I plan to give money to my GF so she can buy either a house in Pattya or condo in Bangkok...budget is only 1-1.3million baht, but I see places advertised at this price.
No strings attached, she buys in her own name.
It would appear there are no legal issues re her making the purchase, it is not unusual for a thai girl to have "saved-up" a million baht.
We get conflicting advice re need to use a lawyer for the purchase. Apparently thais buy without. Some property agents talk of need to check there are no loans on the property, or in case of condo that no big bills are due for repair etc
Clearly there is a limit to the amount of lawyer fees that could be justified for what is a modest purchase.
Any advice would be appreciated.

pgcon, first I think you will have some fun trying to find a Good house in Pattaya or condo in Bangkok for those prices, although they are building new condos in Jomtien by Tesco/Lotus on Sukumvit road from 1,5 million Bht, the only time Thai people dont use a Lawyer is when they build the house themselves. Would you buy one in England without a soliciter?

Try looking at this web site.
http://www.thaiengineering.com/

www.homeedd.com

or look in the thread Migration click on find and type in buying a house.

quote:

Originally posted by pgcon:
... Some property agents talk of need to check there are no loans on the property, or in case of condo that no big bills are due for repair etc ...

Sounds like compelling grounds for retaining lawyers to me ... ...

db1, plenty of condos in Bangkok starting at 250,000B and indeed even houses starting at 350,000B. We are, of course, only talking about the normal Thai stuff, not the luxury European styled condos on Sukhumwit that cost many millions.

It's generally only the farangs that are paying the stupid money over there.

pgcon-pity you weren't looking 6 months ago,as you could have bought mine for that budget.

I agree with SteveR,it is generally only farangs that pay silly money-the thai we bought from knew nothing about my involvement until the price had been mooted and deposit paid. I did negotiate a discount of 125000B on the original price when I discovered a loan on the property and offered an early completion-or more accurately,suggested to Noi that she suggested a discount for early purchase.

You obviously need to know what title you will get,so unless you are confidant you can do it yourself employ a lawyer. For example,I saved 125000B and a lawyer certainly won't cost you that.