AJBangkok
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Posts posted by AJBangkok
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BTW you are still going to have to get an engineer to do the foundation. An international architect can give you the full plans you may need to get a local engineer to certify the foundation. Also if you want somebody to source materials etc and oversee the build you need to hire a foreman or a project manager. When I did my house in Hua Hin I hired a retired expat who had previously worked in the building trade. Not hard to find but hard to find a good one.
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I’m currently buying an unfinished house and completely changing the floor plans. I used a web based service called upwork to find freelance architects and it’s pretty good. I am using an architect in Arminia and one in Ukraine. They charge $30 per hour and $25 per hour respectively. The lady in Arminia is good she has a PHD in architecture and I think she has worked on historical buildings although she has more modern buildings in her portfolio.
The upwork app does all the monitoring and billing and limits the working hours to 40 per week and in her case her first week she worked 14 hours.
If you know what you want you can send them pictures and measurements of the plot ( and some inspiration pics ) and a hand sketch then you work with them to refine what they produce.As far as using the plans for approval in Thailand I think you may have to get the cad files and have a local draftsman translate them but I don’t know the area you are in and the requirements as a lot of places in Thailand don’t need serious plans. The local land office would have somebody to take your plans and make them compliant for a small fee.
I have used Thai architects and designers for several condo renovations in bangkok ( which is more expensive than countryside) and they usually want to charge a % or 500k plus. Depending on how long I use these ones on upwork I’ll spend between $1000, to $2000 each. I think for an entire house you may need to budget 3-5k but it really depends on how much you time you want to spend on it.
Check out upwork sand search for architect house plans or something like that. If you want the name of my Arminian architect ( she seems the better of the 2 i’m using ) then PM me.Good luck.
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Did a half day boat cruise 2 weeks ago from Chalong.. there were 20 people on the boat of which 11 were from sandbox.
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I wont go into the plot but If you like clever and intriguing movies then I would recommend “The Man From Earth “ a 2007 movie that really draws you in and makes you think.
for some it may be the most interesting movie you’ve watched in a long time, for others Bleh nothing special.
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I think it’s more disgust than offense, the embassy staff are all vaccinated, so it’s their version of “let them eat cake “ or in this case Aussie deserts. Maybe rather than copying Marie-Antoinette they should be copying the French ambassador who procured vaccines for all the French citizens in Thailand.
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On 7/9/2021 at 11:52 AM, Lextsy1 said:
Looking in Bangkok around Pathum wan area i am unable to find any which are foreign ownership, non leasehold
A lot ( but not all) of the land in Pratumwan is owned by the crown property bureau so it’s all 50 year leasehold. You will see some condos in Rajdamri which look super cheap but it’s because they have less years on the lease yet to run.
You are better off looking in lower Sukhumvit where you can find older buildings that sell from 70-90k per sqm
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16 hours ago, from the home of CC said:
from what I've noticed in the last 20 years is that Thais like to buy 'new' - from cars to homes, which can explain some of the horrendous personal debts to banks. It's almost seems that they believe buying second hand is loso, so imo it's not just a financial consideration though considering the state of affairs presently, that may change...
It’s not always that Thai’s like to buy new, a lot of it is that they are forced to buy new due to the lending practices. If you buy a condo or house from the developer a bank will loan 90% of the price. If you buy 2’nd hand they will loan 50-60% of the price. Add to that you have developer financing where you get 3 years or more to pay the 10% deposit. Same goes for cars, banks and finance companies will loan 90-95% on a new but only around 50% maybe 60% on a second hand car depending on how old it is.
Then you have to factor in demand and as the demand pool for condos that you only have to pay a 10% deposit eclipses the demand for condos that you have to pay a 40% or 50% deposit so the people wanting to sell a 2’nd hand condo have further drop selling prices to make their condo more attractive to the buyer.
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I thought that name was already taken by a Brazilian soccer player.
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Sue you can do it cheaper and I should have mentioned that the 25-30 baht per sqm reno cost includes buying the rental furniture. Also you have to consider that I am taking the condo back to bare concrete so it's including, wiring, plumbing, floors, ceilings, lights built ins, airconditioning etc etc and most of the time new windows.
