Should I Buy My Retirement Home Now Or Later

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.
Post Reply
muse
Rookie
Rookie
Posts: 10
Joined: Sat Oct 29, 2005 9:45 pm
Location: London

Should I Buy My Retirement Home Now Or Later

Post by muse »

Myself and my Thai wife are planning to retire in about 15 year’s time, and we are probably aiming for the Hua Hin / Cha Am area. We plan to spend approx 2 or 3 million Baht on the property. At the moment we are not in a position to buy, we hope to have enough savings in about 5 years time. All we will need is a bungalow, and on the outskirts of the Town. If anyone could give there advice and/or personal experience this would be very helpful in our decision, Here are my questions :

1 - Should we plan to buy land and then sit on it till were ready to build ?

2 - How much do you expect the house price’s to rise in Hua Hin over the next 10 years ?

3 - Should I spend e.g.: £30,000 on a property now or keep the money in a ISA and let it grow 5-7 % a year for 10 year’s. ?

4 - When buying a property should I keep out the way and let my wife take over the Buying process so as the seller might put up the price if they think a farang is Interested in buying the property. ?

Personally I think my choice would be to keep the money in an ISA let it grow and then when we are ready to retire we would then look to buy. What do you think ? If you can give any kind of opinion it would be very helpful.

Many Thanks
User avatar
johnnyk
Legend
Legend
Posts: 2852
Joined: Fri Sep 02, 2005 1:23 pm

Post by johnnyk »

I'm not sure you can buy land and sit on it, you may have to show some business activity and file tax return.
Who can say how much land will appreciate in 15 years. If people knew this they would be very very rich.
NEVER put it in a Thai's name, not even your wife. Family can have enormous influence on them.
WHY NOT buy/build as soon as you can and use it for holidays?
If you own in your country maybe you can borrow against your home there (very difficult to get a mortgage in Thailand for falang). That way you are not on the outside looking in.
bircow
Specialist
Specialist
Posts: 167
Joined: Tue May 10, 2005 9:27 pm
Location: Half DK - Half HH

Post by bircow »

Get a thai-lawer my friend.
Complicated stuff, your spending a huge amount af money and you have no clue of the sytem down there.
Yes, I'm a lawer, but not in Thailaw
SHADOW
Specialist
Specialist
Posts: 163
Joined: Tue Jul 06, 2004 1:09 pm
Location: Head in the clouds feet on the floor

Post by SHADOW »

I would buy the land now, your wife can buy it and you can have a thirty year lease. In fifteen years the outskirts of town may be ten miles from the beach.
There's no such thing as a free lunch
Jaime
Legend
Legend
Posts: 2095
Joined: Wed Jan 14, 2004 4:57 am

Post by Jaime »

Shadow wrote:I would buy the land now, your wife can buy it and you can have a thirty year lease. In fifteen years the outskirts of town may be ten miles from the beach.
I agree with this. Fifteen years is a long time and HH is expanding rapidly.
johnnyk wrote:NEVER put it in a Thai's name, not even your wife. Family can have enormous influence on them.
Muse, only you will know whether this would be a good idea or not. In my own case my wife's family do not exert any sort of pressure or influence in the way johnnyk suggests but everyone's situation is different and you probably don't need me to patronise you with more horror stories of the wife who ran away with the money and went back to her secret Thai husband.
johnnyk wrote:WHY NOT buy/build as soon as you can and use it for holidays?
If you own in your country maybe you can borrow against your home there (very difficult to get a mortgage in Thailand for falang). That way you are not on the outside looking in.
This is what my wife & I did. I think this is good advice if you are set on buying and you visit Thailand frequently. Make hay while the sun shines!

As for value increases. The low end of the market seems to be starting at about 2 to 2.5 million baht for new-build development. eighteen months ago it was half that. Whether this level of increase is sustainable is debatable but at the moment people are doubling their money in a year to eighteen months. If you wait 15 years I have a feeling you may miss the boat. Ten years ago you could get a 2 bed bungalow on a development in Spain for 30 grand sterling. No way you could do that now. Then again the bottom could fall out of the market as it did in 1997.

