Video walkthrough · Thailand · Chiang Mai
What did buying a condo in Thailand as a foreigner actually cost?
About 2,244,000 baht, all in. That is the second condo I bought in Chiang Mai: 2,150,000 for the unit, 53,000 for the lawyer, nothing for the transfer fee because the seller paid it, 35,000 to renovate it, and about 6,000 in building fees while it sat empty. It now rents for 23,000 baht a month.
A lot of people will tell you not to buy a condo in Thailand as a foreigner. I have bought two, both in Chiang Mai. This page is the second one, line by line, written out from the video so you can check every number rather than take it from me.
My own purchase, 2026. Every figure is from the video and the case study.
What these figures are
My own purchase and my own lease, in 2026. Asking prices and rents change; check current listings and signed contracts before you buy. The same unit, with every receipt and the full underwriting, is the case study: the second unit, every receipt.
The same costs, on video
Nothing on this page depends on the video. Everything in it is written out above and below.
- 0:00 What my second condo in Thailand really cost
- 0:16 The condo: 82 m² in Chang Khlan, Chiang Mai
- 0:35 Asking price vs what I paid
- 0:51 Getting the money over: the FET
- 1:18 The lawyer and transfer day
- 1:35 What it rents for now
- 1:59 The 6-month lease
- 2:24 The full receipt: every baht
- 2:44 Two mistakes that make a condo lose money
- 3:20 How I can help you buy
What kind of condo is it?
It is 82 square metres in Chang Khlan, close to the Night Bazaar. I am not going to name the building, because people live there. Chang Khlan condos, the area in numbers.
When I got the keys it looked dated. Old doors, an old air con unit hanging from the ceiling and tired paint. I actually like that, because that kind of thing is cheap to fix, and it is exactly what a tenant notices first.
How much below the asking price did I pay?
250,000 baht. The seller was asking 2,400,000 and I got it to 2,150,000. I was paying the full amount by bank transfer, with no mortgage, and I could close within 7 days.
Because of that I also asked the seller to pay the transfer fee, and they agreed. The fee is 2% of the appraised value, so on this unit it would have been around 43,000 baht. Who pays it is part of the deal. Ask.
How do you get the money into Thailand for a condo?
This is the part a lot of people get wrong. As a foreigner, the money for a condo has to come in from abroad, in foreign currency. Your Thai bank then gives you a document called the FET, and the Land Office needs it before your name can go on the title.
I sent mine from my European bank 12 days before the transfer, and I picked up the FET the day before. That was too close for comfort. Give yourself at least 2 weeks.
And make sure your name is exactly the same on the bank transfer, the FET and the title. The FET, explained in full.
Do you need a lawyer to buy a condo in Thailand?
The one thing I did not try to save money on was the lawyer. I paid 53,000 baht for an independent lawyer to check the title, to check that the building still had room for foreign owners, and to handle the transfer.
So on the day of the transfer I was in for 2,203,000 baht, and the title was a freehold condo title in my own name. How the foreign quota works.
What does it rent for now?
23,000 baht a month. When I bought it I was only counting on 19,000, because that is what similar units in the same compound had actually signed for in the past.
I always check signed contracts, not listings. The listing only tells you what the owner hopes to get.
The running costs are low. The building fee is 12,000 baht a year, and the property tax is only a few hundred baht. But from the day I bought it, it was about 6 months before any rent came in, and the building fee is still due while the unit is empty.
How does a 6-month lease work out?
The tenant signed for 6 months at 23,000 a month, with no agent, so no agent fee. That is 138,000 baht. Take off six months of building fee and the property tax and I keep about 132,000.
After the 6 months the tenant can keep extending, 6 months at a time, at 20,000 a month. Short leases always cost a bit more per month, so 20,000 is the number I can actually plan on. That is still more than the 19,000 I was counting on when I bought it.
What two mistakes make a Thai condo lose money?
When people say a condo in Thailand loses money, it usually comes down to one of two mistakes. I have made one of them myself.
The building fee. My first condo, which I bought in 2018 before I knew what I was doing, has a building fee of 30,000 baht a year and rents for 16,000 a month. That is almost two months of rent gone every year, just on the fee. On this one the fee is about 12,000 a year against 23,000 a month in rent: about half a month. You can find that number before you buy, and almost nobody checks it. The first condo, with every cost.
Believing the rent in the listing. Before I bought this one I found out what similar units in the same building had actually rented for. That is how I knew 19,000 was safe.
Can someone do this for my budget?
That is what I do for people now. I am not an agent and I take no commission. I go through every listing in your budget and the area you want, and find the units most worth buying. You get a report with the shortlist, plus a spreadsheet with every single listing in it. It is built fresh on the listings live that week, after you book. See a full sample report.
Where to read the underlying work
The unit itself, with every receipt: the second unit. The Chiang Mai report it came out of: the Chiang Mai case study. Getting the money in: the FET guide. What a report looks like: the sample report. The checks I run before I pay, free: the Thailand condo breakdown.
The building-level checks, in one document. Take it to the viewing.
Free. One email. Instant download.
- Whether your name can legally go on the title — the quota check, applied to a unit rather than explained.
- What every platform asks for the unit , and what is left after costs — not one listing’s headline.
- Who actually buys it from you in five years — the exit a saturated building takes away.
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