Do you get bored with your condo?

[Fairynuff]

3 hours ago, pumpjack said:

only idiots & fools buy condo in thailand as i have found out to my own cost.

 

yes i am a fool for buying it but now its sold on at a loss but at least i didnt lose all my money.

 

do not buy ....RENT !! 

I'm an idiot and a fool having having bought multiple times, sold multiple times and made a profit. You however are really smart because you sold at a loss. I'm the idiot?

[smutcakes]

Another stupid argument same as the living v existing rubbish is the buy v rent.

Every person is in a different situation and what is ideal for one person is not for another.

Like anywhere in the world whatever you decided to do, buy or rent, do it carefully and with full due diligence.

[scubascuba3]

I'm an idiot and a fool having having bought multiple times, sold multiple times and made a profit. You however are really smart because you sold at a loss. I'm the idiot?

Many people make a loss though, lets not pretend it doesn't happen. The Thais must be reeling at the moment in Pattaya buying all these properties they can't rent or sell

[trogers]

44 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

Many people make a loss though, lets not pretend it doesn't happen. The Thais must be reeling at the moment in Pattaya buying all these properties they can't rent or sell

Keep your eyes on foreclosure auctions should you want to pick up a bargain in Pattaya...

[newnative]

For my partner and me, it's more of a case of getting restless.  We have lived in about 8 different condo projects in the 7 years we have been in Thailand.  We buy a condo, fix it up while we live in it, stay in it awhile after it's done, and then get restless to do it all over again.  We love owning and were miserable the one year that we rented while we waited for one condo development to finish building. 

[newnative]

On ‎17‎/‎7‎/‎2560 at 4:09 PM, scubascuba3 said:

Many people make a loss though, lets not pretend it doesn't happen. The Thais must be reeling at the moment in Pattaya buying all these properties they can't rent or sell

If you buy wisely I think it would be pretty hard to lose money on a condo sale in Pattaya.  I've sold 3  condos this year.  All were bought about 2-3 years ago.  Even only holding them that short period, I made a nice profit on all 3--and that was after paying all the fix-up costs, realtor fees, and my share of the closing costs at the Land Office.   If you buy wisely with a plan to live in the condo for a number of years, worse case the condo should be worth at least as much as you paid for it and you've saved on rent all those years.  Of course, if you are a wiz at the stock market or other types of investments and prefer to not put your money in real estate, especially in Thailand, renting's probably for you. 

[KittenKong]

38 minutes ago, newnative said:

If you buy wisely I think it would be pretty hard to lose money on a condo sale in Pattaya.  I've sold 3  condos this year.  All were bought about 2-3 years ago.  Even only holding them that short period, I made a nice profit on all 3--and that was after paying all the fix-up costs, realtor fees, and my share of the closing costs at the Land Office. 

 

None of the people who I know who have sold condos here got more for them than they paid for them in Baht terms. Some did however show a profit due to foreign exchange fluctuations.

I would be surprised if my own condo is worth what I paid for it in Baht terms.

I also think that purchase and sale fees/taxes are very high here.

 

So if "buying wisely" means only buying units that are being sold at a large discount by desperate vendors then maybe what you say is true.
 

I certainly find it far easier to make money on stocks and shares outside Thailand than I ever would on Thai property. All very low-cost, very liquid, very unlikely to be stolen or misappropriated, and tax-free to boot. And they pay regular dividends whilst you own them. For me it's a no-brainer.

[newnative]

2 hours ago, KittenKong said:

 

None of the people who I know who have sold condos here got more for them than they paid for them in Baht terms. Some did however show a profit due to foreign exchange fluctuations.

I would be surprised if my own condo is worth what I paid for it in Baht terms.

I also think that purchase and sale fees/taxes are very high here.

 

So if "buying wisely" means only buying units that are being sold at a large discount by desperate vendors then maybe what you say is true.
 

I certainly find it far easier to make money on stocks and shares outside Thailand than I ever would on Thai property. All very low-cost, very liquid, very unlikely to be stolen or misappropriated, and tax-free to boot. And they pay regular dividends whilst you own them. For me it's a no-brainer.

      Buying wisely, for me, probably wouldn't mean 'buying units that are being sold at a large discount by desperate vendors'.  That might even fall into buying unwisely.  Why is the vendor desperate?  Why are the units being sold at a large discount?   Maybe because nobody wants them and nobody is buying them--hence the desperation and the large discounts. So, If they are not desirable and are hard to sell brand new, they might be hard to find buyers for down the road--and might not appreciate.  A discount's nice but it should be far down your list of reasons why you are buying a particular condo. 

