Land in the South

[Silent Ninja]

Aloha, another question for our attempt to plan a move to Thailand.

What are the land prices in a reasonably big city in Southern Thailand (e.g. Songkhla)?

It doesn't have to big in the middle of the city, but it would be nice to have a rai or three within reasonable distance of other houses.

[in4zip]

any particular reason for Southern Thailand?

thangs are a bit hot down thar and cant see the political sit- cooling off any time soon

wouldn't be me 1st choice of location, but, de gustibus...

[Marmite the Dog]

The thing with land prices (or anything else) in Thailand is that there is no logic to anything. You may find two parcels of land adjacent to each other that are totally different prices. The only way to find out how much a parcel of land is, is to go and talk to the owner.

[Silent Ninja]

Agree, it's not the best location in Thailand, but the wife is from Songkhla and wants to live close to her family.

[in4zip]

Agree, it's not the best location in Thailand, but the wife is from Songkhla and wants to live close to her family.

yep most o'us do wot the boss tells

[Bobby]

A rai of land 5-10 minutes from Hat Yai or Songkhla can be had for as little 1-200,000 baht. It would be a good idea to ask your wife to visit the local banks and get a brochure of repossessed land and houses. Bangkok Bank are selling a rai of land about 5kms from Hat Yai for 75k. Land closer to the city center is much more expensive. There's a large development going on close to the province's main university and a rai there would set you back 1m+.

[Silent Ninja]

^^

yep, we don't want her to use me as her muay thai training doll

[Silent Ninja]

^

Are you, Bobby, or somebody else living in Songkhla provience? How is it, do you like it there?

I have only lived in Bangkok before, so except for a few family visits I'm not really an expert of Southern Thailand.

[Bobby]

I've been living just outside Hat Yai for five years. There's not much here for tourists, but it has all the modern amenities you would expect from a large city. Shopping consists of dept. stores and more traditional markets. There's plenty of supermarkets (Big C, Tops, Carrefour, Tesco-Lotus) and many excellent Chinese, Thai and Muslim restuarants. There's some western restaurants, but they're not all up to the standard you would expect. A number of movies theaters have original soundtracks, but the showing times are erratic. Plenty of bars and nightclubs with live music that stay open until 1 a.m. Karaoke is popular with the Malaysian and Singaporen visitors, but if you want to avoid paying 250b for a beer I would give them a miss. Plenty of 'naughty' nightlife in Hat Yai Nai, and the Pink Lady Hotel apparently has the largest goldfish bowl in Asia. Several golf courses are located nearby, as well as some waterfalls, and Samila beach is only about 30 mins away.

There's about 30 long-term expats here and anything up to 50 teflers. Most are OK, but the Stamford TEFL course attracts some total wankers.

The locals are a mix of Thais, Chinese and Muslims. Although southern Thai's have a poor reputation, I've never had any problems with them.

Most of the unrest has been centered on Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat. Carrefour and Hat Yai International Airport were hit last year, but there haven't been any other incidents in Hat Yai since then. There are rumours that other bombs have been found in dept. stores, but if they're true the govts covered it up very efficiently.

All in all, I like it here. It's got everything BKK has, but it's cheaper and doesn't suffer the same congestion and pollution problems.

I'll be looking for some land myself in the next couple of months. If you let me know which area in Songkhla you're interested in, I'll keep my eyes open.

[12Call]

http://www.krungsriproperty.com/

[Silent Ninja]

Yes, I remember the bombs in Carrefour, etc. - I had just left Hat Yai a couple of days before. Still, I think Hat Yai feels quite safe if you can avoid the usual, crazy Thai traffic.

I would never have guessed that there are so many foreigners in Hat Yai. Having been there a couple of times, I have never meet more than one or two.

We haven't really decided which area we are interested in, but it will probably be around Songkhla city. We will go to Thailand for a couple of weeks in August and maybe take some time to check out the different areas.

I think Hat Yai feels a bit too much like BKK. Songkhla city is more like what we want since it feels like a big village with less traffic, a not-so-fantastic beach, etc.

[dirtydog]

contact LDMA on ajarnforom.net

[Spin]

farangs would buy land in Gaza strip if the ho's there told them to. pricks.

You would not rush out and buy land in your own country so why do it here?

[Dougal]

I would buy land anywhere that I thought it was going to go up in value and if I could afford it.

[Spin]

I would buy land anywhere that I thought it was going to go up in value and if I could afford it.

Who's gonna buy your land at the increased price?

A wealthy Thai? not likely.

Another farang? highly unlikely.

There are at least 4 million rai of land available for sale in Thailand at any one time.

Only a select few will EVER turn a profit on land here, Joe Average Farang does not stand a chance. Thai's will see to that.

Most farangs that bought land here did so just so that there girls could get a bit of face.

[Dougal]

It depends on the area, land in Pattaya, Phuket and other resorts has risen in price significantly in the last couple of years.

Now we could argue till the buffaloes come home about whether the price reflects the true value but the same would have to be said about gold, shares or oil.

Everyone who makes an investment hopes that the money that they put in will increase - and that includes holders of pensions, endowment policies, mortgage holders, shares and so on and so on.

Land is the one commodity that they aren't making any more of.

You pay your money and you make your choice.

[dirtydog]

My land has nearly doubled in value in the last 12 months, this is going by the prices that my neighbours have sold their land for, not what they are asking for it.