coolthaihouse.com blog

Some things here just seem inefficiently done. Many years ago when the building boom first started to hit Pattaya, Thailand there was great demand for fill dirt. But where to get it? The answer of course was ‘way out in the boonies’ where the land wasn’t worth anything. But how far out in the boonies? If too far, transportation costs would be too high. If too close, the land sacrificed would be too costly. So the right answer was: just a fair distance from the edge of development.

And of course what happened? The land was stripped down, dug into a big hole in the ground, only later to have the wave of development move on by it. (more…)

My confidence level hasn’t always been so high about the accuracy of land office surveys as done in Thailand. On a happy note however, during a recent land survey done by the land department, I was pretty impressed with the accuracy of the survey equipment. Here is the setup: On a fairly large parcel a couple of the official border posts had gone missing. So the surveyor was trying to estimate where the original post should have been, there would need to be a temporary marker put there. On one side is the surveyor with the survey box and on the other side is someone holding up a marking panel. The surveyor was setting the distance and telling the worker with the distance flag to move in 3 centimeters and then move forward 1 centimeter until the distance was just right. Then he inserted a temporary metal marking stake. The distance was about 70 meters. When the worker dug the hole to insert the temporary post he found the original border post buried under the ground at that exact location. I thought that was a pretty good hit. (more…)

prev article on short land. Since the previous article I’ve heard from a number of people who have had the same problem. One neighbor (thai/farang) lost about 1/2 rai out of 3 rai. Near the new land a thai couple lost 2 rai out of 10. (more…)

The story: Involved in a land transaction that took some time between down payment (to be forfeited if the land wasn’t purchased) and the actual purchase of the land. There was a purchase contract draw up by a lawyer and signed when the deposit was made.

What happened: The land purchase was for 10 rai (for example), in a outlying area. Upon application to subdivide, a new survey was done. The survey showed that the land size stated on the official deed (chanote) is not 10 rai, but about 3% less than that. (more…)

Mike SWhat a great site! My question is how you went about finding land. Did you use a broker? (more…)

There is a piece of land which I’m now in serious negotiations to buy. This land was a little off my radar as it is a bit further from the crest of the real estate wave than I like. The stumbling across it is an interesting story. If you recall the large parcel that the owner wouldn’t subdivide this was a beautiful chunk of land in an ideal location for a real estate development (located right on the inside of the crest of the development wave). (more…)

Exciting week on the land front. There was one piece of land that was right in the area I was looking for. Location = good, price = right, systems = not ready for prime time. Why? The land was right next to a boat storage facility. You can see it off on the right. Probably OK since it was quiet, and the land had a lot of positives. Then the real estate agent, lung uuan, came to show me something right in the same vicinity. (more…)

Modern gold rush: land. Those that have it want to hold on if they can. Those that want to buy it end up finding out that parcel that they finally decided on is already sold. As I previously pointed out in the building bubble in Pattaya article there is a lot of available land and lots of underutilized properties in the general Pattaya/Jomtien area. (more…)

From a forum piece….

FORUM: I have a question concerning ownership. The coolthaihouse website recommended setting up a Thai limited company with 70% preferred shares (thai owned) and 30% common shares with 10 votes per share (farang owned). Although this arrangement follows the letter of the law, it violates the spirit. It is essentially a company whose purpose is to allow a foreigner to have control over the land. (more…)

It’s been an exciting week. The big accomplishment of the week is the final chapter in the purchase of a small plot of land directly behind the cool thai house prototype. The house (read about it at the coolthaihouse here) currently sits on 84 square wah of land and after getting fully moved in, the notion crossed my mind that I might be here a while. While the house is pretty much perfect, (more…)

feedback from David

An excellent site you have certainly made a good job of putting together this information. I intend also to build a house around Pattaya, starting in 2005, and have a few questions that you could maybe answer. Firstly, how close to Pattaya is your development and secondly where did you find you building plot and what approx was the cost per tw? (more…)