Tips For First Trip to Hua Hin

Hua Hin general discussion, observations and chat. Hua Hin topics that don't really fit anywhere else.
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ozzie_guy78
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Tips For First Trip to Hua Hin

Post by ozzie_guy78 »

Hello all.
Just wanted to get some advice on a first trip to Hua Hin. A lot of this might just be how long a piece of string is, but I will ask anyway. :P

I have been to other destinations around SE Asia previously, but never been to Thailand, or Hua Hin so I understand there are major differences between these and I'm not naive enough to think I am more than a novice. I am planning a 10-day trip in November and wanted to get some advice on anything and everything that you see relevant. Maybe even as simple as booking flights etc. Am from Victoria and live near Melbourne.

It's not just a holiday for me, but its a chance to scope out a potential future move to Hua Hin so I don't want to treat it just as a "holiday". There will be plenty of things to do and see if/when I move there.

So what would you do? I am travelling alone.
Talk with expats about how they made the move?
Source contacts for accommodation for future reference? Or travel around the various villages around?
Kick back and enjoy beers? Like it's not going to happen anyway :cheers:
I know I am missing a lot so any ideas are welcome.
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404cameljockey
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Re: Tips For First Trip to Hua Hin

Post by 404cameljockey »

If you're looking for a Sunday brunch the beachside one at McFarland House in the Hyatt Regency hotel I think is the best. Not cheap but cheaper than most other countries' high-end hotel offerings. Various drinks inclusive packages if you want. A Filipino duo (unchanged for probably ten years) who one time played and sung even through high wind and light-ish rain, when most serving staff were holding onto poles to stop the awnings flying away (it was actually a lot of fun and guests were still dancing). I've tried a couple of other hotels' brunches here over the years but this one is the best I think.
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Re: Tips For First Trip to Hua Hin

Post by buksida »

Welcome to the forum. The usual advice given to those new to the area is to come and rent a place for a couple of months and get a feel for it before making any big decisions. You won't get that feeling in just ten days as you'll be in "holiday mode," where everything is rose-tinted and feels like paradise. Living here all year round ain't quite the same!

Definitely speak to the expats about living here in general, visa hassles, bureaucracy, renting property, transport, exchange rates and budgeting, etc. The soi 94 area is good for expat bars. Binta and soi 80 are more tourist oriented.
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
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Re: Tips For First Trip to Hua Hin

Post by migrant »

When my (Thai) wife and I first started thinking about living in Thailand we chose a quieter, much smaller town down south. After 4-5 years she wanted to move to a bigger town so we targeted Hua Hin. We would go to Hua Hin for grocery shopping about once every 6 weeks so we were familiar with parts of town.

Since we were familiar with the shopping stores we looked into homes/condos for sale to see what our budget would hold. The bigger condos and housing developments usually have a staff. Facebook has many agents, and for sale by owner places too. We looked not only at price but also utilities. Some developments add a fee to basic utilities.

We also drove around town a lot to see what was there and what traffic, and timing, were like. We aren't really bar patrons but the kind folks on this forum helped greatly.

Like Buksida said live here a few months or more before you cut ties. It took us 5 years of living here before we decided that we wanted to stay for the foreseeable future.

Good Luck, ask a lot of questions.
The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.
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404cameljockey
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Re: Tips For First Trip to Hua Hin

Post by 404cameljockey »

If we're talking about moving here of course we don't know if you want an apartment or house, to rent or buy, live in town or 5-10 kms outside for tranquility. My house is in a walled resort of around 19 house. Almost all owners are European, and no 'party houses' (where a group of young Thais rent for a weekend and make a lot of commotion, although when I did see one they were nice, quiet, played guitar, splashed in their pool and sang a bit, but the opposite is well reported).

Each house owner pays around AUD 750 every month for a dedicated team maintenance of the resort area, but also our private pools and gardens. Cost inflation has been next to zero. I've been happy here for 10 years (bought before moving here so avoided any rent apart from the first 3-4 weeks while renovations were finished) and will stay. But I can see that many would not be so certain they'd found their ideal place and would rent for a while (long-term renting to me seems futile, money down the drain over many years).
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Re: Tips For First Trip to Hua Hin

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404cameljockey wrote: Wed Oct 23, 2024 11:49 am If we're talking about moving here of course we don't know if you want an apartment or house, to rent or buy, live in town or 5-10 kms outside for tranquility. My house is in a walled resort of around 19 house. Almost all owners are European, and no 'party houses' (where a group of young Thais rent for a weekend and make a lot of commotion, although when I did see one they were nice, quiet, played guitar, splashed in their pool and sang a bit, but the opposite is well reported).

Each house owner pays around AUD 750 every month for a dedicated team maintenance of the resort area, but also our private pools and gardens. Cost inflation has been next to zero. I've been happy here for 10 years (bought before moving here so avoided any rent apart from the first 3-4 weeks while renovations were finished) and will stay. But I can see that many would not be so certain they'd found their ideal place and would rent for a while (long-term renting to me seems futile, money down the drain over many years).
All good advice, but I’d add a simple warning - properties are easy to buy, but difficult to sell.
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Re: Tips For First Trip to Hua Hin

Post by ozzie_guy78 »

Wow Thanks everyone. Fantastic advice and loads to take in there. Will definitely be asking many more questions when I get over there. My ideal scenario is to run certain aspects of my business from Thailand and fly back to Australia every now and then for meetings with staff/distributors etc.
Well I'm not sure if I will keep the company or not. All things to work out, but have plenty of time.