     

[Andrew Dwyer]

I've been living in a box ( 30 sqm) for 18 months and not been bored.
I'm in a top floor corner apartment so have a corner balcony and 1 next door neighbour, nobody pacing around upstairs either !!
My view is of a construction site and apartment block being built down the way so not exactly a stunning view.
But, I've spent a lot of time traveling around to decide on a place to truly lay my hat.
10 days from now will be moving to a house with a garden and hopefully I won't have time to even think about being bored !!

Life is what you make it !!

[scubascuba3]

      Buying wisely, for me, probably wouldn't mean 'buying units that are being sold at a large discount by desperate vendors'.  That might even fall into buying unwisely.  Why is the vendor desperate?  Why are the units being sold at a large discount?   Maybe because nobody wants them and nobody is buying them--hence the desperation and the large discounts. So, If they are not desirable and are hard to sell brand new, they might be hard to find buyers for down the road--and might not appreciate.  A discount's nice but it should be far down your list of reasons why you are buying a particular condo. 

     

Would you buy off plan?

 

 

 

[KittenKong]

7 hours ago, newnative said:

Why is the vendor desperate?  Why are the units being sold at a large discount? 

 

Mostly the reasons I have seen are that the owner is ill or dead or has fallen on hard times and needs to cash up.

 

The steep discounts are required to get the thing to move at all in the time-frame desired. I have seen 20, 30, 50% or more and this in developments on or near the sea that are quite decent and have no particular problems. I'm not talking about crack dens (though these do exist, of course).

 

[newnative]

8 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

Would you buy off plan?

 

 

 

Yes, and I have.  But only from a large, well-established, well-financed builder with an excellent track record of completed projects. 

[newnative]

1 hour ago, KittenKong said:

 

Mostly the reasons I have seen are that the owner is ill or dead or has fallen on hard times and needs to cash up.

 

The steep discounts are required to get the thing to move at all in the time-frame desired. I have seen 20, 30, 50% or more and this in developments on or near the sea that are quite decent and have no particular problems. I'm not talking about crack dens (though these do exist, of course).

 

I thought you were talking about whole developments being steeply discounted, not an individual condo by an owner in distress.  Certainly, there are individual condo bargains that can be good buys if other criteria that make a condo desirable are there.

[KittenKong]

1 hour ago, newnative said:

I thought you were talking about whole developments being steeply discounted, not an individual condo by an owner in distress.

 

No, re-sales. Sorry if I wasnt clear.

 

List prices for new developments are often entirely fanciful so any price mentioned has to be taken with a pinch of salt.

[Gary A]

When I first retired and moved to Thailand, I rented a shoebox apartment. I wanted to hang a clock on the kitchen wall. The landlord forbid it, no holes or tape on his walls. There was always a nice breeze on the balcony. I offered to buy a new front door with vents  for ventilation through the apartment. Again, no. It would look different than the other doors. I was paying about double for electricity and that also irritated me. Within a year I found the condo I wanted and my friends warned me that the price was too high and that I would never get my money back. I bought it anyways. At that time I got 41 baht to a dollar. The electric bill comes directly from the electric company. It is 60 square meters, a livable size with a separate bedroom. I can do anything I want inside my condo. The grounds and the swimming pool are in pristine condition. Security is second to none.

 

You may get bored with life, but I cannot see how you could get bored with where you live. After all these years, I still love my condo. I have it exactly like I want it. I got married more than ten years ago and live in the boonies upcountry in my wife's house. I like living upcountry also, but still stay in my condo from time to time for a change of scenery. I refuse to rent out my condo because I want it there whenever I want to use it. I am here at my computer desk in my condo as I write this. The condo is fully furnished with a washing machine, a TV in the living room and another in the bedroom along with a desktop computer. I only need a backpack with some clothes to make the trip down here.

 

I can understand why some people hate their condos. If I had bought a shoebox condo, I wouldn't be happy either, but it's not likely I would be bored. I would be looking for a more suitable condo. 

[KittenKong]

1 hour ago, Gary A said:

There was always a nice breeze on the balcony. I offered to buy a new front door with vents  for ventilation through the apartment. Again, no. It would look different than the other doors. I was paying about double for electricity and that also irritated me.

 

In your landlord's defence, the corridor door rule probably comes from the building and not him. Many buildings prohibit visible changes to the outside of a unit, or specify particular front door types. Personally I think that screen doors into corridors should be completely banned as I dont want to smell cooking (or worse) or hear noise from other units in the corridor.

 

And much of the electricity price difference may have been because the landlord was paying the commercial rate rather than the domestic one. This is particularly applicable to company-owned units.

[trogers]

18 minutes ago, KittenKong said:

 

In your landlord's defence, the corridor door rule probably comes from the building and not him. Many buildings prohibit visible changes to the outside of a unit, or specify particular front door types. Personally I think that screen doors into corridors should be completely banned as I dont want to smell cooking (or worse) or hear noise from other units in the corridor.

