Buying property in LOS

[MrDK]

Am I right that you can own the house, you just cannot own the land it is on?

[LivinLOS]

That is correct...

You can own any building or structure.. Its just golden rule number 1 (Thailand is for Thais) you cannot own land.

[bullwinkls]

Originally Posted by LivinLOS

Probably letting his wife own them.

Land Code Section 96, allows foreigners to buy up to one Rai of land to build a house to live in with their Thai spouse, providing they also invest at least 40 million Baht for five years in government bonds, recognised property mutual funds or BOI projects. You must get permission from the Interior Ministry and the ownership is monitored by the Lands Department.

Getting married and not changing names on ID cards, passports, and house papers within 90 days is also illegal and punishable by fines and imprisionment.

[LivinLOS]

Yes and that permission isnt easy to get.. In fact I think the 40m 1 rai may have even been phased out.. I know a guy who did that in the past.. Lodged a 40m bond to get a long stay visa type thing.

[bangladiver]

have many people used the BOI approval route (1rai benefit for investing 40mil?????) or alternatively the Vacation Investment Programme via the thai longstay mangement company?

i understood if put in wife's name you would be asked to submit to land office a waiver when registering that its her money and you do not have / in any case relinquish any right over the property

posted elsewhere that small mention in bk post this week that not only looking at shares but management control in FBA review

given flying landtitles on samui etc i would thing any new purchaser using whatever route would want to use title insurance - believe its about 5000.us per 1mil.us

[bullwinkls]

I hope I'm wrong but it looks like the 30 year lease is the only avenue left for now. Everyone is hoping the new government is going to make changes that will allow ventures to proceed as before. The Thai developers are hurting also because they can't sell their projects. If enough of the Thais protest maybe some changes can be made in the near future.

[LivinLOS]

You can get title insurance on Thai titles.. Show me how ?? Cos I can find you titles by the armload that wont hold up.. you could clean up on the title claims

The Elite card (thai longstay management) yeah sure.. You want to sign your assets over to a Thai company you have no control over, thats in dire financial straights, was promoted and was the pet project of the now deposed ex-PM, that has already stiffed CNN on 100's of millions of advertising, and thats had rumours of closure every few months ?? Based on the promise they wont default !!!

As for the 40m.. Its not only 40m but also after approval from the interior ministry and a whole host of others.. I would bet my back teeth they know that anyone spending 40m is well loaded and so the grease that would be needed to slide this one through would be a lot of payments.

[bangladiver]

re: title insurance, not retrospective obviously but see:-

Tropical living in Thailand

[LivinLOS]

Very interesting.. I can see multiple ways that could be abused ?!?!

Very often titles are known to be poor quality and values are made to reflect that.. Even titles not purposely sold at full value..

2 people could collude to mark up a title from that discounted high risk title to maximum market value.

[Sir Burr]

I think that the only reason that you should buy a house in Phuket is if you want to live in it and live in it for the very long term. This way whether house prices go up, or, down, it doesn't matter, because effectively, you are not in the property market.

Here is a picture of the house I had built in the year 2000. It cost me approximately US$225,000 including the land which is 1.6 rai. The baht was averaging about 42 to the dollar at the time.
It is all in my wife's name, though I have a 30 year registered lease. I'm in a stable relationship as we have been together 10 years now.
I have no idea what the re-sell value is as I will never sell it, but, there is no way I could buy the land and build the house for the same price again.

One of the reasons that some of the second-hand houses are just not selling is because of unrealistic expectations of the selling price. There are just too many "palaces" built on tiny bits of land, or land in undisirable places.
The underlying value of a property is in the land size and location. It is not on built on how big and lavish the house is.

You will get a better and much safer return on your money if you keep it in hard currency outside of the country in stocks, or, funds.

[LivinLOS]

Superb post SB.. And I have to say a very nice looking home (on a good sized plot)..

Buy a home to live in.. Dont buy it to flip for profit..

[K2]

Originally Posted by Sir Burr

You will get a better and much safer return on your money if you keep it in hard currency outside of the country in stocks, or, funds.

Sage advice there - lovely home and thanks for posting.

[bangladiver]

good advice but if anyone is tying up any amount of money (for home rather than profit) surely they would at the least want to know if/how they can get out and what they might be able to recoup if they need to

Independent Legal Website - Property Law: Foreign Land Ownership - Samui - Thailand

- one of the better sources of free introductory information

thereafter choose a good lawyer - a minefield i know

[Sir Burr]

^
If you have to sell for one reason or the other. The secret is to ask a realistic price.
I have sold two properties and one piece of land before I built my present house. I put a realistic and fair price on the property and refused to budge on the price. All were sold within 3 months. If you put up a fair price, it will look like a bargain as most people ask silly prices and hope a mug will come along. I would say that 95% of people do it that way.
Never forget that a property is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it.

[LivinLOS]

Again sage words SB.. I have said the same many many times when someone is asking 15mil etc on a 'normal' house on a 600m plot.. Its only 'worth' that when someone buys it.

Nice to see you posting on here again.. we never did meet up for that beer !!

[Sir Burr]

Hi S.
Am freezing my ar5e off in Bass Strait at the moment, at work. I'll be back around the Glorious 12th. Might PM you for a couple of cold ones and to swap lies.

[LivinLOS]

Will be accruing more tall tales about short women in India.. Maybe end of August ??

Am taking part in a charity race driving tuk tuks 2000kms with loads of teams.

The Indian Autorickshaw Challenge - The world's most bizarre motor sport

[Sir Burr]

Sounds good.