By popular request, we’re sharing the details of our new house in Chiang Mai. It’s cozy, it’s modern, and it’s a place where we feel completely comfortable. We can’t help but feel excited to share what we call home these days!
When our lease was ending at our first townhouse in Chiang Mai, rather than renew it, we chose to downsize. The 150 sq m townhouse was just too big and empty for us. We also thought about how much we were paying in rent and utilities and thought we could find a place that suited us a little better.
We looked at over twenty serviced apartments and condos during one intense week of house hunting. We focused on places within a short walk of the Old City as well as in the Nimmanhaemin and Suthep areas. We love the liveliness in main part of town and enjoy the convenience of being able to walk to restaurants and markets.
We were aiming for 10,000 to 12,000 baht ($320 to $390 USD) a month and wanted something with one bedroom, a Western kitchen and bathroom, and a washing machine. Oh, and it had to be cat friendly, which was the biggest determining factor for us.
Welcome to Our New House in Chiang Mai
We love everything about this two bedroom 85 sq m detached house. It’s brand new, just outside of the moat, and met all of our basic requirements. Although we agreed to a price that was a little outside of our budget, at 14,000 baht per month ($450 USD), there is nothing we don’t like.
We no longer live in a small neighborhood, but rather right off a small street. We have a gate that opens at the push of a button, a large brick driveway, and a small yard full of flowers and palm trees that is cared for by our landlord.
The side of our house has a covered porch area with built-in bench seating. It’s a perfect place to lounge when our friends are over. We can hear the nearby rooster calls, monk chanting, and temple music which we’ve grown to enjoy and recognize as a nice part of living in Thailand.
Open Concept Living Room and Kitchen
There’s something to say about the first impressions of a place. We instantly loved the layout, the colors, and even the views from the windows. The choice in furniture, wall paint, and curtains made for a light, welcoming feel.
Our new house in Chiang Mai is half the size of our old townhouse, but it came properly furnished and actually feels like a home. We have a soft couch with a TV and an entertainment center where we occasionally enjoy our handful of English channels.
There is a very well made dining room table that we use as a work area. No more shared space at a single desk like at our last place! The table is against large vertically opening windows for maximum natural light. We also bought cushions for the wooden chairs to make them comfy.
The kitchen is just a few steps away from our computer area. The fact that the kitchen isn’t in a separate room makes a big difference in how much we use it. On top of that, there are two gas burners, and that alone has given us the aspiration to cook again. We much prefer the gas burners over the single induction burner that we had at our old townhouse!
Although we brought over all of our cookware and dishes from our last place, this house came with a fully stocked kitchen and great cabinet space. It has a small fridge with a mini freezer, microwave, water heater, pans, and knives, as well as nice plates, bowls, and cups. We later learned from our landlord that our house was original intended to be rented out as a vacation home.
Bedrooms
The second half of the house consists of two bedrooms and two bathrooms. The bedrooms aren’t too big but still fit a king sized bed, large wardrobe, and a vanity stand in each with comfortable walking space. We love waking up to the sun and the bright green palm trees just outside of our window.
There is also an AC unit in each room that we sometimes use to quickly cool down the house on hot days. The guest bedroom has a TV mounted on the wall and an ensuite bathroom. This was the first place we saw with painted walls, though pink wouldn’t have been our first choice!
Bathrooms
Although the showers are large and open with electric hot water heaters, our new bathrooms are as close to Western bathrooms as we’ve had since arriving in Thailand. We have an American Standard brand toilet, a modern sink, and a huge mirror.
We’ve had no weird smells coming from the pipes in these bathrooms either, which was a welcomed change from our last place. Even though one of the showers has quirky grass tiles, we are actually really fond of them. We even went a little crazy and bought a shower curtain to match.
Utilities
In addition to the 14,000 baht ($450 USD) monthly rent, our monthly bills aren’t much extra. High-speed internet (21mbps) is included in the rent, but our basic TV cable costs 175 baht ($6 USD), water costs 120 baht ($4 USD), and electric bill costs 770 baht ($25 USD) on average per month.
