Diamond Tower condo

[Xfreak0000]

Dear all.

Thanks a lot for all your advices and opinions.

So, I decided not to look into any pre-sales projects.

Regarding The Base condo, I saw some units under 3M baht, which is about 90,000baht per sm2.

Last week, I stayed at The Base condo and what I found was

- The condo is wisely and officially used as airbnb rental rooms, while rental condo units less than month is illegal as far as I know?

- A lot of rental guests are chinese and small portion of western people so whenever I went to the swimming pools there were full of Chinese guests taking pictures of night view and glass-protected infinity pool.

-  I did not see any cracked marble or fallen off glass at the swimming pool so they may have been fixed already? Since, it is very new condo, I could not notice anything rust and/or worn-down. Maybe, I was not very paying my attention to these because I was focusing on what kind of people in the condo, the security, juristic management, etc..

- I have not been to VT6 but seems like it has good reputations so next time I will visit VT6 to see and if possible i will stay at there.

 

 

[striderman]

renting a place in a condo block before you commit to buying something is a wise thing to do

[likeaking]

18 hours ago, striderman said:

renting a place in a condo block before you commit to buying something is a wise thing to do

How true. Even noisy neighbors can make an otherwise nice place undesireable. 

[Tidiver]

X freak,
Thanks for your input on the Base. Very timely I'll be in Pats in Sept and was just on airbnb looking at 2 week stay that was priced less then 30usd nite. I wonder what you just payed?

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[Tidiver]

1 more addition if its full of Chinese and not a hotel set up. I wonder who would monitor the crowds in the common area's?

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[Shaygate]

On 11/07/2017 at 06:36, Xfreak0000 said:

 

- I have not been to VT6 but seems like it has good reputations so next time I will visit VT6 to see and if possible i will stay at there

By all means stay at VT6 it's a great place to stay if you are on a drinking / mongering holiday. The rental units I've seen and stayed in are showing their age and pretty much all need refurbishment. If you look objectively at the building you will see there are still many empty units and those facing the shopping centre below floor 10 I would think are unsaleable. On the Walking Street side it's OK at the moment but sooner or later another building will be built on the empty plot next door. As an investment I would tread carefully, you might get a decent return on a rental for a while but it won't last, you need a decent exit plan as the new building will kill values 

[Tom_Jones]

 

[Evilfriar]

There's tons of Thai quota units in the building empty, and the developer doesn't seem to care whether units sell or not, hasn't discounted prices since day 1 as far as I know.

I've stayed on the central side on the 7th floor right opposite the air con outlet on central and with the doors closed can't hear a thing. I admit I don't sit on the balcony much and couldn't give a stuff about a sea view.

 

I'd have no problem buying a unit below the 10th floor on the central side if I was in the market.

 

Cheers

[Shaygate]

18 hours ago, Evilfriar said:

 

I've stayed on the central side on the 7th floor right opposite the air con outlet on central and with the doors closed can't hear a thing. I admit I don't sit on the balcony much and couldn't give a stuff about a sea view

I guess it to their own, I see no pleasure in looking out onto a featureless wall or down the throat of an air con vent. Also with the proximity of the shopping centre you won't get much sunlight and what's the point of having a balcony if you can't sit on it? 

[Evilfriar]

I guess no point in me having a balcony other than to dry clothes.

My point is I guess the condo's opposite Central under the 10th floor are saleable and some are already sold as I've stayed in a couple different ones so far. For me they're good as generally they are cheaper to rent compared to the high floor Walking Street side.

Some people don't like those because they get too much afternoon sun, so no pleasing everyone as you say.

 

Cheers

[Spellforce]

On 09/07/2017 at 5:31 PM, Xfreak0000 said:

For example, the base condo 1 bed room price has gone up by 15~25% and I wonder why? because everybody says the market is slow.

Have you never noticed that's always the renters that will tell on forum to never purchase a property ?

On 09/07/2017 at 7:44 PM, chris2004 said:

110k per sqm is a crazy price. You can get some very nice condos for 40k. DO NOT buy off plan.

And what about Bangkok ? In mid Sukhumvit near the BTS prices are > 220k per sqm. Mahanakhon tower is > 350k per sqm.

 

PS to the OP: forget about Airbnb, in Thailand that's not legal to rent for less than 1 month. Purchase it for yourself or rent it long term (6-7% of ROI is quite easy).

[chris2004]

I would never touch a place that allowed AirBnB or Chinese tours as guests, especially at 90,000 baht/sqm. Just asking for trouble.

[KittenKong]

On 27/07/2017 at 9:36 AM, chris2004 said:

I would never Touch a place that allowed AirBnB or Chinese tours as guests, especially at 90,000 baht/sqm. Just asking for trouble.

It's quite hard to find a building in Pattaya that isnt on AirBnB, allowed or not. The Chinese are easier to avoid.

Personally I think all condo rentals of less than 6 months should be banned outright. That's what hotels and serviced apartments are for. Hopefully one day it will happen.

[striderman]

2 hours ago, KittenKong said:

It's quite hard to find a building in Pattaya that isnt on AirBnB, allowed or not. The Chinese are easier to avoid.

Personally I think all condo rentals of less than 6 months should be banned outright. That's what hotels and serviced apartments are for. Hopefully one day it will happen.

that is a dream that's not gonna happen, and if it did the condo market would be destroyed. how many falangs unless they are retired get 6 months off work ?

a mate of mine was in the Base for 3 nights. is that ideal, no. but the owners have service charges to pay rented out or not and the 3 night falang wants somewhere handy 

[Kandinski]

On 26.7.2017 at 10:09 AM, Shaygate said:

...... what's the point of having a balcony if you can't sit on it? 

