Luxury villas by the lake to rent or own

The recently completed By The Lake luxury development, located just minutes from tranquil Nai Harn Beach, offers a hassle-free way to own your own slice of paradise here in Phuket. Tucked away on a quiet and private hillside with picture-perfect views, these two and three-bedroom luxury pool villas are only an 800-meter stroll from the beach.

Each villa comes fully furnished and is decorated with a touch of Zen to capture the true essence of Asia. The villas come with all the comforts of home, including private pool, full kitchen with state of the art Western appliances, home theater system and rooftop terrace.

Under a unique ownership scheme, buyers can purchase one or more shares in By The Lake with each share entitling the owner to one month per year at their villa. Those wanting to dip their toes into the island’s property market can buy just one share and use it as their holiday home, or rent out their month for a return of between six to 12 per cent. But you don’t have to stop there, you can by as many shares as you like and take complete ownership of the villa of your choice.

Developer Torben Jenson, who pioneered this unique ownership scheme, said that once investors purchase their shares, they own them like owning a share in a company that can be traded, unlike most timeshare schemes.

“Timeshare is a membership, like in a tennis club… this is an ownership, like having a share in a company, a bearable share,” he said.

Another unique aspect of the ownership system is designed to minimize maintenance fees for owners. Of the total of 72 equal shares available in the project, 12 have been equally redivided into the remaining 60, meaning that the rental returns from those 12 shares will be put back towards the cost of maintenance.

This grew out of Mr Jensen’s own frustrations of part-owning a villa in Spain many years ago.
“We would go down and the place would be falling apart, first the pool would break, then the fridge, and I ended up spending my whole holiday fixing things!”

“So, this way at By The Lake, the whole year’s rental of one unit goes towards the maintenance fees, so they are kept to a minimum.”

“I want to be able to come to my customers in five years and hear that they are satisfied.”

Mr Jensen is also able to offer complete rental and maintenance support through his company, Phuket Deluxe Rentals, for those share owners wishing to generate rental returns on their investment.

“You can buy it as an investment, and not stay, and you can get anywhere from 6 to 12 per cent rental returns.

“But if what you want is a hassle-free holiday, you can just come down, enjoy your holiday, and you don’t need to think about anything else,” he said.

These deluxe villas certainly have all the attributes to create a memorable holiday experience as well, with a private pool, full gourmet kitchen, car park, central air-con, internet-ready plasma screen television, high speed Wi-Fi internet access, large rooftop terrace with alfresco dining area, outdoor showers – and the villa staff is always available for special requests.

For more information visit: bythelakevillas.com, call 082-286 6953, or email sales@bythelakevillas.com

— Mark Knowles