No More Unwelcome Visitors
Our new home is better sealed than our last place. Wide gaps under the doors in our old townhouse let in large creepy crawlies more often than we liked. But in our new place, the only thing we’ve experienced are ants and the little gecko lizards, which we aren’t bothered too much by.
We felt better prepared this time for the bugs! The first thing we did was caulk up any small holes and put seals on the door frames. We also use the ant chalk and draw lines around windows and doors to discourage ants from coming in. We do our best at composting our cooking scraps outside rather than putting them in the trashcan under the sink.
Finding a House in Chiang Mai
We eventually found our house after looking through a ton of online listings. Although we asked our Thai friends if they knew of anyone renting out a place, and even looked for For Rent signs posted in Thai around the city, we didn’t find any success through that avenue this second time around.
We couldn’t be happier with our new house in Chiang Mai and agree that the size of it is perfect for the two of us. We love that it’s fully furnished, modern, and more our style. The best part is that we live near the same neighborhood we have grown to love and appreciate since first moving here in March 2013. If things stay this great, we definitely foresee ourselves renewing the lease!
I can’t tell from the pictures but did you cat-proof the property? Do most owners allow tenants to cat-proof the house?
We were privileged to live in CM in the ’90’s for most of 10 years, and really loved it! We lived down in Siriwattana at that time – what’s going on down there now?
That’s smashing ? thanx for sharing! Can’t wait to get there.
You’re welcome :)
What online websites did you visit to find a cat friendly place in Chiang Mai?
Your place is beautiful. My husband and I will be arriving in Chiang Mai in just a few weeks. It was suggested to us that we live near the airport/ Airport Plaza area so that is where we will begin our search when we arrive. Do you know how this area of Chaing Mai compares to other areas as far as cost of housing and how the location compares to other areas? Thanks for all the helpful posts and information!
It really depends on the vibe you want, and if you either want to live north or south of the airport for starters. North of the airport is the modern, walkable, Westernized and “expensive” area compared to other areas, but still far cheaper than what you are paying in a Western country. But south of the airport starts to be more countryside but there are many communities due to the nearby international schools. Breaking down the city based on cost of housing and the vibes of each location is extensive depending on your wants (quite vs night life, Western grocery… Read more »
Just out of curiosity what area of chiang mai is your house located? Is it pretty easy to find a house in CM thats still relatively close to everything? My boyfriend and I are looking to move to CM in March and would love to live in a house. Was it easier to find a place once youre there or is it pretty easy to find listing online, if so what sites worked for you guys? Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!
We live just outside the south side of the Old City. We used http://www.ddproperty.com to find our house. We definitely recommend finding a guesthouse or hotel for a week while you are searching for housing. It’s always best to see places in person, even though sites like the one we provided good pictures and information about the place. Good luck!
Very beautiful house! :D
Thanks Pam!
Excellent find! I’m in the market for a similar place next month (14-16k/mo, 1-2br with western kitchen & bath, under 100sm) . . . did you use a particular agency (I know, not CM Prop) to find this or a particular website? I notice you said you replied to ads online but are you able to share more specifically?
There’s a few good sites out there, but our favorite is http://www.ddproperty.com. Good luck!
Your house is perfect, it’s exactly what my husband and i are looking for! We are moving in less than 2 weeks, with our little dog, i love the DD property site, however they don’t replay to any of my emails, i even tried to contact them by whatssapp ( we are not in Thailand just yet) nada. Any recommendations who we may contact? Do they even speak English?
We always say that if our landlord were to build a few dozens houses like ours around Chiang Mai, he’d have no problem filling them with tenants because so many people like the layout and price.
As far as DD Property, we’ve always contacted the representative via text message through their listed number without problems. Email is almost never sucessful but we are surprised that whatssapp didn’t work.
Thanks very much for the reply, I’ll dig into their site . . .
Awesome place. You are truly living and experiencing great things. The iTravel Food story and experience was really neat. I wish you both the best.
