A $750 condo in Phrom Phong, and the two-year lease that got it

Two years ago JJ was about the only foreigner in his corner of Samut Prakan, on Bangkok’s southern edge. Today he looks down from a skyline pool in Phrom Phong, eight minutes’ walk from the BTS, and pays less for it than the asking price.

The trick was one sentence to the agent. Thirty people wanted the unit, she told him. “Go to the owner and say if he drops it down to 25,000 baht a month instead of 30, I’ll sign a two-year lease.” The owner said yes.

The numbers

• Rent: 25,000 baht a month (about US$750), negotiated down from 30,000 in exchange for a two-year lease.
• The unit: about 42 square metres, one bedroom, furnished, with floor-to-ceiling windows and a balcony.
• The building: Lumpini 24, Sukhumvit Soi 24, about 10 years old and well kept. Four lifts, facial-recognition entry, a gym, a co-working room, a pool and a children’s room.
• Electricity: usually around 2,000 baht a month. It hit 4,000 when an air-con fan failed; the building replaced it and the bill halved.

Good to know: JJ had stayed in the same building on Airbnb on an earlier trip. A short stay is the cheapest test drive there is.

Why Phrom Phong

“Every BTS stop is like a different vibe,” JJ says. Phrom Phong is his happy medium: livelier than the quiet suburb he left, calmer than Asok and Lower Sukhumvit.

• Malls on the doorstep: The Emporium, EmQuartier and EM District, with Lotus’s and Big C for groceries.
• A park nearby: Benjakitti Forest Park is a short walk away.
• Furniture on foot: he walked to IKEA for a new sofa (about 10,000 baht, delivered for a few hundred).
• The catch: three nightclubs on Soi 24 stay busy until about 3am. His unit is well insulated, and the only noise that gets through is the occasional siren.

“I really like the Phrom Phong area. It’s so convenient.”

— JJ

What he likes

• Amenities he actually uses. A treadmill with a view for rainy days, a co-working room you don’t have to book, and a free massage chair.
• The pool at night, with the skyline lit up around it.
• Maintenance that works. The air-con was fixed quickly, and at his last place the building spotted a water leak from his bill before he did.
• No cockroaches, which wasn’t his experience in the Philippines.
• A real living room. Most 42-square-metre layouts feel like a corridor; this one has a separate bedroom and space for his video studio.

The trade-offs

• The lobby isn’t air-conditioned, so it gets warm.
• There are Airbnbs in the building, including next door, though he rarely hears them.
• The mattress is hard. A topper is on his list.
• His kitchen goes mostly unused. Street food across the road is cheaper than the clean-up.

Retiring here: his verdict

JJ arrived on an education visa, which helped him open a Thai bank account. About nine months later he switched to a Non-O retirement visa through an agency. With the account already in place, it cost him 20,000 baht, and his 90-day reports can now be filed online.

The real headache was his home bank, which froze his account over a small overseas charge.

“You test drive a car if you’re going to buy it, right? Why wouldn’t you test drive a country if you’re going to move?”

— JJ

His advice:

• Don’t ask Facebook groups about visas. You’ll get a hundred answers. Use an agency that does this every day, or ask at your immigration office.
• Keep more than one way to get at your money. Never rely on a single bank or card.
• Test-drive the country. Spend three or four weeks in one area, then try another, before you sign anything.
• Watch the nights out. Street food is the best value; four beers and some wings can quietly become 1,500 baht.

What to do: Thinking about Phrom Phong? Compare it with other areas in the free Move Planner, see how the rent compares in Bangkok rents from real tours, and read retiring in Thailand.