Buying a house in Thailand

[Raggamuffin]

Has anyone bought a house in Thailand? If so, please let me know of any pitfalls to avoid and which real estate agent would you recommend.

Is it easy to buy a house in Thailand? I'm just an average hard-working guy looking to take it easy in the sun.

Thanks for any advice.

Cheers

[stevem]

You cannot buy a house in your own name. You can however through your own company or your Thai wife. There has been considerable discussion about this topic in the past, suggest you do a search, and also try www.thaivisa.com which is a great resource for these types of questions. If you have specific questions, then someone might be able to help.

[LivinLOS]

Do you have a location in mind ??

Also bear in mind theres no mortgate system.. You have to buy it outright unless its a development offering private finance..

[Rex7777]

You can either go the Thai company route, or take a long term (30 years) lease with option(s) to renew. I'm not so sure about the validity of the options to renew part, but I've thought about the long term lease strategy, mainly because I'll probably be dead in 30 years anyway. So I'd just be spending money I'd never see again. That might be OK, of the price was reasonable.

Rex

[LivinLOS]

Although a long term lease is valid it would annoy me to be paying the lease price and not have the property left to someone after my death..

The first 30 years is guaranteed in Thai law (safe) the second and 3rd lease options are a way of curcumventing Thai rules (30 year max) yet all legal research seems to state that they are a legal contruct, the law has never truly been tested in Thai high court as no one was really doing this 30 years ago. When these leases do start to expire and if the land owner wished to try and wriggle out of a 2nd and 3rd commitment will be the time it gets tested and a prescident set.

The amount of times I have heard of people losing the lot by putting it in wives and GF names is amazing.. The only way I would ever consider are lease and corporate and being the age I am would generally prefer the corporate route due to ease of sale and surity of personal ownership.

[Nicke]

I know many people who use gf/wife name for house ownership and then make a 30 year lease contract with her. (Just to be safe)

The amount of times I have heard of people losing the lot by putting it in wives and GF names is amazing.

[stevem]

Agree you have to be very sure of your relationship, but it is the cheapest way to go about it.

[Expat]

Has anyone bought a house in Thailand? If so, please let me know of any pitfalls to avoid and which real estate agent would you recommend.

Is it easy to buy a house in Thailand? I'm just an average hard-working guy looking to take it easy in the sun.

Thanks for any advice.

Cheers

I am in the process of buying a house in Chalong (moving in in July) as I am married to a thai (15 years now) so was able to buy in her name BUT have a 30 year lease on the house. My son has taken Thai nationality and will inherit the lot (with no inheritance tax here).

If you are not married to a TG...

Thai law stipulates that a foreigner may not own land in his name, he has the right of ownership of buildings only. If a foreigner wishes to purchase land to build a property he has 2 options;
1.
The land is purchased on a 30 year leasehold, with an option to extend the lease for further 30 year periods. Possession of the land is assured by virtue of the fact that the property occupies the land. The lessor cannot seize the property upon expiration of the lease, as the property is separate from the land.
2.
If a foreigner is going to operate a business in Thailand then he may purchase the freehold of the land through his Limited Company.The land will be owned by the Company, not the individual.

There are many different types of land titles in Thailand, the majority of which do not allow for the legal right to build on that land.
The most common are
1.
NOR SOR 3 ; This is the lowest land title which allows for legally building a property, but is not ideal as the land is measured approximately. There are no markers to indicate the boundaries of the land.

2.
NOR SOR 3 GOR ; This land has been measured using aerial survey to set the points and land area. This land can be sub-divided into separate plots.

3. (THE BEST)
CHANOTE ( land title deed ); This land has been accurately measured using GPS to set the area and boundaries of the land. The boundaries of the land are indicated by numbered posts.

Check the deeds at the land office before signing.

Other options are :

3) Buy a condo
4) Marry a beautiful TG & put all your eggs into her basket

There are several estate agents in Phuket but be careful to use a long time one. Merv Baines (Asialand)has a good reputation
(http://www.realestatephuket.com/contact.php) but I used www.ayudhya.net
& got on well with Andrea (italian guy - tell him Marc recommended him)

Prices are very high in Phuket & cheaper on the mainland so considering where is important .
Expect to hand over loadsa cash & get a good lawyer before signing anything !
Good luck / Chok dee

[eric-the-viking]

ok this may sound a stupid question but can we defy what a condo actually is?
is it like an apartment ?

[stevem]

ok this may sound a stupid question but can we defy what a condo actually is?
is it like an apartment ?

Not a stupid question, and yes you are right.

[andy50]

its the same as a flat in a high-rise block here in the uk eric ,but they call it a condominium a condo is the only place that a farang can actually "own"

[stevem]

its the same as a flat in a high-rise block here in the uk eric ,but they call it a condominium a condo is the only place that a farang can actually "own"

And there are restrictions on condo ownership as well. Only a certain percentage of condos in a building can be foreign owned. Someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but I think it is 49%.

[LivinLOS]

TYhats correct but the fact is they simply sell 49% to farangs and own or sell the rest via a corporate structure (or lease / rent them).. I have never heard of a situation where there were 'too many' farangs in a registered condo after its initial sales..

[Sirgezza]

Just out of mild interest - how much do these condos go for?

[LivinLOS]

Phuket has a high premium as we dont have many registered condo developments here, you could get a very small (like hotel room) one room + bath place at maybe 650 - 850 min.. I am guessing at saying that a modest one bedroom would probably be about 2 mil here. The condos in Patong Tower went up to about 5.5 mil for seaview side nice quality..

Over in Pattaya where there are many many more condo developments I hear prioces are much much cheaper, couple of mil gets a niceish apartment over there..

[jojo78]

Also bear in mind theres no mortgate system.. You have to buy it outright unless its a development offering private finance..

I may be wrong but i heard somewhere that if you buy it through a limited company that you set up, you can get a mortgage through your company.

Don't take my word for it though.

[LivinLOS]

No but if your campany is turning over business you might geta business loan on the company and its assets..

Thai banks are very loath to lend money on property 9to farangs / consortiums or other non thai structures, Thais actually get very cheap % morgates) after the asian currency crisis of 97.. Also the fact of the shaky issues around farang ownership makes them doubly nervous about lending money to a farang as its less secure.

People often get 2nd morgates on property back in the west and spend that money outright on buying here.. I know some companies based in Sing that specialize in this market.

[Sirgezza]

Thanks LIL - if these condos were rented out to tourists, what sort of incomes could one get?

Gez

[Raggamuffin]

Do the Thai authorities look on me more favourably if I'm over 51 and wish to retire in Thailand?

Thanks guys

[river]

Do the Thai authorities look on me more favourably if I'm over 51 and wish to retire in Thailand?

Thanks guys

If your over 50 you can apply for a non immigrant O visa which will entitle you to stay in LOS for one year but you have to have either 800,000 bht deposited in a Thai bank account or a guaranteed income of not less than 65,000 bht per month or a combination of say 400,000 in the bank and income of 400,000 I think you may also need to provide a medical certificate to make sure you're up for it.