outdoor furniture
Estate Management
maintenance
POOL with a VIEW!

time to relax?

When all is done and dusted and your villa has been completed and the keys have been handed to you, you might think that, at last, you can relax stretched out on your designer sun lounger in the sun with a well deserved tropical cocktail in your hand looking at the view and letting your mind wander. No, not just yet!

There is one last question you need to ask yourself. Who is going to manage the property when you are not there? This is a question often overlooked in the process of buying the villa of your dreams.
Before you purchase you should ask the developer if they intend to manage the development after it is completed or are you on your own?
Unless the developer has an interest in the finished development, you will need a management company to look after the common areas and your villa.

Having said that, most reputable developers will put in place a structure to manage the whole development and charge the villa owners accordingly. Most will also offer you a rental guarantee, normally a percentage of the price you paid for your villa. There will be strings attached such as signing for three years and taking the furniture package. They will however, allow you a number of weeks a year when you can stay, free of charge, in your own villa, which will suit most villa owners. If you opt for this choice, then you will not have to worry about maintenance as this will be taken care of as part of the rental package.

Should the developer not offer this choice, you will have to arrange it yourself. Remember, it is very important that you have management of some kind in place, otherwise the whole development will deteriorate, especially the common areas i.e. access paths, landscaping etc., and then there is the matter of security. Security is often overlooked, but very important to have when you are not in residence.

You will also need to maintain your own villa. Landscaping and your swimming pool, will need maintenance on a regular basis whether you are there or not.

One solution would be for all the villa owners to get together and appoint a management company to look after the whole development. This, of course, will require the cooperation of all the villa owners and someone will have to coordinate this. Otherwise, you will have to find your own staff to either live-in or visit on a regular basis. This is fraught with problems as a lot of trust is required on your behalf.
I would not advise this route unless you have a lot of local knowledge and contacts.

If you intend to rent out your villa when you are not there and the developer is not offering you a rental package, then you will need to appoint a real estate agent and the good ones can also maintain and manage your villa for a monthly fee.

If you are purchasing a villa on Koh Samui, then I can suggest you start by contacting Samui Villas & Homes. They are the leaders in this field and manage and rent out villas at the top end of the market, but you will have to satisfy certain criteria before they will consider taking you on
( see FLM Guide Contact Sheet for details ).