I shall be back in LOS in October looking at buying a property, we shall be looking in Udon (wifes home town) as well as in the beach resorts.

However I have a question to the forum, would we better served buying some land and building a house or buying one already built??

We are not looking to spend a fortune (around £30k) and it would be nice to have some rental income (if poss) to pay for the up keep when we are not there.


Any views on the best areas near beaches would be appreciated


Nick

I look forward to replies from more experienced members with interest, as I could ask almost exactly the same question - (missus from Udon Thani, but we'd probably like to end up near the sea somewhere). My impression is that a budget of 30K might cover buying some land around Udon and building a house on it. We were offered a 12x15M plot in a village outside Udon for £2500 early this year. However, getting your hands on any building land anywhere near a beach seems to be a completely different matter. We looked round a very nice 3-bed bungalow (new)on one of the estates up the hill from Pattaya on the same visit, but that was 3.6million baht, and those estates feel like ghettos to me

We've researched a little in Udon area only and found out a bit. Learned that what we really want keeps changing, and not just the housing situation. Maybe take a look at Thai home further down the page on our site. There's an example there of a repayment schedule some have found useful. That's for Chiang Mai area but it's broadly the same in Udon.

My preference would be to buy the land and then design and build yourself. Having looked at some of the properties on offer most are not to our taste. Seems that especially in Issan the Farang houses stand out like Buckingham Palace in a Council estate. Seems very bad taste to me when most of the local farmers struggle to survive at times. In a beach environment some of the villas on offer are lovely but you would end up paying about 10 million Baht for what you could do for half of that if you buy the land and build yourself.

We have just brought some land in Samui and Lek is probably getting a piece in her home village for her daughter, the piece in Samui was 21 times more expensive than the piece in Udon Thani and it's not even on the beach. additionally it seems that the building costs in Udon are over than 50% per sq metre cheaper.

Was given another piece of good advice the other day about transfering the money to pay for it on a "Swift transfer" from a UK bank, they like to do it in Thai Baht and give you a cr*p rate, apparently always insist on the transfer in Sterling and change in thailand, anyone any experience of this?

Cheers

Duncan.

quote:

... apparently always insist on the transfer in Sterling and change in thailand, anyone any experience of this?

In the process of buying a house in Thailand, we've recently made a couple of fairly large transfers. My bank never insisted I sent in Thai baht, but did give me an open choice. I chose to send in sterling both times after being quoted a ridiculous rate if I converted to baht at the UK end. Sending in sterling, allowing the receiving Thai bank to set the rate, saved us hundreds of pounds. I also opt for the receiving bank's fees to be paid at the other end.

Regarding the sending of money, ALWAYS opt to send in Sterling, as others have said.
The rate Nationwide quoted was 71.8 Baht.
The Krung Thai Bank rate was 72.83625 Baht.
I have just sent a large sum (£80K) to Thailand for a car and condo purchase and the costs were as follows.
SWIFT fee from Nationwide £20.
Receiving bank fee, Krung Thai Bank, 500 Baht, paid by the recipient.
The KTB fee is 0.25% of sum received, with a maximum of 500 Baht. This is the same as Bangkok BAnk.

Mart

Foreign currency exchange rates are not the same as inter bank transfer rates. In the UK the former are always a lot lower than the latter. The rates FATCO mention are inter-bank rates, not forex rates. Changing currency at a bureau de change in the UK is a waste of time and money.

Regards

Sorry, without intimate knowledge of your background I had to assume you didn't know and do my best to help.

Regardless, even Nationwide don't hit the mark and still better to send in Sterling.

A house in wife's village/home town vs one near the beach.

Every case is different, but living too close to in-laws can have unforseen problems, for example see here. A good hours drive from the nearest relative is close enough to see them when you want to with them camping out in your living room every day. I think the same rule applies to the ideal proximities of mothers-in-laws in the UK.

Peter,

Couldn't agree more, lovely to meet them once or twice a year, but wouldn't want to live to close. Anywhere near the sea is fine they are all scared of another Tsunami.

When we go visit now, we always stay in a hotel in Udon rather than in the village, only an hour or so away and i can go to Horshoe bar or Steve's bar in the evenings rather than go to bed at 9 O' clock.

quote:

we always stay in a hotel in Udon rather than in the village,

Yes Duncan, or you go straight to Samui & send Lek home on her own, true?

