Hua Hin villa estates tips and tricks anyone?

[markt]

[*]location, ie flooding issues, road problems, overall position to shops etc,
[*]estate management
[*]quality of estate houses that have been built
[*]any other issues that anyone else can mention ie the best of and worst of Crystal View

Location is ok, only 10 minutes to downtown, Tesco located nearby, a few small restaurants and shops and 3 7/11s nearby, no flooding issues, road outside development is horrible but is scheduled to be resurfaced whenever the municipality gets around to it.

Estate management has had many problems. Can't elaborate on public forum.

Quality varies depending on the house. None are of the quality being built now as the builder was learning as he went and the earlier built houses are worse than the later built ones (construction of the existing development took around 5 years).

Sometimes has problems with water delivery from the main and you have to pay inflated prices for trucked in water.

Thanks so much for your valuable feedback on Crystal View. Orchid Palms from yours & others comments is getting to be on a small short list.

[malcolminthemiddle]

A common theme among many of the expat developments is the concept of a Moo Bahn where people live behind boundary walls and access is limited to a narrow single road making the whole development feel (IMO) claustrophobic. There are a few exceptions where the developer has sacrificed the profit on development land to maintain open space and instead of boundary walls has used hedges to achieve the same demarcation as a boundary wall. Many buyers are part time residents and I suppose security may be a reason why the Moo Bahn concept is so readily accepted.

[markt]

A common theme among many of the expat developments is the concept of a Moo Bahn where people live behind boundary walls and access is limited to a narrow single road making the whole development feel (IMO) claustrophobic. There are a few exceptions where the developer has sacrificed the profit on development land to maintain open space and instead of boundary walls has used hedges to achieve the same demarcation as a boundary wall. Many buyers are part time residents and I suppose security may be a reason why the Moo Bahn concept is so readily accepted.

Could you please list any good "Non Moo Bahn" expat developments in Hua Hin? Not looking for a golf course style estate my budget is around 8 - 9.5 Million Baht

[hhfarang]

By "Non Moo Bahn" style, do you mean not inside walls? That's more western style and people here usually prefer the feeling of privacy and security of walls so that's what gets built mostly.

Not sure there are any in that price range. There's Palm Hills but most (if not all) prices are higher than that there. You may have to look for a standalone (outside a development) home, or a piece of land and build your own by hiring local contractors.

[crazy88]

I know of a few resales in that budget that are not on developments but in good areas with quality private homes around, no crappy access roads, no ridiculous 80-130k per year plus communal fees. They are AT LEAST of the quality of anything anyone has mentioned and better value IMO. You can contact the owners on the addresses below direct for 2 of them.

harl2006@live.com Tommy

downbytheriverside1@yahoo.com Belle

Happy house hunting

Crazy 88

[cookmanchef]

Agree with malcolminthemiddle, personally I hate the walled in developments, did you really come to Thailand to live within a compound?

I used to supply alarm systems and walls actually make security issues worse as an intruder is over the wall in 3 seconds flat and can then work in complete privacy to get into the house.

Laguna on 102 is one development that springs to mind that achieves the more open feeling, hope more will follow in the future, I am certainly advising a friend of mine that is building at Sam Roi Yod to go down this route and use 'planting' and ditches in preference to walls.

[Clark Ling]

Orchid palms seems like a reasonable place