I do a custom kitchen which usually costs 400k - 500k for the cabinets and counter tops/backsplash. Built in appliances, oven, microwave, induction hob, fridge, sink, tap and dishwasher run about another 130-150k. I use tekka and bosch.
I use the same designer and construction company for all the units. I use the same kitchen company for all the kitchens and I use the same air con company for all the air con. I always do ducted air con so that's about 150k more than wall units.
The construction company i use does the demo and manages all the trades like the air cons, windows kitchen etc. They are probably a little more costly than some companies but they do a full turnkey reno and always come back to fix any problems even after 5 years. They have plenty of work and I am waiting for them to start my next project so i’d prefer not to give their name at this time .
For the furniture I get everything from people who do drop shipping for Chinese factories. It's always 30-45day preorder but the suppliers I use have good quality, it lookes expensive but it's normally 50% of the cost of buying similar quality furniture here.
As I said my numbers reflect going back to bare concrete. If you don't need to then it could be significantly cheaper to reno but that will be reflected in the selling price. The condos I buy are not in any condition to live in, they are usually rife with termite damage, mould, horrible layouts and generally falling apart. They need a total rebuild and that's reflected in the price they sell for. There are plenty of condos in better condition for 70-90k per square meter but usually they still need some refurbishment. You won't get a new kitchen, appliances, air cons etc they will be dated. I prefer nasty ones as know after I finish everything will be brand new and there won't be any major surprises so at the end of the day I am getting a brand new interior at the same or cheaper price than what a condo in decent nick sells at in the same building.
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5 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:
Thanks for all the info.
With all your experience I would have thought you are able to renovate for less than that.
If you like tell me/us: Are you hiring one company do do everything for you from design until ready to rent out?
Or do you have a designer and then different contractors?
Do you always use the same people and/or company over the years?
I guess it's possible to do the renovation less expensive than that still with good quality. Or not?
Is there any specific renovation company which you like to recommend? And if, why do you prefer that company?
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My ‘hobby” if you want to call it that is buying condos in older buildings, renovating them, and then renting them out.
The three most important factors I look at are location, size and price. I don't buy them to live in I buy them to rent out so I don't make personal compromises or over capitalize the renovation.
For location I look for places close to schools and within 1km of a BTS, generally the older buildings I look at are in sukhumvit between soi 1 and soi ekkamai, the closer to a school the better.
For size I focus on 3 bedrooms, size above 150 sqm. My rental target is families with kids. New condos are full of studios, 1 and 2 bedroom. New 3 bedrooms are rare, tiny and super expensive to rent. Families want living space so when they realise they are going to either have to compromise on price or space generally they’ll end up taking space over price. They will be less likely to care about the building exterior if the condo inside is renovated nicely. Which is what I focus on.
As for price the buying sweet spot is 50k -60k per square meter. Reno costs will run another 25k to 30k per square meter. I try to set my maximum total cost to 80k -85k per square meter after the reno. The new buildings around the condo generally sell for more than double that price.
For the reno, the biggest challenge is always reconfiguring the floor plans. The older buildings are usually horribly laid out and constrained by poles and toilet positions so when you select a unit you should count on making compromises so try to select the unit with the least amount of compromises.
You may think that 25-30k for a reno (including design) is expensive but In my experience we have had to take every condo we have done back to bare concrete, we have not salvaged anything. I spend extra money on the bathrooms and kitchens and usually include a few other features that the average rental doesn't have. We have never had a condo vacant more than 2 months even during covid.
A lot of folk are mentioning building upkeep, management and facilities. What I have noticed over the last 10 years of doing this is that sure the really cheap condos suffer from these problems to a varying extent, but that's the exact reason why they are so cheap, the flip side is that is that good location always sells, and over the years the supply of these bad condos in great locations for sale has been drying up, the new owners are renovating and spurring changes in the up keep, management, and facilities. In one building where we have 2 rental condos the average rental price has moved up 35% in the 3 years since we bought the first condo there. The committee has renovated the gym and pool area and this year will start renovating the common areas on each floor. Yes the new owners will pay for these upgrades but in my case the special levy has worked out to less than 1/2 a months rent per year.
