Labua development

[sparks]

Hi there,

I'm new to this board but it looks like a depth of knowledge about HH. I was wondering if anyone has any info about the Labua development near Banyan golf course, according to the website it says Nordic Homes is the developer but I can't any info about previous projects which it claims to have completed many of, not even a website.

My wife and I are looking purchase a 2nd home there but wanted to get as many opinions as possible about the location and what its like there during the off season.

Also the developer is offering 5% prepaid rental returns for 5 yrs has anyone gone through with this option before? is it safer then trying to let through the rental pool?

Any advice is greatly appreciated,

Atb

[brianks]

If your looking in that area you should consider Orchid Homes---The Views. May be sold out development but resales will certainly pop up over time. Cannot beat the first class developer of Orchid Homes.

[JamesWest]

Have you been to Hua Hin yet?
You are asking the right questions so far...

Hua Hin is very quite during the off season and rentals drop off to next to nothing. It is hot here in the off season.

No one knows the future, so make sure they explain to you how they can guarantee the rental income of x%. are they just jacking the purchase price up x% and then handing your own money back to you?

I would assume zero rental income on any property or you can't afford it.

There is a huge glut of condos and houses on the Hua Hin market and no end in sight to the building boom.

is your wife Thai? If not, you understand you don't own the land? Just like a 30 year lease. And no Thai couple would buy one of these houses for just that reason. For the same money they can buy a huge house along the sea shore south of Hua Hin. These projects are designed to create a "bubble world" for Farangs to live in. I would be very clear about the ownership of the land.

I would come here and do the following, look at the websites of a developer that has finished their project. now go look at the actual project. think to yourself, would you be disappointed with your house if you had purchased it from plans and computer generated images. i did this and i was really disapointed with the finish, detail and the on going construction that should have been finished long ago at many projects here.

in thailand it is impossible to see a MLS. A list of every property and the sale price. Impossible to know AT A GLANCE what a house was purchased for and its selling price. no way to know what is really happening. only what your real estate agent tells you.

do you speak Thai? Amazing how the websites are in perfect english but walk into the sales office and just trying talking to anyone. Are they going to do 100% property management? at what cost?

sorry to sound negative, i just want you to think about some possible issues. real estate is different for everybody.

[booboo]

Hi Sparks
I have lived here for nearly 7 yrs and know quite a bit about the property market, I have not heard of Labua in Hua Hin, there is a Labua tower block in Bangkok, it's possibly the same company ! First of all I made a lot of mistakes when I first bought property here, I'd been coming here on holiday for 25 yrs and thought I knew it all, I was so wrong, there are so many pitfalls buying here, I would need a week to tell you them all, everybody tells you this but nobody listens, you must come and rent for a year before buying, there is no way you can buy on a flying visit or from a web site, if you do, you will live to regret it, don't even think about buying on a development that has not even been started, 80% of them never get finished, a lot never get started, you see signs going up all the time, new houses here, they take a dozen deposit's, possibly build a show House, then disappear, the sign's fall down, the show House starts to rot and you never see your money again, there's no come back here, as a foreigner you cannot take a Thai company to court, even if you could find them. Why not buy secondhand, there are thousands for sale, from 2 million to 200 million, some stunning Houses, that way you can see how the development works, is it secure and safe, is it kept clean and tidy, can they get water all year round,( a lot can't ) are there disputes over communal charges etc etc ....the list goes on, non of this you can do with a new development. As for renting out, Hua Hin has the shortest tourist season of any resort in Thailand, from mid Dec to mid April, that's it, the rest of the year you get a few odd rentals, but you can't count on them, just like all the Hotels are empty for most of the year, just remember the developers can promise you anything, because they know there is nothing you can do if they don't deliver. Sorry to sound so negative it's just a fact, once you've lived here a while you stop seeing things through rose tinted spectacles.

[hhnewbie]

I have seen La Bua location and the website. The location is near Black Lotus/Greenscape and they are just starting to clear the land. The website is well done and there is a real estate agent in Khao Takiab advertising the development infront of their office. Never heard of Nordic Homes but it does not mean anything, these developers can start a new project each time with a new company with a new name. As Jameswest said above, never be the first wave of buyer in any project, wait until it is at least 80% completed otherwise you might be the only one living there among half finished houses or with construction going on for the next x years. As for the 5% guaranteed rental income - forget it. I have seen a few projects in the past years with these guaratees, ranging from 3% to 8% and none worked out. A well known resort project near La Bua offered 3% at the start and paid a couple of years then stopped. A 8 million villa pays you 400,000 income a year means they need to rent out the unit at least 8 to 10 months of the year ...hardly fesible, even with the "selected units" scheme and since it is "preapaid" so it really is another word for discount upfront and you only get to stay 6 weeks a year in your own villa. If you really like the location and the design (looks interesting, I must say), wait a year and see how far the project has progressed.

[sparks]

Thanks for all the valued input, really appreciate the local knowledge and it just confirms the a lot of the searching I've done so far. Both my wife and I aren't Thai so aware that we can't own the land but we were always looking at Samui but cost wise for what you get hard to justify as a holiday home.

We have a lot of friends that go to Hua Hin and we will be there this year to see for ourselves but thought we could set up a few prospects before we arrive in the meantime. As for established developments are there any recommendations we should into?

