Condo's in Pattaya

[TotallyOz]

I saw several new projects that I had not seen before that were built and now ready for occupancy in Pattaya. I am curious as to what the market is like in Pattaya. It seems like a bad market to buy anything in most places in the world. Is the same not true for Pattaya?

 

I went to the Avenue for bowling and saw the place directly behind the Avenue that had a sign saying starting at 2 million baht. That is for a small studio. That seems high even for Pattaya.

 

What is going rate for meter here? Are things on the market for long periods? Has construction continued on the major projects or are things slowing down?

[Gaybutton]

I don't know the answers to your specific questions, but considering the numbers of units available all over town compared to the numbers of customers, I would have thought it would be a buyer's market these days.

 

I could be dead wrong, but as far as I know the only bank willing to give mortgages to farang is Bangkok Bank. I also don't know if they changed their rules, but when they first started granting mortgages to farang, it was necessary to go to their branch in Singapore to make the arrangements. I don't know if that is still the case.

 

It is possible, of course, to find people in Thailand who are willing to hold the paper. That's fine if you have no objection to paying loan-shark rates . . .

 

Also, as far as I know the rule that only 49% of condo units can be farang-owned still exists and farang cannot buy a house.

 

In the past it was fairly easy to form a Thai corporation and buy houses and the other 51% of condo units in the corporate name. Thailand has become much more restrictive about that and supposedly can confiscate any properties that were bought that way, but I know of no cases in which that was actually done to anybody. If I remember correctly, it was simply decided not to grandfather that in, but they still can if they want to.

 

Now it is not so easy to form the Thai corporation for the purpose of buying property and I wouldn't recommend trying it.

 

The only viable option I know about, for those who wish to buy a house, is to do what I did and buy a house under the name of a Thai individual and then take out a long-term prepaid lease on the house, and have the lease registered in the Land Office. My lease is a 30-year lease. At the time I bought 30 years was the longest term legally available. I have heard, however, that longer term leases are now legal. If anyone wishes to buy a house that way, just make sure you do everything through a Thai attorney.

 

The problem is you have to be absolutely certain the Thai individual is trustworthy. Unless you have the money to pay cash for the house, that means a mortgage. The lease cannot be done until the final payment on the property. The final payment and signing of the lease is normally done at the same time. However, since you would be buying in a Thai person's name, there is nothing to stop him from making the final payment himself and screwing you out of the property. There wouldn't be a damned thing you could do about it.

 

There are some drawbacks to condos. A common problem is that the maintenance fees are collected, but the money ends up in the pockets of an unscrupulous management and little, if any, is actually spent on maintenance. I hear a lot of stories from condo owners that getting any real maintenance work done is next to impossible.

 

There are also stories about people who buy a condo under construction, but then the construction undergoes major delays or the project is simply abandoned. Getting the deposit money and any other money you have put into it can be next to impossible. There is also the current story about "The Beaches" condo in which the farang vice president embezzled the deposit money.

 

For those reasons I would not invest my money in a condo unless it is a unit already established. And I wouldn't even do that unless I was able to speak to some of the current residents to find out whether they are happy with the maintenance.

 

There are, of course, perfectly reliable companies. Everyone I have ever spoken with who bought with View Talay has been happy with them. There are probably other reliable companies as well, but I am familiar only with View Talay.

[Guest joseph44]

IMHO the projects that will be finished until the end of 2009 are already paid for. It's pretty usual in Thailand that a condo has to be paid in full before occupying it. I think that there is even an unwritten rule, that 80% of a project should be sold before start building it.

 

The major downturn in the property market may appear in 2010 after completing most of the condo-projects and leaving the new condo-owners with properties which can't be sold or rented out.

 

If you would like to buy a condo in Pattaya; wait until mid-2010.