Possible land purchase 2.5km outside HH centre. Planning to build houses. Advice please.

Ask here about the pleasures and pitfalls of buying, selling or renting property and real estate in Hua Hin. Building, design and construction topics welcome. Commercial or promotional posts for real estate companies or private properties are forbidden.
oakdale160
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Re: Possible land purchase 2.5km outside HH centre. Planning to build houses. Advice please.

Post by oakdale160 »

I understand that Thai people have little interest in any other asset than real estate.They do not invest in Stocks or bonds or any of the assetts that westerners hold. This is one of the reasons for the huge number of condos in HH that are owned and never used. Its their only way of parking money.
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Re: Possible land purchase 2.5km outside HH centre. Planning to build houses. Advice please.

Post by OldBoyRacer »

Thanks for all the detailed replies fellas.

It's a hell of a descision to make and Saranya is not helping at all, in the same way when I chose my new specs with her - she had no favourite pair - she knows if I chose due to her, and then regret it, it's ALL her fault!

I have looked into buying a £60k 3 bed flat in Studentville in Liverpool, it would give around 27k baht / month rent.

Not really enough to live on.
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redzonerocker
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Re: Possible land purchase 2.5km outside HH centre. Planning to build houses. Advice please.

Post by redzonerocker »

OldBoyRacer wrote: Wed Feb 07, 2018 5:38 pm Another option is to sell, bank the money and go and rent in HH, and get a feel for the place / idea.
Out of the options you've given yourself, that's the best one by far.
I think you need to take the happy route in the short term, which may help planning for the long term a whole lot easier. :cheers:
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Re: Possible land purchase 2.5km outside HH centre. Planning to build houses. Advice please.

Post by heartofmidlothian »

Jose’s idea is the best. Property in the UK is relatively safe while property here is never in your name and the last thing you ever want is to be involved in a Thai legal case that drags on for years.
If you build a house here in Hua Hin for around 2 million baht, it will be tough to get much more than 15000 baht per month in rent. If you try to get much more, your property will sit empty. Everything about the UK property market is much easier. You can own it, you can sell it and you know how much you can rent it out for. Very different here. Another thing you need to check out is what will happen if you live in Hua Hin for a few years and then need to go back for medical treatment in the UK. Some rules in the UK are changing for people who move away.
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Re: Possible land purchase 2.5km outside HH centre. Planning to build houses. Advice please.

Post by OldBoyRacer »

Yes, that is a good idea. That may be the way to go.

Thanks for all the input guys.
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Re: Possible land purchase 2.5km outside HH centre. Planning to build houses. Advice please.

Post by oakdale160 »

Keep in touch. When you come to Thai, post on this thread and tell us what your opinions and plans are at that point.
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Re: Possible land purchase 2.5km outside HH centre. Planning to build houses. Advice please.

Post by Takiap »

For your own sake, please forget about your original plan for the time being. Once you have bought/paid for land, that money is gone, and once you build, that money is gone as well, and unless you are incredibly fortunate, you will never see any of it again.

As many foreigners will attest to, selling a house in Thailand is far more difficult that you might imagine, and that's assuming that your girlfriend would agree to it being sold. Even then, she would be under enormous pressure from her family to not sell. Why sell and give half or all the money to a to you, farang, when she should be thinking about her own family first

Also, there are literally thousands of properties to rent in Hua-Hin, and the vast majority of them are standing empty. Unless you are willing to rent out one of the homes for around 10 to 15k per month, you will almost certainly struggle to find good long-term tenants.

If you really want to come and live here, park your money somewhere where it is safe, and look for a cheap place to rent. If your girlfriend genuinely does love you, then she will understand, even if it means the two of you have to live in a small studio flat or whatever. In fact, it is a good way to test sincerity if you ask me.

Just down the road from me, there is a row of Thai houses, each with 3 rooms, a tiny cooking area, and a bathroom, and these are rented out for 3,500 baht per month. Your average working class Thai woman would not object to living in one of these if she is married to a Thai, so she also should not object to living in one if she is with a farang. If she does object, then.........


I realize you want to come and live here, but try to resist the urge to act too quickly. Instead, come over and rent a small place like the houses I have just mentioned, and give yourself some time to weigh up your options once you have been living here for a while.


With all of this having been said, I really do wish you the best of luck with whatever decision you make.
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Re: Possible land purchase 2.5km outside HH centre. Planning to build houses. Advice please.

Post by OldBoyRacer »

oakdale160 wrote: Fri Feb 09, 2018 12:36 am Keep in touch. When you come to Thai, post on this thread and tell us what your opinions and plans are at that point.
Thanks Oakdale.
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Re: Possible land purchase 2.5km outside HH centre. Planning to build houses. Advice please.

