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3) WHAT ARE THE PRICE RANGES? CONT.... |
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This picture (left) is typical of an apartment you'd find in the 5,000 baht a month region (although don't expect it to come with a TV and fridge) You can see the cheap, poor-quality wardrobe and dressing table and also the large queen-sized bed. However, there's enough room to walk around and the apartment lets plenty of light in. A lot of teachers live in these kind of digs and are very happy. If you've got imagination and a bit of money to spend, it's amazing what a few pictures and nic-nacs can do to brighten up a place. The lime-green curtain would certainly have to go though and uuuuurgh - don't talk to me about that awful vase of plastic flowers on top of the fridge. We can't see the bathroom in this picture but I'm betting it's something clean and modern albeit a tad small. |
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This next picture (left) is your typical apartment building corridor (in the 5,000 baht a month range). Although I quite like the unusual touch of adding the wall-plaques to show the room numbers, the corridor has that cold, characterless, almost 'borstal school' feel to it. It's a bit like I'd imagine an inner city hostel for battered wives to look like. And of course this photo has been taken when the corridor is mercifully free of accumulated shoes, dirty plates, garbage bags and general detritus. You'll only find apartment building corridors in this condition if the cleaning staff are truly on top of their game. |
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Moving Up! This is what 12,000 a month would get you. Although there's still the same crappy chipboard furniture, you've got the feeling of space. It feels more like a home. There's a nice well-polished parquet floor going on, a tasteful roller blind, and the furnishings are generally of a much higher standard. The receptionists will be more attractive and more professional, the security guards will be awake more often than they're asleep, the cleaning staff will wear uniforms, and the restaurant on the ground floor will look like a restaurant and serve food that's almost edible. |
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4) Can I use the Services of a Real Estate Agent? |
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I've
never used a real estate agent personally and I don't know any teacher who has had success with them. Generally speaking estate agents are only interested in ex-pats on fat relocation salaries. They aren't interested in teachers looking for the world for less than 10,000 baht. There are one or two realtors who'll show sympathy towards a teacher in need of a roof over their head, but don't expect them to put too much effort into finding a place. They might dutifully show you a couple of apartments, but as soon as they realize you fall into the category of 'cheap but demanding' they'll be off faster than a ferret on a firework. And let's be honest - why would you want to line their pockets anyway?
If you're looking for an apartment then a few good sources are this website, MrRoomfinder, the Bangkok Post newspaper (I always say if they are willing to spend money on advertising then it's worth looking at) and your fellow teachers and colleagues. These guys will have already lived in good and bad apartments and will be in a good position to make recommendations. I might take a bit of flak for this but I never trust Thais who want to show me 'great apartments'. I've found from painful experience that their definition of 'nice' and my definition of 'nice' are not always the same. They mean well but Thais (generally) don't attach as much importance to their home environment as a foreigner does.
Still one of the best methods however to finding an apartment is simply decide on the area you want to live in, strap on your sports shoes, and hot-foot it down all those little sois and sub-sois. It's amazing what you can unearth. You might want to take a Thai friend with you (if you haven't got one then hire one) to ask the numerous questions you'll need to ask (coming up later in this ajarn guide).
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Unfortunately there's no way to avoid paying the dreaded electricity, water and telephone bills. If there's any bill that's going to get 'padded', or any way that you're going to get 'cheated' (apart from deposit money) then it's with the utility bill. A friend of mine lucked out and got an excellent job that came with a 60,000 baht luxury apartment. The company would pay the rent on the understanding that he was responsible for just the utility bills. After his first month's tenure, he presented himself at the office to settle up the utility account. The office staff asked him for 1000 baht to cover the water bill alone - a 'standing charge' they told him. Being something of an old Bangkok hand - he'd already lived in four different apartments and never paid more than 150 baht for water - he refused to pay it. He also told them that he was checking out immediately. Thankfully the apartment owner relented and from then on he got his water for free. I'm not promising that things will always end that favorably but stand your ground when it comes to utility bills. Make sure that you have access to the respective water and electricity meters and make a note of the totals each month - that's not being miserly; it's called being careful.
Water and electricity are charged by the unit (the number of units used and the price per unit should be clearly displayed on your apartment bill) and phone calls are charged per call. I'm a little out of touch with current prices, but I'm making a guess that water is around 15 baht per unit. The average person (two showers a day and some washing of clothes) would use about 7-10 units per month. Electricity is much more of a grey area. If you blast out air-conditioning all day long, you could be facing a bill of about 3-4,000 at the end of the month. Apart from the air-con, very little else uses much in the way of juice. If you have the air-con unit on for about 4 hours a day, you can expect a bill somewhere in the region of 1,000 to 1,500 baht a month. There's no avoiding the fact though; utility services are huge money-makers for apartment owners.
Five baht a call seems to be the going rate for telephone calls (and has been for some time). Some apartments disconnect the call after a period of time, say 15 minutes and you have to redial (a practice I hate), some apartments even charge you if you pick up the receiver and the receiver is busy (a practice I won't and don't accept) These matters all need to be taken up with the apartment staff before you check-in. Don't even entertain the idea of calling abroad from an apartment phone. There are so many cheaper alternatives these days. (Cont on page 3 )
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