Reader Submission: Udon, our quest with a surprising outcome

Fortunately, Charly's life is full of pleasant surprises (unfortunately sometimes also less pleasant ones). Until a few years ago, he would never have dared to predict that he would spend the rest of his life in Thailand. However, he has now been living in Thailand for a while and in recent years close to Udonthani.

---

Soon after our return from the Netherlands we fly back to Udon. After the evaluation of our stay in Pattaya and Toei's urge to live in Udon again, we decided to make another attempt to find a house in Udon.

This time we don't stay in our favorite Pannarai Hotel -because it's fully booked- but in the Centara Hotel. The Centara Hotel is a large hotel, much larger than Pannarai. It has a very spacious entrance with a reception desk, an adjoining lounge, a swimming pool and a restaurant with a water feature in which many large koi carp swim. Personally I prefer the Pannarai. More luxurious rooms, smaller scale, slightly cheaper, better kitchen and better location, namely in the middle of soi Sampan.

The Centara hotel is located right next to the back entrance of Central Plaza. If you enter Central Plaza here, you will find McDonalds and KFC on the right and Starbucks and Svenssens on the left. Armed with laptop, mobile phone and pen and paper, I settled into the lounge of the Centara, awaiting the arrival of a number of real estate agents. I agreed with them with an interval of half an hour. Each broker therefore has thirty minutes to exchange ideas with me about his offer and my wishes. So this structured Western approach does not work in Thailand. One arrives much too late, another does not come at all and yet another has no housing on offer at all.

The same drama as the last time when looking for a house, seems to be happening this time as well. In the end, there are still a total of six houses that I think are worth seeing. The viewings are scheduled over the next two days. I can be brief about it, none of the houses meet our wishes.

In the meantime, I searched further via the net and finally contacted a real estate agent. UD Property with an office right across from the main square in front of Central Plaza. Danish owner and two cute Thai ladies for the viewings. We drove around with one of the ladies for the viewings. Among other things, we arrive at a house on a resort near Big C / Makro and that looks good. Both the resort and the residence. Unfortunately, no key to the house, so we can only see the house from the outside. She also shows us a house in a resort near the airport, but that house is just too small.

PICHAYANON PAIROJANA / Shutterstock.com

In fact, we have already given up hope of finding a suitable home. At the last minute, one of the two lovely ladies from Udon Property calls. She still has a house for sale. House with garden in a resort, just outside Udon. We agree for the next day, Sunday. We drive with her to the house in question. The house is located in a resort along the highway to Nong Khai, about 7 kilometers outside of Udon. Not really the location I'm looking for. But I have long understood that such a house cannot be found in Udon center or maybe you can, but at a very high price. Most of the land, especially in Udon center, is in the hands of a few very wealthy Thai investors.

In addition to the broker, the owner is also present. The house itself is certainly not bad. It has three bedrooms and two bathrooms. A spacious L-shaped living room and a reasonable kitchen with some equipment. Garden all around. About four years old and the adjacent houses are at a sufficient distance. The house is partially furnished. Sofa, sturdy dining table with six good chairs, air conditioning in the main bedroom and another in another bedroom, coffee table, TV cabinet, satellite disk for receiving TV. The TV that is there is from the 90s, so not very interesting.

Toei thinks the house is beautiful and is enthusiastic. Understandable, after the disappointing viewings of the past few days. I'm not that enthusiastic yet, but I have to admit that this is the best we've seen in Udon. The number of bedrooms / bathrooms is ok and are big enough. The garden is not big but spacious enough for Toei to do something with. And the resort itself looks good.

With 55 houses, the resort is neither too big nor too small. When asking the neighbors, there appears to be no flooding in the rainy season. I'm giving Toei permission to start negotiating. This is practically doable, because both the owner and the estate agent are present. The rental price is 16.000 baht per month plus two months' rent as a deposit. About the same as the house in Pattaya.

A surprising twist emerges from that negotiation. We can also buy the house. I hadn't counted on that at all. But I can switch quickly. And I can well imagine that Toei would rather buy a house than rent. The house plus furniture is offered for 3,3 million baht. I think that is too much (I have been in Thailand for a while now, more aware of prices and also more familiar with the Thai way of doing business).

I look a bit sad and say that I think that's a lot. But I'm not making a counteroffer. Let the salespeople do it. After some chattering back and forth, between Toei, the owner and the real estate agent, a new offer is made, namely 3,0 million baht. Look, in half an hour already earned 300.000 baht.

I pretend to be counting on my Japanese, look extra hard again, talk to Toei to increase the tension in the meantime, walk around to look at the house again and then tell Toei I want to sleep on it another night . I promise we'll come up with an answer tomorrow.

In the evening and the next day, we discussed the house and all the bells and whistles in detail with Toei on the basis of the photos taken. Such as the distance from the house to Udon center, the roads, the neighborhood and neighbors. Of course also the purchase price discussed. The pros and cons, the purchase price versus, among other things, the monthly rental costs. And, which also plays a role, in case of rent you are not allowed to change much about the house and the garden. So that you can not shape the house according to your own insight.

