< Magazine Index > < Index For This Edition > < Subscribe >

Avoiding traffic 
There are now several areas of Bangkok colonized by Westerners—and unless you are thoroughly familiar with Thailand’s language and culture, you would be crazy to look elsewhere. The most expensive part of town is along the Chao Phraya River, where super-deluxe apartment blocks offer spectacular views over Bangkok’s busy river life and main architectural monuments. Unless you are genuinely rich by international standards, you can forget it. 
Less pricey is Sathorn (sa-TORN), which is located near the main business center along Silom Road. Many expatriates who work in Silom live here to minimize exposure to the traffic, but Sathorn is neither cheap nor particularly atmospheric. A newer area is Bang Na, a modern suburb in the southeast part of the city, where several of the biggest international schools have relocated. Many expatriates live here so that the burden of the traffic will fall on their own rather than their children’s shoulders, but getting anywhere else you might want to go can be a nightmare.

Living off Sukhumvit Road
 Most likely, you will end up living in one of the many soi (lanes) off Sukhumvit Road. Nearly all expatriates used to live in Sukhumvit (sook-um-WIT), and it remains the dominant foreign quarter. This is no ghetto (plenty of Thais live in Sukhumvit too), but English is widely spoken and all the services foreigners require (lawyers and accountants, 24-hour supermarkets, travel, estate and maid agencies, etc.) are readily available.
Sukhumvit Road itself covers a multitude of sins—this is a major thoroughfare, which stretches nearly 200 miles from Ploenchit (plern-CHIT) in the city center to Trat near the Cambodian border. The most expensive section is lower Sukhumvit, which runs from Ploenchit to Soi 21 (Asok), and is home to many upmarket hotels and big department stores. The central section, which runs from Asok to Soi 55 (Thonglor), has the heaviest concentration of apartment blocks. Upper Sukhumvit is distinctly cheaper, but beyond Soi 63 (Ekamai), the Western quarter quickly gives way to the exclusively Thai district of Phra Kanong.
 It is impossible to generalize about the soi that run off Sukhumvit, or the sub-soi that rather eccentrically connect them. Some are very quiet, others serve as traffic-clogged short cuts. A characteristic soi would contain several apartment blocks (of varying size and quality), many guesthouses and small hotels, and a few private houses set in large gardens. Frequently, the atmosphere is almost semirural—a world away from the din and pollution of Sukhumvit Road itself. Shops, restaurants (many among the best in the city), and private clubs (often glorified brothels) are liberally scattered throughout the area.

How foreigners can buy
At present, foreigners are not allowed to own land in Thailand—nor can you buy in the name of a Thai wife, as she will automatically take on your own status in this respect. If you must have a house, you can get round the ban through complicated leasing and corporate maneuvers, but you will certainly need to consult a local lawyer.
 It is far more common to buy into a condominium, where foreigners are permitted to own up to 40 percent of the apartments in any individual block (with the upper limit presenting no problem at present). To gain approval, you must pay the purchase price in full, with foreign-currency funds brought into Thailand specifically for that purpose. 
In practice, you should ensure that you have sufficient funds in your bank at home before leaving for Thailand and then open a baht account at the head office of one of the main Thai banks shortly after your arrival. When you are ready to move, instruct your home bank to wire the necessary funds to Bangkok immediately, making sure that the transfer is endorsed “for condominium purchase.” It is important that you should be in a position to organize this very quickly—big discounts are available from distressed sellers, but they will only accept the silly price you’re offering if you can promise payment within a week to 10 days. With a good Sukhumvit lawyer, you will find that the conveyancing procedures themselves can be completed very quickly.

From $18,000 and up
 Prices vary enormously. At the top of the market, along the river, the sky’s the limit—while at the bottom end, you should be able to find a serviceable studio apartment for as little as $18,000. In Sukhumvit, most two- to three-bedroom apartments of about 80 to 100 sq. m. are currently available from about $40,000 to $125,000—though you can certainly pay a lot more. The key variables are location, distance from ground level (prices normally rise by 500 baht per sq.m. for each floor), and the age of the apartment block. This last factor is a major consideration. Older, lower-rise, blocks seldom have much in the way of common facilities apart from parking, security, and the inevitable swimming pool, but room sizes are larger and you can obtain up to 50 percent more living space for your money. 
As always, the only way to get a real feel for the market is to contact the local agents (advertised in the Bangkok Post), give them your requirements and price range, and let them ferry you around to view likely prospects. (A Web site that might prove useful: Mr. Home at www.mrhome.com/index.html.) 
Do bear in mind the traffic problem, though. If you’re going to be looking in Sukhumvit, that’s where you should be based—and if you’re likely to be picky, calculate that you won’t be able to view more than two or three apartments a day before you’ve had enough.
 Finally, you should remember that in many respects Thailand is Star Trek country. Buy a copy of  Do’s and Don’ts at the airport, and make a point of reading it. Be as courteous as you can, smile a lot (even if it’s though clenched teeth), and never, but never, lose your temper unless you want to forfeit all respect. Thais are generally helpfulness itself, but if they take a dislike to your manners, they will find subtle ways to frustrate you at every turn. 

Post-crisis bargains
Why buy real estate in Bangkok? In my case, the answer was easy: My wife is Thai, and, with a baby on the way, it was time to put down some permanent roots. Even so, I couldn’t have done it without a major stroke of luck. Until the sudden collapse of the baht in the summer of 1997—the event that sparked off the Asian economic crisis—Bangkok had become an expensive town for Westerners. 

Not only was the currency overpriced, but wealthier Thais kept property prices artificially high through speculation. By last fall, when I was in the market, both factors had swung into reverse. Although the baht was off the floor, it still stood at 42 to the dollar instead of old pegged rate of 25. Moreover, the Bangkok property bubble had burst spectacularly. With these two factors compounding, we were able to buy a large three-bedroom apartment in the center of town for $54,000, which only 15 months earlier had been on the market for $160,000. As a rough rule of thumb, you can still expect to buy property at 35-40 percent of precrash prices.

The Bangkok real-estate market has now stabilized, as has the rate of exchange. Moreover, the Thai economy—in free fall through most of 1998—has bottomed out. As there is still a property overhang in Bangkok, big short-term gains are unlikely, but over the longer term it should be a very different story. If you buy now, you can be sure that you will be buying at (or very near) the bottom, and also that  you will be obtaining some of the best value the Far East currently has to offer.

If the Thais cannot make you question some of your most basic beliefs and habits of mind, you are probably a lost cause.