Update On My Buddy's New House Build

How I Book Hotels In Thailand And Elsewhere
Having lived in Thailand since 2003, I have booked many hotels while travelling around the country. Occasionally, I have spent an enormous amount of time trying to find the best deal. However, I almost invariably end up booking through Agoda. Not only are Agoda rates almost always the lowest, but it is a company I have learnt to trust over the years. In 2023 there were stories about another large online hotel Booking company (whose name I won't mention) who failed to pay accommodation hosts and whose customers turned up at hotels to find that they did not have a reservation. I have never had any such problems with Agoda, and the few minor issues I've had have been dealt with efficiently by their customer service representatives.
Agoda is a company I trust and recommend. Use the following link to book your next hotel room!
www.agoda.com/partners/partne...
Disclaimer. I am an Agoda affiliate and will receive a small commission for any completed bookings that are made through my links. However, I only promote goods and services that I am happy with and use myself.
Are You Interested In Learning How To Read Basic Thai?
Being able to read enough basic Thai so that you can negotiate menus and read signs is incredibly useful, and it's not that difficult. It's not like Japanese or Chinese, where you have to remember thousands of characters. Like English, it's just consonants and vowels. Yes, there are more characters than English, but phonetically Thai is a lot more consistent. English vowels and vowel combinations change sound in different words (cough, rough, through, thought, bough, etc). In many ways, Thais is actually easier to learn than English. If you are interested, try the tutorials on my other KZbin channel. With some effort and dedication, you will be able to read quite well after around six months.
/ learntoreadthai
Video Description
When I bought a house in Thailand I didn't want the hassle of dealing with Thai tradesmen and security was also a concern. I ended up buying a place in a gated community that has security guards present 24 hours and there were foremen to keep the builders in line.
My friend, Johnny, took a different route. He bought a piece of land and then found a builder to build him a house. It has actually worked out very well for him. The builder was very reliable, flexible and did a great job. Although we paid a similar amount of money for our properties he has far more land than I do.
I took a look at his house about a year ago just after the roof had been put on, but it was difficult to imagine what the house would look like when it was finished. I went back today and was very impressed. It really is a lovely place.
In many parts of the world you couldn't get anything like this for 200,000 USD, but because labour is so cheap in Thailand you can get quite a lot of house for your money. My house in the UK is actually worth more than my house in Thailand, but my Thai house is much bigger and I couldn't afford to buy a similar property in the UK. UK property prices are crazy.
If you have any questions I can't guarantee answers because I'll have to ask Johnny, but I'll try.
WiFi vs Wired LAN: • Wi-Fi vs Wired LAN | I...

[@pensionandapassport]

really nice house.

[@expatlivinginthailand]

Thanks! I'm meeting him for lunch tomorrow and I'll pass this on. Yes, it is a nice place. A great location and a good size garden, too.

[@richardconstable6780]

It's easy to criticise, and he has done well in many respects overall - it couldn't have been easy to organise. However, I can't help thinking he over paid for his well ($4,000), and his sprinkler system ($2,000).

[@expatlivinginthailand]

I don't know, to be honest. He's normally very astute with money and personally I have no experience of getting such work done so have no frame of references for prices. The organisation (project management) of getting a house built in Thailand is the thing that put me off going down this route. I bought a ready made, pre-designed house inside a development and let the project foremen worry about organising the labour. I know from getting Thai workmen in to do various jobs around the house that they have their own way of doing things and will always take the path of least resistance rather than doing what the owner wants. Many are also very unreliable and just won't turn up. I paid about the same for my place as he did, and although my two storey house has about the same amount of space as his single storey (maybe more) he has a lot more land. It's all a matter of experience. This was the first time he had a house built here and although it seemed to go quite well overall, there were probably things that he overpaid for. Also, some problems. It has been exceptionally wet here recently and I just found out that all the rain caused a huge hole to appear under his fence. This was quite expensive to fix and shouldn't have happened if the work had been done properly in the first place. I've also been ripped off a few times when having work done to my house. You just learn from experience and hopefully don't make the same mistake twice. Another thing I started doing was to make sure I kept the contact details of every worker who did good work at a reasonable price. That way, the next time I need something doing, I know who to call. I also make sure that unreliable, cheating, bad workmen don't get invited back again!

