Should I Building a new house in Thailand

[sirineou]

 I have a theory about newbies who throw a piece of red meat thread in their first or second post and then disappear.

Lets see if  the Op comes back to answer any of the questions asked.

[Serl]

Back in Thailand. 

 

Thanks for All replies 

 

 

[Serl]

On 11/20/2018 at 10:01 AM, Tongjaw said:

So Serl, you  have been coming to Thailand since 2009. Just joined TV 21 hours ago and posted about what is probably one of the most argumentative subjects on this forum.

I would put my money on Serl being an internet troll.  

Get a life 

 

You reply is useless to me and ThaiVisa members as well as nonmembers 

[neeray]

24 minutes ago, Serl said:

Get a life 

 

You reply is useless to me and ThaiVisa members as well as nonmembers 

Serl has obviously not been following TVF previously. Had he been, he would have known that you must have thick skin to do your laundry in the open air on this platform.

[Langsuan Man]

It is completely up to you

 

You are never going to get any positive advice here at TV, all you will ever get are keyboard warriors who think that they know it all, without knowing anything about you, your life style, finances, etc.

 

Do you want to live in a  36+ or- square meter concrete block room then listen to them and get stuck with a condo so you feel "safe" ?  

 

I bought a condo (foreign name) when I first came to Pattaya but got tired of it, even though it was perfectly safe and in the center of Pattaya, but life is too short to live in a plush jail cell.  So I built a two story European style house ten years ago and have never looked back.  I decided that enjoying the here and now was much better than worrying about the future.  But my situation is different because I could afford it and have no heirs in my home country

 

Life is so much nicer not having to wait for an elevator to get to my cell.  I have a garden and Koi Pond and  spectacular views.  She can watch her Thai TV downstairs and I can go up to the bedroom to watch mine.  When friends come over they don't have to fight for a parking spot.  The positives of living in a house far outweigh the negatives and if you can afford it then as Nike says, just do it

[Pik]

9 minutes ago, Langsuan Man said:

It is completely up to you

 

You are never going to get any positive advice here at TV, all you will ever get are keyboard warriors who think that they know it all, without knowing anything about you, your life style, finances, etc.

 

Do you want to live in a  36+ or- square meter concrete block room then listen to them and get stuck with a condo so you feel "safe" ?  

 

I bought a condo (foreign name) when I first came to Pattaya but got tired of it, even though it was perfectly safe and in the center of Pattaya, but life is too short to live in a plush jail cell.  So I built a two story European style house ten years ago and have never looked back.  I decided that enjoying the here and now was much better than worrying about the future.  But my situation is different because I could afford it and have no heirs in my home country

 

Life is so much nicer not having to wait for an elevator to get to my cell.  I have a garden and Koi Pond and  spectacular views.  She can watch her Thai TV downstairs and I can go up to the bedroom to watch mine.  When friends come over they don't have to fight for a parking spot.  The positives of living in a house far outweigh the negatives and if you can afford it then as Nike says, just do it

Good Advice

 

I am not a condo person. Rent house with swimming pool for 3 months and see how things will go

 

[KittenKong]

32 minutes ago, Langsuan Man said:

Do you want to live in a  36+ or- square meter concrete block room then listen to them and get stuck with a condo so you feel "safe" ?  

 

I bought a condo (foreign name) when I first came to Pattaya but got tired of it, even though it was perfectly safe and in the center of Pattaya, but life is too short to live in a plush jail cell.  So I built a two story European style house ten years ago and have never looked back.  I decided that enjoying the here and now was much better than worrying about the future.  But my situation is different because I could afford it and have no heirs in my home country

 

Life is so much nicer not having to wait for an elevator to get to my cell.  I have a garden and Koi Pond and  spectacular views.  She can watch her Thai TV downstairs and I can go up to the bedroom to watch mine.  When friends come over they don't have to fight for a parking spot.  The positives of living in a house far outweigh the negatives and if you can afford it then as Nike says, just do it

I suspect that you have never seen a decent condo and only know about the 36sqm ones.

