Buying a new condo at Samudra Residences Hua Hin

[Jimmy Canuck]

Hi to you all.. green as they get, first post ever, but i have already spent prob 100 hrs reading up on things on this forum so almost feel i know some of you already. Here's my thing: 11 yrs into a very solid partnership (the loving kind that is) with a thai girl. We both hold Canuck passports. We've been visiting Thailand, SE Asia in general, India etc together for as many years, and now both in our early 50's we are getting ready to buy a condo in Hua Hin in order to have a place to spend some more time in than the constant moving of adventure travel... 4 days, 3 days etc etc... Why Hua hin? have visited several times and like it, proximity to BK where we have friends, and my partner's family on her mum's side are in Pranburi. We've been staying @ the Sheraton Hua Hin (employee rate!) last couple of visits and watched the Samudra development going up next door, from the foundation on up. Samudra will include a new five* Radisson Blu Hotel, with facilities avail to Samudra Residences. In Hua Hin a month or so ago we got to see the almost finished product, and actually walk around the units. Turned out even nicer than we expected, so we put down a small reserve deposit on one of the last remaining top (7th) floor extra large studio (sep bed area) units. It's 52 sq mtrs, and priced after much haggling there and in BK at 3.9 MB. It's a luxury condo, real nice, separate rain shower etc etc.. soooo, i want you guys, gals to unload your wisdom on us, re whether we might get some rental income (hoping for around 15-20K/month) considering it is about 10 mins drive from town, what flooding is like around there, any dirt on the Samudra development itself, and just whether this sounds like a good idea in general? Also just how bad is the resale market? If we decided in 5 yrs to sell, could it take a very long time? This would be a Foreign Ownership Freehold purchase. Also, the main lawyer in Hua Hin wants 55K + taxes for a full package on reviewing/changing contract, searching title on land, and registering our title at the Land Office... we are leaning toward not doing any of this, spend that 60K on furnishing the place... feedback?? I consider you cynical old guys as a goldmine of information, looking forward very much to your comments. This deal we can easily back out of, but have to put in our 5% real deposit in 3 weeks if we are to go ahead. Many Thanks! James

[tonymaroni]

I see you are hoping for some rental income.
Does the facility offer help with doing this and what is the percentage they charge for managing it?

Sounds good.

Tony

[Jimmy Canuck]

Thanks Tony. Yup, they have a rental-pool there, which we opted out of in order to have the price very considerably reduced (they guarantee 18% return over the 1st 3 yrs, but we did quite a bit better than that, and can still rent out on our own). So, we would have to find a good honest person to help at that end, or one of my partner's relatives - but none have much english. Are there good prop mgrs there? and what fees or percentages? This place we're looking at has all kinds of money coming off the top to the company from rentals before deductions.. It's really nice, as i said top (7th) floor, as well as very nice ocean views.. would around 18K be realistic to ask for? Would definitely prefer a long term renter though.
Oh, one other question for all of you guys - from my lovable thai partner... she wants to know what the heck all you old expats do with your days there! ..as she says, you can't just go to market village every day! all cracking your first cold one now as it's 630pm? James

[cozza]

Jimmy,

Not sure if this helps at all, pardon if I sound negative.

Have you had a look in the resorts/condos next to Samudra?

There are a few nearby that offer rent, not sure about foreign ownership though...I think the Blue Lagoon offer a 2 or 3 bedroom (not 100%) villa for 30k month and I think it cost approx 10MB to buy. The cost is hearsay mind you, friend of my wife has a couple there so am relying on word of mouth.

I would check out the neighborhood competition...to get a good idea on rental pricing...

[boongx]

[ Spam Deleted ]

[hhfarang]

Wow, boongx

It shouldn't take the mods long to shut you down!

[Jimmy Canuck]

Jimmy,

Not sure if this helps at all, pardon if I sound negative.

Have you had a look in the resorts/condos next to Samudra?

There are a few nearby that offer rent, not sure about foreign ownership though...I think the Blue Lagoon offer a 2 or 3 bedroom (not 100%) villa for 30k month and I think it cost approx 10MB to buy. The cost is hearsay mind you, friend of my wife has a couple there so am relying on word of mouth.

I would check out the neighborhood competition...to get a good idea on rental pricing...

Many thanks for your help Cozza. We are familiar with the Blue Lagoon, right next door. Will look some more into the competing rentals in the neighborhood, to get a better idea of pricing. As we left Hua Hin in early march we are very curious how the area fared during the recent flooding in south Thailand.. can you, or anyone else, give us any info on that? In particular we're wondering about the area we are considering buying in. I guess Samudra is on the south border of Cha Am, just a few klm's north of the tunnel. Thanks again for your input.

