Former Condo Virgin.
Relocation is hard. Especially when every day you are recovering from the previous night’s entertainment instead of going out condo hunting. To keep things short, I found a place to live finally. I’ve learned quite a bit when it comes to dealing with the apartment hunt and I will be glad to share my not so pleasant experience with all of you.
Having friends who have been Bangkok residents for 1+ years certainly helps when it comes to condo hunting. There were so many factors to consider that I was not even aware about until speaking with the locals. First of all, location. I’m sure you are all aware of the old saying: “Location, Location, Location”. Never undermine this rule of thumb as Bangkok is certainly a city where you need to research the dozens of districts before choosing one that suits your living style. For me, the decision was quite easy as all my friends are conveniently clustered around one area of the city.
Where you want to live
In Bangkok, if you are looking for easy access to nightlife entertainment, public transportation, shopping and value-based food – then look no further than Sukumvit Road. This area represents the financial core of Bangkok and as a result, it has become one of the most developed districts in all of Thailand. On this road you will find access to the subway system (known as the MRT) as well as access to the SkyTrain (the above ground train that travels along Sukumvit Road). Easy transportation within this area has attracted many expatriates, travelers and locals alike due to easy access to food, hotels, shopping and nightlife. The Consumer Price Index for locals living in this area is quite high when compared to other districts of Bangkok; and the gap continues to widen as you move to the rural provinces of the country. You might not realize it, but you are actually paying a relatively higher price for a basket of goods than people living outside the city. This should not come as a surprise. However, sometimes it tilts me when I am paying 1 dollar for a meal, when somebody living 10KM away from me is only paying 50 cents – just saying you know?
The second thing you should consider when looking for a place to live in Asia is whether or not you want to conduct research yourself or seek the assistance of an agent. After about 2 weeks of condo hunting, I’ve come to my own conclusions regarding the issue of agent vs no agent. Keep in mind that there are pros and cons to each method and choosing one should be based on the mindset of the traveler.
If you are lazy, then by all means use an agent. I can’t tell you how frustrating it is to be calling shady telephone numbers expecting the person on the other line to respond “Hi, how can I help you sir?” Typically, the conversations went like this:
Receiver: “Swaddekap!” (Hello)
Me: “Hi, I saw your advertisement for a 2bedroom on prakard.com, can you tell me more about it?”
Receiver: “ohhhhh, ohhhhh, ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Sorry sir, nooooooo ahhhhh ehhhhhhhh”
Me: “(wtf?)”
Reciever: “Yes sorry, condo no rent you – bye”
Me: (facepalm)
I think 3 out of 5 people that I contacted gave me the above response and that’s when I decided to go down the Agent route. As a foreigner, this method definitely has its advantages. They fill that language gap that inevitably exists upon landing. They are professional about their craft and go to all means necessary to accommodate your desired location, budget and lease terms. But what’s the catch? Take note that an agent in Bangkok is a direct proxy for the owner of the property. You deal with the agent and the agent only. All payments for rent and utilities go directly into the Agent’s pockets. The agent then forwards the true rental amount to the property owner. Sounds like we have a middleman here – and what do middlemen take? They take a cut and the ways in which they do it can be quite deceiving.
Long story short, if an agent sees you as a potential mark (easy target), he or she will attempt to oversell the condo to you. In other words: Jack up the price. If the agent manages to rent out the apartment for 600usd when in fact the property owner expects only 500usd – well it seems to me somebody is making a little extra money now aren’t they? Upon successful sale of a lease, the agent also receives 1 month worth of rent from the owner as a commission.
Upon discovering all of this, my roommate and I felt it was not in our best interest to pursue our condo hunt with the aid of an Agent. And so we once again decided to go all naturale for the task.
We probably spent about 5 days on the natural condo hunt. We looked everywhere in the financial district with only one goal in mind: Get in touch with the owner. I have some advice for some of you would be relocationers. Walk around an area that you would prefer to live in and if you see a building that you like, walk into reception and request the list of unrented units. This may seem obvious enough, but back home in Canada, the Internet was my sole resource for finding potential places to live – not this brick and mortars’ approach.
After navigating through one of the nicest areas in town, we finally discovered a building that we were both interested in. The area is called “Thonglor” and it represents a modern mash up of the New York social lifestyle mixed in with the ambiance of relaxed bar scenes, exquisite restaurants and places to simply sit down and contemplate life.
The building we moved into is called The Clover and it spans across 4 or 5 buildings – I don’t remember. Can somebody tell me how many petals are on a green clover? It probably has some significance. Will be back next time to showcase this wonderful property as I need to really start getting back on my video making game
PS. If you are really stumped and prefer to find condos online, please visit www.mediaseekers.com as they will be able to conduct your search for a fair price.
“A person’s success in life can usually be measured based on how many uncomfortable conversations he or she is willing to have in their life” Ferriss.
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Glad to hear you found a place. Looking forward to see some pictures of your place. That or a video tour of the place with all it’s peculiarities.
The first video tour is coming as this condo property has lotttts of stuff to showcase (pool, gym, exterior, etc).
I plan on just doing an amateur style to showcase my actual condo unit….there is nothing much to show you here other than my room
i love your blog, i have it in my rss reader and always like new things coming up from it.
Thanks! Do you mind if I ask how you found me?
If I was looking for a place my conversation would go something like the following:
Receiver: “Swaddekap!” (Hello)
Me: “Gesundheit! I saw your advertisement for a 2br on prakard.com, can you tell me more about it?”
Receiver: “ohhhhh, ohhhhh, ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Sorry sir, nooooooo ahhhhh ehhhhhhhh”
Me: “Huh? White man want to make BANG-BANG! Ok, yes?!”
Reciever: “Yes sorry, condo no rent you – bye”
Me: (Napalm)
hahahhaha. I dont think condo owners care if you plan on bringing women back to your place. All they really want is rent money and a security deposit (if you destroy furniture while doing you know what).