I am living in Taiwan for many years and have an APRC, I am considering buying an apartment in Kaohsiung, either the one I am currently living in or a similar one. I am experienced with stock and crypto for many years, but an absolute beginner with real estate. Maybe someone can help me with following questions, this would be nice. I am single and no taiwanese partner or spouse, but could get a Taiwanese guarantor for loan.
Should I get a loan or buy it just outright with my own money, with boring s&p 500 etf i can get about 10% per year. Should I keep it in etf and get loan, or just withdraw and buy outrigh, whats the % loan rate for foreigners here ?
My current apartment is pretty nice, but the windows are not sound proof which sucks big time, always waking up from scooters at night. Is it possible to change windows if i would buy the apartment ?
Is it possible to install a new AC unit, if the apartment I buy has an old one. Paying 12 k every month electricity cuz of old AC sucks a lot.
I heard many friends say its crazy housing bubble atm, should I wait for a crash and rent till then ? I heard them say same thing 5 years ago and it continued to just go up ?!
lets say i buy an apartment in a house thats already 25 years old, how long till they get rid of the building and place a new one there. And when/if this happens, will I be given compensated for my apartment in said building or is it just gg ?
regarding âmy landâ, I mean I am buying one apartment in an 11 floor elevator building for example, maybe at some point some construction company government alliance says âhey lets rip this building down cuz old and build a new one thereâ. Is this a thing ?! lol, I have really no idea how this works, but i mean, new buildings have to be built eventually, no ?
I donât think buying your first home in Taiwan is a good idea given you seem relatively unfamiliar with the laws. Do you speak mandarin? But maybe youâll get lucky and meet an honest real estate agent, an honest home owner who wants to sell, and an honest banker who wants to work with foreigners.
I would suggest to get a local Taiwanese friend to help with the negotiation who has experience buying properties. Once you enter that final negotiation room thereâs many ways to get cheated. Itâs like entering the financing room after closing on a car sale at a dealership, even locals have their guard down and get cheated.
The rental yield is quite low that itâs better in most cases to rent and put that money into stocks or crypto. Unless if you plan to be here permanently and love the property.
the rental yield is super bad, agree. Originally the plan was to get a house in Germany with some land, which is very cheap there, but the government there gets crazier and crazier where its to a point that the government can decide which heating system you have to install, and you are not even allowed to let it stay empty (lets say you stay taiwan and leave house empty), in this case the german government has the rights to put refugees inside your house against your will. Just to name a few new laws of recent years. Many more,
So I have come to terms with the fact that if I want to ever own a place, it probably has to be Taiwan. I do speak rudimentary mandarin, my landlord plans to sell the apartment I am currently living in for rent, and aside of a few fixes like mentioned, it seems like a nice place. I lived in this very apartment for 2 years already and I know the ups and downs of it, and the price seems reasonable for an apartment in this area based on other threads and websites like 591.
It is a very tough choice tho, I agree, putting down 8m ntd, and not into VOO, its a very big hit to the portfolio long term speaking. But I feel like, i have no home, you know what I mean ? I am getting old, and I want to have something real, thats mine, I know this sounds stupid and is not rational, but whats all the grind for if I never have something tangible
Since you know the home owner and have already been staying there and know the place, perhaps you can work out an owner to owner sale and get a legal scribe to do the taxes and transfer paperwork.
You can modify most things but might want to run it past the community association if it modifies external appearance of the unit.
If building gets reconstructed then every home owner has to agree to the terms first. Being in an apartment mitigates most risks. There are squatters for example but they canât get into apartments.
Biggest risk I see in your case is that you sign the contract, pay the deposit, canât find a bank to finance and then lose the deposit. Thereâs no pre approvals of mortgages here probably because itâs simple for locals to get approved. But as a foreigner (especially if youâre older and donât have a local employer), you may need to apply at many banks, and most will ask for a local guarantor.
When you buy a unit, you own a piece of the land below. To tear the building down requires unanimous consent. Usually this is done by the developer buying people out if they all agree.
A high rise is much harder to tear down because more people means if one holds out, it gets rather difficult.
If you can get a loan with a low rate, itâs better to get a loan. I would. But rates are higher now, maybe over 3%, still quite low. Itâs about 7% in the US. Kaohsiung is cheaper but still not cheap. Having a loan means you still have money to invest in other things.
Better check with the management company. Get their number from the lobby.
Yes. The owner owns it and is responsible for it.
Prices are coming down slowly. The market is very slow. The banks have recently tightened loan approvals and the government has made it harder for investors to get loans. It may come down more in 2025. Wonât hurt to start looking. By the time you are ready youâll probably be able to see where the market is going.
Think never. The chance of high rise buildings getting torn down and rebuilt is next to none. Too many owners and the chance is low that all of them want or can afford a rebuild (owners still pay their share.) With some old (so that their prices are low) multi-story buildings, getting rebuilt is possible because there may be room for profit for the builders (the builders arenât going to rebuild it for free.) There are also rules about what buildings qualify. For high rises, the chance is next to none.
In Taipei City, the consent threshhold is currently 75% for Phase 1 and 90% for Phase II. The city is thinking about trying to lower the Phase II threshholde because so few cases are underway and the need is so dire.
In New Taipei, I believe the consent threshhold is currently 80%.
I wasnât able to quickly find the threshhold for Kaohsiung.
There are different kinds of urban redevelopment projects. Some are led by the government, some by developers. It can also depend on the zoning.
From what I have seen practice, it is only very old (40+) or dangerous buildings get redeveloped. Itâs still very rare at least here up north. There does seem to be a trende toward making it easier. It is extremely controversial of course.
I donât think they lied - in my case I donât have local income and they donât typically consider foreign income. So the terms will be generally less friendly.
Then get a loan. Youâll quality for anything from 2.5% to 4.5% I reckon. If you donât have collateral itâs harder to get a cheaper loan.
EDITED ABOVE- offers have improved for 1st time buyers âŚitâs 1% to 3% plusâŚnow
Some of your questions show you have very little understanding of some basic aspects of Taiwan even though you have an APRC.
You can do almost anything you want with your own apartment in most cases. In new apartments you wonât be allowed put bars on the windows and of course you canât touch structural walls and pillars.
You need collateral to get the cheapest loans usually. First thing all the banks asked us if we had collateral (existing property ) in a city here. next was do you work for the government or a top 500 Taiwanese company. They barely asked about my salary and savings. They really are very lazy so this is their quick way to prepare a loan offer at lowest rates. If you donât fulfill above conditions one must then work much harder to get lower rates.
Banks offer what they offer, if they arenât willing to give you the cheapest loan rate they arenât lying they are just being assholes.
I did my due diligence I asked a bunch of banks along with my wife. Initial responses were as per above.
Having existing collateral of a property in a major Taiwanese city, with no loans out against said property , was the major factor with offer of low rates. This is not the reason I didnât purchase I was just making inquiries.
We did not qualify for special housing assistance schemes as I earned too much.