[@penangtv6108]

Wow it looks amazing compared with last time! Love the beautiful grass. Not commonly seen. Love the doors. Very interesting to hear the prices. No pool, interesting. Why is solar not more popular? 😊 Personally if I was building from the ground up with this huge budget I would be more adventurous with the design. There are many house tour channels like Enes, it's easy to steal expensive design ideas to implement. Very nice 👍

[@expatlivinginthailand]

I was quite impressed today! Like you, I also like lawns (I think it's an English thing). I've noticed that Thais will try to make everything maintenance free and that doesn't include lawns, which need a lot of work. They usually pave over the outside areas. There are big differences in the way that Thais think. If they have land they will normally build on it, rather than have gardens and lawns. I'm not sure that I would have a pool, either. Again, they are a lot of work and they require a lot of electricity and maintenance. When my kids want to go swimming it's easier and cheaper to go to a public pool and pay Bt60, rather than permanently maintain a pool at home. Solar is an interesting point, considering that Thailand has so much sunshine. My brother has a large house in Phuket and when he moved in solar power was used to heat the water. The water was only ever tepid and so he had an immersion heater installed. Quite a few people here have lights outside that run on solar. They get charged in the daytime and come on automatically at night. However, it is rare to see any solar panels supplying electricity to appliances inside the house. It's not even because electricity is cheap here, which it certainly isn't. I've seen books in Thailand full of house designs where you can get lots of ideas. There are also a number of small architect/design companies that will design you a house based on your needs. I guess it depends how adventurous you are as a person. I also prefer houses with two floors, but I guess that would add a lot of cost. Huge budget?! I guess it depends what you are used to. As a Brit looking at UK house prices, this is nothing. That budget wouldn't buy a parking space in London!

[@tjkmch6379]

now that's beautiful home there.

[@expatlivinginthailand]

That's what I thought!

[@Swimallsummer]

So true about taking care of the workers. Interesting video.

[@expatlivinginthailand]

It's such a small thing too. It doesn't cost much to keep Thai workers happy and if you're spending a lot of money on a house it's a really good return on investment. Seems obvious, but a lot of people don't do it!

[@deanfisher1985]

Hi I’m electrician in the UK instead of running hardwire with Internet you can get Wi-Fi extender sockets you just replace the standard socket for one with a Wi-Fi extender built-in I know they have them in Thailand as I have seen them and fitted a few for my friends hope this helps cheers

[@expatlivinginthailand]

Hello Dean, thanks for the heads up. Any idea of speed? Despite the claimed theoretical maximum speed of WiFi, I find that the connection speeds are always so slow. With my hard wired LAN I get very close to 1,000 mbps for download. I'm lucky to get a tenth of that with WiFi.

[@deanfisher1985]

Hi I’m not a phone engineer but it will be down to your equipment for sure

[@deanfisher1985]

But at the end of the day do what’s best for you 👍

[@expatlivinginthailand]

@@deanfisher1985 Exactly! If the house is already built it's not easy installing a wired LAN and concealing the cables. With a new build it's easy and I think it's very worthwhile. Wired LANS are a lot faster and more reliable than WiFi. I'm really pleased I did it when my house was being built, and my friend made the right decision doing the same. You still need WiFi for phones and devices without an Ethernet socket, but wired LANS are far superior to WiFi.

[@anthonycarney7849]

Very nice place I hope u enjoy living in it😊😊

[@expatlivinginthailand]

It's actually my friend's house, but yes, it's a nice place. It's in a good location - quite rural, but also near to everything in Hat Yai - and he has a good size garden. Thanks for your comment!

[@user-ex2nw1wv6t]

I love the video... thank you..... BUT, there are many places in America and I would imagine in the whole of North America where you can buy more land, and build a modest house for less money than you are broadcasting. FYI, for all the people wanting real info. and news.

[@expatlivinginthailand]

As they say regarding real estate, the three most important things are location, location, and location! Yes, in rural America, you can probably buy a farm cheaper than this. However, buying anything at all in San Francisco will cost you an absolute fortune. It's the same in Thailand. In rural Isaan, land is very cheap. Central Bangkok is extremely expensive. Land in Hat Yai, where this house is located, is also very expensive. Thanks for your comment!

[@thomaskristensen3201]

Another Nice house to the Thai wife

[@expatlivinginthailand]

Well, there's always a risk of that happening because of Thai land ownership laws. My buddy bought the land for this place, but his wife took out a mortgage for the house construction. If she ever decided to kick him out, she couldn't afford the mortgage repayments. I paid cash for my house so my wife too has the ability to kick me out and keep the house. This doesn't bother me. One, I know she wouldn't. Two, I have no interest in wealth or money at my stage of life. All that concerns me is that whatever I own now eventually goes to my kids, so even if she kicked me out the house I know that the house would eventually go to the kids, which is what I want. Neither of our wives were Pattaya bar girls. His is a nurse and mine is a teacher. There is a lot of paranoia among the farang community about unscrupulous Thai women, but if you make an effort to meet decent Thai women the risk is a lot lower.

