of project failure being over once the building was completed. A well built finished building is worth much more than  a promise from Thai developer. 

 

Unfortunately for those that believed this and doubled down(my doctor bought five new off-plan units with his profits ) they are now going to see what happens to a highly leveraged and risky bet in a down market. 100 % loss 100% of the time. 

 

Supply has doubled in four years for a population that is not growing (Western expats with housing allowances). Interest rates are now raising fast, most from 0% teaser first three years to the normal Thai ripoff rate RRM of 8%. 

 

Buyers never included transaction costs, interest, maintenance, agent fees, vacant periods in their returns. 

 

Bangkok is in the mist of a horrendous real estate meltdown with tens of thousands of empty units which will probably never be occupied. 

 

Just my opinion. 

Not just in Bangkok, but the whole of Thailand. We will start to see under-funded property maintenance in 5 to 10 years old buildings and a rise in court cases as juristic offices bring cases to court for substantial unpaid common fees.

 

Then a rise of foreclosures as bank interest rates increase while economic growth stagnants at low level...

[zorro1]

There are mostly two types when it comes to purchasing advice on TV.. And that's dumb and dumber. Firstly the dumb who give all sorts of complicated reasoning as to why not to buy and then there is dumber who believes it.
Last 20 years has seen extraordinary advances in condo prices especially in bangkok tourist areas but dumb who never had the cash and dumber who had it but got priced out.