coolthaihouse.com blog
Our Thai friend has been looking for an affordable house for a while. While I thought something fairly close to Pattaya was cheap if it was around 1 million baht, I have learned there is a whole lot of houses cheaper than that around. However, you must be careful when looking at something that seems like it would cost more to build than the asking price. (more…)
Here is an update on steel and other prices since that runs from the beginning of 2008 through the beginning of 2009, the figures represent actual purchases. As you can see from the following table, it was a massive roller coaster ride, much as what was seen with the price of crude oil. Since steel prices are set internationally and determined by global factors, the amount of price fluctuation is large compared with products produced solely within Thailand, for example, cement. (more…)
It has been an amazing ride this year! First, commodity prices were going up at an obviously unsustainable rate. Now prices material prices (internationally) have crashed. One easy example, copper, which was selling for 4.01 dollars per pound is now under 2.00 dollar per pound, gas which was up to 150 dollars per barrel is now down to around 65.
How does this impact the price of raw materials that we need to build a house? If you remember the previous post here Inflation in the price of building materials in Thailand we have been concerned about the recent price run up. Well, of course what goes up must come down! (more…)
One thing about it – it has been an absolutely horrendous year for anyone building a house. As you have heard there has been a tremendous explosion in the cost of basic materials here in Thailand, from cement used extensively in cement block houses, the actual cinderblocks, red bricks or Qcon blocks, wood used for formwork, sheetrock gypsum board using in ceilings, and on and on and on – prices are up across the board. Two of the big budget items for a concrete block house (more…)
Lot of building going on right now in the Pattaya, Thailand area. Subdivisions are springing up like crabgrass after a good rain. Here was a caption of a billboard around here that caught my eye, ‘Rise Your Happiness’. If this is your motivation for buying a pre-built subdivision house, you might take a cold shower and think again in the morning. Plenty of less expensive alternatives along those lines can, fortunately or unfortunately, be found in the land of smile. (more…)
Recently I was driving around East Pattaya and had to be amazed by the amount of development going on there. There is a 4 kilometer stretch over there by Paradise Villa Two (about 4 km from Tesco South) where I counted about a ten high powered 50 + rai huge developments. Development is simply everywhere. Of course it isn’t just East Pattaya. You can see many new huge condo projects going on in Pattaya and Jomtien. Every corner of available land that can get a pre planned development on it seems like it is either currently being developed, or has been subdivided and is waiting development. (more…)
Here is the deal: everything here in the LOS (by the way that stands for land of smiles) is unregulated. That is the top and bottom line. If real estate selling and construction was totally unregulated back in your country you’d be in the same boat. By unregulated I mean there are no permits required to build, and there are no building inspections. Land is sold by estate agents who often proclaim they are only getting a 3% commission when in fact they are getting anywhere up to 40% (by making a side deal with the owner). (more…)
from Peter M To answer some of your questions. I found the NPL (non-performing loan) on line through the Thai Farmers website which has an English version. You just type in what area of bangkok you’d like to buy in and your price range and whamm….it comes up. It’s a bid process and once you submit your bid they send you a letter in a couple weeks to inform you if you were successful.
But after recent investigations I found that the NPL’s listed represent only a tip of the ice berg. The bank’s postings are pretty slow moving. And, to actually get them to meet you for an appointment to inspect the property is a great task. Pretty lazy actually…I suspect no commissions for them so this hampers their vitality to close deals. (more…)
from Peter Just a short note. My house was purchased as an NPL through Thai Farmers bank (or their NPL branch known as Progress Management LTD). As some of you might know, when you buy an NDL from the bank there is a usually protocol that states that you the buyer assumes all transfer taxes. After we’d signed the contract and met at the land transfer office to do the deal, the final bill was not 98,000 as I had expected but 240,000! When I asked why, they said there was now a 3.5 per cent sellers tax for houses sold within five years. I explained that I was the “Buyer” not the “seller”. But the bank person explained that I had signed a contract which stated all transfer fees. I went through the roof and lodged a formal complaint with the bank. (more…)
One sign of a hot market is when people start selling holes in the ground, and worse, others start buying! A few years back land that was ‘way out’ was mined for top soil. The technique is just to dig out the land down to about the water level. As of now, the most expensive top soil goes for over 1500 baht for a 10 wheel truckload. Mining out a large parcel can yield more than an outright sale! (more…)
from Paul R
Thanks again for the great info on solar houses…..couple more questions for you. Using the $25,000 U.S benchmark, what size house can you build ( sq. feet or sq. meters)? Can you estimate a cost per sq. foot so we can scale up or down?
