With the age of the internet many home seekers around the world are now turning to on-line real estate portals before contacting an agent. When you’re in the market to buy a house or condo in Thailand, doing an initial search on-line is a major time-saver but can also be frustrating for someone who may not be sure what the exact definition of certain real estate terms are and have no real estate agent at hand to ask.
For your searching convenience, below are some simple definitions and examples of the different property types you can buy and rent.
Apartment V Condo V Serviced Apartment
Contrary to popular belief, there are no distinguishing physical features or monetary indicators that distinguish an apartment from a condo. The difference between these two property types is minimal, as both are units located within a building containing many of the same or similar units that are available for rent, however only condo units are also available for sale. If you are living in a Thai apartment building it means the unit you reside in is owned by a landlord who also owns all of the other units within your building. If you are living in a condo, you are likely renting it from someone who owns and is responsible for that one particular unit.
There are pros and cons to living in an apartment or a condo. Renting a condo ensures the tenant is only paying per-unit bills whereas an apartment building can charge a premium for bills. An apartment however is often less expensive per square meter and may be in a more convenient down town location.
If you want to make your new place your own but want the luxuries of living in hotel, a serviced apartment may be the answer. This property type can offer temporary or longer term housing, with contracts for stays lasting from a few days to a year or even longer. Similar to a hotel, this type of property comes with weekly cleaning and/or dining services, is fully furnished and often nicely decorated, ready for a tenant to immediately move in. It’s a great option for someone looking either for daily luxuries or short term stays.
Detached House V Attached House/Town house/ Semi-Attached House
A detached house and an attached house may look similar from the inside, containing one to four floors. The major difference between a detached house and a town house is that a town house is usually one house within row of homes sharing common walls. A detached house is a building completely on its own, not sharing any walls. A semi-attached house refers to a building that contains two houses sharing one common wall. Differing from condominiums, town house ownership does include individual ownership of the land.
Villa V House
The word villa originally was an ancient Roman-style upper-class country house, which today is still a fair definition of the word. Today however, the word villa connotes different images depending on where the house is located and how sales-oriented the conversation or property description is. While a villa is always a house, a house is not always a villa despite the fact that real estate agents have recently started using the word as a marketing tactic. It is typically safe to assume though that a villa refers to a spacious and often luxurious home on a large plot of land, surrounded by nature of some kind.
Now that you know the definitions of all our property types, you can start by looking for your next home on Thailand-Property.com or refer to our other blog post, “Comparing the Cost of Real Estate in Thailand” for extra help deciding where to look for a property.