 

Look in nicer buildings, and spend as much as you would on a decent house, and you can get a very large condo with sweeping views, plenty of secure parking and a patio big enough to play ball games on. Some even have private pools, if that's your thing. Even my own condo (which cost far less than any decent house in Pattaya would, even on the darkside) has most of the above, and I dont play tennis so I dont need the huge patio.

 

But the clincher for me is that when I want to go away for a week or a month or a year, all I need to do is lock the front door and jump in the taxi. I dont need to think about burglaries or break-ins or squatters or leaking roofs or getting the lawn mown. And even when I am here I dont need to worry about putting bars on my windows, or razor wire on my wall, or keeping a couple of pit-bulls in the garden. And all my windows can stay wide open all night if I want, whether I am there or not.

And I wont even start on the relative day-to-day costs of house ownership compared to condo ownership, or the huge legal/accounting costs and general uncertainty associated with company-name house ownership compared to freehold condo ownership.

 

Also I am dubious as to how many houses in Pattaya - or even near Pattaya - actually have anything that I would call a "spectacular view". In the 10 years that I have been looking around town, I've only ever seen a tiny handful that qualify for that. But I've seen several hundred condos that have one.

[ChiangMaiLightning2143]

Rule 2
“Do not purchase a home to be registered in a woman’s name”

[Langsuan Man]

2 hours ago, KittenKong said:

........Also I am dubious as to how many houses in Pattaya - or even near Pattaya - actually have anything that I would call a "spectacular view". In the 10 years that I have been looking around town, I've only ever seen a tiny handful that qualify for that. But I've seen several hundred condos that have one.

Another condo owning expert giving advice on building a house:

 

[KittenKong]

2 hours ago, Langsuan Man said:

Another condo owning expert giving advice on building a house:

 

 

A nice enough country view, but not what I would call "spectacular".

 

And would that not be a suburb rather than Pattaya (or Jomtien or Naklua) itself?

[BritManToo]

On 11/19/2018 at 12:21 PM, Serl said:

At age 66, I have decided to move early next year. 

The average age for male death in Thailand is 71, at 66 you're being a bit optimistic in thinking of buying a house here.

[BritManToo]

5 hours ago, KittenKong said:

But the clincher for me is that when I want to go away for a week or a month or a year, all I need to do is lock the front door and jump in the taxi.

I don't even lock my doors when I leave my house.

Keys to my car live in the ashtray.

Nothing stolen in 5 years I've had the house.

Nothing stolen from the last two houses I rented for 4 years.

 

More chance of a wife/gf stealing the house, can't protect yourself from them.

[bankruatsteve]

10 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

The average age for male death in Thailand is 71, at 66 you're being a bit optimistic in thinking of buying a house here.

Strange advice.  So, your message is to not buy a house if you're going to die in a few years anyway?  

[BritManToo]

7 minutes ago, bankruatsteve said:

Strange advice.  So, your message is to not buy a house if you're going to die in a few years anyway?  

Logical advice.

[NCC1701A]

can I poke my eyes out now? or am i going to miss something?

[Kwasaki]

12 minutes ago, NCC1701A said:

can I poke my eyes out now? or am i going to miss something?

Depends whether you're 71.

[Tongjaw]

7 hours ago, Serl said:

Get a life 

 

You reply is useless to me and ThaiVisa members as well as nonmembers 

Oh boo hoo, the big bad TV member upset you. At 66 you need advice from total strangers wether to buy you gf a house. Serious now, you obviously can’t afford to take the chance. If it goes tits up your out of pocket. An old timer told me more than a decade ago, never invest in Thailand what you can’t afford to walk away from. I’ve bought my wife a house and condo “ which she rents out” over the many years we have been together. If it went belly up up tomorrow I’m financially ok and I still do consulting work overseas. If I wasn’t financially stable I can assure you I would not have bought a house. Happy now old chap. 

[Langsuan Man]

1 hour ago, KittenKong said:

 

A nice enough country view, but not what I would call "spectacular".

 

And would that not be a suburb rather than Pattaya (or Jomtien or Naklua) itself?

