Dream homes… dream prices!
Who doesn’t want to build and live in their dream home?
So, spend some time looking around Chiang Mai and the outer areas such as Mae Rim or Pa Daet, find an ideal site and commission an architect to design, then engage a contractor to build, your piece of heaven; your own castle, your own fortress!
All well and good…, until you come to try to sell the property…
Then, when you start doing the mathematics: right, I bought the land for Baht xxx, built the house for Baht xxx… so the property now has to be worth at least 4 times the total I spent because it is my house, it was designed by me (and the architect), to my taste, to my vision.
Hmm…, well, not quite.
Whereas, perhaps, in your home country it’s not that easy to find a good site, and building costs are high, there are still plenty of relatively cheap sites available in Chiang Mai.
As a result, considering this and the propensity for many people to want to build their own dream home, the question has to be asked: “Why will someone buy my dream house at far, far more than they will spend on buying land and building their own, when my house has been designed and built to be my dream home?”
Answers welcome…
What do you think? Is there a big market in Chiang Mai for second-hand “dream homes” with prices more than Baht 20M, 30M, 40M?
Perfect Homes is a leading Chiang Mai real estate agency with extensive experience in the city, regionally, nationally and internationally.
John Conner
on said
I built my dream home in Chiang Mai several years ago. It was not I dreamed about. It caused me to get a divorce from my wife. I now live in the house that has never been completed. I tried to sell it but as it has not been completed no one wants to buy it. I have to accept it was one of the worst decisions I ever made here in Chiang Mai.
LivinLOS
on said
is it listed ?? I am not afraid of a half built at the right value.
Russell Hinds
on said
John Conner Is your home still for sale ? How far finished is it ,what is the location of the home and how much do you want to sell it for thanks john
Al Wilson
on said
This seems to be a perennial problem in Chiang Mai. I have been looking for a house to buy for quite some time but find that many are vastly over priced and certain owners are waiting for that “special purchaser” to whom money is no object. They don’t seem to understand market value and keep coming back to replacement cost.
LivinLOS
on said
VERY much right.. I (my wife) owns 5 rai where it is my intention to build a large villa, with all I want in my dream home, from a cinema / games room to a sauna jacuzzi etc etc.. But I know that in fact this is a horrible financial decision, I am paying something like 2 – 2.5% to rent my luxury 5 bed home with a rai of gardens and a 18m pool, why build at that price ??
I recently saw a large spread (2 homes and a guest rice barn, pool etc) whose initial asking price was 7.5 million sell for 2.2. My buddy bought a house on the market for high 4’s for 2.4. The resale market seems absent if you need to liquidate in months not years.
Build your dream home to live in, but dont ever buy into the ‘its worth X’ here until its sold.
Dug
on said
I’ve read that listing price is 60-40% generally over actual selling price. Any “general” truth to this?
Perfect Homes (Chiang Mai Properties)
on said
Hi Dug,
There are some properties sitting on some “other agency” websites that may be as much as 100% overpriced and these properties will sit on the market until the owner actually wishes to sell.
There is a big difference in the type of seller’s out there, the real seller and the dream price seller. Real sellers listen to experienced agents and those agents should only take them on at market value and these properties will sell. But the dream price sellers will generally seek in experienced agents who will list at any price dreamed up by the owner. Sorry but this is all too common.