Hello I'm Darren, New to the forum. Looking to move to Thailand by Oct of this year. i'm looking at getting information on option to buy . This is a topic that i can't seem to find any real information on.  Is it something that's typically just short term for 1, 2 years. or does it stretch out longer for 3 to 5yrs? Is it commonly done but not promoted? or something most owners aren't willingly to do when Selling? how does effect the buying process from a legal stand point. and example I understand being that I'm American, if i wanna buy a condo i have to write the money into Thailand.  would i only be required to wire the final lump sum or is it a different system in place

Excuse me If this has been covered before i used the search option prior and "option to buy" didn't yield anything back for me

You didn't find anything with your search because option to buy is something that is not very common here.

 

This is for a number of reasons:

 

1. Any money you hand over is unsecured. The owner can keep your money and you would have to go to Court to resolve things, which costs money and takes years.

 

2. An owner will not transfer the property to you until the final payment is made. They also will not allow you to put an encumbrance on the property deed. As you can see, you are at risk again.

 

3. You have to wire in the amount that is declared at the time of sale, or the assessed value, whichever is higher. If you pay money prior to this, the amount of money to cover the sake/assessed price still needs to be wired in. (You could cover this by wiring in the money at the start of the deal).

 

4. This is not an option for new properties. It's 100 per cent sale or nothing.

 

5. On the other hand, there are owners if used property who would take this deal. You just have to trust them with your money, because you will get nothing until you complete.

I would not touch such an arrangement here with someone else's bargepole. The odds are stacked against you.

12 minutes ago, KittenKong said:

I would not touch such an arrangement here with someone else's bargepole. The odds are stacked against you.

 

I would if I was the seller. The contract would give a completion date, and if the deal wasn't honoured all payments would be forfeit. No ifs, buts or maybes.