By The Book: Effective ways to sell your property

PHUKET: In our experience 15 per cent of sales will fail, become delayed, or end up incurring higher closing fees than necessary, due to sellers being unaware of the sales process, the documents required, and the options available to them.

Before a buyer is found for your property and you begin negotiations, it is highly advisable to ensure that ‘your house is in order’.

We recommend that all owners looking to sell should check the following through a certified lawyer in Thailand:

• That you have all the correct ownership documents to sell your property
• That these documents are up-to-date and match the records at the land office
• You have the necessary documentation (Tor Tor Three form or TT3) required to take the sales proceeds out of Thailand, once a sale has been completed
• An estimate of the transfer taxes payable upon sale
• An explanation of the selling options available to you: can you sell the property leasehold or freehold? Can you sell the property with agreement of the land-owning company?
• Whether or not you need to be physically present to complete a sale, or whether you can give power of attorney to your lawyer?

It is common that having found a buyer and negotiated the terms of sale and price that the seller discovers that they are missing ownership documents; the tax will be much higher than they anticipated; they do not have a TT3 form from when they brought funds into Thailand therefore making it difficult to take the sales proceeds back out of Thailand; the freeholder/lessor is required to complete the sale… the list goes on.

All of these are most likely to result in a lost sale, or at the very least, having to return to the negotiating table, delaying the sale and resulting in higher closing costs.

Checking the above details in advance will ensure that having done all the hard work to find a buyer for your property, you do not lose out.

We now offer our owners this full Property Check-Up through a certified lawyer here in Phuket:

• Meeting at the lawyer’s office in Phuket, ongoing telephone contact and email contact
• Check all ownership documents
• Check at the land office that records there match the documents you have
• Estimate transfer taxes
• Review of available sales options
• Explanation of selling process and whether a third party needs to be involved (freeholder/lessor)

The advantages are:

• Faster sales completion
• Smooth sales process
• Peace of mind for both seller and buyer when entering into an agreement
• Property due diligence already completed in advance of finding a buyer
• Vastly reduced chance of losing a sale
• Reduced completion costs /transaction taxes
• Knowledge of sales process to completion
• Estimate of transaction costs/taxes
• No issue of repatriating funds/offshore payment
• A banner placed on the property listing showing the ownership has been checked by a certified lawyer, which increases buyer confidence in your property and makes it more marketable.

For more information contact Kevin Hodges, Siam Real Estate (SRE) quoting Property Check-Up. Tel: 076-324 042; email: kevin@siamreal estate.com; website: www.siamrealestate.com