Buy or rent a property in Thailand?
A
long running debate among people who live in Thailand is the question
of whether to rent or buy. There are good arguments for both sides. A
lot depends on personal circumstances, but in the vast majority of
cases it is better to rent, at least initially. There are a number of
reasons why this is the case.
One of the biggest problems with
buying is that you are then tied to a single location. It might turn
out that you actually don't like where you are living. You then have
the cost of selling up and moving on, and you might have problems
selling your property in Thailand. If you are planning to travel around
Thailand then think twice before buying a property.
The plus
side of buying is that you are not paying rent - you own your property,
and you are not subject to the typical landlord related hassles that
occur in Thailand, for example, landlords failing to return deposits is
too common an occurence.
It may be that after a few years in
Thailand you decide it is not the place for you long term, and so it
will be much easier to move on if you only rent.
One final
thing that might influence your decision is whether you own a property
in your home country or not (UK for example). This is because if you
have a property in say UK, you have a valuable appreciating asset (at
least over the long term). If this applies to you there is less of an
incentive to purchase a property in Thailand as you have no real need
of an additional appreciating asset, it's optional.
In summary,
it's the best choice to rent, especially when you first go to Thailand.
If after a couple of years you have found an area where you are happy
and feel settled in Thailand then it is worth considering purchasing a
property - preferably a house rather than an apartment.