Buying & Refurbishing a House on the Darkside

[Petesie]

Hi fellas!

I started this thread to pass on our experiences in buying and getting a house how we wanted it, hopefully there will be something in the thread others can take away for their benefit. I will also cover the available DIY & Furniture outlets among other places we used to purchase what we needed.

I won't discuss legalities of ownership, company name etc as this subject has been well covered in other threads.

Away we go...we lived in condo's for nearly 4 years before making the jump over Sukhumvit to the Darkside. We lived in the Urban & City Garden. Condo's initially suited our requirements but after a while I found the walls were inevitably closing in; while living in Central Pattaya is convenient for everything my poor old liver suffered as I found I could not stay in, I think I managed one night in 4 years! Yup, my self will & determination are crap; my excuse was I was still working in the Middle east so while my holidays were frequent I could not settle petal. We even moved out of Central Patts to Diamond Suites near Threppasit Road which is 5 minutes walk to Jomtien; in the 18 months we lived there we never went to Jomtien once. 

We decided a house might be the answer, Doris was keen but had not been in many which were 'Farang' style...so the quest began. I did my research and passed the info on with pics, these were enthusiastically received but you cannot beat a good old fashioned 'viewing'...this is where it begins.

We looked at many and my next 2 trips were trawling round the ones we'd picked; we did this through the Estate Agents who would quickly identify what was still available. On some viewings for a variety of reasons we didn't even make it out the car, no worries as you usually only view when the owner isn't present. We found some were in a good convenient location but were very run down, we also took into account the condition of the adjacent properties and the general condition of the Compound/Village. 

We found a nice 2 bed on Suwattana Village which I'd been following for 18 months; it looked nicely finished; previously I'd noted it was quite nicely furnished but the recent listing had it unfurnished, now worries, who needs other peoples stuff, right? We showed up with the estate agent who didn't have a key; the owner never showed so we had a good look round the exterior, another viewing was arranged but I'd be gone so it would be up to Doris & her sister the following week which went well and relevant pics were subsequently forwarded. It looked fine and she was impressed; I told her to proceed & this was when the trouble started...

The seller insisted on a time bound contract; I enquired with the agent who was comfortable with the timescales, a 200k deposit was paid & held by the agent. Time ticked along...the seller turned out not to be the owner, he had a photocopy of a letter from the owner giving him permission to sell on her behalf but could not produce the original registration documents. I did my research & found the listing on several sites with one listed as being sold. I contacted the agent and spoke to him explaining what I'd found, he gave the guy 24 hours to produce the docs; this never happened so he was removed from the site and the deposit refunded; because of this we stuck with this agent, I also contacted the other agents and informed them...more to follow.

This is the house we ended up with. 

 

 

Edited May 21, 2020 by Petesie

[Jebb]

Bloody hell mate you dodged a bullet there.

[Mr Wombat]

1 hour ago, Petesie said:

 

This is the house we ended up with. 

 

 

Nice house. Is that trick photography or is the house pink?

edit: I forgot to add what I actually originally wanted to post. Prices in these threads are always a bonus. Then we can all see what we are missing out on

Edited May 21, 2020 by Mr Wombat

[Harry Brown]

This looks like being an interesting story. Thanks for taking the time to write it.

As said before you were lucky you decided to research a bit.

[james 71]

Great start,looking forward to the journey of the ups and downs,it's stressful enough buying in your own country let alone a foreign one ,

[Ru4Real]

Settling in for what has the makings of a very interesting tale.

Ordered enough for everyone:

 

[Petesie]

4 hours ago, Mr Wombat said:

Nice house. Is that trick photography or is the house pink? edit: I forgot to add what I actually originally wanted to post. Prices in these threads are always a bonus. Then we can all see what we are missing out on

Cheers bud! 

These pics are what we originally viewed, it's changed a wee bit since then! The upper exterior of the house is actually a lighter shade of plum with the bottom third being a mid Taupe, white ledge runs around the middle of the building.

Prices; the 2 bed semi in Suwattana was going for 2.8m & he wouldn't budge, bear in mind prices were fairly buoyant around 18 months ago. I'll post the price of the house once I get to yon bit. 

[forcebwithu]

Looking forward to reading the rest of your house buying experience. TFP!

[Petesie]

Next one up was a superb 4 bed end of Terraced (that's the only thing I can think of to describe it!) on a quiet project housing further into the Darkside. It had a large swimming pool and I was gobsmacked at the condition of the house; everything had been decorated to the highest order and all the furniture was new. Doris was very subdued as the house was a bit too 'Hi-So'...it had been reduced from 5.8 to 4.25, just within our budget.

Catch 22 again; Lee the guy from Alan Boltons was very helpful and pushed things along for us...no original Chanote could be produced, the owner was Russian and was out of the country. 

In the meantime we looked at a few more...sometimes just going into compounds and looking around; providing security were happy with a copy of her driving license. We looked at a few that way but found initial asking prices to be ambitious to say the least.

I've noted that on a few occasions where they chuck a ridiculous figure at you usually it's with no intended malice as they don't actually know what to ask...dutifully smile & ignore it. 

Doris then got a call from her contact in Gecko that this one had just appeared on the market...

 

[Petesie]

I was sent pics, thought it had potential and gave it a tentative thumbs up from many miles away.

Doris & friend viewed it and loved it. I did bear in mind that neither had ever owned a property and what may be superb to them may be a bag 'o nails to the likes of us. We got in before it was listed with an offer; the canny seller wouldn't budge on the price of 3.75. There was also another buyer interested.