Buying a condo to live in is different than buying a condo to rent. You will be more willing to compromise on some things and less willing to compromise on others. Also you have to remember if you buy an older building and reno it, you won't be the only one doing it, you may be subject to construction noise for a very long time as so long as the condos are considered cheap there are going to be people like me buying and renovating around you. The positive thing is that all those people doing renos are increasing your property price by default through building gentrification.
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UB40 did some great covers, the most famous was their cover of Neil Daimonds Red Red Wine, which Neil Diamond liked so much he also did reggae version. The second was their cover of Jimmy Cliff’s Many Rivers To Cross but I think CLiff’s original is still the best.
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The last 2 condos I have bought I got a bank confirmation letter from them not a FET form.
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They really need to clarify what Quarantine is. Is it home quarantine or is it in a state quarantine? If we get the certificate in Bangkok do we still have to do quarantine?
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MB is an incredibly popular brand in Thailand and has been the number 1 luxury car here for over 40 years. The Benz assembly plant was established in 1979 which makes it one if the first major assemblers in Thailand.
With an older Benz I don’t think it’s worth it to get it serviced at an official Benz dealership as you will pay through the nose. Luckily there are huge number of unofficial Benz “ou’s” out there. The trick is funding a good one that has all the required software and systems to service a Benz. The cost of a good one will probably be 20- 30% cheaper than the official dealers.
Parts will still be expensive but they will be less than MB.
On the suggestion of using B-Quick I don’t know if that is possible. They couldn’t even top up the coolant in my air conditioner as they did not have the system (they said) so even minor stuff is probably needed to be done by a Benz “Ou”- 1
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I have places in both HH and Phuket. my personal experience is that Phuket is quite a bit more expensive than HH and the locals are mercenary as far as taking advantage of foreigners. If you have your own transport it’s fine, but when it comes to hiring a maid, gardener,driver, nanny etc or getting something fixed around the house the amount of drama you go through to get a good employee or a fair price is far more than you do in HH. I would agree the schools are far better in Phuket.
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2 hours ago, Pattaya Spotter said:
It looks like she'll be spending many reincarnations in jail.
Maybe she’ll make bail.
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The problem is that the land office has a severely discounted valuation for properties. I bought a condo last year and the value in their books was around 50% of the actual transaction price. Similarly a house we bought a few years ago they only valued the land and it was less than 10% of the actual cost of the house.
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21 minutes ago, bodga said:No, no way air chief vice marshal rear admiral generals dont lie Colin, youre mistaken, be brave and admit it...............psssssst 10 million hints for you if you do.????
Funny thing is He was only a corporal before he came forward with his witness statement.
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Why doesn’t the DOJ start a little closer to home and ask Bill Clinton and Bill Gates to come in and “assist” them. Clinton is listed on 27 flight manifests of the Lolita express. Gates Has been shown in pictures with Epstein like Andrew so.....
The conspiracy theory advocates out there say that Epstein and Maxwell have ties to Israeli intelligence and this was the most successful honey trap operations since they sent in Delilah to cut off Samson’s hair.
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Wishful thinking. The Spanish flu killed 50million and it was the second wave that was responsible for the majority of the deaths.
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I’m more afraid of them claiming it works when it doesn’t and proceeding to deploy it. If foreigners debunk it then they’ll claim it only works on Thais. Remember those bomb sniffing X-ray machines
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Go for a windows box. Intel NUC or anything running Windows 10
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Does anybody know a computer store open along Sukhumvit Road in Bangkok or thereabouts where I could buy a HDMI to VGA cable. I know I could order online but I need it today so online ordering won’t work.
Thai Elite Visa Extension
in Thai Visas, Residency, and Work Permits
Posted
I wouldn’t worry about it. I changed my reporting office from Bangkok to Phuket ( bangkok doesn’t require the letter) and found out that Phuket requires the letter the day I went in to renew my extension of stay. They emailed the letter while I was at immigration and no issue. The next time I renewed I let them know 5 days ahead of time and I got the email a couple of days later.