Financing the construction

[runker]

How hard is it to get a mortgage in Thailand? We had to pay cash for the land and I rather not drop a lot for the house at one time. What have others done?

[dozer]

My friend tried to get a mortgage for a finished house he had moved into and needed to pay off. He was down at the bank every day and complaining about all the documentation that they wanted. In the end I think it was possible but very very painful, he ended up getting a mortgage from another farang neighbor, secured by the title deed.

Interest rates are also high here. A Thai friend I've known for a while wanted to borrow 1 million baht from me and Mrs dozer and said we could transfer and hold the title (as opposed to registering a mortgage) on the chanote and hold it as collateral to her house which is worth at least 2 m. She said she would pay 3% monthly. I wasn't inclided to go for it, but apparently even the Thais don't really like going to the bank because of the paperwork hassle.

[rigpig.sparky]

My friend tried to get a mortgage for a finished house he had moved into and needed to pay off. He was down at the bank every day and complaining about all the documentation that they wanted. In the end I think it was possible but very very painful, he ended up getting a mortgage from another farang neighbor, secured by the title deed.

Interest rates are also high here. A Thai friend I've known for a while wanted to borrow 1 million baht from me and Mrs dozer and said we could transfer and hold the title (as opposed to registering a mortgage) on the chanote and hold it as collateral to her house which is worth at least 2 m. She said she would pay 3% monthly. I wasn't inclided to go for it, but apparently even the Thais don't really like going to the bank because of the paperwork hassle.

What about overseas loans I've heard of some banks in Singapore doing deals but don't know much about them ??

[jazzman]

Would you take out a mortgage to buy a normal car in a Western country? That's the kind of money you are talking about for a house in Thailand, not hundreds of thousands of pounds, dollars or euros. Unless you are used to driving a Ferrari, and in which case you would be in the league that wouldn't need credit to buy it.

It's just an idea, but anyone who needs credit for a house in Thailand could well on a budget already a little too limited to seriously consider relocating to Thailand, not to mention the air fares and all the other expense (visas, school fees for the kids, cheese, bacon, sausages, bread, real coffee, wine, genuine branded apparel etc).

A cheapskate might get away with it, but most people might not want to reduce their quality of life by leaving their homeland.

Anyway, that's just my 2 cents.

[somdet]

While you most likely wouldn't get a mortgage for a car, you would most likely not buy a car with cash. The difference, of course, is that losing your property is the result when defaulting on a mortgage while getting your car repo'd is what happens if you blow it with a car loan.

If your wife has a good job, she can get a loan from the bank no problem. I know a couple who is doing just that at the moment. You could also get a loan form a personal money lender (i.e shark, shady character, mafioso, etc.). I used the entirety of my savings, which I am beginning to think might not have been such a grand idea.

[jazzman]

Agreed. There is also the question of budgeting for a house which one can safely afford - economising without cutting corners - and leaving enough for contingencies, next week's TescoLotus bill and next term's school fees.

[rigpig.sparky]

Agreed. There is also the question of budgeting for a house which one can safely afford - economising without cutting corners - and leaving enough for contingencies, next week's TescoLotus bill and next term's school fees.

Yeah in my case it would be nice to go the extra bit with it now but I can wait for some of the extras, I guess its just all in the planning. We all want it now I guess, when another 6 months is nothing in reallity !

[jazzman]

With a lot of the knowledge that can be gleaned from this site, and a bit of know-how, it is possible to save up to 50% on a contractor's bid. Too many, however, tend to confuse possible with certain and need to brush up their semantics.

My other contention is that as houses here are so cheap compared with back home, if anyone needs a mortgage to build one, maybe they should revised their plans for settling in the counry.

If one has enough cash for a modest home here, it could even make one a genuine home owner, where the best one could do back home is live in rented property - plenty of middle class people do, even in rich Switzerland.