Thailand Real Estate and Property Guide Articles

Little Things mean A Lot ...

Thailand Real Estate Magazine | Issue 63 August 2006

By: John Davids

What a sight! This is the vista that greets owners on the higher levels of Siam Royal View at night. Although not officially described as a “hill” the views from this village at the top of Soi Khaotalo are probably among the best the area can offer.

This story starts about a year ago, I guess, soon after I came to live in Thailand. A friend had visited one of numerous promotional stands to be found at Big C and arranged to see a housing development. Did I want come along just to see what’s out there? he said.

Although I had no strong thoughts at the time about buying a house I thought it would be interesting to go along for the ride.

The village my friend had shown an interest in was over the Sukhumvit Road in what many call East Pattaya but the lady agent escorting us said, given she had picked us up in Jomtien, did we want to see another village nearby first? In for a penny, we said “yes”.

This village was Jomtien Park Villas (JPV) and it was after seeing the house there that the idea for an article about the “wow factor” (WF) really took root. The house was beautifully presented and we were impressed … but the lady agent had been saving the best for last. She led us to a set of steps descending close to the pool at the front of the house. The steps led to an extra basement recreation room, the window of which actually faced onto the swimming pool so the natural light for the room filtered through the water. It was the first “wow” (of many) I had encountered in the Thai property market.

As it transpired the agent’s decision to show us JPV first proved a bad move on her part. She then took us to see the village that had originally caught my friend’s attention. This had its own WF in as much that the upper floor was divided into three very separate bedrooms (each with its own roof). These rooms all spilled onto a patio area very suited to holding barbeque-style parties. So the upstairs was like having three separate apartments. Had we not seen JPV first, it might have sparked more interest. But we had seen the pool room and all else paled into insignificance that day.

Subsequent to the JPV tour I became involved with this magazine and, in this role, I have seen many housing developments since. But I had not seen another basement or cellar room on my travels – until today, the day I started to write this article! I saw something similar while researching a piece which is due to appear elsewhere in this issue about living near golf courses “The Green, green grass of homes”.

Maybe this lack of cellars is a bit of a surprise given that they are still popular in many parts of Europe – and Europeans seem to form the majority of the house-buying farangs.

Another European favourite I thought I would see more of is a separate study. I saw one at the nicely presented Marco Villas out near the Mabprachan Reservoir and thought it definitely qualified as a WF. Marco is a small village – so far two of the planned five homes have been built. Other WFs there are the high ceilings (although these seem fairly common) and I particularly liked the garden and veranda area. The garden on the plot I saw was a decent size and had a pool with attached Jacuzzi. The veranda boosted ceiling fans which, again, I thought was a nice touch.

Are studies a rarity? Perhaps not. But a lot of project details I see talk of converting a spare bedroom into a study area, which isn’t quite the same. As you might guess, I’m a fan of studies. Probably have been since reading Famous Five books as a very young boy. It seemed to me that the father of one of the Five was forever in his study. Since then the thought of having a room where you can cut out the outside world has distinct appeal.

I got into quite a discussion about cellars and studies with Cees Cuijpers, MD of the Town & Country Property Group as we drove around viewing a couple of the developments his company is involved in.

Cees is a man who, in his own words, “likes a challenge”. His company is a player in the baht 9m part of the market with a development of Mediterranean-inspired homes at Whispering Palms near Residence Jomtien. There the challenge was – ‘how do we best utilise the ground floor. “I try to surprise people,” Cees told me.

“For example, we have a condo development called Nova Residence Jomtien. There the challenge was - “how do we best utilise the ground floor.

“In many condos the ground floor is the least popular and we did not want to get stuck with unit that wouldn’t sell or find ourselves allowing them to convert to commercial use.”

So Cees and his team, you could say, turned the project on its head by introducing a WF on the ground floor.

“We had two options, we felt. Develop some form of garden suite or look at an innovative way of using the swimming pool,” he said.

They chose the latter. So now all ground floor balconies are “floating” in the pool – not literally, but visually. And each owner on the ground floor will have a balcony with a gate they can step through straight into the pool.

“Each balcony will have an outdoor shower so residents can clean up before reentering their apartments,” said Cees. “And the pool will contain a spa-whirlpool for up to 35 people.”
So at Nova Residence Jomtien the ground floor (or Floor 1 in Thai parlance) will carry a premium on price and the cheapest units will be found on Floor 2. Floors 3 to 7 will follow the convention of increasing in price the higher you go.

However, another WF at this development is the price. Units start at just under baht 1.5 million but there is a special reason for this. You will be buying a bare shell. Over to Cees,

“I got the idea when up in a friend’s ultralight plane taking photographs,” he said. “I was travelling over the area set back from the beach at Jomtien when I saw great area of discarded tiles and plaster piled by the road (a trip down the turning on Threpprasit facing the go-kart track will confirm what he is referring to).

“I thought what’s the point spending a lot of time and effort putting in tiles and the like which may not be to the buyer’s taste only for them to rip them out and start again.”

So Cees decided to experiment with selling just the shell. All the communal areas will be completely finished to high standard but the units themselves will be left open to those who wish to put their own mark on the property. But, for those who lack either the time or inclination to carry out your own interior design, Cees has a few mock-ups he can show of how they can look and his company can arrange for this work to be carried out, “but we don’t push this at people,” he was keen to point out.

Another development Cees’ company is involved in is The Meadows in East Pattaya. Here the WF is in a unique design that incorporates an “indoor garden” which separates the living area from the dining and kitchen areas.

I confess I needed to look at this to get an idea of what is involved and, until the small areas are actually landscaped, a picture will not do it justice. But I’ll try to describe it. It’s a small area within the house where plants and the like will be able to grow. The mini-garden sits at the bottom of a shaft running to the roof of the building bringing light into the whole house. If you want to know more I suggest a visit to the show home which may well be complete by the time this magazine appears.

Prices at The Meadows range from a little over baht 2m upwards.

My last WF this month is at the Siam Royal View at the top of Soi Khaotalo. This is a super development which one agent described to me as “probably the most prestigious villa development here in Pattaya”.

He did not tell me what Siam Royal View’s WF was. He just drove me in and let me work it out for myself. It’s the view, which stunning. The photograph of the view that accompanies this article really does say a thousand words – and more than does my job for me.

Apart from the view this is a seriously stylish development where only the best materials have been used. Prices start at baht 8m plus.