I explained there was no way we were going to proceed unless I had a viewing. A short trip was arranged but I wasn't able to see it until the last day of a short 5 day trip. I got 20 minutes in there. I managed to get myself in a particular frame of mind that I looked at the potential rather than the obvious...fookin' idiot. 

There was no electric on so it was stifling hot, it was spotlessly clean and spacious with an open plan arrangement which I now love and appreciate. I subsequently missed the bleeding obvious.

The owners were basically just flipping this property. Everything was freshly painted, newly tiled ready for the new occupant to put their stamp on it, tremendous, but what about ...I was swayed and our lease on the condo was nearly up so Doris got the nod. 

Next...what I saw that didn't register. 

[likeaking]

Fascinating, Petesie, keep it coming.

[petemoss]

Pretty much identical to mine. Tropical?

[Jebb]

You have me hooked @Petesie, loving this thread. When the story is told would love to hear from others that have invested on the Darkside.

[Petesie]

2 hours ago, petemoss said:

Pretty much identical to mine. Tropical?

Aye laddie! 

They're all same same ...but different. 

[Petesie]

1 hour ago, Jebb said:

You have me hooked @Petesie, loving this thread. When the story is told would love to hear from others that have invested on the Darkside.

Morning Jebb!

I've been coming to Thailand since '88, stayed clear of Patts till 2008, after a shitty divorce my mates told me to head here so I bloody did., I've been coming here ever since.

The Darkside opened my eyes to a alternative aspect & level of Pattaya at a different pace. I've explored some of it but not managed to do the bar scene over here yet, I'm sure that will follow once things ease off. 

 

[petemoss]

2 hours ago, Jebb said:

You have me hooked @Petesie, loving this thread. When the story is told would love to hear from others that have invested on the Darkside.

I'll wait for Petesie to finish his story then tag mine on to this thread, if that's OK?

[Petesie]

So...we set the ball rolling & some weeks later Doris took possession and moved in, happy daze. 

A quick mention of 'furniture' which may benefit those going down the buying route be it a house or a condo. Properties are usually listed as;

• Fully furnished
• Partly furnished
• Unfurnished

Fairly self explanatory however...it's other peoples stuff. In the 3 condo's we lived in there was nothing in them I wouldn't have cheerfully tossed on a skip. We inherited the middle option which was 2 beds, table & chairs, sofa, the only thing that's left is the table & chairs. Enter the Udon factor. 

Bedroom 3 is full of stuff destined for Udon as Doris refuses to let it go. That includes the all the bloody curtains. 

 

[dh842]

Nice place. you did well.

[TheJoker]

Looking forward to this story

Joker...

[Atlas]

Mate, 

There is a house here in the village that has been "sold" many times, with it never settling, the seller pocketing the deposit.... There are some very, very shady characters here, unless one knows the ins and outs of Thailand property it seems to be a minefield... 

I had enough heart stopping moments in a fully regulated country like Australia !! 

Anyway, I prefer to rent, in fact we have just put a deposit on a pool villa down Bang Saray... I have been on the darkside for a few years, love it, close enough to Patts, but so much better. Bang Saray is a bit further, but we are directly opposite the soldier beach we frequent a lot. So we will see how it goes down there

Good luck

[Jebb]

3 hours ago, petemoss said:

I'll wait for Petesie to finish his story then tag mine on to this thread, if that's OK?

Please do.

[Petesie]

 There were 3 immediate main issues which quickly became apparent that I had not picked up on during my initial viewing:-

• Aircon - 3 units in the house 2 were not functional (remember the power was off & I was assured they were ok?)
• Windows - these were the initial fit of aluminium frames which had become rattly offering no security, not an advocate of the Thai cage approach, what happens if there is a fire, do you keep a power screwdriver by your bed?
• Water pressure & tank - very low as they had either never had or had removed the pump, they had bypassed the tank and were using mains water direct, the tank was empty & rusty

Doris got the store cards for Homepro, Baan & Beyond, Boontavorn, Index, Big C, Central & others which make her purse bulge. 

Aircon; pays to shop around to see who is offering discounts or it's on sale...don't take the sales guy for granted, they are far from experts & can manipulate your choice depending on their rate of commission, e.g., we bought our big unit from Index but were swayed by the sales guy to switch from our initial choice of LG to Samsung, LG was assured as not being in stock and Samsung could be delivered in 3 days... where do we sign.

4 days later we called to be told it would take another 10 days...fook that, straight down there for a refund. The girl told us if we'd have went for the LG we could have had it straight away...I could have went for the sales guy. 2 hours later my LG aircon was being installed. 

 

Edited May 22, 2020 by Petesie

[thegrogmonster]

We bought a townhouse (terrace house) in 2002 on the darkside just off Soi Nern Plab Wan. To be honest we only stay there on holidays but it was one of the best things I have ever bought. I love the area and as people say Pattaya City is not that far away.

[thai2try]

I’m always curious as to how much work you can do on your own place (Bar or home) in Thailand.

whether it’s frowned upon as it’s seen as taking away work from locals.

i always see tradies (555) doing work in bars that’s could be easily done by the owners, homes on the other hand must be getting repaired by the owners for sure

[Harry Brown]

10 minutes ago, thai2try said:

I’m always curious as to how much work you can do on your own place (Bar or home) in Thailand.

whether it’s frowned upon as it’s seen as taking away work from locals.

i always see tradies (555) doing work in bars that’s could be easily done by the owners, homes on the other hand must be getting repaired by the owners for sure

 

A good question, karandy does a lot of his own work on his house and it seems to be ok.