How to Buy your First Home: What you Need to Know

We all know how tough it is to get your foot on that first rung of the property ownership ladder, with sky-high prices and a hefty deposit to find, not to mention the stamp duty and legal fees. These are serious obstacles to the first-time buyer and it is understandable that most prefer to rent until they are able to make a deposit on a home of their own.

Choosing a Housing Development

If you are looking for a house project in Chonburi (known as โครงการบ้านชลบุรี in Thai), for example, there is a leading development with a limited number of units that surround a beautiful lake and this package offers easy repayments with homes that are furnished and ready to move in. You can enjoy the communal pool and facilities and with nothing to pay for 3 years, you can’t really go wrong.

Buyer’s Market

The current glut of real estate on the market today is good news for the first-time buyer, so do take your time and find a development that is complete and offers things such as, furnishing, low price and deferred payments. The Internet can certainly help you create a shortlist of developments to visit and over the period of a couple of weeks, you can visit the best of the selections and make an informed decision. Talk to each developer and pay attention to essential maintenance and service, which is the responsibility of the developer. If you live in a gated community, there needs to be grounds maintenance; swimming pool and garden care are just a couple of examples, and by asking about these aspects, you will gain a better understanding of the community management.

Credit History

Of course, making your first house purchase involves taking out a home loan and prior to applying, you should clear any outstanding debts. If you have ever defaulted on a previous loan, this might go against you, plus you need to able to show evidence of income and by preparing payslips and bank statements, the application process will be easier.

Choosing the Right Area

Location is everything when looking to acquire real estate and if you have a vehicle, you should look in rural, undeveloped areas, where there is still a lot of greenery. Of course, you do need to live close to where you work, no more than a 30-minute drive would be ideal – there are some beautiful areas on the outskirts of Bangkok where you will find attractive housing developments – with a development that is in a natural environment.