Duncan,

We built our own home here in Khon Kaen just over two years ago. The total cost including the land was 2 million baht or about 27k GBP. We are 7 kilometres from the in-laws and 4.5 km the other way to our daughters' school. We now have a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom bungalow (no stairs to climb when I get older !). I roughly designed the place and had an architect draw the plans, in all about 30 A3 pages of them. The builders worked from the plans with no problems. We asked around for builders as we wanted them to quote for labour only with us buying the materials as and when needed. That way you get the tiles, doors, etc you want, not what cheapos the builder picks up. Always buy Suea (Tiger) brand cement not a cheaper one is the best tip I can give. We have barely any cracks in the plaster.

It was very hectic for 4 months. We made stage payments for labour. For materials the foreman would ring Tukta up and say he would need say, 40 bags of cement and 2 cubic metres of sand tomorrow and we'd dash off to the builders merchant and order it. They would deliver to site and I would write the cost down in my accounts book. I also kept a day to day diary of what we did for those months.

We now live in a nice home with solar panels for hot water and I have a record of the build costed to the baht. Costs have increased over the past two years, cement and steel in particular, but I'd do it again rather than buy a ready built home, unless it was really really special.

I transfered the funds via Nationwide so it appears as a foreign transfer in my account with Thai Farmers Bank which helps with my yearly visa application. I now transfer my pension once a quarter the same way and always send sterling. 20 quid a go isn't too bad and you always gets a good rate.

Finally by the very nature of your being here you are going to be richer than the local subsistent farmer. Surely that doesn't mean you can't build a house better than his? You're not flaunting your wealth as I see it.

Any questions ask away.

Rob,

No idea what you mean, Ok there could be an element of truth in what you say, I love visiting the inlaws as much as you do... lovely people just difficult to have a decent chinwag with. I think I can get away with it now having been a few times. Mind you, loved staying in Nong Khai, beats Udon (IMHO) but don't tell Lek I said that.

Derek,

thanks for the info, It's good to hear from someone who has done it, must be more difficult in Issan, at least in samui there are plently of Farang, mind you most of em are less trustworthy than your average Issan builder I would guess. Would need to be there for the length of time it took to build the place, wouldn't want to leave em to it.

Cheers

Duncan.

Our house build experience was similar to Derek's. A few other points that on retrospect I would have added are:-

1) Insulation above the roof tiles, not to keep the heat in, but to keep it out, aircon can be expensive and to keep a room cool costs more than I expected.

2) Cavity walls, similar reason to the above.

3) Ensuites for every bedroom and an outside privy for them there partues. Amazing how many UK guests you may have and the ensuite makes a big difference for little cost.

4) UK Mains and plugs. I would have driven a big earth pole into the ground and used three core mains with british sockets on all outlets. It is easy to get adapters for Thai devices and the plugs would make contact and stay in the walls. The amount of problems I have had getting the twin plugs to stay in a standard twin socket beggars belief! (no fnar fnars!)

quote:

we always stay in a hotel in Udon rather than in the village

Sorry but it's gotta be the village life for us. You have just gotta experience it!

quote:

It is easy to get adapters for Thai devices and the plugs would make contact and stay in the walls. The amount of problems I have had getting the twin plugs to stay in a standard twin socket beggars belief! (no fnar fnars!)

Ian, that is so true. Why can't the world see that three pin plugs, particulary the British design work far better.

I guess they enjoy now and again

Keith

quote:

I would have driven a big earth pole into the ground and used three core mains with british sockets on all outlets.

New Thai regs mean newbuilds have to have three pin sockets with earth. Not before time.

quote:

New Thai regs mean newbuilds have to have three pin sockets with earth. Not before time.

JC

Yep

And nearly every single electrical appliance I have bought here now comes with a sticker stating "this appliance must be earthed" just above the two pin plug .... annoying or what

Thad,

Have you had the ceremonies in the village center where a liberal amount of earth is applied over appliances before they are used

quote:

Why can't the world see that three pin plugs, particulary the British design work far better.

Malaysia and Singapore have the "British" three pin plugs and sockets, I think Thailand will slowly follow suit.

Tony

This link has been memtioned before Cool Thai House. It has all kinds of advice on building a house in Thailand.

quote:

Originally posted by IanB-UK:
Thad,

Have you had the ceremonies in the village center where a liberal amount of earth is applied over appliances before they are used

Nothing would surprise me here anymore, but I haven't witnessed that event

In fact, in the first three months of my stay, we had an almost endless stream of celebrations.... if I ever get round to writing the book I'm planning, one chapter will be entitled "3 monkings, 4 weddings and a funeral"

IanB-UK...I am curious to know how you put insulation above the roof tiles...I can imagine insulation above ceiling tiles or underside of roof tiles,.....? Just curious.