[booboo]

It's quite difficult to recommend anywhere until you narrow down the location you want, Hua Hin covers a large area now and there are hundreds and hundreds of developments, good and bad, around how much, do you intend spending, do you want to be near Town or near the beach ( very expensive ) 20 mins drive away, up in the mountains, South of Town towards Pranburi, North of Town towards Cha Am,on a large development with good security and all the amenities, or a small development with no amenities, do you want a 2 storey House or Villa, a nice garden with a pool or no garden, some developments have a mixture of all types while others are all small villa's with no gardens or all large villa's with large private pools, so you need to tick a few boxes before anybody can recommend.
After I wrote yesterday about not buying on a brand new development, I suddenly rememberd something, when I first started looking to buy 7 yrs ago, I visited a brand new development South of Town called Panorama, the developer was very pushy and collected me from my Hotel and took me for lunch in his new Mercedes, at the time he had built a show house and 2 houses were under construction, he said there were going to be 70 Houses , a clubhouse with a bar, a restaurant, a gym a shuttle bus running all day into Town and other amenities ,he said the whole place would be completed in 18 months, I was very interested but in the end didn't buy there, a few weeks ago I was driving in that area and thought I will go and take a look to see how it turned out, 7 yrs on it still isn't finished, there are still Houses under construction, there's no restaurant, no bar,no gym, no shuttle bus, it will be nice when it's all done, but would you want to spend 7 yrs surrounded by construction and dust, just a thought.

[hhnewbie]

Hi Spark,

Buying and maintaining a second home in Thailand was one of the more challenging experience I have ever had. We bought our house in 1997 and sold it last August and now we prefer to rent. It's very different from owning a vacation home in Europe or U.S. I suggest you come and have a look around as booboo said above there are many different communities and spread out all four directions. Ask your friends for some recommendations. There are plenty of houses on the re-sell market and tons of agents waiting for you to knock on their doors. Good luck....

[sparks]

Close proximity to the beach would be nice but it seems the price goes up exponentially the closer you get.
I think the we'll do what the earlier comments suggest about staying at a few locations for a period of time and get a good feel of the place before getting too excited and pulling the trigger on a dud.

We are used to dealing with nightmare bureaucrats so can imagine what we might be in for.
Thanks again.

[JW]

Hi sparks,

Some good advice there, you really need to come and get a feel for all of the projects which you like the look of and make more than 1 visit here to make sure that Hua Hin is the place you want to spend time.
We have 2 potential buyers for La Bua and they are fully aware that every new project has risks involved but the ideas and concept of the developer are something very fresh in Hua Hin and I really feel it will do well - I do prefer the Villa side of the site but I know the developers have done lots of research and it shows that the plan is viable. Lets not forget that the developer has no intention of not completing if it fails they fail. Location is really nice and if your a golfer (and you can afford to join Banyan) its an awesome place.

The Orchid developments are really great and have proved themselves to be able to build high quality homes, deliver on-time and be very reliable in all ways. The Views is a lovely site and I am not sure if many will come up for resale as the buyers I know have bought a home not an investment.

Most (note I said most) of the horror stories you hear come from people who haven't done their homework, haven't used a reputable lawyer or agent (yes that one will get a comment), have trusted the words of people they don't know, or haven't heard of google.

Cheers,
JW

[Tex]

Sparks:

We purchased a similar condo hotel project south of Pran Buri that was more than 50% completed and is now approaching 70%.

We love the location, unit, design, pools, price and are having hell with the developer. We wished we had done more diligence for we are concerned about the integrity of the project. Now we know there is a string of lawsuits in this developers past and most likely one coming in this successful project. Just lots of pitfalls and issues. Good salesman, poor organization, business practices.

My wife is Thai, we hope to be moving to Chang Mai soon (where the International schools are better) and will rent there for 6 months or a year before making any moves on any more real estate. I have done real estate for 40 years in America. I own several other properties in Thailand.

Good luck, Chog dee

enjoy but take your time...

Tex

[meross]

I have had dealings with the owners of this development before and their failure to deliver on promises made. In other words once they had our money they did not want to know about us. I would never do business with them again!!

[SydneyGuy]

As others have highlighted do you homework before committing to a decision, you need to come to Hua Hin for a 2 week stay, take the time to talk to property agents, get a feel for where you wish to live, and if possible talk to any potential owners that may have already bought into exisiting and new developments.

Please dont be put off by buying into new developments, you just need to to ensure that the company running the project have the backing of a major Thai Bank and are a major player such as Sansiri.

I bought a condo in Khao Takiab a little over 1 year ago, the project was backed by Bangkok Bank which was good enough for me. Do your reasearch and talk to people, and make the right decision for yourself, not someone else.

i should mention my wife is Thai and the difference it makes when doing any business in Thailand is far different if i was to do the business myself:)

[Name Taken]

[quote="meross"]I have had dealings with the owners of this development before and their failure to deliver on promises made. In other words once they had our money they did not want to know about us. I would never do business with them again!![/quote]

First, I have to say that is incredibly RUDE!! of them.
It really is a case of caveat emptor here in Thailand.
Thai people love to take the farangs money and on the same hand hate the farangs.
There are many many many many condominium projects (completed and under construction) here in Thailand that are totally laughable!

[meross]

[Admin edit: post removed, please see subsequent post for explanation.]