Reasons Why I Got Into Real Estate
In the last article, I introduced you to our company, Coastal Real Estate. So, now I would like to tell you a little bit about myself and how I came to be working with them.
I first visited Pattaya about twelve years ago. It was my first trip to Thailand and I was amazed at what the property market had to offer at such low prices. Of course, the options were a little different in those days and properties didn’t have all the modern facilities that we see in the developments being built today. My husband and I had always wanted to purchase a holiday home in Europe, but the high prices made it rather difficult. We visited just two real estate companies. Our encounter with the first one was not particularly helpful; I think we were looked upon as just another couple of tourists who were dreaming! However, we went a little further and found another agency, we bought our first house from them.
I have to say that putting a deposit down on a property abroad, during your first holiday to a country, was a little spontaneous and naïve; especially with so little knowledge of Pattaya or Thai culture. I actually took so much for granted and consequently got a shock when I jumped into the shower and discovered the absence of hot water!
After some time, I returned to my friendly agent and bought a second house, one designed and built by an English developer with his Thai wife. It was at this time when the baht was particularly weak against the British pound, which made it a perfect time to bring money into the country. I bought the neighboring house to mine as an investment. I used my own house as a show home and my investment purchase was sold before completion.
The same developer bought more land and planned to build a further small project, with an invitation to invest. As I had used my own home as a show house, it had already been viewed many times and was easy to sell. I found myself moving again and investing into a further three houses. They were three-bedroomed villas with private pools which were very easy to sell.
Eventually, this small development was completely sold out and I decided to move in a different direction.
We bought a very large house, set on a rai of land in Huay Yai. This was a private sale and needed renovation. We lived there for two years and decided to sell it on to buy something smaller and more practical. By this time, I had worked briefly for a Russian real estate magazine and after being in the business of property investment and selling my own property, I had managed to make a few connections in the business. However, trying to find my ideal home was not an easy task. Almost twelve years of living in Pattaya, offered me enough experiences for me to know exactly what kind of place I wanted to live in.
After scouring the internet and searching through the copious amounts of houses on the market, I finally found a real estate company was advertising my dream home. I contacted Coastal Real Estate and I was able to view the house the next day. I was very impressed by their professionalism and a request for a second viewing was not a problem. The managing director, Kevin Mattson, was prompt and courteous. I purchased the house and he ensured that the whole process was smooth and hassle free. It was almost a year later that I learnt of an opportunity to work with Kevin and the team at Coastal Real Estate. I am very proud to be working with them as I can validate them from my own personal experience as a client.
In my experience in both selling and buying, every client is different.
They all have individual needs and requests. What may be a priority to us could well be at the bottom of their list of importance. We, as the agent understand and realise that, and so are here to offer guidance, recommendations and assist in any way we can to ensure that the client is satisfied to the best of our ability. After all, the customers don’t care how much we know until they know how much we care.
This article was written by Angie Turton, the development and administration manager of Coastal Real Estate.
