Buy Property Thailand
Every day I read about some broker in Thai magazine he have made himself or financed with advertising, they talk about at the time to buy a property in Thailand is now.
Before the crises in 2009 the same property agents in Thailand talked about the price will soon go up and the best time to buy is now.
When the economic crises were a fact they talked about all the good deals you could do now and the best time to buy was, yes you guessed the best time to buy is now!
Who are the property agents in Thailand?
Most of them do not have any education or diploma when it comes to property development or selling or buying properties. I would guess that about 95 percentages have no former education when it comes to properties. I know many of them in both Bangkok and Pattaya and they are working with a pocket office and just do what others do, passing time waiting for the golden goose to come and buy the property that will make them a fortune in commission.
There are a few companies that also have offices in UK and America and the top staff in those companies has some kind of experience or education with properties.
But the majority of all the property agents just slipped in on banana shelf and thought if others can do it so can I.
There are also Thai property agents but they seldom cater for the foreign clients since the Thais have a different approach of buying properties. I have seen Thai people go in to a property developer and look at some sketches and after a one hour of sales talk and never checked anything just hand over a first deposit. A foreigner living in Thailand would never do this (hopefully) they want to check everything before they buy a property worth millions.
The truth about the Property value in Thailand
I can see many agents talking about the economic crises are over but just last week Dubai property market fell like Island did. Many countries like Greece and Ireland might follow in the coming month. The stock market has rebound because the dollar and cost borrowing money is on an all time low.
Thailand is not stable as I saw somebody wrote in a sponsored magazine last week, he said that the current government will win the elections in 2010 and make way for a stable Thailand.
What election? There is not even a talk about election in Thailand and they sure not going to win it just yet. The yellow shirts (yes the people who occupied the airport) have now created a party of their own so you can count them out for supporting the current Thai government.
Read a few comment on the message board of Bangkok Post about the yellow shirts idea about foreigners owning property you might thinking twice before buying anything.
Mr Thaksin is lurking in Cambodia and is ready to come back whenever he can rock the country and we all know he is trying as much as he can.
The role of the stabilizing King in Thailand is very uncertain at the moment and should anything happen to him Thailand would be very unstable. Rumors of his illness plunges the Thai stock market just a few month ago.
The Thai government has launched crackdowns in 2009 on foreigners owning farm land and controlling land in Phuket, even if they did not find anything a less foreign friendly government might.
The current government has also launched crackdowns on companies that own property in Thailand, according to the law the four people in your company have to REALLY work in the company. Do you have four Thai people running around your house? The accountant has to make false reports for you every year and fake statements you sign. If a less friendly government wanted they could take back loads of property in Thailand.
If you buy a lease something you do not own it and the current REALLY legal limit is 30 years whatever the property broker promises you.
Buying a property in your Thai wife’s name will not make it yours and if you have kid she probably get custody and the house from the Thai court. If you married a former Thai girl that is so money hungry that she sold her body to get a Prada bag then I wish you good luck with that as well.
Profit for Thai Property Agents Your Loss
The property agents make profit from the seller or land lord of the property. They get from between 3-10 percentage of the sum. They can also make money referring you to lawyers, accountants and other things.
When you rent a house for a year for 100 000 THB a month the property agent get the first month rent from your deposit. He makes a quick 100 000 THB for just showing you a house and in most of the cases the owner will be there anyway.
If you buy a house for 100 0000 he will get anything from 30 000 THB to 100 000 THB after week to month after the buy went trough.
But do not think that this does not cost you anything; the money the seller has to pay to the agent will also cost you. You will not get a discount; you will not get extras and probably a higher price then what you’re normally paying.
The agent has no profit to give you a lower price they will work to give you a higher price since that will affect their commission.
The Thai law and property agents
There is a new law that come affect the last years but that does cover the property agents.
What the agent’s promises you the seller do not have to follow.
There is no REAL agent organization and they fight internally with each other who are the really real one.
Many property agents in for example Pattaya do not even have a work permit to work in Thailand.
They have no insurance to cover your property if something was wrong.
They cannot be held accountable for what they say or do, see them as a waiter working for tips or even better the punters that try to drag you into see a sexy show.
No foreign fancy diploma will make them a legal property agent in Thailand.
Thailand Property not a good Investment right now
Despite what they tell you it is not a great investment to buy property for example in Pattaya. The market is very “full” but they still building more. There is room for much more houses and when no city plan ever going to stop them they just going to build more. If you take a bike ride around Pattaya you will see loads of properties just standing empty.
If you take inner London for example it will have very few high rise buildings in the future and the demand is great so you know the value will go up. In Thailand they not even sure how many buildings will be created next year.
Next year your property with a sea view and ocean breeze can have a backyard view and the smell of car park. It has already happened to many apartment owners in Pattaya over the years. To have a empty green land next to your house is not a good thing in Thailand.
Thai people seldom buy second hand they want to buy new things all the time so the property market and the prices you investing in are for foreigners. If the foreigners stop buying the Thais will not buy your properties they will buy new once. The salary of the Thai “normal” person will never cover these over prices properties and the 1000 families in Thailand can buy your property already owns the property project.
The prices of properties in Thailand are mainly set buy the property agents and they have not adjusted them down for many years, why should they do live for the high prices.
Do you really think a 3 room apartment on a beach that is so polluted that you cannot swim in it is worth 300 million THB?
The fact that they can do this is because people rather leave there house empty then rent them cheap because it does not cost you anything to leave your house empty in Thailand. But that is about to change in a very near future with a new tax law in Thailand.
New Tax law in Thailand
The new tax in Thailand will make it much cheaper to transfer a property and to let it out (another reason to wait) but you will have to pay tax for your property and land empty or not. This will lead to that people do not want empty properties anymore and will start renting them out cheaper and your investment will go away. The other tax is on land and if you keep your land empty year after year you will have to pay more and more tax so that will lead to more development and that will lead to lower prices. So your empty apartment that in Thailand will soon start costing you money even it’s empty and all others probably have the same idea as you have, lower the price.
This is off course my opinion and i welcome yours as always.
Still deleting your domain, not point you spam on this domain ok.
That is good. Thank you for sharing…
Yeah sorry i had to delete your link, if you want a link back just ask for it and send one back to me.
That is good. Thank you for sharing..
Thailand has many wonderful place to invest to, but leasing is enough due to the reasons you have mentioned. It is not yet the best time to buy properties at Thai. The law on property owning is not fair. It is good to just see the place well.
Who in their right mind buy a villa for 200 million THB with a company that maybe can be taken away from you?
I think you are absolutely right. It is not time to buy in Thailand, I still love the land, but their property laws are simply unfair.
Is time to move to Cambodia or to Vietnam, or even Philippines (visa rules are much more relaxed there). Cambodia is changing their properties laws to allow foreigners to buy land.
The legal insecurity in Thailand as an foreigner investor is absolutely crazy. The need to change the law if they want to keep alien investment, I know that thais are very reluctant to this kind of changes, but the market and their own rules will set up the real estate market on the right place in a few years. When a foreigner will ought to buy 1 Rai, the real estate prices will have a huge change.
We all know that many investors that are trying to sell their properties (some are really good properties, but bought setting up false Thais Companies) can’t find a buyer because the law uncertainty.
I would like to buy in Thailand, it is my favourite country, but not at the actual legal conditions. We are foreigners yes, but we must have some elemental rights, not only to receive good smiles in LOS
Like you said, this is of course my simple opinion, as lawyer and as properties investor.