JD wrote:....it seems to me that you both have arrived at a similar juncture in this debate, neither is wrong or right, but who knows what the future has in store for expat or Thai alike. Investment is what you think it is. What risk are you prepared to take?
Good debate chaps, keep it up.
Hence my comment earlier regarding "going round in a circle". Somehow, and I do not want to re-read the whole thread again, we got onto the subject of investment.
Lets face it, in the vast majority of cases all over the world (maybe not the Igloo market for Eskimos or the mud huts for sub Saharan Aficans), the original construction was done for business purposes. People buying land and building a house for themselves is just an account from the history books nowadays or a dreamers dream come true.
Therefore it was natural that the thread progressed to investment and it was sargeant himself that first moved in that direction with "pjg i thought they were but 10 units is hardly gonna cover the shortfall".
But as I said I am well au fait with investment and risk analysis etc etc.
What the question is now is how are children who are 14 and 15 going to get on the housing ladder (presumably that means here in Hua Hin).
Burger has already answered that one quite clearly.
Burger wrote:
'Thai housing ladder' ...... are you serious sarge ?
The thought that children with a farang parent will not be able to obtain any kind of suitable property within Hua Hin and the surrounding area (ok, maybe not the centre of town), seems laughable to me.
Will you not be providing them with an education that allows them to get a decent career/salary ?
If you are, good on you, they will be fine.
If you're not, take a look in the mirror.
whinge, whinge, whinge, whinge, whinge
At current rates a mortgage will cost about 4% (or it was last year when I tried to get one). That makes the interest repayments at about 6,000 baht per month for a 1.5 million baht house which can get you on the ladder in down town Hua Hin even if the couple both work at 7/11. Get out a bit towards Pran Buri or up towards the by-pass you can get a place for 750,000. At first people when they are young have to go through the renting the odd room, maintaining property themselves and the odd week living on fried rice, but compare it to London.
Lets take North End Road for example in the chepaer middle section where you be next door to a council housing estate. A one bedroom flat over a shop is going to set you back 250,000 pounds. At 6% interest only plans, you are looking at monthly repayments of about 2,500 pounds per month. To get the mortgage without deposit you would need a joint salary of about 80,000 pounds per year. Now how many couples can get on that ladder.
This is not just true of London. It has spread all over the country and to much of the Western World. Jaime will be able to give you a better idea of prices and wages to expect as an ex-grad with a couple of years work experience in South Wales. I think you will find it is a serious challenge.
Here in Hua Hin what you have described seems laughable as Burger has already said. At least here you have the choice of starting off somwhere cheaper and commuting a few kilometres until you can move up market. In Western economies you can not get on the first rung to start with.