Johan wrote:Also in developments land area is very small because they are selling the land for 5 to 8 times the price.
You what!?!?, so all this time ever 1 rai I've been buying (ave. 2.5 houses on it) at around 1.2m Baht, then adding infrastructure too, I should have been selling the land plots
only for an average of 4M Baht?... something odd there Johan, we only charge 3.9M for the land
and the house
Johan wrote:Developments are double priced, so i would recommend to build your own place. These guys are making money with developments (bar me and my stupid land pricing - see above)
So someone on a development's investment is worth double that of the same stand-alone house down the road then, so they've been making more money as property prices have increased then. Cool
Johan wrote:You needs walls ? Clean water ? Electricity ? You can buy it yourself like i did and you will still save money. You need a road to your home ? Build it. You need a wall of 10 meters with razors ? Build it.
Haven't the faintest where you're coming from here. I would charge more for a stand-alone house than for a development house given like for like conditions...
Walls - Stand-alone house you'd build yourself 4 walls, development it's only 3. You pay 33% more.
Water - A well costs the same 100-150k whether for 1 house or 12. You pay 12x as much.
Electric - If you want/need stable electric in certain areas, and need a 3-phase transformer (hhfarang's house, my house), lone house you get a small one for 50,000 Baht one, 12 house development 12 people split a 150,000 Baht one. You pay 4x as much.
Ditto for drainage, water mains, elec posts/cabling, internet infrastructure, architects drawings, rates for land clearance/landfil, 'fees' to local PYB to dig up 'their' public road, blah blah. More is less.
Johan wrote:Security in developments it's a joke. Make your own security in your home, alarms, walls, steel doors, guns, police check up, etc
We specially design our project entrances so they're wide enough to enable all these things to get in, it's even been known for people to squeeze cars through. Don't you mean security is exactly the same (if none at all), or marginally better on a development (sleeping guard). After that it depends on individual circumstances, imo a development with guards awake/patrolling properly, CCTV in roads, security in houses would be safer than a lone house isolated down a dirt track. Conversely a development with sleeping guard would be less safe than lone house in soi with Thai families in proximity. Developments would be more attractive propositions to burglars overall imo, and a lone house would be more attractive for a targetted 'tie-up' or more sinister plot.
Johan wrote:At the end of the construction you will still save arround 30% of the money.
That's correct in my experience, a more realistic developer mark-up than 'double'. There's obviously risks associated with developer or direct with a builder, although this isn't 2006 the market here has 'matured' enough for people to play safe with a tried and trusted developer, who was probably just one of the many unknown entities back then. If you know enough about building, are based here (imperitive), have a Thai partner who's already come out of his/her shell and can handle you ranting at her, and can handle a fair bit of stress & frustration, then why not.
There is 30% up for grabs, but bear in mind you are not getting a fixed price, it may or may not end up the original cost. With the good developers the price will be fixed, unless you change the spec, when the well driller run off with the 50k deposit after hitting rock the buyers didn't even get to hear about it, but you'd pay that. If a builder runs off with a payment/goes bust and developer has to pay through nose to get a.n.other to take over, it's no cost to buyer.
There's dozens and dozens of things that 'may' pop up that I have personally seen (often paid for out of margin as not buyers responsibility) like the land office increasing their 'fees' to cut land from 5k to 30k, PYB demanding 10k to let you dig public road up to put drains in, elec company adding 50% to cost of transformer, build permit charges, local charges for a well, public health adding large 5k grease traps to kitchen waste, pool equipment packing up within warranty period but not paying out as you serviced it wrong, so developer pays. Ditto air-cons, ovens, water pumps, well pump motors. Everyone is looking to squeeze you, at least you get to laugh about double-pricing to get in National Parks and extra photocopies for visa renewals etc
SJ