Thanks, Richard. It was cool to add it to my “Awesome Things I’ve Done in Thailand” list.
I am very impressed with your new house! That’s a great find guys! Thanks for sharing the photos and the details.
Yeah, we feel pretty lucky to be living here :)
It looks like a steal of a deal at that price! I’m so impressed with how far your money went! :)
We definitely got a great deal on this place. Even though we wanted something smaller, we felt like we couldn’t pass it up!
We will be in CM for a week in Jan. scouting things out (our 1st time there). Any advice for getting a quick overview of what’s available for rent? I was thinking about contacting a realtor (i.e. Chiang Mai Properties) to see if they could show us around. Also, any advice of what areas are the best, and which to avoid (like the areas that flood)? Thanks in advance.
We’d recommend going to anyone other than CM Properties. Their turn-around contact time is appalling. The Nimmenhamen Area, west of the city and directly north of the airport is the most trendy and expensive area near the Chiang Mai Old City. More affordable housing is smattered throughout and near the Old city, but the city is developing so quickly that there are many new condos and hotels. The area with the largest hotels is near the Night Bazaar, east of the city. The south side of the city seems to attract less foreigners and it’s developed with many small Thai… Read more »
That would have been nice for us to find last week! :-) We just went through the entire process in Chiang Mai, looking for a 3 month rental. Finally moved in a couple of days ago, off of Nimmanhaemin. We are paying more than I wanted, but we did get a 3 bedroom condo and it is short term. I just love reading your posts. I am sure at some point, we must have walked right past your place. We walked through a karaoke area one day.
You definitely had it hard trying to find a big place for cheap. We haven’t come across any three bedroom condos. It’s still a good find, especially in Nimmanhaemin!
We are currently deciding where to base ourselves next year. I had gone off the idea of Thailand for various reasons, but now I see what you get for such a low amount of money and I am all confused again! How long a lease did you have to sign to get this sort of price? Thanks :)
Hi Sharon, we went with a one year lease but that is only because we loved it so much! Our landlord is a great guy and we think he would have given us the same price for a 6 month lease. We wanted to know that we would be in one house for at least a year so we could settle a bit. Best of luck with your decision!
Looks like cat likes it too!
He loves looking out of the windows and sleeping in his ceramic flower pot all day :)
The place seems pretty cool and at 450 a month furnished with not much bills beyond that. Something I would definitely do if I had an extended stay abroad. Keep us updated with the place.
Will do. Chiang Mai is a great place for an extended stay abroad.
Sweet home! Looks very practical and comfortable!
As someone who is entertaining the idea of working abroad for a while these type of posts are fun to read through and to learn from.
Great find!
Thailand is great place to work abroad. The fact that the cost of living is so cheap allows you to focus on other things than being a slave to your job. These kinds of posts also inspired us to move to Thailand back in the day!
Looks amazing and thank you so much for your indepth update on the house. This can be very useful for people who may be wanting to do the same…..like us!! lol..
No problem! Always happy to share :)
Congrats, the new place looks really cozy.
Thanks! It is treating us very well.
Thank you so much for your blog!!! My family and I are seriously looking at making the big move to Thailand. I lived in Thailand for 3 years before and speak Thai more than enough to get by. Now though, I have a husband and little girl so a lot more things to consider. Thank you for your clear and honest views on living in Thailand.
What an advantage that you speak Thai already! We hope you do end up making the move here. Glad you enjoy our site :)
That looks great, plenty big enough for our family of 4 and way bigger than our current London flat! I think we pay that much per half week! I see we’ll have to get some help and advice from you guys for next year, it may be CM for us.
We always compare our Thai rent to our American rent and still are blown away by what we used to pay. We’re all for you moving to Chiang Mai!
Many thanks for sharing details of your new house Chris and Angela. Seems you did very well to find it. Hope you continue to be very happy there.
Thank you so much, Pippa!
Your home is really cozy and full of light. It inspires us to post pictures of our condo when we return from Japan. But first…………Lunch on us! You choose where!
