House Offer

[Propagator]

My girlfriend has been having a look around the local village looking for bits of land for building or for land with a house. Yesterday we had a look at a place about l km out of the village.

2 Rai of land with full chanote. Teak style house - not sure if it is teak as I am unsure of some of the woods here - but was a hard wood. Established garden with many fruit trees - mangos, bananas coconuts and a couple of others that I dont yet know. Pond with fish. Inside has two toilets/bahrooms possibly could be 3 bedrooms - no A/c but not really worried about that - fans will do me.

I took many pictures of this but cannot post them until I can get a WiFi connection - so you will have to wait for the pics.

Anyway asking price 1.3 mil which I am thinking is very cheap. What do you lot think?

Needs a new coat of stain/preservative and a few minor alterations.

Please give your views and thoughts for me and I will log back on tomorrow, going round again today to have a much more detailed perusal

[Dougal]

I don't know the area you are in, but if the house is old you may just be paying for the land with the house thrown in as a bonus.

Have a look at some of the bank web sites as they usually have parcels of land that have been pledged as loans and even if they don't have what you want you may be able to get an idea of the going price for your area.

[hillbilly]

...2 Rai of land with full chanote.

This is the key issue! Trust me on this one, Thais can be a sneaky bunch. Check, double check and triple check this out! My suggestions? First have the land surveyed, might cost b2000 but well worth the price. Be sure you (or someone that you trust) can be out there when they do this. Then check the land papers again. It might be worth have some Thai lawyers (that you choose) check it out.

Talk to the neighhbors that live around the land plot. They often know alot, after one shifts through the BS.

It sounds like a bargin but please beware...

[Butterfly]

^ agree, check the land paper because there could be some bank collateral involved, happens all the time

[Eliminator]

Get a bank to assess the property, they should be able to give you a price that they would be willing to LOAN on with a certain down payment. Just had a house in my area that was assessed at a lower price than the bank was willing to loan and the seller dropped his price, the place then sold.

In other words, get your wife (not you as guarentor) to ask the bank how much they are willing to loan and estimated value. It may cost a few bob but well worth it.

[Gerbil]

...2 Rai of land with full chanote.

This is the key issue! Trust me on this one, Thais can be a sneaky bunch. Check, double check and triple check this out! My suggestions? First have the land surveyed, might cost b2000 but well worth the price. Be sure you (or someone that you trust) can be out there when they do this. Then check the land papers again. It might be worth have some Thai lawyers (that you choose) check it out.

Talk to the neighhbors that live around the land plot. They often know alot, after one shifts through the BS.

It sounds like a bargin but please beware...

2 other things to check (amongst many!)

1. Check the boundary markers bear some resemblance to what the papers indicate. Usually this is not the case and some cnut has either moved them and encroached onto the land (or vice versa!)

2. Access! Check the right of access to the property - you can end up with a parcel of land with no way to get to it other than by helicopter if you're not careful! (A road / track outside doesnt mean much until you know who owns that road if it's not public property)

[Propagator]

Thanks for the advice lads. I am going to get into Khon Kaen over the weekend and will post some pictures then. I have asked for papers and will then have a detailed check. No problem with access, only about 50 yards off the main 201

Most people I have spoken to think it is a bargain and think that after a little work on it could maybe sell for 3 mil

[BallBreaker]

Thanks for the advice lads. I am going to get into Khon Kaen over the weekend and will post some pictures then. I have asked for papers and will then have a detailed check. No problem with access, only about 50 yards off the main 201

mil

Doesn't matter if its only 50 yards from main road if you don't have a clear legal right of way between road and land you might buy. You piss off the owner of that 50 yards and your screwed.

Its better to buy strip of land for right of way if property does not front road.

[hillbilly]

Most people I have spoken to think it is a bargain and think that after a little work on it could maybe sell for 3 mil

Another myth. Yes, the land might be worth tons. But who in the local area has the money to buy?

Sorry, dude. Been there done that...