Post by VincentD »

OBR
My younger brother tried what you are proposing to do, also around the same age group and still single. It didn't work out.
If you're not retired, and can't show an income source locally (rent from abroad doesn't count) you're under the radar and will eventually end up in the authorities' sights.
Your plan of living off someone else's rent won't work.
My tuppence worth.
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Re: Possible land purchase 2.5km outside HH centre. Planning to build houses. Advice please.

Post by oakdale160 »

You don't think that a Thai lady, living in the house that he bought in her name, might encourage immigration to do their nasty work?
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Re: Possible land purchase 2.5km outside HH centre. Planning to build houses. Advice please.

Post by liveforgolf »

Wow what a tough situation.

Ok looking at all of this separately.

The Spa - 49% of the spa is worth not more than 0% unless it is sold and you cannot force the sale. In any 'shareholder vote' you will lose. So in reality it is worth exactly nothing and you are parting with the cost of 400sqm of land for this. Does not seem a good deal to me. I also doubt that you can build 2 houses with what capital will be remaining, but I guess you have researched this.

The relationship. Sure we all fall in love but where decisions such as this are concerned always assume it will not last and that you will at some time in the future separate, also assume that the separation will not be on good terms. In this case you will own 49% of nothing in the Spa, and you may get some of your land investment back (up to 50%) if you can sell the land (other people will know more about rights on dissolved partnerships in Thailand), possibly you will get nothing.

I don't see any positive reason to do what you suggest. In X years you are likely to be heartbroken and broke and likely in more need of the money you will have lost.

One thing did stand out from your different options. Your income estimate from the Thai plan was THB30,000 plus the income from the Thai Spa, which you seemed to think was reasonable (I actually think you are likely to realise no more than half of this amount). The income you estimate from a UK rental is THB27,000, which you think is not enough to live on buy it is only THB100 per day less than what you expect from the Thai plan.

So what would I do - I will answer this without knowing anything about your past work history or experience so bear with me.

1. Buy the student flat and get the income, which will increase over time and so will the capital. There are going to be some costs for maintenance etc especially in a student area.

2. Move to Thailand and live with your girlfriend on your and her income together. It will be enough if not extravagant. If she does not want to pool her income, re-evaluate the longevity of the relationship.

3. Think about how to supplement this income. This is where I do not know anything about your skill set but a friend of mine for example has a small business with a Facebook page. He pays a guy in the US $150USD per month (or THB 3000 as it happens) to research and write 5 Facebook posts a week for his business. He sourced this fellow from a freelancer site called Upwork.com. This is paid work and you are strictly not allowed to do this if you are in Thailand but I doubt anyone would ever find out.

4. You will still have 40K left from the property purchase, later in the game put this into another property in the UK and increase your rental income. Or alternatively this will buy you at least a studio in a condo block.

Good luck
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Re: Possible land purchase 2.5km outside HH centre. Planning to build houses. Advice please.

Post by stumorelli »

Takiap has given you almost the exact same piece of advice I was going to except I know you planned to move to Hua Hin and set up home, but as the massage business is in Bangkok and as you say makes a profit.

I would suggest the following. Rent a cheap townhouse which there are a lot available from 5000-8000 in most areas outside central Bangkok and stay here for 12 months. It will give you a better idea of how things work in the relationship when you are both living in Thailand.

This also enables your girlfriend to still manage the massage shop on a day to day business to keep it performing. As many here will agree once the owner of a business is no longer there on a daily basis the business soon collapses and you own 49% of a failed business.


Takiap wrote: Fri Feb 09, 2018 10:12 am For your own sake, please forget about your original plan for the time being. Once you have bought/paid for land, that money is gone, and once you build, that money is gone as well, and unless you are incredibly fortunate, you will never see any of it again.

As many foreigners will attest to, selling a house in Thailand is far more difficult that you might imagine, and that's assuming that your girlfriend would agree to it being sold. Even then, she would be under enormous pressure from her family to not sell. Why sell and give half or all the money to a to you, farang, when she should be thinking about her own family first

Also, there are literally thousands of properties to rent in Hua-Hin, and the vast majority of them are standing empty. Unless you are willing to rent out one of the homes for around 10 to 15k per month, you will almost certainly struggle to find good long-term tenants.

If you really want to come and live here, park your money somewhere where it is safe, and look for a cheap place to rent. If your girlfriend genuinely does love you, then she will understand, even if it means the two of you have to live in a small studio flat or whatever. In fact, it is a good way to test sincerity if you ask me.

Just down the road from me, there is a row of Thai houses, each with 3 rooms, a tiny cooking area, and a bathroom, and these are rented out for 3,500 baht per month. Your average working class Thai woman would not object to living in one of these if she is married to a Thai, so she also should not object to living in one if she is with a farang. If she does object, then.........


I realize you want to come and live here, but try to resist the urge to act too quickly. Instead, come over and rent a small place like the houses I have just mentioned, and give yourself some time to weigh up your options once you have been living here for a while.


With all of this having been said, I really do wish you the best of luck with whatever decision you make.
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