Condo Vs. House

[terrymor66]

OK. I am tired of renting and I am looking to buy now. Question is, which do I get ? What are your opinions ? A 2 million baht condo also buys a nice house and land. I am married to a Thai and have the non-imm O visa and plan to be here for many years to come.

I see the simplicity of a condo, but I am not sure on the quality of houses.

what are the thoughts out there ?

Thanks

[terrymor66]

Let me also amend this to buying property and then building your own house....not in a moo ban somewhere

[Cyberstar]

Buy a downtown shophouse. They usually go at Thai-to-Thai prices. Don't expect much more than the bare concrete plus the basic fixtures - meaning you don't pay for somebody elses "decorations", but can spend the savings on doing things according to your own preferences... If you don't want to run a shop, you'll have a perfect, centrally located garage on the ground floor.... Just an opinion.

[Ta22]

2 million baht ,.

you know people kill each other just to get LAND a few century ago ..

and nowaday people start buying worthless BLOCK Building just like multi level JAIL >

.....

think about it ..

think for your Children .

BUY LAND - is alway WORTH IT > -

and since is your LAND . you can BUILD JOLLY ANYTHING YOU WANT . a CONDO on it IF you like it .

BUT of cos BE SMART . don't go buy some AGENT SELLER who will RIP YOU OFF AND LEAVE YOU DRY >>

study lot of study . and morw study on the LAND PRICE before you buy ..

SELLER ALWAY SAY WHAT YOU WANT TO HEAR - ater you PAY . if your PROBLEM >

so be smart . DO your own survey . and study the market a few month if you need too .

unless 2 million is like peanut to you .

if so ignore my advice and go get a COndo . since you got extra cash to throw away .

[THAIJAMES]

Depends a lot on how much you trust your wife. A condo can be in your name. The house and property must be in her name, but you can still rent the land from her for 30 years to make sure that she does not kick you out. Also not easy to build a house on property for 2 million. It would be a pretty modest house and would require quite a bit of your time to supervise to make sure that nothing went wrong (very hard).

The shophouse idea is only good if you plan on having your wife run a shop, otherwise why live in a poluted area.

You could probably get a good house in a mouban. However the quality is not that great so you need to do a very good inspection to make sure that everything is build to quality standards. Do this by talking to existing owners in the mooban and ask them about any problems.

[john b good]

OK. I am tired of renting and I am looking to buy now. Question is, which do I get ? What are your opinions ? A 2 million baht condo also buys a nice house and land. I am married to a Thai and have the non-imm O visa and plan to be here for many years to come.

I see the simplicity of a condo, but I am not sure on the quality of houses.

what are the thoughts out there ?

Thanks

There are "pros and cons" in each option.

A house is great (garden, trees, perhaps a pool, etc.)

In a mooban you have some security however in some cases it is minimal.

In the country (or outside of a mooban) security is pretty much zilch.

In a condo, security is much better (in most cases), you can generally just lock it up and leave town / the country and when you return everything should still be in place, and in one piece.

AND, you can own it in your own name. To me this is one of the biggest pluses.

IME (in my experience) no matter just how much you think that you can trust that woman you love, it is still the area of most concern.

In most countries when the relationship falls over you get 50% regardless of who's name the property is in. Here in the realm if the house is in the missus's name you get zilch.

OK you can have 30 year leases and infrastructs (?? spelling ??) etc., but at the end of the day you have little or no protection.

There have been many, many cases of heartbreak (financial) here in the realm, and yes even amongst those who "thought until death do us part" etc.

I'd go for the condo...

[Sojourner]

I'm with John B Good for the same reasons and one more. If your wife dies the property will go to her family. You may think she will out-live you but accidents as well as fatal sicknesses do happen. Once her family has control of the property they will want you out pronto. I know a few expats who live near local villages and have had people breaking in while they are gone. Others who live in compounds find that the infactructure cannot support the number of residents. Condos are becoming more popular with Thais now, where that wasn't true a few years back. The value of the units on a well maintained building are going up again due to demand. It's still a matter of personal choice so best of luck to you.

[loong]

Why are you tired of renting? Do you feel it is money thrown away?

Buying a house, in your wife's name is always risky here. No need to say more as I'm sure you know the score!

The main problem in Thailand with buying a place is that noisy inconsiderate nighbours could move in the next week! If you're renting, not too difficult to move, If you've bought you're stuck!

I have found that polite requests to neighbours asking for some consideration usually have no effect whatsoever.

