South East Asia
- Thread starter syahrr01
- Start date
I agree, it is too easy for local sharks to eat you alive.
in thailand non citizens can own strata units in their own names but cannot directly own land. this is gotten around by buying in a company with the foreigner owning less than 50% of the shares but controlling the voting rights. also very risky
here is a story of someone with a problem in thailand
http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic...of-the-house-area-is-owned-by-aunt-blackmail/
http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic...of-the-house-area-is-owned-by-aunt-blackmail/
although thailand and indonesia pose many problems. malaysia and singapore are quite good in terms of ownership.
I'll up your problems in thailand link by 1...
http://andrew-drummond.com/2011/11/...i-investigates-british-rotary-club-president/
These stories ahappen all the time.
Like my girlfriend's 60 year old great grand uncle from Hong Kong (or whatever you call your grandmother's brother) who migrated to Canada with his wife, started a trucking business. They sold their business some years later for C$30m and bought lots of properties in Vancouver (over the span of 30 years).
One day met a girl from Wuhan (China), divorced his wife, took C$6m or so as settlement and bought multiple properties in China "with" his new girlfriend. Only to find out later the properties were all in her name and she left him.
Lucky his wife took him back and together they still have C$24m.
Like my girlfriend's 60 year old great grand uncle from Hong Kong (or whatever you call your grandmother's brother) who migrated to Canada with his wife, started a trucking business. They sold their business some years later for C$30m and bought lots of properties in Vancouver (over the span of 30 years).
One day met a girl from Wuhan (China), divorced his wife, took C$6m or so as settlement and bought multiple properties in China "with" his new girlfriend. Only to find out later the properties were all in her name and she left him.
Lucky his wife took him back and together they still have C$24m.
There are a number of things one should think twice about before buying in Vietnam:
• Nobody is allowed to own land. Land is theoritically owned by The People, in other words by the communist party. These officials have absolute say in the way land is disposed of. This opens up endless opportunities for corruption.
• Foreigners have to be residents in order to buy the houses that sit on the land. Land is leased for a maximum of 50 years (there are local and foreign REA’s that market longer or renewable leases but I’m not sure how they can work). So if you “buy” an apartment that was built 20 years ago, only 30 years remain.
• Despite the 50 year limit, it has been reported that some province governors have granted 99 year lease to some Chinese companies to cut trees in the North. As I said, nothing that money can't buy.
• If your occupation title is not renewed for any reason you have to sell or gift the house.
• 3 months after you're no longer a resident, the government can move in and cancel your occupation title. People who can’t sell in time have to gift it to somebody local, whoever this somebody may be.
• Most properties in Vietnam are paid in gold, I mean pure physical gold. You have to make sure that when gold changes hand you have something to hang to. Recently it was reported the government is going to ban the sale/purchase of gold. More gold under the table I say.
• To avoid difficulties some people set up a JV with a local – just another source of headache and disappointment. And the local wants gold.
• Foreign companies sometimes buy houses for their employees. But I don’t know of any foreigners who have bought under their own names. Surely they must exist though.
• Final word of caution: a lot of these “new developments” are built on land that has been confiscated by the government (land taken from farmers and city dwellers is a huge political problem right now) where party officials have come in and skimmed it off in shady intra-party deals. Title can be questionable to say the least.
• Nobody is allowed to own land. Land is theoritically owned by The People, in other words by the communist party. These officials have absolute say in the way land is disposed of. This opens up endless opportunities for corruption.
• Foreigners have to be residents in order to buy the houses that sit on the land. Land is leased for a maximum of 50 years (there are local and foreign REA’s that market longer or renewable leases but I’m not sure how they can work). So if you “buy” an apartment that was built 20 years ago, only 30 years remain.
• Despite the 50 year limit, it has been reported that some province governors have granted 99 year lease to some Chinese companies to cut trees in the North. As I said, nothing that money can't buy.
• If your occupation title is not renewed for any reason you have to sell or gift the house.
• 3 months after you're no longer a resident, the government can move in and cancel your occupation title. People who can’t sell in time have to gift it to somebody local, whoever this somebody may be.
• Most properties in Vietnam are paid in gold, I mean pure physical gold. You have to make sure that when gold changes hand you have something to hang to. Recently it was reported the government is going to ban the sale/purchase of gold. More gold under the table I say.
• To avoid difficulties some people set up a JV with a local – just another source of headache and disappointment. And the local wants gold.
• Foreign companies sometimes buy houses for their employees. But I don’t know of any foreigners who have bought under their own names. Surely they must exist though.
• Final word of caution: a lot of these “new developments” are built on land that has been confiscated by the government (land taken from farmers and city dwellers is a huge political problem right now) where party officials have come in and skimmed it off in shady intra-party deals. Title can be questionable to say the least.
Not sure about Vietnam but we have a family friend who dumped US$1m into Cambodia to buy land because it was meant to go up by 400% or so after the new government. And this US$1m was borrowed in Australia secured by his Australian property @ 0.60 exchange rates. So not only has the land gone down by at least 50% since that time, the currency has gone up by 80% too - so basically he's lost 90% of his investment for nothing...
Got a friend who is building a hospital in laos linked to the local gov and makes regular trips out there to just have a look and have relax. Not sure if he is in it for the money but he sure likes to invest.
yeah man SE asia can be a deathtrap for investors who know little about laws and systems.
yeah man SE asia can be a deathtrap for investors who know little about laws and systems.
my dad's hdb has gone from 180k to 360k in 3 years time :|
i wish i had listened to him and got one when he was buying it, but i dont want to live there
you got to be marrried assumingly you are to be able to buy HDB flats. no defacto stuff.
obviously singapore is like hong kong.. limited supply of land.
obviously singapore is like hong kong.. limited supply of land.
yes - i forgot to mention that and i think it is 40 or older can't be in 30s. ppl in asia are marrying late in their 30s
