With communication barriers and a lack of familiarity about a foreign place, finding the perfect apartment to rent isn’t the easiest task for an expat. Not surprisingly, in the hectic and confusing city of Bangkok, many expats wind up living in apartments or areas they aren’t happy with, simply because they didn’t know how or where to find something better.
A new Bangkok-based real estate agency AsiaRents, is working to make the property search process better and more efficient for expats by using a simple yet highly effective method: It’s one that focuses on identifying what is important to their clients via a specific order, before they show a single property.
Sales Director of AsiaRents, Justin Freeden says that through a questionnaire and a conversation the “Pyramid of Property Searching” helps them narrow down their inventory of listings to a precisely selected few. Once the requirements in each step of the pyramid have been noted, from the general location to the kitchen appliances, the client will be whisked away in a private car to view their property matches. Often, it only takes a few viewings for AsiaRents to close a deal this way.
“When renting in many Western cities, you know you can’t always get what you want because of high real estate prices and lack of availability, but here that’s not the case,” Freeden says. “In Bangkok, an agent could take you to look at 25 properties in one day, and sure, they’ll all be within your price range but that doesn’t mean they’re right for you. Instead of overwhelming our clients with a volume of options, we take a more selective approach and show them only what we’re sure they’ll love.”
So how does AsiaRents know what properties their clients will want to live in? They start by finding out what the client needs from a location, or from the bottom of the pyramid, where there should be the least compromise and move their way up the pyramid to the negotiable details.
The Pyramid of Property Searching
As Explained by Justin Freeden, of AsiaRents
THE LOCATION
Location, location, location. This is always the most significant consideration when searching for any property, but it’s especially important to consider when you’re new to Bangkok. In the City of Angels, an area may seem fantastic at first with its central location and easy commute, but when you’re a week into your lease and you find out you’re living next to a red light district the appeal of your location may change, for better or for worse.
Putting the general personality of an area aside, it’s important to consider where BTS or MRT stations are in relation to the property, as one of the most shocking things that foreigners discover about Bangkok is the perpetual, city-wide traffic jam. For our clients with small children, we like to point out where the closest entrance of the stations is, as only a percentage of them have escalators. Because our entire staff is made up of long-term Bangkok residents, we consider it our responsibility to tell our clients these kinds of things regarding location, just so they know exactly what they’re getting themselves into.
THE SOI
The soi on which you live will largely impact your lifestyle in Bangkok. It’s not always obvious to foreigners what one has to offer though, and oftentimes a soi will completely change from day to night. For example, one tenant might love to discover that they are living above a morning-market, while others might quickly become grumpy with crowds blocking their early commute. Our agents discuss what the soi is like at different times of the day and on weekends with the building managers to avoid this kind of surprise.
THE BUILDING
Shopping for a rental in Bangkok is often a lot more fun than it would be for a foreigner in his or her home country. This is because it’s relatively inexpensive to rent within a nice and modern condominium building, plus swimming pools and gyms are becoming so common that they are practically an expected feature. Finding out whether the pool gets enough sun during the day or if the gym gets crowded after business hours are examples of guilty-pleasure opportunities for our tenants to be a little pickier than they normally would be.
THE UNIT
The size, number of bathrooms and natural light in a unit are all obvious things to consider, but there are some things that a foreigner might expect to come standard with a unit that are actually not so common in Thailand. For example, foreigners may not realize that an apartment is missing an oven (a rare luxury in Bangkok) until after they’ve signed their lease. The benefit of working with an agent who is experienced with the foreign market in a situation like this is that he or she will point things like that out, and then can negotiate items for you, such as a free portable oven, a specific showerhead or the storage space.
THE DETAILS
The details can be both what makes a tenant excited about a place, and what causes him or her to eventually become unhappy with it. A good agent should be able to point out the pros and cons of the detailed elements of a property so that the tenants can understand what they’ll need to compromise on or take care of themselves before they sign the lease. Things like having mosquito nets on the lower-floor windows, having the air conditioning unit angled away from the bed, or having window coverings are things that should not be overlooked.
