HERE'S HOW HE DID IT

Founder of Home Property Co Ltd Kittichai “Gid” Taechangamlert was 12 years old when both his parents died in a fire at their textile and garment factory. They left him, his elder brother and sister with a T-shirt shop and Bt1 million in cash.
The boys needed to discontinue their education in order to keep their sister in school. Through sweat and saving, Gid built his business life based on that shop while taking time out to catch up with his high-school studies.
He passed an entrance exam to attend the Faculty of Science at Chulalongkorn University. After the first term, he dropped out to devote his time to his business. With some free time left, he continued his studies at Ramkhamhaeng University and graduated within three and a half years with distinction. He then earned an MBA from Chulalongkorn, and entered the world of investors.
With that Bt1 million cash, Kittichai has expanded it to Bt500 million through his stock and property investment.
He reveals his recipe to being a millionaire in his new book “Chak 1 Lan Pen 500 Lan Baht” (“From Bt1 to Bt500 Million: How Did I Do It?”), which was launched recently with much fanfare at the Stock Exchange of Thailand. His goal is to develop his Bt500-million investment portfolio into a Bt1-billion scheme.
Kittichai has never spent a day toiling as an employee in someone else’s company. Running his own T-shirt business, Kittichai set his sights on investing in the stock exchange’s realty section. Overtime, he decided to sell off the T-shirt business to invest in property and stocks.
The first property he invested in was a detached house on Soi Phattanakarn 69 he’d bought in a bidding by the Legal Execution Department. It put its non-performing assets on sale in much lower-than-actual prices. He bought that house for Bt1.4 million and within five months he sold it for Bt2.2 million.
While maintaining his healthy stock-investment portfolio, Kittichai later invested in new condominium units for speculative purposes. His property portfolio includes about 40 condo units, plus 10 empty and partially developed properties. He’s passionate about buying new condo units and selling them at high prices.
The key is location and feng shui, writes Kittichai. The best condos are those located near the BTS stations, he recommends. His condo units are on Surawong, Sukhumvit, Rama III, Ratchada, Vibhavadee, Pratunam, Chokchai See and Lat Phrao, for instance.
“As long as savings interest rates are still low, people will invest in condos for speculative purposes because it offers higher returns than saving the money in the bank and getting low interest rates,” he writes.
The prospect for condominium speculation is bright. Land prices in Bangkok keep going up.
“I’m sure we’ll see the price in Bangkok go as high as Bt3 million per square wa and Bt400,000 to Bt500,000 per square metre for condos. Land prices in the Ploenchit area have shot up to Bt1.5 million per square wa already,” he writes.
His 100-square-metre condo in the Asoke area was bought eight years ago for Bt4.3 million. He later sold it for Bt5.7 million. “Condo prices always go up,” he notes.
 He encourages investors to look beyond Bangkok, suggesting that Pattaya and Hua Hin are the best locations for investing in condos.
His friends always wonder why despite being a millionaire Kittichai has never wanted to own a car.
“My condo is a short distance from the Asoke BTS station. I can get to Siam Paragon in less than 30 minutes. If you have to drive, you’re not going that fast. And driving in Bangkok gives you a lot of headaches,” Kittichai said at the launch.

“Chak 1 Lan Pen 500 Lan Baht” (“From Bt1 to Bt500 Million: How Did I Do It?”), published by Stock Tomorrow, is available at leading bookshops for Bt225.