Thailand today and tomorrow

Hello, I hope you are well in these unreal times.

An update for you who have plans to buy property Thailand.

Today

It is possible to travel to Thailand now if you have a family / children, are married to a Thai or have a work permit or hold a Thailand Elite card. However, it is quite a struggle, expensive and they require a 14 day quarantine that you cannot do in your home or province but only in Bangkok.                                                                                                                                                                             

The government is more or less obsessed with keeping Thailand completely free of Covid 19, which is total paralysis and for many the pure death that works with tourism.

There are strong forces that want Thailand back to the more normal and there are already plans to open Phuket on trial for long stay migratory birds, this will be the same in the larger resorts like Pattaya Hua Hin and others. You then have a limited area to live in for 14 days quarantine period with pool beach etc. then you can stay in the province, if you want to leave the province you must be 7 days more in quarantine.

This is good, of course, and I do not think we will ever return to what has been, anywhere in the world. Just getting used to it. After all, Thailand is one of the absolute best places to live.

We have had the best summer sales in 11 years, we have mediated almost all the houses we had with freehold between 1.9 and 3.5 miles THB and many plots, it is so-called mix couples who are the customers.

  I myself am in Sweden and run the company daily with the help of Thita and three girls who are on site in Hua Hin and we have been open just as usual without interruption since the last time we saw or had contact.

Tomorrow.

It has been going on for quite some time in Thailand that they want a more sophisticated kind of tourism with people who behave themselves and have more money to spend and who create fewer problems. There is a lot of uninsured cheap Charlie guys who rent small rooms for 3000 THB a month and use a bed at a local hospital and then slip away from the payment. Men (usually) who with their lack of style, alcoholism and hunting for cheap prostitutes contribute to a bad image of Thailand.

They are also tired on charter tourists but accept these if they are not zero dollar tourist as many groups from China are. Hua Hin has had very few of these groups, which we are happy about.

What Thailand wants is well-insured, active long-stayers who play golf, buy an apartment, house, car, eat well and take care of themselves in 5-star hospitals.

I have contact with quite a few people in China, Hong Kong, Korea, people who have money and want to move to Thailand more or less permanently but right now they are just waiting for the run..

The Chinese with money will try to move for good as they are tired of surveillance and total control at home, HK residents are tired of China. We will have a lot of work when Thailand opens for them.

I try to analyze the situation based on the inquiries we have from abroad and how Thais invest, who should know best.    
 
If you are going to buy to rent out, you should think about the beach and otherwise good location, at least a real bedroom and no less than 40 sqm. The Market is totally flooded by small studios with 22-35 sqm. If you want to buy a house that is suitable for rent, it should be with a private pool and 3 bedrooms. We have had a very good year when it comes to rentals and what has happened now is that the contracts are almost always at least one year with an option to extend.. You should get at least 5% in return. Do not believe new projects that promise a fixed return, it is usually you who pays for this guarantee when you buy.

If you buy to live.. Your own taste and then the feeling and the area are most important and there we are different, some can only imagine a condo, others want a villa, but buying something cheap and for example not getting freehold is a bad idea.

Buy to invest. Right now there are many sale on plots outside the City, sized around 1 rai or 1600 sqm, Hua Hin grows fast and what was jungle 11 years ago now has roads, water and electricity and many times a 7 Eleven, when it happens, the land often doubles in price. In many places, the price of land has been the same for 10 years, but now it is happening. Land that previously did not have real legal title deed now has legal title and then infrastructure and so prices start to increase. Buying un-renovated condos on the beach over 9th floor, renting them out cheaply for a few years to cover costs, then renovate and selling is good business, these high floors will never come again, no new constructions may be higher than 4 floors near the sea and then max 8 floors by the road. Example I sold a large apartment with incredible views 8 years ago for 30 miles THB, they renovated  it for 5 million THB, now we have had bids for 45 miles THB on the unit and an exactly the same un-renovated with better views we sold for 44 miles.

Prices. On some objects it is the buyer’s market and you can buy fairly new houses a bit out of town at a much lower price than it cost as new.

Condos on the beach are still hard to bargain on.

If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact me.

MVH Robin and Thita Coster