A Place in the Sun

[dreamer]

I don't recall those figures.

 

I remember them saying that the purchase cost payback period is about 15 years. That stacks up on the assumption that a property costing £150k is let at £100 per night and for about 3 months each year.

 

(£150,000/15years/£100 per night)= 100 days

 

A yield of 6.7% on the purchase price.

[pe7e]

I've just taken a second look at the program and the figures I quoted from memory were a bit off. The house I refered to was the first one shown on the documentary ie Bali style 3 bed in the Samrong Bay area. The actual figures were, house price £187,000. Rental income £150 a night (£1050 a week) achievable for 40% of the year. I still find it hard to believe this rental income could be obtained.

[Guest]

I also managed to catch the recent rerun of this programme. Overall I was very disappointed as I found the information to be shallow and superficial. Although I'm no expert on Samui property, I've been involved with various business ventures there for the last 5 years and own a couple of properties. Generally, I thought the 4 properties shown to Gail and her partner where crap. They're a young, trendy couple, with a young child and plenty of money, looking for a funky holiday house - none of the properties shown them fitted their needs or wants. Even if I had their (astronomical) budget I wouldn't be interested in the properties shown.

 

I was aghast at the presenter, who stated early on something like, "Samui is extremely popular and no beach front land is available anymore". Rubbish, there is plenty of beachfront land available on Samui. Made me begin to doubt the quality of the information presented. The presenter touched on the issues around land ownership but this wasn't clearly explained, especially potential dangers and common pitfalls. And the potential rental incomes where also way off. Rental of top-quality houses is very competitive on Samui. Overall, I had the feeling that the presenter had very little in depth knowledge of the Samui property scene. The impression I was left with was that she'd arrived a few days before Gail, chatted to a few property people on Samui, looked at a few places, and then presented her findings to Gail when they arrived. Really half-baked ideas and very superficial. It made me wonder about other programmes like this - when they do similar shows on the property scene in France, Spain, Jamaica, South Africa, etc - they are probably just a shoddy.

 

Putting this into a bigger picture I can think of 2 other UK TV programmes I watched that left me with the same feeling; McIntyre Investigates Yaba, and the daft Holiday You Call the Shots: Bangkok. Both programmes were terribly superficial and shallow. Again, I had the impression that the presenters arrive at the airport and immediately start talking to camera. We get their idiotic first-impressions which are way of track compared to the deeper knowledge gained if you live in Thailand a bit longer and explore below the surface. I remember McIntyre's childish attempts at trying to score some yaba along Khao San road and later at the full moon party. Made me shake my head in amazement. Or that holiday programme which was full of useless information; "Thanks to Jenny Wilson from Birmingham, who told us to use the sky train as its fast and cheap. And also Pat Green from Chester, who told us the sky train is air conditioned and cool. Thanks Pat, you were right". Or, "John Brown says, when getting off the boat taxi, you need to jump as the boat approaches the pier. Good tip. Thanks John". Doh!

 

So my point is that you get fantastic, in-depth, programmes that are researched for years and have top quality information (Horizon, Life of Mammals, etc). And then you have rubbish programmes, such as those mentioned above, which are done quickly, cheaply and with no real insight. Because I have a bit of knowledge and experience with Thailand, it has enabled me to see the shoddy programmes for what they are. I have to assume many other programmes I watch are just as shallow and inaccurate.

[dreamer]

Agree I wouldn't bank on being able to let it consistently in high season. My concern is more the political risk which doesn't seem fairly reflected in the prices or properly explained to the clients.

 

I'd be interested to compare prices with equivalent areas in Malaysia.

[dreamer]

I'm encouraged by your note that better value is available on Samui. I thought the most expensive house was crazy expensive.

 

Do you let your properties?