A house in Thailand (part 1)

Over time many houses have passed on Thailandblog and more and more the feeling came over me to show our house, just a house nothing special.

The history is that we, Phon and Kees, migrated to Thailand 5 years ago and that well before departure we were already thinking about where we would like to live and what the range of houses there was.

Opinions were divided on the location, I wanted the Cha-am area and my spouse near the place where she had grown up and worked, Rai Khing. After weighing a lot of pluses and minuses, we have come to the decision to live near her old environment. But that's easier said than done.

A year before our emigration to Thailand we heard that a series of new houses would be built in Rai Khing and that it would be something for us. Well, during the holiday we had in Thailand, we looked at the homes that were in various stages of construction and dismantling. We then decided to buy a corner house where we had some adjustments made so that it seemed better to us in terms of layout. Everything arranged and back home in the Netherlands where we regularly received photos and information about the progress of the construction.

It looked pretty nice from the outside but the pictures of the inside made me less happy. There were huge gravel nests everywhere in the load-bearing construction of the poured concrete beams and in many places you could simply see the reinforcing steel. We had engineers summoned and assessed the construction and they indicated that if we bought it we would enjoy it for about 10 years because of the poor construction. This has been reported to the contractor who did not mind and would seal the holes. The fun was over for us and we wanted to reverse the purchase, which would not be easy, also in connection with the changes we had made. Fortunately, there was quite a bit of "weight" on our part to convince the contractor and there was a waiting list with candidates for these houses and the dear sir wanted to buy "our" house with the adjustments. Pooh. Nicely arranged.

Another tip we got was at the end of the year we came to live in Thailand. A beautiful course with plots of land of various sizes and therefore also with different prices. Everything on large signs stated on each plot. We selected three plots and passed them on to the sales office, unfortunately already sold! Okay, please indicate which plots are still available so that we can search more specifically. No, that was not possible and just look on the internet. Just before the turn of the year, a number of plots were selected with the help of the finally found website and registered at the sales office in the new year. What our surprise, yes the plots were free, but they had become 10% more expensive because the sales promotion ran until December 31! Figure it out.

What now? I have visited various websites of brokers, but the offer of the houses was mainly in the well-known and somewhat larger places as soon as you get further from those places, it becomes increasingly difficult to find what is most suitable on the websites. So what was the next action: obtain information from the town hall, from acquaintances, friends and so on.

We ended up at house auctions of really nice houses that had been reclaimed by the bank, but that didn't work out because a bank employee was in the audience and outbid every bid from us. Yes it's okay, bye. Found something for a reasonable price through a real estate agent and first we went to look on site. It was pretty close on a moo track with what looks like mostly Thai people. The house in question was actually only a concrete skeleton, just like the house next door. They had been eaten completely empty by the termites and everything they didn't like was badly neglected and broken and the garden could be transferred to the Amazon in no time.

We made another offer to buy the 2 houses with land for the price of 1 (they were with the same real estate agent) and to thoroughly renovate the place. I don't really consider myself clumsy. Pooh. But no, the broker just wanted a lot of money.

We also viewed a house in another moo with a swimming pool. The house had also been empty for a while and the outdoor units of the air conditioning had disappeared and the pump and filter systems of the swimming pool were also gone. We called the real estate agent to view the inside of the house, but the real estate agent did not want to come and open the property. Too bad it's over. Later I heard from my tax officer that a colleague of hers had bought that house but had to spend a lot of money for new electricity, water supply and drainage and of course replacing the air conditioners. And painting a building is almost always a necessity.

With time a solution will be found.

Buy land and build a house and not an existing house. Yes, an acquaintance knew a piece of half a rai in a quiet location in the hamlet of Rai Khing, Song Kanong on the Thai Cin River. Nice piece but not yet prepared for building a house. We have inquired about raising the ground and what the price would be. The cost of raising the plot and the plot itself came to 2,3 million baht. And then wait at least a year before construction can start. Phon, my wife, loved it but I didn't. Didn't happen, missed opportunity according to Phon. But a few days later we were pointed to a house not far from there and what would be for sale because the man had retired and the children had moved out and they wanted to return to their home area of ​​Rayong. Okay we're going to look and I'm not so excited anymore because I was a bit tired of all that yellowing. But that was soon over when I saw the house.

A house of 10 years old on a slight elevation (terp) it had 1 level and the living layer was built 1 meter above the ground, but everything was bricked up so that there was a nice space under the house with a number of access hatches. Ground surface slightly more than half a rai and completely walled. Viewed the house, and there were construction drawings and it looked like quite a few piles had been driven into the ground and also of a considerable length, the walls were almost free of cracks and the house had enough space, more about that later. The windows were of the slat type with dark brown glass. Also the floor were almost black. Mmmm bit nostalgic but ok. The first impression was good living room, kitchen, 3 bedrooms, Buddha room, a spacious central hall and 3 toilet / shower rooms, 1 toilet / shower room was built outside. Behind the house tiled concrete floor and everything was neatly covered.

Beautiful.

The situation in and around the house was, let's put it that way, Thai. But if you could see through that, it had the best potential. The price went through and Phon as a real Thai went to haggle and the price was finished at 2,7 million baht. The official business handled quickly at the land office. We also had to establish the right of way that was already there for the old residents, but that should also apply to us when buying the house because we have to use 2 pieces of private road. Just as an indication: next to our house a piece of land of 1 rai is for sale for 3 million Baht and then everything has to be done, such as filling in and raising the ditches.

The container with the complete household goods was on its way to Thailand and would soon be delivered to the port from where transport would take place to Song Kanong. We feared for customs clearance, etc., but that all went smoothly. Our purchased house is about 100 meters from the main road and that 100 meters is a gravel road and fairly narrow for a truck with little room to manoeuvre. The solution came naturally. Truck with 40 foot container came and parked on the main road and a pick-up with 10 hard workers in it came along with the truck. They unloaded the container and brought everything home and everything was ready in a few hours. Some bahtjes left and right and a few bottles of Hong Tong and soda for the return journey and everyone was more than happy. The old residents had meanwhile also left, leaving part of their old home inventory behind.

We have fairly distributed our boxes and furniture in the building and made arrangements with a painter to repaint the lot inside and out. Well that worked out. 2 and sometimes 3 men/women have been busy for a few weeks because it was a lot of work and they did it nicely. The colors for the inside and outside and perimeter walls were a discussion. The family thought it should go green oops alarm bells. Because my wife was born on a green day. Yes Yes. In consultation with the painters and for indoors all kinds of different green (like) shades, which was actually quite neat. No, not apple green hahaha. Because Phon listened to her mother (green) I wanted to decide on the outside and brown and beige shades turned out great.

Solved

In the meantime the house had had a good scrubbing and everything was nice and fresh again. Outside we have collected everything that was left of the previous owner and were able to make a big fire out of it. And it was already so hot. And then yes what then. What do we do with the garden. What do we do with the dark brown windows and the wooden frames. The grille for the windows and doors. The black tile floor. Okay enough I'm retired and have plenty of time and still enough energy.

The house was furnished with all the furniture and equipment that we had brought from the Netherlands. So energetically in the heat started on the garden, gravel and sagging paths. Paths re-laid gravel out and sand in. Making borders and planting plants and shrubs. Grass, oh dear I tried that 2 times and gave it a lot of attention and water but it was no success. Later switched to artificial grass and that suits much better and looks just like real. Turns yellow too! No kidding, it's still good.

Electricity installed outside with sockets and lighting in strategic places along the walls and gate and some lamps with motion sensors at somewhat higher points. Everything fine.

Submitted by Kees