Give it some thought before you make your decision

[john b good]

I'm with John B Good for the same reasons and one more. If your wife dies the property will go to her family. You may think she will out-live you but accidents as well as fatal sicknesses do happen. Once her family has control of the property they will want you out pronto. I know a few expats who live near local villages and have had people breaking in while they are gone. Others who live in compounds find that the infactructure cannot support the number of residents. Condos are becoming more popular with Thais now, where that wasn't true a few years back. The value of the units on a well maintained building are going up again due to demand. It's still a matter of personal choice so best of luck to you.

If your wife dies the property will go to her family. You may think she will out-live you but accidents as well as fatal sicknesses do happen. Once her family has control of the property they will want you out pronto.

That was the very question that I asked my wife. You get hit by a car and I am sitting out on the street.

You're right I never ever got a comprehensible (or acceptable) answer.

And yes you're right again "I didn't buy a house"

[Wizzard of Oz]

Sorry, no opinions on whether to get a house or a condo, but god I hate that avatar .... .

[Ta22]

Dude why hate that Avatar . IS YOU !!!!! whahhahahhahah

whahhahah ..

[PeaceBlondie]

Rent here is cheap, roughly 6% per year. As others have said, when you rent you can always move (I did, when Vianping Mansion closed the pool and the outdoor restaurant, didn't repair fire damage, etc.).

Until you get permanent residency, who knows what the immigration rules will be 5 years from now, or 5 months?

[Wizzard of Oz]

Dude why hate that Avatar . IS YOU !!!!! whahhahahhahah

whahhahah ..

That's it! Just to prove you right, I'm gonna grow my hair, dye it blonde, wear a hat backwards like a juvenille assface, and start head-banging so I reach maximum assface-ness...

[Rasseru]

Until you get permanent residency, who knows what the immigration rules will be 5 years from now, or 5 months?

And even then, who would know?

[ProThaiExpat]

The OP question faced me five years ago when I was renting a condo temporarily and it came time for me to buy somehting.

I won't get into the rent vs. buy issue as it is very personal. Some people can rent successfully and be happy, I never could and I do enjoy customizing my living space to my own firm ideas of comfort, convenience and style.

Buy condo or house was my question and I tended to want to buy a condo, as I had lived in two in Hawaii and liked the lack of maintenance. However, here in Thailand, the available condos in Chiang Mai were so run down or so poorly designed in my view that building or buying a house was my only option. The condo laws may be stronger now, but I haven't seen many, and in the few "good" buildings here, you will be paying a premium per sq. meter to live there. I have yet to see a euro kitchen in a condo built in Chiang Mai and of a size cooking is a pleasure.

Having spent years buying spec houses or remodelng my own, I chose to build my own house. Leery of being able to trust a Thai builder or paying a premium to a falang builder, I went to a project developer in an area I wanted to build and proposed that he build me a house from my rough drawings. He agreed, hired a a plan drawer for 5k to finalize the plans, and built my house at the same sq. meter cost that he built his other houses and to the level of quality demonstrated by the houses built and under construction.

I was able to choose my lot and thereby get a view and a neighbor abutting only on one side.

I was able to build a "great room" type single level house of 200 sq. meters to my own specs, and while there were a great many mistakes made, they were caught during my twice daily visits to the site, I ended up with 95% of what I wanted and took over the finish detail myself.

I failed to mention that I actually built a freestanding condo, that is, I only have one meter between my exterior wall and the wall or fence on the perimeter of the property. I do have planters built under every floor to ceiling glass wall and a walkway to tend to the plants. My garden, so to speak. I oriented the house entirely to the perimeter of the developemnt overlooking a farm and the mountain view with glass block or covered windows on the street side.

Thus I do have, in effect, the benefits of a condo combined with the benefits of a house. For security and my lifestyle, I have an electric gate and an electric garage door, so I drive in and out without getting out of the car and have direct house access from the garage.

No way could I do this in a condo. No common wall and all the problems attendant to them. No comon hallway or elevator sharing with undesireables, etc. House maintenance is easy, especially with the local development maintenance man helping out whenever I need him.

After five years living here, I cherish what I created more every year, especially after visiting my daughter in Manly, Australia and seeing what she got for 1.2 million AUD.

PM me if you have specific questions.

By the way, I have a 30 year lease, which is worded to the effect that I have a life estate, as I will be dead before it expires and the Thai whose name the land and house lare lodged in has willed the property to me. Likewise, their is a 5 million penalty provison in the lease for early termination for any reason or for disturbance of my "peaceful enjoyment" A mortgage is also locked onto the property, payable at the end of the term, if I am still alive and I choose to renew. I am well aware of the many opinions regarding the efficacy, legality and safety of the legal issues mentioned above but I am satisfied I have a very good chance of living my final years in peace.

Good luck to all who go this route. Many have posted in Thaivisa regarding building you own home and there are many threads and pictures of what has been accomplished successfully.