I thought property purchase was a little more difficult than that. Ideally I would want to buy, but there seems to be mixed opinions on whether its worth it or not.
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Re: Tips For First Trip to Hua Hin

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Dannie Boy wrote: Wed Oct 23, 2024 1:29 pm All good advice, but I’d add a simple warning - properties are easy to buy, but difficult to sell.
It may take a while to sell, depending a lot on location. As my late wife and I wanted a place to call home we knew we would be buying as we would not lose money in the long term. If I wanted to make a quick sale now (I don't) at 75 pct of current price estimates (they are definitely only rough estimates) I would still not have lost money, in fact I'd have gained through not having paid many years of rent. That's fine as I didn't buy it as an investment. Properties in our nicely kept resort (8kms away from the centre of town, not high end but looks pretty) sell at the right price, several over the past three or four years. One Dutch guy has had his on the market for years though, he obviously isn't in a hurry and isn't prepared to drop the price even a little, even though he doesn't live there or rent the place out often! Properties can deteriorate over years lying empty, not sure what's in his head.
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Re: Tips For First Trip to Hua Hin

Post by Dannie Boy »

404cameljockey wrote: Thu Oct 24, 2024 9:27 am
Dannie Boy wrote: Wed Oct 23, 2024 1:29 pm All good advice, but I’d add a simple warning - properties are easy to buy, but difficult to sell.
It may take a while to sell, depending a lot on location. As my late wife and I wanted a place to call home we knew we would be buying as we would not lose money in the long term. If I wanted to make a quick sale now (I don't) at 75 pct of current price estimates (they are definitely only rough estimates) I would still not have lost money, in fact I'd have gained through not having paid many years of rent. That's fine as I didn't buy it as an investment. Properties in our nicely kept resort (8kms away from the centre of town, not high end but looks pretty) sell at the right price, several over the past three or four years. One Dutch guy has had his on the market for years though, he obviously isn't in a hurry and isn't prepared to drop the price even a little, even though he doesn't live there or rent the place out often! Properties can deteriorate over years lying empty, not sure what's in his head.
It was just a warning, as I’ve experienced difficulty in selling two properties - one on a development and the other on a standalone site - both taking a long time and at a substantial discount over the purchase price - it was meant as a warning that the market in the Hua Hin area is probably not the same as it is from your home country.
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Re: Tips For First Trip to Hua Hin

Post by 404cameljockey »

Dannie Boy wrote: Thu Oct 24, 2024 2:00 pm It was just a warning, as I’ve experienced difficulty in selling two properties - one on a development and the other on a standalone site - both taking a long time and at a substantial discount over the purchase price - it was meant as a warning that the market in the Hua Hin area is probably not the same as it is from your home country.
Yes, the market here is different to a westernised country!

Last comment: If prices only ever went downwards you'd be able to buy property for almost nothing by now. :D Individual experiences vary and yes selllng at below current market estimations is quite normal, except for when you buy new brand new property (which we know Thais far prefer). But selling at below what you paid is a sign of upset plans, for whatever reason. You could almost say in Thailand a house is like a dog: for life. I'm exaggerating but at least we've made things clearer for the OP.

If you've had your property for long enough to see the resale market rise (which it does slowly; you're right again, Thailand's housing market isn't like we know one) you won't lose money if you've owned it for long enough (the only reason to buy is to live here, definitely not as a 'bricks and mortar' investment opportunity, as we both have made clear).

The alternatives (I'm mentioning not for you but for new readership) are to build a house on land on which you take a long-term lease (initial 30 years, plus another 'mutually agreed' 30 option 30 year extensions - they call it a 90 year lease but legally it's not no matter what the contract says) if you know a Thai well enough to trust them with the land ownership and your continued land lease, or secondly to establish a business with part-Thai ownership, buy land and have a good European construction company build a house for you. There are also legal loopholes to business expat 'part land ownership' which the government have always talked about closing but never have. The building route is not for the fainthearted. :cheers:

I don't want to derail the thread so I'll leave it there.
ozzie_guy78
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Re: Tips For First Trip to Hua Hin

Post by ozzie_guy78 »

Thank you for the added information everyone. It does help. I think it has put me back into the frame of mind that I would purchase a house. I don't have much left besides my business and half a property here in Australia so I am lookng forward to a fresh start.
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Re: Tips For First Trip to Hua Hin

Post by Ralfredo »

ozzie_guy78 wrote: Wed Oct 23, 2024 9:44 am Hello all.
Just wanted to get some advice on a first trip to Hua Hin. A lot of this might just be how long a piece of string is, but I will ask anyway.
Maybe you find something useful here:

https://huahinforum.com/viewtopic.php?p=593271
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