I've never really fully managed a real 'home' before myself. Always had the privilege of mom/dad and mom in law to stay with us. So when we decided to move, my wife June and I had to crack our brains and used our gut feeling to balance between reality and dream. No one unit can satisfy all our needs and wants.
So prior to making our look and see trip to Bangkok back in August. We spent every night looking at google maps, reviews, Bangkok expat blogs. House for rent listings, etc. Few important tips which helped us a lot:
1. The pretty property agent websites in English are all blardy expensive and over priced. As they are targeted to, of course, English speaking clients, the Farrangs (Gwai Lou). But I have to give it to the Thais as these websites are really presentable, I do also suspect they are run by agencies who have Farrangs as partners. So my advice is get some local friends to help get local agent contacts. We got a few from my new employers and found a good agent (British guy with a Thai girlfriend) on craigslist.co.th
2. If you want size, you have to sacrifice age. The older units are available in bigger sqm while the newer units are mostly below 100sqm. You can only get the best of both worlds if you have the financial freedom to do so, ie 60,000 baht rental per month.
3. Use a few agents, don't just stick to one. Just like any deligent business decision making, you open tender and accept a few proposals to consider. Each agent have their own insight and opinion. At least at the end of the day you get to hear the same or different story from different angles.
4. Do as much research as possible. It really helps as your expectations when you arrive is not so far from the reality. I've walked google street every single night just to get a close enough feel of the locations we are considering. I've read tons and tons of reviews and blogs about the businesses and shops around the areas. And when I arrive, the agent was impressed with my knowledge on the neighbourhood that it will definitely be hard to give a biased advice.
First round of information pointed us to a few key areas along the BTS line mainly Sukhumvit and Silom. Many say that's where you'll find expat community. Then we found other areas such as Bangna and Ari. I'll keep this post short and share more about how we came to conclusion and decided to rent the condo we are renting now.
Will update this post again with some photos.
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