Few years back, there was a craze in buying Thailand properties. From properties in Bangkok to Chiang Mai to Phuket, many Asian investors invested in those properties. Property agents were all out trying to sell as many as they could, singing the praises and the potential profits of these properties.
Disclaimer: This article does not recommend for or against buying properties in Thailand, but simply neutrally and objectively analyse what may be the potential benefits or pitfalls for buying one, as well as the reasons for doing so.
The Situation Then
The reasons for buying Thailand properties were:
- Cheaper compared to other countries if we compared ‘apple to apple’. Bangkok’s condominums of the same class level were cheaper than Beijing’s or Singapore’s.
- The One Belt One Road meant that Thailand is connected to a wider trade network and will benefit from it.
- Thailand’s population is still young and there is a net inflow of young people into Bangkok every year.
- For those not buying in Bangkok, the tourism aspect can easily boost AirBnB income in places like Chiang Mai or Phuket.
However, upon buying, people realise the few horror aspects:
- There is an oversupply of properties aimed at foreigners in Thailand. It will be hard to sell.
- Rental income is only stable in Bangkok. Those dependent on tourism see a big hit on top of the seasonality. Even then, rental yield is not really ideal, probably at about 4% per year.
- Thais are generally more chill. If your property runs into certain maintenance issues that falls under their purview, good luck to you. Sometimes you got to pander to them by giving them gifts and talk nicely to them, after which they will reluctantly help you after you have sufficiently satisfied their ego.
The above is a summary on the reasons back then for buying, and the experiences of different investors after putting in the money. Now, even after knowing the hype and the actual reality, there are still people buying Thailand properties. Why? We objectively look at some potential reasons.
For Children’s Education
In many Asian countries such as Singapore, China, South Korea and Japan, education is very competitive. Students would pour in hours of effort into their studies and parents would put in huge amount of resources such as hiring private tutors or signing their children up for after-school tuition classes, all to raise the students’ academic achievements to another level.
The problem is, probability wise, everything follows the normal distribution curve. There will only be a small percentage who succeeds, with the majority being in the average segment, even if their average capabaility is far higher than their Western counterparts. Not only that, the majority of these students are educated in local government schools. To put it bluntly, almost everyone knows that local government schools train elite slaves who can only operate within the boundaries set by the system, but international schools groom the next generation of leaders and pioneers.
Yet, quite a few countries have explicit rules that prohibits locals from enroling into international schools, for obvious reasons. Furthermore, international school fees are expensive.
Hence, slightly better-off parents have an idea. To enrol their children into an international school in a cheaper foreign country, such as Thailand. In the end, the educational cost of studying in an international school in Thailand may be about the same or just slightly more expensive compared to the parent putting in all the resources into private tuition or whatnot in their own country. The difference now is that the child studies in an international environment, networking with friends from different nationalities, taking part in an internationally recognised examination such as the IGCSE and from there on, has a higher probability of going to universities all over the world.
By changing the playing field of the child, the parent raises the probability of the child succeeding. And since they are going to stay in Thailand for a few years, why not just buy a house? Paying for their own mortgage is far better than paying rental.
Business In Singapore
There are businesses which are legal in certain countries but not in others. For example, it is legal to sell guns in the US but you would probably get a death sentence if you do so in Singapore. Singapore is a financial hub, and there are many finance-related businesses which are perfectly legal in Singapore but are illegal in China. One such example is the currency-exchange business or the money remittance business.
In Singapore, you can see many currency-exchange shops located everywhere. For example, if I hold Singapore Dollars and I want Japanese Yen for my upcoming holiday in Japan, all I need to do is go to any of the currency exchange shops located all around Singapore and do a simple exchange there. However, such a business is illegal in China. You can only go to the banks to conduct such an exchange. Or for example, foreigners working in Singapore can choose to remit money back to their own country through any of the remittance shops in Singapore. But in China, again you have to go through the banks, which of course, charges an undesirable rate.
If we expand further, we will find that there are many business related activities which one can do in Singapore but not in certain countries. Yet Singapore is a very restrictive place with very little personal freedom, which many do not like. What is one way to solve this problem? By being based in Thailand, preferably Bangkok, where you are 2 hours flight away from Singapore with all the freedom and low cost of living which Thailand can offer. Earn the expensive Singapore Dollar and spend the cheaper Thai Baht.
So if one decides to stay for a longer term in Thailand, would buying a property there be a good decision? That would be up for the person to decide.
Business In Thailand
Often, people are of no value in their own country. What we can do, all other average humans in your area can do. Naturally, there are many who cannot do well in their own country. However, when we go out of the country to a foreign place, what we have may become valuable. For example, few years ago there are so many foreigners buying Thailand properties. But many of these people are too busy to take care or maintain their own houses. There are then people who make a living out of it by being property managers for these investors, helping them rent out their condominums and take care of any ad-hoc issues. Of course, if we are observant enough, it is not difficult to see what other business opportunities there may be for us to make use of them.
The next thing people will say is, “It is not that easy to go to another country, with all the visa restrictions and stuff.” But Thailand is one of the countries who goes easy on criminal records and the different types of visa applications. So if one has an unglamorous history but wish to start over, or simply wish to carve out a new road because it is just so difficult in his or her home country, why not give Thailand a try?
There are people who do that, and end up buying a house over there. As always, it is because they intend to stay there on the longer term.
Conclusion
People try to earn money for all sorts of reasons. But sometimes, by changing the playing field, one can find that it is easier to earn money or that their money can be used more efficiently to achieve a certain objective. By opening up your mind and being open to try new things, one may find that perhaps life is not so difficult afterall. And that is why, despite not being a financially sound investment for many on the surface, there are still many who choose to get for themselves a property in Thailand.