My advice - if you are buying at the lower end of the price range and the property is yet to be built, make every effort you can to be in Hua Hin when it is going up. Even then, be prepared for lots and lots of frustration, arguments and disappointment before finally getting what you wanted 6-12 months late!
User avatar
johnnyk
Legend
Legend
Posts: 2852
Joined: Fri Sep 02, 2005 1:23 pm

Post by johnnyk »

Good points Jaime.
Even if the market stops rising or goes down, if you have a place you can still go and enjoy it.
My own rule is buy a home/property to enjoy it. If you wait long enough it will appreciate and even if its a long wait you can still get enjoyment out of it. I have some good friends who waited too long here in Canada and the market passed them by. When they eventually bought, they got half the house they could have had.
When I went to live in the Dordogne in France in 1990 a decent liveable entry-level house in a nice area was 600,000 francs. Today the same house is 3x or more.
So, find a way if you can but make sure you can afford it.
Chok dee.
muse
Rookie
Rookie
Posts: 10
Joined: Sat Oct 29, 2005 9:45 pm
Location: London

Post by muse »

Thanks Everyone for your opinions, very much appreciated, Like i said at the moment we are not in a position to buy, probably about 5 years time we will be financially better off to look for a property. I think weighing up all the options we would be better off to buy the property all ready built asap. Can i ask your opinion on a few more questions:

1 - Is the rise in property prices the same for all the coastal Town's in thailand, ie. Would we be better off to look for property in Cha Am ?

2 - Can my Thai wife buy the Freehold of the property ?

I guess when the day comes the Thai Government begin to let Foreigners buy Property outright, the prices will really rise. Will this be good or bad ??

Many Thanks for your advice.
Norseman
Rock Star
Rock Star
Posts: 4665
Joined: Tue May 10, 2005 12:13 pm
Location: Hua Hin

Post by Norseman »

As you know more and more farangs buy land and possesses property along the coastline of Thailand.
Prices are fluctuating of course, depending of the distance to the sea and town. Same all over the world I guess.
You can expect that in a 5 years time, prices are up and far beyond present time. However, wages in Europe will compensate partially for this, but 5 years is a very long time for investment decisions. Not to mention 15 years.
I suggest you come over and have a look yourself.
It's a long coastline and you might find something splendid or the bulls eye down in Pratchuap Khirikhan where prices are lower.
In HH they expect prices to go up again within 2-3 months.
The Thais soon can't afford to live here and something must be done to satisfy both westerners & thais.
If you are able; buy now - pay later - but act out.
User avatar
malcolminthemiddle
Guru
Guru
Posts: 591
Joined: Sat Mar 05, 2005 1:56 pm
Location: Here,there and everywhere

Post by malcolminthemiddle »

Correct me if I am wrong, if I remember rightly there was a time in the past when foreigners could own land. In those days the difference between a wealthy Thai and a wealthy Foreigner was disproportionate, Japanese were coming over buying vast tracks of "cheap" land was the prime reason why the law was changed.

I don't see the law being relaxed any time soon, if ever at all.
JW
Rock Star
Rock Star
Posts: 3207
Joined: Sun Sep 11, 2005 8:53 pm
Location: hua hin

Post by JW »

2/3 million baht doesnt buy much now never mind in 2 or 3 years time. I would say you need to get in quick if you can.
lockwood74
Specialist
Specialist
Posts: 123
Joined: Sun Dec 12, 2004 6:30 pm
Location: LONDON
Contact:

Buy Now

Post by lockwood74 »

Bought a plot of land in an excellent location near to Hua Hin 12 months ago, land prices have almost doubled in that area alone. I think your main concern is not wether house prices will go up or down, in a growing economy it is more likeley that thwy will of course go up, but on top of this your main concern is the value of the Baht against the pound. At present the pound is significantly overvalued against Asian currencies in genral. In 5-10 years I think there will be a significant correction if not sooner. I hope you manage to make your investment as soon as possible. My advice to you is just buy the land if you are strpped for the cash, build when you get the rest of the cash, you can then take your time over designing exactly what you want for your dream retirement home.
best of luck.
User avatar
buksida
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 22525
Joined: Tue Dec 31, 2002 12:25 pm
Location: south of sanity

Re: Buy Now

Post by buksida »

lockwood74 wrote:Bought a plot of land in an excellent location near to Hua Hin 12 months ago.
Can I ask you how you purchased and got ownership of the land? I have been thinking about doing it myself for at least a year now but there are so many gray areas that keep putting me off.

CHeers.
Who is the happier man, he who has braved the storm of life and lived or he who has stayed securely on shore and merely existed? - Hunter S Thompson
gaijin
Specialist
Specialist
Posts: 141
Joined: Tue Feb 22, 2005 8:26 pm
Location: MELBOURNE AUSTRALIA

Post by gaijin »

The question whether to buy now in HH is in part dependant on many factors. General considerations include: future economic growth in Asia generally and Thailand in particular, and likely movements in exchange rates. Asian economic growth will undoubtedly see the purchasing power of many western currencies diminish over time.

If the question is to buy in Thailand now or later, that question is different to whether one should buy in HH now or wait later. HH is undergoing significant change. Its growth is fuelled by demand both from Thais and farangs. If one has the desire to settle in HH as opposed to Thailand generally, then one should consider that the rate of change in HH is such, that one’s purchasing power to buy in HH will diminish over time irrespective of what happens to the Thai property market generally.
Post Reply