 

And much of the electricity price difference may have been because the landlord was paying the commercial rate rather than the domestic one. This is particularly applicable to company-owned units.

In most lower tier communal residential buildings, you don't see them investing in front doors with vents.

 

No, they just leave their front doors open to share their joy of scents and sound...?

Edited July 21, 2017 by trogers

[NanLaew]

On 7/17/2017 at 8:02 AM, tomwct said:

I have a 225 SQ met home in a nice housing development. I rent for 8000 THB P/m for 14 years. When I moved in my rent was 7000 THB p/m. My home was 1 year old and new when I decided on this house. I have been very happy and I will continue renting this house for the foreseeable future. I am very happy!

That's probably about about 1.3 million baht well spent.

 

Good job sir!

[KittenKong]

2 hours ago, trogers said:

In most lower tier communal residential buildings, you don't see them investing in front doors with vents.

 

No, they just leave their front doors open to share their joy of scents and sound...

 

Even worse indeed. I certainly dont want to see what people are doing here when I walk past their front doors. Eyes front!

[bamukloy]

The guy who Buy a house/townhouse/land in someone elses name has a lot bigger problem than boredom.

 

Personally id prefer to live in a shoebox that i own,

Instead of waiting for a change of mood in a Thai lady, or a marriage breakup and loosing everything

[scubascuba3]

Shoe boxes are underrated, i like hotel rooms

[Gary A]

17 hours ago, bamukloy said:

The guy who Buy a house/townhouse/land in someone elses name has a lot bigger problem than boredom.

 

Personally id prefer to live in a shoebox that i own,

Instead of waiting for a change of mood in a Thai lady, or a marriage breakup and loosing everything

 

You have a good point. I bought the condo BEFORE I got married and it is in my name. I am well aware that everything I have bought since marriage will belong to my Thai wife regardless of common belief. Some guys think that the court will award them half of the marital assets and the court often does that. Unfortunately that court has no power of enforcement. Usually the husband gets nothing.

 

I still follow the old rule. Never spend more that you can comfortably afford to walk away from and never be worth more dead than alive. I love and trust my wife and after about 12 years, it's not likely that she will throw me out. BUT, one never knows for sure. Always have a plan "B" and sleep well at night.

[11223344]

5 hours ago, Gary A said:

 

You have a good point. I bought the condo BEFORE I got married and it is in my name. I am well aware that everything I have bought since marriage will belong to my Thai wife regardless of common belief. Some guys think that the court will award them half of the marital assets and the court often does that. Unfortunately that court has no power of enforcement. Usually the husband gets nothing.

 

I still follow the old rule. Never spend more that you can comfortably afford to walk away from and never be worth more dead than alive. I love and trust my wife and after about 12 years, it's not likely that she will throw me out. BUT, one never knows for sure. Always have a plan "B" and sleep well at night.

You can also keep money overseas... hardly could it be touched in case of divorce

[Khun Jean]

Selecting a location is crucial.

In my case with wife and two kids it was: find a good school, aikido dojo not to far away, 7-11/tesco lotus, BTS all within walking distance.

Also a short drive to highways for easy drive to parents in law (north bangkok),  jomtien (east) and cha-am/hua hin (south).

I found a 4 bedroom 120sqm place close to Phrakanong BTS for 11.000 per month and we lived there for more then five years.

Boredom in my experience comes from not being able to comfortably do what you want or go where you want.

A good location fixes that, the quality of the condo is less important and can be improved upon while living in it.

No such thing as improving the location of a condo which is of course impossible, as such the most important decision to make.

[OnMyWay2]

Yes I get bored that’s where the 2mil “Lumpini box” come in handy,  you just buy 5 of them :)

[tonray]

On 7/17/2017 at 8:58 AM, wwest5829 said:

Just a little other consideration I am looking at currently. I rented a house for 2 years when first coming to Chiang Mai but when opportunity came along to buy, refurbish and decorate my own condo, I bought. I have been very happy with the approx. 100 sq. m. condo but .... Currently I live alone and am over 70. Everything is fine but what happens when I croat? My Sons, in the US, come to Thailand to settle things here, including the sale of the condo, car, etc. Don't think so. Easier to go back to renting. A bit cleaner exit.

They might charge a cleaning fee from your deposit depending on how long you lay around before someone finds you, In your own condo...no worries

[trogers]

4 hours ago, OnMyWay2 said:

Yes I get bored that’s where the 2mil “Lumpini box” come in handy,  you just buy 5 of them :)

You only need one shoebox.

 

Bored? Enter monkhood for 3 months with free food and lodging...