Don't smoke indooors and nothing beats having a fag, st. Mig and a BJ on a balcony after a hards night partying.

[KittenKong]

19 hours ago, striderman said:

a mate of mine was in the Base for 3 nights. is that ideal, no. but the owners have service charges to pay rented out or not and the 3 night falang wants somewhere handy 

 

He should be in a hotel or serviced apartment. That's what they are for.

Those who want to invest in short-term accommodation should do so by investing in hotels or serviced apartments. They should not buy condos.

If short-term rentals were banned the condo market would probably not collapse: on the contrary there would be increased demand from both long-term tenants and from those who want to be owner-occupiers. Many normal people are currently put off by the large numbers of short-term tenants everywhere here: they are not nice to live near and they cause a huge amount of expensive wear and tear that all co-owners have to pay for. Bad news all round.

[Evilfriar]

I respect what your saying Kitten, and I have no idea what would happen to the condo market if short term rentals were banned and actually enforced. From what I understand it's illegal to rent for under a month now but it's not being enforced from what I can see as I just this month rented in VT6 for 3 weeks.

I personally wouldn't be looking to buy if it was enforced, just go back to staying in hotels.

Again, just speaking personally, I don't believe that I cause any extra damage or disruption while renting a condo short term. I think I behave exactly the same as I would if I was an owner/occupier.

I honestly don't see a huge amount of extra wear and tear being done by short term renters compared to long term. People are what they are regardless of how long they are staying.

You living here permanently maybe see things I don't, be interested in some examples if you can think of any you have seen personally.

 

Cheers

[chris2004]

The under 30 day rule for AirBnB is enforced at my condo but some like VT6 and the Base don't  seem to care. I think there is a big difference between the short stay and long stay behaviour. Many people (not you obviously) on short stay don't consider the other long term residents and treat the place like a hotel. Not somewhere i would want to live or invest in.

[Evilfriar]

Fair enough Chris, but given that VT6 has a lot of short term rentals, I struggle to pick who is a resident and who is a short term stayer based on behaviour. I don't see anyone going around and damaging things just for the heck of it and I've never had a noise issue in any of the rooms I've stayed in. Probably at least 10 stays in different rooms in the last few years.

Got any examples of the big differences in behaviour between short stay and long stayers?

 

Edited to add : Based on the time I've stayed in VT6 if I was in the market for a condo I'd have no problem buying in VT6. If I had the money I'd snap up Larssons 27th floor mansion in a heartbeat :-)

 

Cheers

[joeaf]

4 hours ago, Evilfriar said:

...Got any examples of the big differences in behaviour between short stay and long stayers?...

 

I rented 1 month direct from City Garden in 2015.  The City Garden manager said they tried renting <30 days, but had noise and damage issues with ST renters, so they stopped renting ST.

[KittenKong]

16 hours ago, Evilfriar said:

Again, just speaking personally, I don't believe that I cause any extra damage or disruption while renting a condo short term. I think I behave exactly the same as I would if I was an owner/occupier.

I honestly don't see a huge amount of extra wear and tear being done by short term renters compared to long term. People are what they are regardless of how long they are staying.

You living here permanently maybe see things I don't, be interested in some examples if you can think of any you have seen personally.

 

Of course I wasn't suggesting that you in particular are noisy or disruptive.

But short-term tenants are often crammed into rooms (Thais and other Asians in particular), tend to come and go at all hours, tend to bang furniture and luggage and doors, often are in "party mood" and generally dont treat the common areas (elevators, corridors, pools) as carefully as a co-owner or more permanent resident would. For example, I've never had to get security out to stop fighting between a co-owner and his hooker at 3am in my building, but I certainly have had to get them out to stop the same between an Arab short-term tenant and his hooker. We have also had cases of tenants drinking from glass bottles in the pool at night.  I could cite many other examples of different bad behaviour that all amounts to them being very undesirable neighbours.

[Evilfriar]

Fair enough, I'm only averaging 10 to 12 weeks a year and obviously been lucky so far. I'm also usually in bed asleep by midnight or at the latest 2 in the morning and probably miss a lot of the potential drama from drunks rolling in at all hours of the early morning.

I didn't take it as you suggesting I was anything Kitten.

 

I'd imagine that the possibility is always there that a neighbour from hell could move in next door permanently too, one of the drawbacks of buying. Easier to pull up stumps and move if renting long term which will be my objective rather than buying.

 

Cheers

[KittenKong]

14 hours ago, Evilfriar said:

I'd imagine that the possibility is always there that a neighbour from hell could move in next door permanently too, one of the drawbacks of buying. Easier to pull up stumps and move if renting long term which will be my objective rather than buying.

 

That is indeed always a possibility, but in my experience co-owners and long-term tenants are generally quite decent though of course there can be exceptions.

The renting/owning choice invariably has its upsides and downsides and a lot depends on your individual financial situation and particularly for how long you expect to be renting/owning.

[striderman]

On 7/9/2017 at 15:34, Xfreak0000 said:

Hi?

I am checking Diamond Tower condo and would like to get some advice and opinions how do you think about this project.

 

 

i finally got round to having a look on pratumnak today to see what the SP was on diamond tower next to the vision by matrix.

the front inc i guess showrooms.....................

 

despite the artwork above it will not be on it's own cos it's right next to the vision................

 

 

 

and for opening party, read launch party cos round the back behind that poster wall................

zippo except the empty site

 

 

 

 

[usexpat46]

34 minutes ago, striderman said:

i finally got round to having a look on pratumnak today to see what the SP was on diamond tower next to the vision by matrix

 

Did you make a pit stop at the Kinnereaa for the sausage buffet?