The light was a huge factor, especially after moving from our old place, which felt like a cave. We’d love to see pictures of your new place (haha, everyone does!). We thought you had great taste in the condo you made that video on. Looking forward to meeting up again :)
Wow. Still right at under $500 US. That’s encouraging!
We’ve been scouting around looking at prices and have always seen more like $600 US for about the same thing and that’s without utilities.
Oh well we won’t be over there for another year and it’s probably better to just live on a month-to-month basis so we can have plenty of time to search and get used to the neighborhoods.
Great article you two. Thanks!
We agree to find a temporary place and then take your time looking through listings for something long term. That’s how you find the best deals! The good news is that rent prices haven’t gone up much in the past twenty years (so we’ve heard), so you should still expect super low prices by the time you’re here next year.
What recommendations do you have for finding temporary housing in Chiang Mai? My boyfriend and I arrive in October and are planning on staying a year. We would like to find some temporary housing while we get aquainted with the city and find something more permanent. Any websites or resources you could recommend would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!
Google serviced apartments in Chiang Mai. They are great for short-term stays and provide things like linens, onsite water, and even cookware. This sure beats buying everything the first few days you’re in town like we did!
Great find guys. Looks like an awesome home that you’ll both be very happy in. Thanks for sharing especially the tips on creepie crawly defense initiatives it’s an important part of the selection process. We will definitely remember that one including pipe scents.
Every place we’ve been in has ants. It seems inevitable, but sealing windows and doors and using the ant chalk has been a lifesaver.
Thank you for sharing, Congrats on the new place, its very cute and looks perfect for you two! I love the exterior color, very bright and welcoming!
The fact that it’s painted peach is unusual! Most places are grey concrete or dark wood exterior. Our landlord has good taste!
Congratulations to you both…it looks lovely! All the best from Miami, :)
Thank you Carlos! Hope all is well in Florida :D
Angela, how is the compost going?
Great! The first batch hasn’t been added to in 2.5 months and should be ready to dump on the roses under the fountain soon. We started a second batch when we got back from the US and that’s going good too. Ants are generally at a minimum. Come back soon!
Love the new place! Nice work finding it!
Thanks Megan. Hope you and the little family are doing wonderful!
Your new place looks great. What a great price too!
I know! We could have gone cheaper, but this was perfect for us and makes us very happy :)
Hi guys, We’re finally on our way to CM in just a few weeks and will be there for a year on an ED Visa, as we plan to study Thai. We have been researching places online and want to stay in the 20,000 or under a month rent range. Even with that budget it is not easy to find something. Everything that is more modern or in the city such as a one bedroom serviced apartment starts at 20,000 and most have additional common area fees plus internet, utilities, etc, in addition to the rent. If you have any… Read more »
Hello Lori, it really takes a lot of hitting the streets and replying to ads online. We looked at over twenty places before settling on this one. There are plenty of very nice serviced apartments we found for around 15K baht a month. We will be posting a list of them soon. Take care and good luck.
Thank you both and we will definitely peruse your list when posted. Have already gotten in touch with some realtors too,to help narrow our search. Looking forward to getting there! Hope to cross paths with you at some point. :)
I can confirm that the guest room was very comfortable when I stayed over ;-) Most Amazing bed sheets in Chiang Mai
Glad you liked them! We stupidly paid over $100 for them from Robinson!
Wow, guys, it’s amazing! You’re so lucky about the bugs. I love my house so much, but the constant company of ants and cockroaches gets old. What area of town is it in?
Thanks Andrea! We are just south of Chiang Mai Gate. Yea, the bug situation is much more favorable at our new spot. What part of town do you call home?
Too funny! I’m actually right in the same area.
Congrats!! It looks so comfortable, and actually a little more Western than I would have expected. Love it :)
Thanks! We feel so lucky to have snatched this place up :)
So nice of you to share such details as future expats are usually concerned not only about budget but what they can expect in term of size style and standards. Seems like you’ve found the perfect place for you wish you all the best :)
Thank you! We love our new place, and really hope future expats get a better picture of what is available here in Chiang Mai.