We drive back to the resort again to exchange ideas with a number of neighbors present and with the ladies of the management office. About the risk of flooding in the rainy season, about the service of the resort manager, the garbage collection service, the maintenance of the resort, etc.

For me, the most important thing is my assessment that I have found an excellent partner in Toei. Not a gold digger, but a woman with whom I have a very pleasant, cozy and serious relationship, also a woman who really takes care of me. And within that given I would like to give Toei this house in the future as well.

We agree. We want to buy this house. In the afternoon I have Toei make an offer of 2.7 million baht, stating that this is a final offer. So no longer negotiable. It's simple: take it or leave it.

amnat30 / Shutterstock.com

The response will take a while. But in the evenings, the broker will let you know that the offer has been accepted. Of course he also put a lot of pressure on not missing out on his commission.

The next morning we walk from the Centara Hotel to the office of UD Property to record some things and make further arrangements. A purchase contract is drawn up in both Thai and English. This takes a lot of time because I do not like a number of clauses and need to be changed and the Thai saleswoman, who also did the viewings with us, does not have much knowledge of the English language. At one point I was sitting behind her laptop to enter the English texts, after which she could do the Thai texts again.

Anyway, after about four hours we're done and the purchase contract can be signed by Toei, the owner and the broker. Delivery of the house will take place at the end of November, which is about three weeks after all payments have been made by me. The house (and the land) will then be transferred to Toei's name at the Land Office within a maximum of two weeks.

Now everyone is happy, the owner because she found a buyer, Toei and I because we found what we came to Udon for and the broker is happy because he earns about 80.000 baht. We invite the owner and the broker with his saleswoman to celebrate this joyful event with us with a drink and a snack in the Sizzler restaurant. The atmosphere is very cozy and we have a nice afternoon. To this day we still have good contact with the former owner.

The house is really to our taste. We took a lot of pictures and together we look, based on all those pictures, how we want to change the house in our opinion. That already gives a lot of anticipation, comparable to choosing a holiday trip. Toei is also very happy with the garden. It is not too big, but she can make something beautiful out of it.

She comes from the northeast of the Isaan, so from the countryside. There she gained an enormous amount of knowledge about dealing with the soil, planting and grafting the plants. She has, as they call it, green fingers and she likes to do it. Toei is very happy. The day after this memorable shopping day, we fly back to Bangkok.

Well, happy people in Udon, of course less happy people in Pattaya, because we are going to cancel the rent. Fortunately, that ends in a good atmosphere. I did lose the deposit, but I knew that in advance, so that's no surprise.

Of course I also have to ensure that the payment of the purchase price reaches the agreed bank on time. And do we have to arrange the transport of our goods to Udon. Our clothes can be taken on the plane in our suitcases, as well as my laptop. The other stuff and the car also have to go to Udon. I have decided that I no longer want to drive that distance by car. Toei's son and a friend of his offer to do this transport by car. I say please, please.

And so it can happen that after eight months of Pattaya, of which three months on holiday in the Netherlands, we return to Udon. But to a house that we like and in an environment that we like. Thanks to UD Property who was able to show us what we want. A house that we could not find in our first search, due to ignorance. In the meantime I would know a much better method to find a house. Look up a moo job in an area where you would like to live, drive around that moo job and write down the phone numbers of the houses that are for sale. And make an appointment with those people or with their broker for a viewing.

Then ask the residents of the moo course about the quality of the moo course, the security, the garbage collection service, the cleaning of the common areas and the processing of the rain in the rainy season. Based on the above and the previous episodes, there will undoubtedly be readers who doubt my sanity and want to provide me with all kinds of advice and warnings.

To be ahead of things, therefore, just the below.

My decisions are based on the following:

1. I want to continue living in Thailand, I really like it here, I don't want to leave here anymore;
2. Toei is just a wonderful woman, who I have a great relationship with. She is not lazy at all, takes good care of the house (always looks spick and span) and the garden. And most importantly, she takes excellent care of me. Never asks for money and certainly does not make large expenses. She is also never bothered by a sick sister, buffalo's that suddenly die, a nephew's motorbike that has been totaled, etc. To people/girlfriends who want to borrow money, her answer is always: “no”.
3. To be on the safe side, have a lease-back contract drawn up when you buy the house (but what good is such a contract if the relationship is on the rocks?).
4. I have acquired a fair amount of human knowledge in my life. On that basis I dare to say that Toei is an extremely reliable partner.
5. My investments in Thailand, in my first year, amount to roughly 100.000 euros. But then you have something. A good car, a practically new house and a complete, largely new interior. On the other hand: No monthly rental costs. Own transport, so not dependent on and no costs of taxis and tuktuks. House and interior of the house as we like it. And I wish Toei with her son and daughter a good “old age provision”, for when I no longer walk around on this earth.
6. I can afford it financially, without going into debt.
7. I live on my state pension and my pension, and I make sure that the monthly expenses are lower than my income, so that I can also save some money to absorb setbacks, for example maintenance of the house and the car.

Submitted by Charlie