[Jimmy Canuck]

Wow, boongx

It shouldn't take the mods long to shut you down!

Thanks for the heads-up hhfarang... took me a minute or 2 to figure out what you meant, mods.. moderators right? So sorry, I am new at this, and just to clarify - I was describing the niceness of the place in order to get feedback on both whether we would be paying a fair price; and also to supply info so someone might give us feedback on what we could possibly expect to rent it out for... We have not yet committed to buying the condo, don't own one, so we are not offering anything for rent. If we do buy, we look forward to using ExPat Hua Hin's paid advertising, as the price seems quite reasonable.
Am pretty impressed by your 7+ years on this site, and wondering if you have any feedback on things we're asking about? Just how dead, or coming back to life, are both the rental and resale market? Would being 10 min's drive from d/t hurt our rentability? Are new modern ocean-view condo's like this safer for rentals/resale? Does Hua Hin fare better than the farther south on flooding? Any other input? Am learning here, again, thanks for the warning. James

[Big Boy]

Jimmy, hhfarang's comments were not aimed at you. His comments were directed towards a spammer named boongx. boongx was subsequently banned from the forum for his post, which was against forum rules.

[johnnyk]

I'm not in HH at the moment but there are nice 3-bed houses with pool going for 15-18K/month (mine included). OK, they are 3-4km from the beach but offering a lot for the price.
Don't be in a rush to jump it's still a buyer's market.

[cozza]

Jimmy, I have been staying on Phetkasem Rd, almost across directly from Samudra. I only know a little about the effect from the recent floods, such as the price of eggs due to scarcity and other food prices have taken a big jump. I don't think the Thai market coming to Hua Hin slowed down much as a result of the flooding either.

Also, is Samudra right on the beach? There are plenty of people coming into Hua Hin with proper money to be able to afford the luxury end of the market...sit on Phetkasem Rd on a Sunday afternoon and watch the luxury cars drive past.

[TypicallyTropical]

I looked at zillions of condos when I was there in October. Samudra was the nicest one. Unfortunately, they didn't have the kind of unit I wanted anymore, but I was ready to buy there. Even though they have a rental pool set up, they don't really want to commit, so they offer a huge discount to those who opt out. Based on the quality and the floor plan, I would have had no problem buying either way. Just my honest opinion.

[tonymaroni]

Thanks Tony. Yup, they have a rental-pool there, which we opted out of in order to have the price very considerably reduced (they guarantee 18% return over the 1st 3 yrs, but we did quite a bit better than that, and can still rent out on our own). So, we would have to find a good honest person to help at that end, or one of my partner's relatives - but none have much english. Are there good prop mgrs there? and what fees or percentages? This place we're looking at has all kinds of money coming off the top to the company from rentals before deductions.. It's really nice, as i said top (7th) floor, as well as very nice ocean views.. would around 18K be realistic to ask for? Would definitely prefer a long term renter though.
Oh, one other question for all of you guys - from my lovable thai partner... she wants to know what the heck all you old expats do with your days there! ..as she says, you can't just go to market village every day! all cracking your first cold one now as it's 630pm? James

I am sure there are good prop mgrs in town. I just don't know of any. Never heard of a condo yet that could really guarantee a return (18%) they must be in with the man upstairs. It is all hype to me. Unit sounds really nice. Rentals are a crap shoot. Sorry I can't help more.

Tony

[Jimmy Canuck]

Jimmy, hhfarang's comments were not aimed at you. His comments were directed towards a spammer named boongx. boongx was subsequently banned from the forum for his post, which was against forum rules.

Thanks Big Boy, feel better now. Lovable thai partner pointed that out to me, missed it myself! Jimmy

[Jimmy Canuck]

I looked at zillions of condos when I was there in October. Samudra was the nicest one. Unfortunately, they didn't have the kind of unit I wanted anymore, but I was ready to buy there. Even though they have a rental pool set up, they don't really want to commit, so they offer a huge discount to those who opt out. Based on the quality and the floor plan, I would have had no problem buying either way. Just my honest opinion.

Many thanks, TT. We only looked at one! But as we have watched it go up since foundation right next door to our reg HH hotel, it just seemed like it was meant to be... your comments made us happy. Thanks for doing the legwork which put you in a position to confirm that it is not too bad a choice. All the best, Jimmy.