In short
Buying off-plan means committing before the home exists, usually in staged payments, with the ability to influence specification but no ability to inspect the finished result. Buying a newly completed unit from the developer means you can see exactly what you are getting, usually pay in a short timeframe, and typically receive a developer's defect warranty. Buying a resale means negotiating with a private owner over a home with a history, no developer warranty in most cases, and a condition you must verify yourself. None is inherently cheaper or better: off-plan trades certainty for the chance to secure a preferred unit, completed property trades that chance for certainty, and resale trades warranty for evidence.
Sergey Vinogradov · Published: September 2026 · Last reviewed: September 2026 · Reading time: approx. 10 minutes
Three categories, not two
Buyers usually frame this as off-plan versus resale, which quietly merges two very different purchases. A newly completed unit still held by the developer is not a resale: it has a warranty, a developer counterparty, a fixed specification you can walk through, and often incentives attached. A resale is a private transaction over a home that has been lived in, or at least owned, with all the evidence and all the wear that implies.
Off-plan means buying before or during construction, on the basis of drawings, a specification, a show unit and the developer's track record. Payment is typically staged against construction progress, and completion is a scheduled date rather than a fact.
Newly completed means the building exists and is finished, and the unit is still being sold by the developer. You can inspect the actual home, the actual view and the actual common areas, and you usually complete within weeks rather than years.
Resale means buying from a private owner. The building's real condition, its management, its fee history and its reputation are all observable — which is a genuine advantage — but the seller's obligations are contractual only, and a developer's defect warranty has usually expired or does not transfer.
Among the projects we follow, some are established and complete while others are under construction or recently delivered; each project page states its current status and completion information as provided by the developer.
The three routes compared
General characteristics. Every project and every contract differs, and the specific documents govern.
| Factor | Off-plan | Newly completed (from developer) | Resale |
|---|---|---|---|
| Move-in timing | On a scheduled completion date, which can move | Weeks, subject to transfer | Weeks, subject to transfer and the seller vacating |
| Payment structure | Reservation, contract deposit and staged instalments against construction, balance at transfer | Usually deposit and balance at transfer over a short period | Deposit and balance at transfer, terms negotiated privately |
| Can you inspect the result? | No — drawings, specification and a show unit only | Yes, fully, including common areas and the actual view | Yes, including how the building has aged and how it is managed |
| Customization | Often possible on finishes and sometimes layout, within the developer's options | Limited; usually as built | Any changes are your own renovation after purchase |
| Included items | As per specification schedule; furniture packages often optional | As shown or as listed; varies by unit and campaign | Whatever is agreed in the contract — list it item by item |
| Warranty | Developer's defect warranty from handover, per contract | Developer's defect warranty, with part of the period possibly elapsed | Usually none; the unit is bought as inspected |
| Principal risks | Delay, specification variation, delivered result differing from expectation, developer performance | Fewer construction risks; verify the completed building and its management | Condition, hidden defects, building's financial health, outstanding fees |
| Main advantage | Choice of unit, position and finishes early; staged payments | Certainty — you buy what you can see | Evidence — a track record you can examine |
Comparing the full budget, not the headline price
The price on the brochure is rarely the amount that leaves your account. To compare two options honestly, build the total cost to a livable standard for each, and compare those.
The example below is explicitly educational: the base prices are round figures chosen to make the structure visible, not listings, not quotations and not evidence about the market. Use it as a template, and fill it with figures you have obtained in writing for the specific units you are considering. Our guide to the cost of buying in Hua Hin explains the transaction-cost lines in detail.
| Line | Off-plan unit | Completed unit | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Headline price | ฿6,000,000 | ฿6,400,000 | Illustrative only; obtain written quotations |
| Furniture and appliances | To confirm — often an optional package | To confirm — sometimes included in a completed sale | Never assume; list every item in the contract |
| Finishes or variations | Possible extra if you upgrade beyond the standard specification | Usually none at purchase | Variations are priced by the developer |
| Transaction-related fees and taxes | Per contract; sharing is negotiated | Per contract; sharing is negotiated | See our purchase-cost guide |
| Refurbishment or repairs | None expected at handover | None expected if newly completed | Material for resale purchases |
| Holding costs during construction | Capital committed in stages over the build period | None | Money paid early is money not available elsewhere |
| Total to a livable standard | Sum of the above | Sum of the above | This is the only figure worth comparing |
Buying off-plan: what to establish before you reserve
Off-plan risk is concentrated in three places: whether the developer performs, whether the specification you signed for is what gets built, and what happens to your money if something goes wrong.
Developer, contract and delivery
- The developer's completed projects: visit them, walk the common areas, and talk to owners about handover quality and defect resolution.
- The corporate entity actually selling to you, and whether it is the same entity with the track record you were shown.
- Land title and permits for the project, verified independently rather than accepted from the brochure.
- The written specification schedule, item by item, including brands or equivalents, and what 'or equivalent' allows the developer to substitute.
- Payment milestones tied to verifiable construction stages, and what evidence triggers each one.
- What protects payments made before completion, and what happens contractually if the project is delayed or not completed.
- The contractual delay provisions: how long, what compensation, and at what point you may withdraw.
- For condominiums, the foreign-ownership quota position and whether your unit is inside it.
- Common-area fee rate and sinking-fund contribution, and whether they are fixed for any initial period.
