Ask here about the pleasures and pitfalls of buying, selling or renting property and real estate in Hua Hin. Building, design and construction topics welcome. Commercial or promotional posts for real estate companies or private properties are forbidden.
sargeant wrote:i think this Royal Thai Government Ministry of Tourism and Sports program has had a specific act of parliament passed JUST for this program and does not apply to general public EXCEPT through this program
I attended the Ministry's presentation of this program in Hua Hin and then I attended the official launch in Bangkok. I have studied the program at length and had three meetings with reps of the TLM Co Ltd. I have seen no evidence of an Act of Parliament establishing this program. The program was "endorsed" by Thaksin's government and there are two police seniors on the board of the management company. This is a commercial venture in which 30% of the shares were apportioned to the Ministry, most likely to lend credence to the whole shabang.
If you can show me evidence sarge, I will most certainly conceed. Until then, I will continue to defend that which is good and valuable in the Hua Hin real estate sector and will endevour to protect the market value of properties here, lest this forum should kill the industry off completely.
cd.
All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing. (Edmund Burke).
Please note i said "I think"
i have in the past actually recommended this program (the only one i have by the way )because of its credibiliy and the clout it would have which is substantial
mind you the costs are breathtaking
"and will endevour to protect the market value of properties here, lest this forum should kill the industry off completely.
Thats fine but i would never blame this forum for as you put it killing of the property industry just ask the op who is killing it off
Protecting what is good is fine but what people want and NEED to know is who the crooks are so they can avoid them thats not so easy to do is it
someone has to put up the warnings in general
Brushing what has happened to soi88 under the carpet and ignoring the problem is what is killing it off certainly not old lonesome sad individual me thats for sure
It IS healthy to have a forum where folks can post their experiences, and it would be teriffic if crooks could be named and shamed, but of course, that can't be done except in some very extreme cases. It would also be cool if the good folks could be named and famed, but this is not meant to be a commercial forum either.
Not an under-the-carpet sort of fellow, I agree with much which is posted here. I just think that someone has to speak up for the positive side sometimes in the face of so much adversity and finality.
There ARE legal ways of promising extensions to 30 year leases (which do rely greatly on integrity on the part of the lessor), but a registered lease specifying 30+30+30 is not the right way.
Caller - the property association project seems to be floating face down in the water. All the great effort made so far has not come to much, truly ethical sincerity and the kind of idealism required was largely missing, and right now the industry is suffering greatly under many pressures. I don't believe there are many who can be bothered with the association project for the present. Too bad.
cd.
All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing. (Edmund Burke).
Craig, and others... I'm sorry, but along with the world economic problems, the real estate industry here is dead and it's mainly due to four developers. We all know who they are so don't even try to blame this forum or anyone else. The bad international publicity that their actions brought down on this town will take a long time to reverse.
The real estate market here was destroyed by mainly these four greedy and dishonest developers, their partners, and the real estate agencies that they are/were associated with.
Don't blame the victims for what the criminals did!
Last edited by hhfarang on Sat Apr 11, 2009 9:40 am, edited 1 time in total.
CraigDunn wrote:The Royal Thai Government Ministry of Tourism and Sports promotes their "Thailand Second Home Program" - http://www.thailongstay.co.th/service.html - in which the Thai Longstay Management Co., Ltd., in which the Ministry has a 30% stake, takes your program-entry money (roughly 10% of your property's value), makes a company with your name but with their reps as shareholders, registers your property in that company and then gives you a 30 year lease with options for resale and renewal, which they guarantee as long as you pay another 10% re-entry fee. They also charge you annually about 100,000 baht for the company's audit and "administration" of the agreement.
I'd like to make 2 points:
1. They could definitely have that lawyer for breakfast.
2. So-called property charlatans do it much cheaper.
cd.
Said program was set up with taxpayer monies as a gift to Toxin cronies who put up little or no money themselves. It now acts as a pension fund to those ancien regime types who have been elbowed aside at the trough. Its still a 30-yr lease, control has passed to dubious chaacters and the punter has the 'privilege' of ponying up 10% and 10% and then 100K every year.
Where does this money go? Into deep pockets of course.
Only desperate and dim fish would bite at this hook.
I want to thank everyone for posting their opinions. I had at one point considered buying property in Thailand. It's easy to be seduced while on holiday and feeling happy and relaxed but frankly, I dont see the point.
I know I would never want to spend more than a few months in Thailand as I enjoy traveling and I've had much better success in equity then I've ever had in real estate. Even in a deep recessive market like we've had recently, I still manage to earn a living with a few clicks every day without the headaches of questionable property laws.
