For those interested in buying or leasing property in Bangkok and Thailand, we can offer some possibly useful advice. Some is plain common sense, some advice is based upon personal experience.

When buying property, we suggest you consider these comments :
1. We suggest you buy property that is already built. A lot of construction work is going on in Bangkok, and we assume throughout the country. Buying real estate that is already physically there has at least three major advantages :
- The property is there. No obvious worries as to whether it will be built or not. Escrow services are not really available in Thailand!
- Delays occur often. You do not want to spend months (or longer) renting a place, or staying in a hotel until your own property is finished.
- You can check out what is there before you buy. The material that was used is there for you to see.

2. While we ourselves never bothered with it, and everything went quite well, we recommend you take legal advice. This advice should be independent from the property development you are interested in. Most property developers and real estate agents may suggest legal help, but of course, this help will surely look at the benefit of the sellers first.

3. Location.
Yes, you need a good overall location. But also look at the location of your unit (we are mostly speaking about condominiums here) in the building. It is quite important to have rooms that are as much as possible away from direct sunlight. It will make a big difference in your electricity bills (which will go up over the years), and believe us, at times, your airconditioning may simply not be able to cope adequately with the heat. A lot of windows are not advised. Isolation of windows and walls is still not really well developed.
Most condos have balconies (nobody really uses them, except as a place for the airconditioning units, and in poorer developments, to hang the laundry). What helps a lot against the heat, is when the balconies are not extruding out of the building, but are covered. That way the room adjacent to the balcony, will be protected from direct sunlight.

4. Regarding fittings and furniture.
If you have the inclination, it will always be cheaper to buy furniture, kitchens, etc. yourself and have it installed, than to rely on the property developer to provide that service.
When buying a property, you have to take some time going over the place, to see if construction (difficult to judge), and decoration (tiles, furniture, bathrooms, kitchens, window sills) are done properly. Actually, however good your are at this, you will discover many faults in the months and years to come.

5. When you buy a condo unit, you will have voting rights in the building. Of course, your vote is only one, and having voting rights does not guarantee proper maintenance. Maintenance in Thailand, in our opinion, is still very poor. First of all, lots of Thai people seem to be willing to pay millions of baht to own a condominium, but then are reluctant to pay a few thousand baht a month, to keep the place in good condition. Secondly, sometimes poor choices are made. A lot of money may be spend on a fancy lobby, and a good looking parking lot, but other maintenance, such as giving a regular paint job to the building, is neglected.
When you lease a condominium for 30 years, you do not have much influence on maintenance for sure. However, conditions may be such, that this is actually better. A friend of us leases a condo along Sukhumvit road. The condominium is meticulously maintained. The reason? The company that developed the property, still owns most of the units, and of course wants to make sure that prospective renters (and people residing) are impressed.

6. When something goes wrong in your rooms, it usually is possible to have repairs done for nominal fees. In the long run, this is a major advantage. When in Europe, everybody pays through the nose for even the smallest repairs. So, labor is cheap in Thailand. However, occasionally it may be more beneficial not to rely solely on the handymen in the condo. For example, when cleaning your airconditioning units, it is a bit more expensive to have an outside company do it, but at least they know what they are doing.

7. Leasing for 30 years is not a bad option. After all, most people moving to Thailand, are not exactly teenagers, and may pass away before the 30 years have passed. When leasing, you should consider paying less. After all, you do not own the place. Of course, when you lease, you will usually not have the freedom to modify your unit at leasure. As a rather silly example of the restrictions : suppose you want to have an ID caller service on your home phone. Well, you will have to ask permission from the owner of the condominium.

8. What property to buy? You should possibly also consider the reputation and size of the property developer who is building your piece of real estate. Indicators of reliability could be : is the developer listed on the Thai stock market, and what are the latest yearly results? ; anything written about the property in national or local newspapers? ; what kind of 'physical office' is the company using? ; does the website provide adequate information (address, correct emails, smooth navigation etc.)? ; if you can, check out the Pagerank of the website of the property developer. Higher rank probably means that the company has a website that uses no gimmicks and is reliable, and has been around for a while.

9. Warning for men : often the sales offices of property developers will be staffed by attractive young females. Invariably, one of them will be selected to introduce the property to you. It is a silly thing to say, but we suggest you keep a cool head, and don't make hasty decisions, just because a pretty girl is around.[After all, this set-up works well, otherwise it would not be used]

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