Retiring in Thailand – The story of my search for a Condo in Jomtien (Part 1)
Once having decided to live in Thailand, the first major challenge is your future location. Having made painstaking research a choice has been made and now it is time to find a place to live! Having made my decision to leave Bangkok and move to Jomtien, I have spent frustrating hours searching for a suitable apartment and appreciate what a time consuming and frustrating mission this can be. Looking for Condo in Jomtien that was suitable to my requirements was challenging but, with an open mind, I was able to find a new home that I believe is ideal to my needs. This is the first of a series of posts detailing my search for a Condo in Jomtien in which I am sharing my experiences in the hope that they will assist other people in their quest.
Part One – Make research and define your search for an Apartment in Jomtien
I personally do not like Pattaya, however just over the Pratamnak Hill is Jomtien and Jomtien Beach which offer a very different atmosphere and lifestyle to the flamboyant and noisy streets of nearby Pattaya. I am sure that some will disagree and say that they are happy in Pattaya, but each his his/her/their special requirements. Having settled on an area that suited me, I set out to find a suitable apartment/studio in Jomtien.
My first advice is to write down your fundamental requisites. Mine were:- High Floor, Outside/Sea View, Studio or 1 bedroom, large balcony, good swimming pool and budget THB.10,000-15,000. High Floor as the higher you are the fresher the air and the less chance of annoying mosquitos; Outside View as I don’t really want to look towards the pool and hear the kids plus I am living near to the beach and I want to see the sea! Studios, I find in Jomtien are of a good size, whilst a sperate bedroom is nice to have, is it really necessary as it does reduce your floor space? If you like to swim make sure that the communal pool is a nice size as this will be a big plus in this warm environment, and budget, what you can comfortably afford. One word of advice, whilst having set out your pre-requisites, be prepared to maintain an open mind. Hopefully, you will be seeing a lot of different properties and locations, you may have to compromise but with the vast choice available you can often find more than you expected. Also bear in mind that High Season is generally regarded as November through March, this is when demand is at it’s highest with many 1-3 month rentals blocking certain properties. After March many more options become available
My search for an apartment in Jomtien started online. There are a number of excellent on-line resources and a vast choice of Real Estate Agents each with their own view on how to promote their properties. On one excellent site (listed below) you can search by location and requirements. After several hours perusing this site I made a list of 21 potential properties that I listed into price categories THB.10-13,000, 13,000-15,000 and 15-17,000 Whilst this site indicated if a property was rented out, on requesting details, I found to my dismay that almost all the properties were unavailable for a variety of reasons! Good research time lost, frustrating but I gained a lot of knowledge.
I contacted 3 agencies and provided them with my requirements. 2 contacted me immediately and promised to send details. One agency did send some offers but I never heard from the other 2! Frustrated, I looked for Facebook Groups and started posting my requirements. This produced some interesting results with direct contact with owners but still not what I was looking for. I did however make contact with an agent who turned out to be a super-efficient angel and thanks to her and her colleagues I found better than I was looking for!