Is there such a thing as standard Thai style house plans available to buy or do you have to deal with local architects? My wife and I are flexible enough in our ideas that we could make a stock house plan work for us. (more…)
Before entering into any subcontract including materials you need to specify each and every material that will be used. If you are having the subcontractor buy out of his budget, of course you’ll likely end up with the cheapest stuff (if you don’t specify exactly what will be used).
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…)
Although these are pretty ingrained in my psyche it doesn’t hurt to repeat it to myself one more time. Hopefully also it might guide some of you readers to greener pastures in your real estate adventures in Thailand. I try to put a lot of detail on this site, but sometime is pays to stop and take a high level view of the guiding principles which I think will make for a happy farang camper! (more…)
I met a Thai developer real estate agent, Date, who had time to show me various properties around a part of the Pattaya/Jomtien area in which I’m searching for a nice 6 rai plot to hopefully do a really nice housing development. The guy has a whole big stack of deeds (chanotes) with the price the owner wants on the back. His cut: 3%, which is the standard real estate cut around here. I like him because he is a no pressure, up to you kind of guy. (more…)
There is a luxury house close by here. No need to show a picture, it is a large, nicely done two story house. Talking with a developer friend of mine he told me the circumstances of the house being constructed. The falang owner contracted the job out to a falang builder. Price: 15m (not including land cost). (more…)
from Ed B
Hi, just wondering about investing in a BTL (Buy to Let) in Thailand – any thoughts? Is this a bad idea?! Basically looking at options to make (hopefully!) a quick buck over the next two years, so trying to find out about more about the state of affairs…
editor: As far as buying a house to rent in the LOS it can be more problematic than it is worth. (more…)
This is a follow up on last week’s article: Worst case scenario – a true story in Pattaya. After talking to the construction workers and getting the full scoop, one thing became clear — this was a setup from the beginning. The owner of the property had bought the land in good faith. When he bought it there was a public access road which came up to the border of what the seller said was a ‘common road’. (more…)
This story is about a farang Mr. A and his Thai wife, B. A and B looked around a found a perfect piece of land near a lake outside Pattaya. There was only one problem with the land, the government road only ran to within 4 meters of the land. Indeed on the deed itself the parcel did not show road access. But the sellers (Mr X and wife Y) showed A and B where they would grant access. As A and B could see where the access would be, they felt there was no problem. (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…)
I was just surfing around the web and I ran across some rather interesting advice on house buying in Thailand somewhere. Interesting in this sense: wrong! It was a forum piece stating basically that ‘You Get What You Pay For’….. Essentially, I would say this is mostly true overseas, but here it is definitely not true. Sure, if you pay 5M + for a house it will ‘probably’ be better than a 3M + house. But the thing is, you really don’t know how many problems you’re buying into. (more…)
Before you start your project, it is a great time to become a time waster. You may have noticed that many Farlang businesses have a motto – ‘No time wasters’. What do they mean exactly? I was reading one web site which hunts out and packages used cars for expat customers. They are basically a car finding service that can help expats with all aspects of buying a car. They do all the research, and when you are ready to look at a car you simply give them your parameters and they take you around and show you the best cars according to your preferences. They however note on their site that they have recently had to institute a non-refundable deposit, due to certain ‘time wasters’. (more…)
There was a big building boom happening all over Thailand before the bubble burst in 1997. Since then, new construction slowed greatly in and around Pattaya. It took a few years for builders to have another go at it. Most building after the crash was by order, with few spec houses being built (ie. houses built before a customer is found). Some rather famous builders finally stepped up to the plate sometime after 2000 and came in and finished out some nice luxury developments (of spec houses). They hit the nail right on the head. The market was ready, the houses sold and huge profits were made. These profits have driven developers into the area like flies on a carcass. (more…)
