Spotting Dodgy Real Estate in Thailand: My Take on a Sketchy Development
I've been cruising around Thailand on my bike for a while now, and man, I've seen some wild stuff when it comes to new builds popping up everywhere. Back in the day, I dabbled in real estate and construction, so my brain automatically kicks into gear—crunching numbers on costs, potential returns, all that jazz. Most spots make sense, but every so often, I spot these projects that just scream "what the hell were they thinking?" Like, prime examples of building in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Take this one spot I came across recently. Two years ago, it was just an empty strip of land along a quiet side road—long and narrow, nothing special. Fast forward to now, and bam: a couple dozen identical houses crammed in there. No breathing room at all. Each house swallows up the entire plot; forget about a little garden or backyard. The beach? Miles away. And right next door is this massive, noisy main street that turns into a parking lot during rush hour. When that happens, drivers detour right through this little neighborhood, turning it into absolute chaos—horns blaring, exhaust fumes everywhere. Not exactly the dream spot for a chill home life.
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I poked around inside one of these places (they're fresh on the rental market), and honestly? It's basic as hell. Cheap finishes, awkward layouts, and already showing wear and tear—like leaky faucets and wonky wiring that screams corner-cutting. Cozy? Not even close. But get this: the rent they're asking is insane. We're talking prices that'd be steep even for beachfront property. A year after construction wrapped, and most are still empty. Shocker, right? Who'd pay that much for a noisy box in the middle of nowhere?
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That got me wondering: what was the investor smoking when they dumped cash into this? If they've got the dough to build 20 houses, they're no idiot. But crunch the numbers, and it's clear—this ain't about flipping for profit or steady rental income. Location kills any chance of that. Turns out, the owner is Chinese, and suddenly, it all clicked.
Look, I'm no expert in finance or economics, but I've got a gut feeling these houses are a front for laundering dirty money. Thailand's real estate scene is ripe for it—especially with all the foreign cash flowing in. From what I've read and heard, places like Phuket, Bangkok, and Pattaya are hotspots for this crap. Criminals (think drug syndicates or cyber scammers) buy up properties with illicit funds, making it look legit. In 2022, Thai authorities busted a network laundering over a billion bucks through high-end spots in those areas. And just last year, the Anti-Money Laundering Office (AMLO) seized assets worth hundreds of millions from global crime rings using real estate as a wash cycle.
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So, how does it work with these houses? High-level stuff: First, they "place" the dirty cash by buying land or building outright—often through shell companies or nominees to hide who's really behind it. Then comes "layering"—renting them out (even if barely anyone bites) or flipping them later to create a paper trail of "clean" transactions. Finally, "integration": the money from sales or rents gets funneled back as legitimate income. In Thailand, weak checks on big cash deals and porous borders make it easy for folks from places like China to park shady funds here. Red flags? Overpriced builds in crap locations, empty units, and foreign owners who vanish. Authorities are cracking down—new due diligence rules for agents and developers, plus freezing assets tied to crimes—but it's still a mess.
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I'm 100% convinced that's the play here. Why else build a money pit like this? If you're in Thailand eyeing property, keep your eyes peeled—don't get tangled in someone else's laundry. What's your take? Seen anything similar?
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When I read the description - "miles away from the beach" and a super noisy street - two words popped up in my head - "Chinese" and "money laundering", lol. The third thought is: Thailand is orderly in some places but I guess it is super corrupt in other places. Like, Thai border officials follow the laws at the border with Laos and Cambodia - I crossed them a million times (almost, lol), but then I crossed the "Phuket" border - the Southern border with Malaysia and realized it's controlled by a sort of mafia milking foreigners hard. Since the law is strong in Thailand, that means this mafia might have someone very high in the Thai political elite. The same about money laundering - they'll watch you and arrest you, if you are a random person. But if this scheme is backed by a top-ranking military official or minister, everything will be fine.
No proof, just thoughts.
P.S. Beautiful images!
There's nothing really wrong with this house scheme, as long as it doesn't affect us. Everyone gets what they want: some launder the money, some get kickbacks, and overall, the money flows to Thailand—everyone benefits. But otherwise, you're absolutely right!
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This explains a lot and you next sentence tops it.
Could be but even so, you can do a way better job with more profit as these buildings serve no good purpose, no one with healthy standards is going to rent or buy them. The other problem is, in a year or two, all of them would need renovation and then what?
At first glance, the architecture from outside looks interesting, but who in their right mind would move there, to have zero privacy and listen to noise, swallow dust and burnt diesel all day?
Plus WTF is this?
They were asking about $300 per day, multiplied by about 20 houses, and multiplied by 30 days = $180,000. That's $2,160,000 per year. Two years is enough to spend almost $5 million. The houses are thin concrete walls and combo wood, so the cost price is low and they can be sold at cost. I think that's the scheme, but I don't understand it very well. ))
I didn't quite understand what you meant. This is one of the rooms in this house))
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I understand it's a room, but a bedroom with a bathroom sink and no door to the bathroom? 😯
What is that?
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Great write up, your photos and real estate eye make the red flags feel obvious, and your warning about overpriced empty builds is really useful.
Thanks for the comment – nice to meet you.
Yes, fifteen years of experience in real estate sometimes helps me in life.
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Nice to mert you🙌🏻
I see so many places like that appearing in Yerevan. Even outside of it. Places that make absolutely no sense. Where they'll throw up a MASSIVE apartment building in an area that is barely a village, where there are constant water and power outages. There's zero thought put into it all. Zero care. But they do it because they know the housing market is so fucked and money will inevitably find its way into these cheaply built buildings sooner or later.
In some instances they even build and sell the apartments before the building is even done. So it's common for buildings to never get finished as they run off with the funds and the project collapses. Some are incredibly ugly. Some are built so poorly they're crumbling before they're finished. I see it a lot as I walk around. But the location is never considered. A long-term home is never the goal. It's just for quick money to get exchanged.
Besides, Armenia has a lot of seismic activity and construction needs to be done using modern technologies, but I'm sure no one does that there )
Haha yes, precisely. Georgia is the same in that regard. Experienced a few tremors in Tbilisi when I was living in the most crumbling Khrushchevka I've ever seen. Haven't felt anything in Yerevan yet. I think most of the earthquakes come from the north and closer to Azerbaijan
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