- The handover and defect-inspection process, the warranty period and how defects are recorded and remedied.
Where legal due diligence belongs
Every route requires independent Thai legal review before money moves, and the review differs by route. Off-plan focuses on the developer, permits, the specification and payment protection. Completed purchases from a developer focus on title, the quota position and the handover terms. Resale focuses on title history, encumbrances, outstanding fees, the seller's authority to sell and the physical condition.
Use a Thai lawyer you instruct and pay, not one recommended by the party selling to you, and do not rely on translated summaries of contracts you have not had reviewed in Thai. Our due-diligence checklist sets out the full document list for each route, and our guide for American buyers covers how ownership structures work for foreign purchasers.
Inspecting a completed property
The advantage of a completed home is that you can test it. Very few buyers use that advantage properly, because inspections tend to happen on a pleasant morning in the company of the person selling.
Inspect twice if you can, at different times of day, and preferably once in rain. Bring someone technical. Then inspect what nobody shows you: the plant rooms, the roof access, the car park in heavy rain, the bin store, the pump room, the state of the common-area finishes on the floors nobody photographs.
The unit itself
- Water: pressure at every outlet, drainage speed, any smell from drains, evidence of past leaks at ceilings and under sinks.
- Air conditioning: every unit run for long enough to cool properly, with the age, servicing record and drainage of each checked.
- Damp and humidity: mould at skirtings, behind wardrobes, inside cupboards and around window reveals.
- Windows and doors: alignment, seals, locks, and whether they leak in driven rain.
- Electrics: consumer unit condition, earthing, sufficient sockets, and whether the supply capacity suits your appliances.
- Finishes: floor level, tile hollowness, cracks at wall and ceiling junctions, and the quality of joinery.
- Noise: road, plant equipment, neighbouring units, nearby construction and any bar or venue within earshot.
- The actual view and the actual sun path, and what could be built on the empty land next door.
The building and its management
- Lifts: age, servicing record and how often they are out of service.
- Pool, gym and common areas: real condition rather than marketing condition.
- Car park: capacity, allocation, drainage and flooding history.
- Water supply, pumps, back-up power and how the building coped with recent outages.
- The juristic person's accounts, the sinking-fund balance, the fee arrears position and any planned special levy.
- Minutes of recent owners' meetings, which tell you more about a building than any brochure.
- Security arrangements, and how visitors and contractors are managed.
- For a resale, the outstanding common-fee position on the unit itself, which must be clear before transfer.
Costs that arrive after the price is agreed
Some items are commonly excluded from a headline price and some are commonly included; the only way to know is to read the schedule and ask in writing. Do not assume either way.
Typical candidates: furniture and soft furnishings, white goods and kitchen appliances, curtains and blinds, light fittings, air-conditioning units in some specifications, landscaping and garden establishment for a villa, pool equipment, upgrades from the standard finish, and for resale, refurbishment and the replacement of aging equipment.
For a villa in particular, landscaping, boundary works, external lighting and pool plant can add materially to what the brochure price suggests, and they are frequently outside the base contract. Ask for a written inclusions-and-exclusions schedule and treat anything absent from it as excluded until confirmed otherwise.
- Ask for the inclusions schedule in writing, item by item, before signing anything.
- For a resale, price refurbishment realistically: air conditioning, water heaters, pumps and appliances have finite lives.
- Budget for what you will want to change in the first year, because you will want to change something.
- Confirm who pays which transaction-related fees, as this is negotiated and varies.
Which route tends to suit whom
Match the route to your constraints rather than to a general claim about which is better value.
- Needs to move in soon, or is buying to live in immediately: a completed unit, from the developer or as a resale.
- Wants a specific position — a particular floor, corner, orientation or plot — in a development that is selling: off-plan is often the only way to secure it.
- Uncomfortable with construction risk, or unable to absorb a delay: buy something that exists.
- Wants to influence finishes and layout: off-plan, within the developer's options, and get every variation in writing and priced.
- Values evidence over warranty: resale in an established building, with the accounts and meeting minutes examined.
- Buying from abroad and unable to visit during construction: recognise that off-plan without site visits concentrates a lot of trust in one counterparty.
Questions to resolve before you reserve
A reservation fee is small relative to the purchase and large relative to the effort of answering these questions first. Answer them first.
Before any money moves
- Is the reservation fee refundable, in what circumstances, and is that written into the reservation form?
- What exactly am I buying — unit, parking, storage, share of common property — and is each item named in the contract?
- Is the unit within the foreign-ownership quota, and will that be confirmed in writing before I pay a deposit?
- Who is the contracting entity, and what is its track record and current financial standing?
- What is the full payment schedule, and what triggers each payment?
- What are the delay provisions and my remedies?
- What is included, what is excluded, and what is optional at extra cost?
- Who will conduct my independent legal review, and have they seen the documents before I commit?
- What are the recurring costs after handover, and where do those figures come from?
- What would my exit look like in five years, and who would I be selling to?
Frequently asked questions
Sources & further reading
- Condominium Act, registration and foreign ownership provisions — Department of Lands, Thailand
- Property transfer, registration and title deed information — Department of Lands, Thailand
- Building control and construction permits — Department of Public Works and Town & Country Planning, Thailand
- Consumer protection in property sales — Office of the Consumer Protection Board, Thailand
- Property-related taxes and duties — The Revenue Department, Thailand
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