Mortgages for Foreigners?

[Guest]

Does anyone know if any of the local banks regularly grant mortgage loans to foreigners wishing to buy condos in Thailand? If so, what are the requirements? What is the minimum downpayment, and the longest payback term? How about rates?

 

 

 

Thanks.

[Pom Michael]

PvtDick,

 

 

 

Siam Commercial Bank and Bangkok Bank both offer this. Other banks may as well.

 

 

 

But .....

 

 

 

The law still requires that you bring in, and document that you bring in, the entire amount to buy the condo from outside the country. Meaning transfer in foreign currency.

 

 

 

Afterwards, you can get the mortgage loan, and use your condo deed as the collateral.

 

 

 

Look to the bank for specifics, but I believe that length is only 5 years maximum.

 

 

 

Cheers!

[SingaporeSteve]

I managed to get a mortgage on a house without too much difficulty, but it takes forever. Mine is a house with land, held by a Thai company, set up by a lawyer. I have changed all his nominees to those in our company law firm just to be extra careful. The farang director/shareholder never owns more than a minority share however if you set up the company correctly, you can arrange it so that the farang is the only authorised signature on behalf of the company. I dealt with Siam Commercial but I would not use them again. They came up with the goods eventually but took 6 months.

 

 

 

They were extremely interested in your ability to repay the mortgage and tend to look for very low risk scenario's. ie forget any question of a 80%+ mortagage on the valuation, they loaned me a max of 50% and wanted clear evidence of all income, both in Thialand and offshore. Also wanted work permits, payslips, offer letters, written confirmation from employer that you were not about to be terminated. I rented it out and used the income from the rent as proof of paying the mortgage, however they wanted to see at least the same amount of the mortgage as disposable income every month (i.e I had to demonstrate that I could pay 2 months mortage per month). This was in Pattaya, so odds are in Bangkok you may get a better understanding and quicker service although you would expect so many farang must have done this in Pattaya. One of our company finance guys advised that using a foreign bank would be better than a Thai bank as they are more internationally focused but I have no expereince of that. By the way, I do not bank with Siam Commercial so you are not restricted to your own bank, although it may be better to stick with who and what you know.

 

 

 

Hope this helps