Real Estate Rip-Offs in Hua Hin - Same old Same Old

Post by **Cowtown Comedy** » Tue Nov 11, 2008 4:00 pm

buksida...I know what your saying, and I would never name someone on here. It just seems there is an element of trust missing in land/housing transactions in HH. If a mistake is made its immediatley the fault of the consumer, and never the service provider. "He should have done this"..."He should have done that"..."He should never have used this lawyer"...nuff said....

Post by **malcolminthemiddle** » Tue Nov 11, 2008 4:07 pm

Super Joe wrote:Hi Malc,

Did buyers really use the agents wife for their legal protection ?

SJ

As the OP mentioned, the Thai/German couple set themselves up as a Law Office providing real estate services, I understand she was a registered lawyer. Remember, this was in the old days before the boom and they were the only business offering this type of service in HH. But their intentions were dishonorable and quite a few people got caught in their trap. Eventually, she was arrested for fraud. Someone else may know the outcome of the case.

Super Joe · Post by **Super Joe** » Tue Nov 11, 2008 4:17 pm

Cowtown Comedy wrote:It's so blantantly obvious that no one can say a negative thing about a land or house deal in HHAD!! Pathetic!

Not true mate, look through the Property section and you'll find the vast majority are negative and un-moderated until names are mentioned. Negative issues are what is needed on a forum so people can hopefuly avoid the same pitfalls. This will then put the scammers out of buisiness and the rest of us get a better name.

As the OP mentioned, the Thai/German couple set themselves up as a Law Office providing real estate services, I understand she was a registered lawyer.

I just can't understand anyone putting their trust in a husband and wife set-up. They have never done it before in the UK. Independant legal advise is what people should get.

SJ

Post by **yellowking** » Tue Nov 11, 2008 5:52 pm

It happens everywhere foreigners buy property You can even do the best Due Diligence and still get caught.

Here in Fuerteventura I was buying a hotel with investors. They knew they were funding the deal and it would have made me around 2 Million Euros profit and around the same for all the investors. A repuable law firm took all the deposits 700,000€ in total. And disappeared with virtually all of it.

I'm afraid it's a big problem where people are buying into dreams. There are always unscrupulous individuals ready to make a fast buck by ripping someone else off.

In most communities you can't even ask any locals who they would reccomend as you always get a biased view about using their 'mate' and everyone else is a shark.

Super Joe · Post by **Super Joe** » Tue Nov 11, 2008 6:10 pm

If structured properly by a real estate lawyer, your maximum risk should be no more than 10% of the total property value. You do not need to lose any more than this. If we had all done this, myself included, the scammers would not have been able to operate. Now that the market is quiet due to the global do-da you can reduce that risk to about 5%, developers will bend over backwards.

It doesn't help us complaining about the scammers, they are what they are, we need to remove the environment that allows them to operate.
We could have removed this threat years ago by spending a couple of days in Bangkok meeting with a few established law firms who specialise in real estate protection.. Some of them have been specialising in this field in Thailand for over 100 years.

The best model could then have been used throughout Hua Hin, developed along the way, and a lot of pain and suffering have been avoided. As I say include myself in this, not trying to preach, I've probably made more daft decisions than most.

SJ

Post by **Jim** » Tue Nov 11, 2008 6:23 pm

I repeat my point - why re-raise a story that is 10 years old?? all that is happening is that we are seeing exactly the same arguments as we have had on every other thread about property. To my mind this is trolling, it is stirring up trouble for its own sake, or for the sake of the sad amusement of the troll who posted this.

Post by **Cowtown Comedy** » Tue Nov 11, 2008 8:04 pm

your maximum risk should be no more than 10% of the total property value. You do not need to lose any more than this.

Forgive me SJ. What is this risk? How did you calculate 10%. And why should there be any risk at all other than declining market value?, and no expert can predict that.

Super Joe · Post by **Super Joe** » Tue Nov 11, 2008 8:27 pm

Maximum amount you could lose when having a house built and you are unlucky enough to pick a developer that is not 'straight' shall we say, or who goes bust before its finished, or whose wife owns the land and runs off with it etc etc.

And why should there be any risk at all other than declining market value?

There's 5,800 posts in the Property Section and over half of them tell us there are risks.

What I'm trying to say is me and you can not do much about bad practices in the industry and we can not make Thailand introduce regulations. What we can do though is stop presenting unscrupulous people with easy opportunities of ripping us of if they so wish. We are creating the environment which allows them to operate.

SJ

Post by **Cowtown Comedy** » Tue Nov 11, 2008 8:33 pm

SJ, interesting, but I still am unsure how you calculate the 10% maximum loss if your deal goes south.

Super Joe · Post by **Super Joe** » Tue Nov 11, 2008 8:40 pm

but I still am unsure how you calculate the 10% maximum loss

That's because you do not know the details of the contractural structure the lawyer will provide for you.
Deals only go South because we do not get the right legal protection.

SJ

Post by **neeno** » Thu Nov 20, 2008 1:53 pm

Super Joe wrote:So the person you chose to take care of all the legal issues was the estate agents wife
Anyone reading this, my advice would be to use an independant law firm, no offence faq2mfh but I think this goes without saying anyway.

SJ

Not sure how many times he said it was a Lawyer

seems to me like you have some problem with an estate agents wife !!!

Post by **faq2mfh** » Thu Nov 20, 2008 3:06 pm

I'm sorry I brought up the topic but after reading stories of recent scams it seems things never change. Same old same old... No protection for the farang investor... Yes, I agree you need to be very careful and make sure you go to the right developer / lawyer /agent etc... But as far as I know the people that scammed countless farang years ago are still at large. No worries as it's really not the fault of developer / lawyer /agent... It's the fault of the stupid farang that thinks a lawyer should uphold the law regardless who their married to...

Post by **BaaBaa.** » Thu Nov 20, 2008 3:08 pm

neeno wrote:
Super Joe wrote:So the person you chose to take care of all the legal issues was the estate agents wife
Anyone reading this, my advice would be to use an independant law firm, no offence faq2mfh but I think this goes without saying anyway.

SJ
Not sure how many times he said it was a Lawyer seems to me like you have some problem with an estate agents wife !!!

I'll make it a little easier for you.

faq2mfh wrote:My wife and I bought a house in Hua Hin in 98. A German guy and his Thai wife lawyer had one of the only real-estate places and were basically in everything...

faq2mfh wrote:The wife was a registered Thai lawyer. The only one in Hua Hin at that time.