Every listing in Thailand advertises a 6% yield. It's a scam. The real distribution is bimodal — towers leak 3% gross, tier-one freehold prints 8%+ net. I bought the 8.15% one. Here is the math behind both.
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A listing says 6% yield. You assume net. The agent means gross. The unit means whatever survives the fee stack — usually around 3%. The gap between those three numbers is where Gullible Amateurs lose money for a decade.
Gross yield is annual rent divided by purchase price. That is it. It ignores agent commission, common-area maintenance (CAM), sinking fund, vacancy, taxes, and the renovation you will inevitably eat in year two. Net yield strips all of that out. The delta is brutal.
Example: A "6%" Listing Tested
Listed price: 3,000,000 THB · Quoted rent: 15,000/mo · Quoted yield: 6%.
Subtract 1-month agent fee, CAM at 12,000/yr, 8% vacancy, sinking fund. Net rent: ~95,000/yr. True net yield: 3.2%.
Half the yield. Same asset. The number on the listing is marketing. The number on your wire transfer at year-end is the only one that matters.
Bangkok has a tower glut. Sukhumvit, Sathorn, Phrom Phong — every BTS station has a 40-floor pre-sale stack going up at 200,000 THB/sqm. Developers print supply faster than the rental market can absorb it. Rent is sticky. Price is not. Yield compresses.
On top of the supply problem, the tenant pool is short-stay. Bangkok rentals lean toward 6-month digital nomads, expats on rotation, weekend tourists. Every turnover is a 1-month agent fee plus a 2-week vacancy gap. Operationally expensive. Yield-destroying.
Net result: a "6% gross" Bangkok listing nets 3% gross — and after the fee stack, often 1.5% real return. That is worse than a Thai government bond. Don't Buy Like A Tourist.
Chiang Mai has the opposite problem. Foreign-quota inventory is capped at 49% per building by law. New construction is throttled by zoning, by historical-district setbacks, by an airport noise corridor. Supply is tight.
The tenant pool is residential. Year-long expat leases. University staff. Remote workers who actually settle. Turnover is annual or longer. Vacancy gaps are days, not weeks. Operationally, the unit runs itself.
What "Tier-One" Means On The Spreadsheet
A unit that hits all five filters is a no-brainer. The math doesn't lie. The Galaethong Alpha hit all five — and netted 8.15%.
The 5-Step Filter Sits Inside The PDF
Every quoted yield is missing the fee stack. Five lines. They compound. They are the difference between 6% gross and 3% real.
| Line Item | Annual Cost | Often Disclosed? |
|---|---|---|
| Agent commission (1 month rent) | ~19,000 THB | No |
| CAM / common area maintenance | 12,000–40,000 THB | Rarely |
| Sinking fund call | 8,000–25,000 THB | Never |
| Vacancy buffer (4–8%) | ~12,000 THB | No |
| Tax + maintenance reserve | ~17,500 THB | No |
That stack eats 60,000–110,000 THB/yr off any normal rental. On a 228,000 THB gross line, it removes roughly 22% of the income before you even open a bank statement. Every receipt counts.
This is the asset I bought in Chiang Mai. Every number is verifiable — title deed, juristic documents, signed lease. see the receipts on the dedicated case page.
The same 5-step protocol I used to find this anomaly
Underwriting is not a vibe. It is a checklist. Every line of the fee stack has a number. Every number has a source. Get the source — or walk.
DDproperty, Hipflat, and Facebook expat groups. Triangulate. Sellers always quote the top of the range. Use the median.
Last 12 months of CAM invoices. Last sinking fund call. If they will not produce them, the answer is no.
1-month agent commission. CAM. Sinking fund. 6% vacancy. Tax buffer. What is left is the only number that matters.
If the unit still nets above your hurdle in a soft year, it is a real asset. If it doesn't, it was never yielding what the listing claimed.
Below 7% you are paid worse than a Thai government bond with a fraction of the liquidity. Above 7% — and verifiable — you have an asset.
The whole framework — every filter, every formula, every red flag — is what I sell as the 5-step protocol. One PDF, $20. The same one I used to underwrite the Galaethong Alpha.
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