[RandomChances]

Land can vary in price so much with just a relitivly small distance. I could sell 1 rai of our land at the front alongside a main road for around 120,000 bhat, go a couple of hundred meters in and it's 40,000 bhat, nip into the local town a about 7 km and mabye 500,000 bhat.

So really is the house in a town, village or just out in the sticks, what sort of sq meters are we talking is it one or two story. If you ask what the wood is and post it I'm sure one of us will be able to tell you what it is.

Just as a guide there was a thai style stilt house in pretty good condition about 100 sq meters going across the road from me, basicaly just with the land it was on they wanted about 200,000 bhat for it. Without seeing the pics I would say the bulk of that price is probably for the land so location is critical

[billynomates]

Many good responses already and what RC says about the location is spot on.

I (well the Mrs did) bought another piece of land last year, similar it sounds to yours, mango's, bananas, pappaya etc. 3 1/2 Rai, no house built on it yet but very close to the village (about 100yds) with full access, water and electric etc.

Try and work out the value of the house alone without the land.

[Thaicoon]

I bought 2 Rai outside Buriram, 4 clicks out, land is nearly on main road to surin, has water supply, electric etc, i paid 200,000 Baht, it is the old story, LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION, how far is this land from Khoen Kaen ?, the actuall thai house would not be worth much, look at the Thai banks website for property, you can get some real bargains, i bought a 2 story house in Jira Road, Buriram 4 years ago for 350,000 Baht, sold it last year close to 1.5 mill, i am always buying land etc, for the future, as eliminator knows.

Good luck, but 1.3 mill sounds bit expensive to me, if it is in a rural village.

[KID]

can a non Thai national own land in Thailand?? if so what are the guidelines

[Eliminator]

Kid, Thaicoon buys land under his wife's name. Non-Thais cannot own land except by way of a company and even that is changing by the look of things.

[Propagator]

Thanks again all. It looks as I cannot post the pictures until Later, so will do this in a weeks time when I get home, trying to get Wi Fi is not as easy as I thought.

[QUOTE="Thaicoon"]how far is this land from Khoen Kaen ?, [/QUOTE

We are talking about 150 km from Khon Kaen.

[Spin]

We are talking about 150 km from Khon Kaen.

Oh dear...I'm looking at land at the moment thats 50 km from KK that is 65,000 per rai.

Where is this place you are looking at because over million no sounds verymuch like a farang price!

[witbaas]

can a non Thai national own land in Thailand?? if so what are the guidelines

Yes, you can own 1 Rai if you're prepared to invest 40 million baht in Thailand....

[Dougal]

can a non Thai national own land in Thailand?? if so what are the guidelines

I believe that William willconfirm that under certain circumstances it is allowable for a non-Thai to inherit land up to 1 rai.

I don't know what the ratio of non-Thai husbands inheriting from their Thai wives is, compared to Thai wives inheriting from their non-Thai husbands; probably at least 10,000 : 1

[Propagator]

Now I'm back home so can add a couple of pictures that I promised to do. More will follow when I resize them.



Front of house



View from inside on to balcony patio



From balcony looking toward the front



View looking toward the side of the house



Driveway up to front of house



More pictures will follow of the inside and the orchard etc

[ChiangMai noon]

That looks rather nice Props.
When are you back out again?

[Dougal]

Very nice place indeed. But please ensure that this is not one of those 'too good to be true' arrangements.

[RandomChances]

If everything is above board it certianly looks worth the 1.3 million

[Propagator]

When are you back out again?

Hopefully some time during April.

Anyway some more photos of the place, this time of the fruit trees and a couple more views.

Here you can see numerous Mango trees plus one that is now in fruit





Two more fruit trees which I have no idea of, the first looks like a pomegranite but I could well be wrong, the other the g/f told be the Thai name of but I can't remember.





Two more differant fruits, plus also have banana, coconut, jackfruit, tamerind and Papaya





The pond



View of house from driveway



And finally for this batch a view of the sunset from the house




More to follow of the inside of the house.

[keda]

Very nice place indeed. But please ensure that this is not one of those 'too good to be true' arrangements.

I agree, if it looks too good to be true that's because it is.

[Marmite the Dog]

C'est mango.