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| (Picture: Home Sweet Home) |
I am sure someone is going to come back with a perfectly sensible answer but I am wondering why banks in Thailand give better mortgage rates for people buying news houses rather than people buying older ones.
I had someone check the banks recently for mortgages and found that many Thai banks offered up to 110% mortgages on new properties at rates below the normal MLR, while they offered as little 80 per cent on older houses plus at interest rates of MLR (Min lending rate I guess) plus 1.2 – 1.5 per cent!
The property market in Thailand does not seem to be going the way all those property magazines tell you. People are telling me there is a massive slump, yet people in Isaan are still churning out those red bricks by the million – to the detriment of their farms, perhaps. This is the new Isaan gold.
It is of course not news that many of the bigger property companies here are linked to politicians – not least the Prime Minister herself. But perhaps I’m an old cynic.
What I do know is that if you buy a new house in Thailand there is a particularly good chance you will have to start rebuilding it in a couple of years.
A friend of mine bought a fairly expensive house down the road – He wants to sell it. But the outside kitchen has separated itself from the house, as has his front porch.
My garden wall also split in two shortly after I moved in – and I have had to repair a leaky roof.
I am not sure for instance whether to keep my house in Thailand and rent it out when the time comes to go back home send my kids to school in the U.K. I think I may rent. I’m in Bangkok and have lawns, and a lake and all sorts of nature comes to my doorstep. It would be hard to say permanently good-bye to it.
I can only think of one better place – the Scottish Highlands – but I’m not sure I want to put the kids straight in to one of those blizzards that ‘blaw’ down the Great Glen.
Whoops I have had to interrupt this monologue as a call came in from Pattaya to tell me that the gruesome two-some were on the prowl in Soi LK Metro.
The gruesome twosome in this case being Brian Goudie – aka Brian Goldie of the Bailey – and former Aussie pimp, but also of Scottish extraction, David Hanks.
They obviously prefer each other’s company, rather than that of their master impresario Drew Noyes.
They do not need to turn on ‘Location Services’.
Seems like everyone in Pattaya has a video cam now – what with all these smart phones – so a Flying Sporran Award for the person with the best shots!
Old aged pensioners in the U.K. get a heating allowance during the winter months. Many seem to spend it on a ticket to Thailand. I guess that seems quite sensible. Some may even spend it in Pattaya Soi 6 – to keep their circulation going I think.
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| David Hanks – lawyer – Brian Goudie |
I think it's been established that Drew is more of a Buffalo bar kind of guy…looks like Brian has been busy adding teenage Thai girls to his Facebook 'friends'…creepy!
I like this Goudie post the best – He is dedicating a Eurythmics song 'Thorn in my side' to his ex wife and the daughter he deserted 20 plus years ago.
"This song is dedicated to the mother of my beautiful daughter Marie, the most difficulr and uncooperative woman on the planet…"
But this is a close second for the stressed Wee Brian
In times of stress and turmol, thoughts turn to family, friends and places long left behind.
Though I have for twenty or more years lived away from Scotland, often I reminisce.
For my Thai (and even foreign) friends, the words that follow will be unfamiliar, but you will understand as you have the same feelings, missing family and home.
The words that follow are from a song called 'My Ain Folk' , roughly translated means 'my own people'.
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Far frae my hame I wander but still my thoughts return
To my ain folk over yonder in the sheiling by the burn
I see the cosy ingle and the mist upon the brae
And joy and sadness mingle as I list some auld world lay
And it' oh but I'm longing for my ain folk
Though they be but lowly pure and plain folk
I am far beyond the sea but my heart will always be
At home in dear old scotland wi' my ain folk.
A bonnie lassie's greetin' tho' she tries tae stay the tears
And sweet will be our meeting after many weary years.
How my mother will caress me when I'm standing by her side
Now she prays that heaven will bless me through the stormy seas divide.
Anybody who has been to Falkirk will not its not famous for its 'sheiling by the burn' or 'mist upon the brae' and I do not think there is a 'bonnie lassie greetin (crying) for him there.
Agree that it's hard not to be cynical when it appears that big developers are in bed with the banks. To some extent I think they are. However there are a couple of things to note; At first glance it's not easy to compare the interest rates offered on home mortgages because there are so many package choices on offer (e.g. http://www.kasikornbank.com/EN/Personal/Loans/KHomeLoan/Pages/KHomeLoanKasikorn.aspx), though I think the effective interest rate always works out to be about the same.
Regarding the 80% cap, I think this is imposed by the Bank of Thailand but in reality the real debt/equity ratio is determined by the banks appraised value of the property because they turn a blind eye when the actual transaction price is lower than their (usually in-house) appraisal company's valuation.
I have recently bought a couple of (fairly cheap) old condos with a local mortgage in BKK. Because 80% of the banks appraised value was still higher than what I actually paid in total, effectively I got more than 100% mortgage. They don't ask for any proof of the actual transaction price and when doing the transfer and registering the mortgage at the land department their representative that hands over the cheque to the seller doesn't take any notice of what the real price is between buyer & seller.
I think Brian's had a bit of a breakdown….according to his ever amusing FB page, "Finally out of the cesspit they call Pattaya"….this just after another court appearance in Pattaya…sounds like skills as a QC(sic) weren't much help….lol