As Timothy Bottoms said to the Warden in The Shawshank Redemption, your just being obtuse 

[1FinickyOne]

13 minutes ago, Langsuan Man said:

As Timothy Bottoms said to the Warden in The Shawshank Redemption,

Tim Robbins maybe?

[Langsuan Man]

Tim Robbins maybe?

Correct,TY

Sent from my Pixel using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[473geo]

There are some well thought out replies to you Serl, don't take the cautious negative advice offered as unsound just because it may not fit with your thoughts, failure is an option, just some appear to plan to fail, others carry a more optimistic approach.

 

I think in order for any person to give sound advice you need to provide a location where you anticipate your build will take place, first because this will influence the cost and also your options.

 

You also need to answer the question is your wife supplying a plot because if this case your outlay is not so high, also if you are building in a village there will be workers there who will build you a reasonable modest home at a reasonable price.

 

A couple of people have made subtle mention that if you do not provide a home, there may not be a relationship. They are correct, always important to understand what your girlfriend/wife is getting out of a relationship with you. There can be rather intense pressure on your girlfriend from family and friends, this can and does add additional strain to a relationship.

 

I would say if your girlfriend is looking to build in her home village, and as Ken24 stated you can easily afford to do it without causing ill effect if things do fall apart, then give your girlfriend a budget, 20% less than you expect to spend. If the house comes in on budget you are in good shape. It is lovely feeling watching the enthusiasm and pleasure offered by creating a home.

 

City life in a condo, if that is your thing, rent or buy is entirely in your hands, I cannot advise as retirement in a city has never appealed. This too will depend on your background, rural life does not always suit ex-city boys.

 

So really there are too many unknowns to provide advice that fits your situation as we do not really know it.

Good luck whatever you decide, just to note the advice from those that have built/bought does appear to come from guys who have been here and married/in a relationship for a good length of time. Maybe there is something in that too.

[KittenKong]

57 minutes ago, Langsuan Man said:

As Timothy Bottoms said to the Warden in The Shawshank Redemption, your just being obtuse 

No, I'm being pedantic.

[jerojero]

On 11/19/2018 at 12:49 PM, CharlieH said:

My advice would be RENT.
 
If you buy/build whatever, it will never be yours. RENT you can move and try different areas, and if the relationship doesnt work you can walk away.
 
If you build a modest home in rural Thailand at 1.5-2 mil baht its dead money, money you will never see again. That same 1.5-2mil dependent on location could pay 20 yrs rent.
 
Visa situations and Thai Govt are far too unstable right now,  in my opinion to be making any long term commitment.

You can rent a nice similar house for 6500 baht per month for 20 years? Tell us where? That barely gets a decent condo room. Then when you die you leave your partner of 20+ years no where to affordably live.

[jackdd]

1 hour ago, jerojero said:

You can rent a nice similar house for 6500 baht per month for 20 years? Tell us where?

In most places that's possible. In Thailand the buying price of a property usually equals about 15-20 years rent, so a house which costs 1.5m to buy should cost somewhere in the range of 6k-8k THB to rent (exact value does of course vary depending on supply and demand, length of contract and so on).

 

1 hour ago, jerojero said:

Then when you die you leave your partner of 20+ years no where to affordably live.

She is his girlfriend, not his wife, why should it be his responsibility to secure her living for the rest of her life? She can still work, same as most other women who don't have a farang sponsor

[onera1961]

On 12/23/2018 at 7:55 PM, jackdd said:

n most places that's possible. In Thailand the buying price of a property usually equals about 15-20 years

Correct. You buy a condo or a house only if you know you're going to bequeath the asset to your progeny, wife, etc. Otherwise, rent is always preferable. 

 

Having said that, if the GF provides the land, there is another reason to build a house. 

I have a GF for fourteen years and have a daughter with her. I have bought her a condo in Bangkok twelve years ago just after my daughter was born. She now rents the condo as recently I bought her a house because I could afford as I'm financially retirement secured for my retirement. 

My opinion is unless a single person is financially secured in retirement, they should not invest in any property in Thailand because liquid asset gives you more freedom. 

 

I still maintain a rented condo in Pattaya for me to relax and spend time alone.