[@jimirons833]

I know there is talk about farangs buying land in Thailand in the future be it subject to a really high bar of various prohibitive financial conditions. Is the only way to do it via a Thai spouse?

[@expatlivinginthailand]

It's a very controversial subject at the moment. On one hand I resent buying a Bt6 million house and not being able to own it, but with so many Thais earning so little I understand the protectionism. There are many Singaporeans with lots of money and the island of Singapore is tiny. Singaporeans would buy up huge swathes of Thailand, as well as rich Malaysians, Indonesians, Chinese, etc. This would make land even more unaffordable for Thais. I think the high bar you are referring to is US$1 million in assets, US$80 per year income, Bt40 million investment in Thailand, plus plus plus. There is also a one rai limit for residential purposes. Apart from the Thai spouse method, you can go down the Thai company route. I'm not an expert on this, but this is my understanding. If you start a company in Thailand you can own 49%, but the other 51% must be owned by Thais. So, you appoint half a dozen Thais as co-owners, but you are still the majority share owner and can make decisions. Those Thai co-owners will expect money, of course. You can now buy landed property through your Thai company. However, as a company owner there will be lots of obligations. As I said, I'm not an expert, but these will likely involve investing a certain amount of money, employing a certain number of Thai staff, submitting accounts and paying tax every year. You would need to hire a Thai accountant to sort all this out. Then, of course, if the company goes bust you can no longer own the property. Basically, there is no risk-free way to do it. My wife could boot me out the door tomorrow and I couldn't do much about it. She wouldn't and even if she wanted to she couldn't afford to live on her own income, but the point is she could. The Thai company route to buying landed property is also not without its risks. The old adage is not to invest any more in Thailand than you can afford to lose. It's still very appropriate. With the spouse method, many foreigners can probably afford to pay cash for land/property, but with the wrong spouse this is a risk. Getting her to take out a mortgage and depending on you for the monthly repayments is less risky. With the Thai company route, I would strongly suggest talking to a reputable lawyer. Just be very, very careful as I've heard several horror stories over the years and some of these involve crooked lawyers. It's not unheard of for Thai developers to build properties on land they don't own, including government land. I've seen several news reports of the government going in and demolishing these properties. Also be careful about leaseholds. Salespeople - Thai and farang - will tell you that leases can be extended very easily, but there are no guarantees. When money is at stake people will lie through their teeth. Good luck!

[@nsiva8798]

Nice bungalow but I think 200, 000 USD is on the high side.

[@expatlivinginthailand]

As I said in the video, it's all relative. My brother has a similar size piece of land in Phuket. His house is bigger and he has a pool. The asking price was Bt20 million, but he got it for Bt13 million. Phuket is very expensive. If you went to a province that no one has heard of you could buy for a lot cheaper, but Hat Yai land prices are quite high because it's the biggest commercial city in southern Thailand. This property is near to where they are building a new campus for the university and this has caused land prices to jump. There are plots of land near to his house selling for Bt3 million per Rai, which is about twice what he paid. Personally, I don't think it's too expensive but we all have our own ideas on what is expensive and what is cheap!

[@Roof_Pizza]

You'll get a small, crappy condo in Pattaya for 7 million.

[@hxjohn]

Wow That's very expensive

[@expatlivinginthailand]

Everything's relative with house prices. You couldn't buy a car parking space for this money in London, San Francisco and many other parts of the world. In the Bangkok area as well, a house with this much land would be very expensive. In the deep rural areas of Thailand land and property are cheap, but there is nothing. Hat Yai is the biggest city in Southern Thailand with a good local economy and thriving Malaysian/Singaporean tourist trade. There are good shops, schools, hospitals, clinics, etc. It's an important transport hub and the airport serves domestic and international routes. For these reasons, Hat Yai is one of the most expensive areas of provincial Thailand. In the vicinity of this house the Prince of Songkla University is building a new campus and this has resulted in an increase in land prices. All things considered, and comparing it with other properties in the area, I don't think it is expensive.

[@Ystadtaxi]

The house and everything is not yours because you can’t be owner of anything in Thai hope she’s happy for what she get

[@expatlivinginthailand]

You had a bad Pattaya bar girl experience, did you?

[@OMS1969]

Soon to be his Thai GF and her Thai husbands 'new' house.

[@expatlivinginthailand]

Ooh, you old cynic. I don't think so. His wife's a nurse, not a Pattaya bar girl. The problem with farang men who only have experience of Pattaya bar girls is that they think all Thai females are the same. They aren't.