幾年前有個投資泰國房產的潮流。從曼谷到清邁到普吉島，許多亞洲買家投了進去。地產中介不斷唱著泰國房產的好，能賣一個是一個。
這文章不推薦也不推銷任何產品，純粹以中立且客觀的立場分析為何有人還會買泰國房產。我知道最近泰國緬甸的事鬧得很大，許多中國讀者對泰國沒有好印象。但是新加坡對泰國還是中立的。
當初的狀況
當初買泰國房產的原因有幾個：
1. 一比一比較的話，泰國房產的性價比確實比其他國家高。同檔次的公寓，曼谷的就是比北京或新加坡的便宜。
2. 一帶一路對當時很多投資者來說是個利好信息。
3. 泰國人口還是偏年輕點的。曼谷淨流入的人口也在增加。
4. 選擇買清邁或普吉島的投資者，當時也看上了做民宿的生意。
但是真正投資後，卻發現了一堆陷阱：
1. 房產供應太多，房產較難脫手。
2. 曼谷以外的租金不穩定。旅遊是有季節性的。在好的狀況下，租金回報率也只有4%左右，不算高。
3. 說好聽，泰國人比較佛係。說難聽，物業和房產管理啥都不管。求他們辦事前，先送點小禮物，大爺您看這事能辦嗎？大爺喝完了他的奶茶，高興了，勉為其難的幫你一下吧。
以上便是大家前些年買泰國房產的理由，以及自身跌進了坑，總結出來的心得。那麼，即便知道這些，為什麼還是有些人想買泰國房產呢？
孩子的教育
在很多亞洲國家，例如韓國，中國，新加坡，日本，教育是一個競爭非常激烈的事情。為了提高考試成績，學生會在學習上投入無數個小時，家長會不斷花大筆錢請私人補習老師或給孩子報名補習班。
問題是，以概率來說，所有一切事物都遵從著正態分佈的原理 – 只有一小部分的人能成功，大部分的人註定是平庸，即便你的平庸放在西方社會就是個人才。不止這樣，大部分的學生都是在政府學校受教育的。說的直白點，政府學校就是培養能在設定的框架內工作的精英奴隸。國際學校才是培養下一代的領導和拓荒者。
但是許多國家明文規定，本地人是不能在本地就讀國際學校的。理由不言自明。更何況，國際學校的學費相當貴。
那麼，稍微有點錢的父母就有個想法。不如在另一個較便宜的國家報名國際學校，例如泰國？到最後，和在本國花費大量資源相比，花差不多同樣的錢能在泰國的國際學校是個更好的事。孩子在國際環境學習，結交的人脈遍佈全球，參加的是國際認可的考試(例如 IGCSE)，從而有更高的概率在國外升上大學。
換了個賽道，家長能提高孩子成功的概率。那麼既然要在泰國住個幾年，與其交房租，不如給自己還房貸？
新加坡的生意
有些生意，在一個國家是合法的，但在另一個國家卻是違法的。例如，在美國你能光明正大的賣槍，但在新加坡那麼做估計會被判死刑。新加坡作為一個金融中心，有很多金融相關的生意雖在這裡是合法的，但在中國確是違法的。比較有代表性的就是外幣換匯和匯款。
在新加坡，到處都可見到外幣換匯的店鋪。假如我持有新幣，但是因為想去日本旅行而需要日圓，我只需要到家樓下任何一個幹這個的店鋪去換錢即可。但是在中國，你卻只能去銀行辦理這樣的業務。又或者在新加坡的外勞賺了新幣，想把錢打回家，新加坡隨處都有提供匯款服務的店鋪。但是在中國，你還是得去銀行。
我們從這條線延伸，就不難發現還有很多在新加坡能做，但是中國不能做的生意。但新加坡確是一個非常限制個人自由的國家。那怎麼解決這個問題呢？去泰國。曼谷飛新加坡只需2小時，泰國生活成本還低。賺新幣，花泰銖。
如果因為生意而決定長時間在泰國居住，為何不買個房產呢？
在泰國做生意
大多數的人在自己的國家是沒有價值的。我們大部分都是平庸的。我們能做的，街上任何一個人也能做，以致有很多人在自己的國家不能出人頭地。但是我們去到了另一個國家，或許會發現原來我們能變得更有價值。例如，這些年投資泰國房產的人，大多數都沒有時間或精力常飛泰國處理房子的瑣事以及出租出去給別人。這時，就有一批人出現幫這些投資者管理房產。這些房產管理人和投資者有時候是同個國家來的。當然，從這個思路延續下去，又發現其實有一堆自己國家人的業務是能做的。當然也會有別的賺錢機會。
然後又會有人說，去另一個國家哪是那麼容易的事？要嘛有錢，要嘛在那裡先得找工作，或者讀書。但是泰國在簽證方面是非常寬鬆的，即便你有犯罪記錄。如果有著不光彩的過去，但又想重頭再來，闖出一條路，泰國也或許是一個選擇。
同理，若在泰國還得常住，是買房或不買呢？這就得個人自行判斷了。
結論
人們為了各種理由賺錢。但有時換個賽道，就會發現原來能更有效的賺取更多資源，又或者能更有效率的達到某個目標。只要放開思想，願意嘗試新事物，或許會發現生活沒必要過得那麼辛苦。這也就是為什麼雖然以單純的金錢投資角度來說，泰國房產不一定是個好選擇，仍然會有很多人想要為自己買套公寓。
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