eljeque

Still, foreigners can own only less than 50%. No change there in the past two days.

My friend transfered a house and land into a company with his name on the paperwork as the director and as a 33% share holder the other day. That was stopped, at least in Pattaya some 8 months ago. It seems to be fine again now.

My accountant told me that what she hears is in a few years the government will instruct the commercial offices to look into all of the companies that have property that are not doing any business to see if there are foreigners as substantial shareholders and as directors. She hears that the government will start to look at the companies where the foreigners own 49% to start, and then work their way down, or start to look at revenue or taxes, to see which ones are really doing business.

Who knows the future here?

Anyway, RENT!!!!!!

Keep your money where you have control of it. In the West, there is a market for property based on incomes, and the ability for developers to borrow to build said property. It is not the same here. If you bought and then you decided to move, you may wait one year or longer to sell your house, or a lot longer.

Thailand Life

Panrit "Gor" Daoruang

It is the story of a young Thai boy named "Gor" who simply did not know when enough was enough in any situation. Some people just do not know when to stop. His not knowing eventually got himself in jail for using yabah. He was the youngest journalist at the Bangkok Post at age 16.

I got mine yesterday

I read on the Laos site that it is $35

The Laos visa issuer wanted 1500 including immediate service.

I needed it immediately so did not argue.

When they quote a price, tell them ,.... "in dollars?"

//Edit: this post is off topic, not related to the visa on arrival the OP asks about.

I am arriving in Mukdahan on Sunday morning, and going to Laos immediately to get my feet set down, a hotel, a "visa service" lined up if available, or find out exactly where the consulate is located. I plan...hope to be able to be in as forward a position as poissible to get my passport to the consulate... but it might matter little.

I think arriving the day before will allow me to beat some of the crowd which is coming in the morning, unless they are with tour groups which have inside assistance. I would expect that a visa service would have the same connections--if they exist, as the tour services coming from Bangkok and elsewhere.

Upon returning, I will post a trip report PATTYA TO SAVANAKHET, with time on the bus, at the border, hotels, restaurants, prices, photos, etc.

Thanks to everyone for their information.

Thanks to all.

I have the Thai and Laos visa application forms.

If the Laos border agents will not accept the ashington DC visa aplication form which was the one available on-line, then I will need to prepare a new one.

If the Thai consulate will not accept the visa application form from the Royal Thai embassy in Vientianne, then I will have to make a new one there as well.

Is there a visa service, which for a couple of hundred baht will same me the hassle of getting to the embassy, and still get me the passport back early in the afternoon/?

I am considering Mukdahan for my next visa run.

Can I get an entry into Laos at the border, or do I ned a visa from the Laos embassy in Bangkok first?

My experiences and nothing more.

I am building two small houses.

The two land plots are in my friend's wife's name.

She borrowed many years ago to buy a house far more expensive than these; paid it off; and figured it would be easy again.

She has had a good-paying job at the same company for 15 years.

The bank told her that they would be happy to lend to her.... on a completed house.

If I read your post right, I think that it would be easier for you to borrow on the first house, use the money to build the second one, and then sell the first one, paying off the loan with the proceeds.

I would like to find a British restaurant like the equivalent of Crazy Dave's, or the Blind Beggar. Is there a place like this in the area. I think the Blind Beggar closed down.

If you are interested in Pattaya, I know a man selling a coule of houses and will offer a mortgage for 12 years at 10% / year. 20 % down payment. If you are interested, please PM me.

"""Also, not too long ago I was hearing rumblings out of Phuket where bungalows were being registered under the Condominium Act. I'm not sure if this is true, and so far I know this would be the only place in Thailand that would be attempting this."""

I heard this was being done in some of the outskirts of Pattaya as well. In this case, the buyer would own the building (house) but not the land under it. I thought it was a rather clever idea.

Can you provide me with its location?

Which restaurants/breakfast nooks/bars in the north Jomtien area would cater to the cheapest of British tastes?

Where would a cheap Englishman hang out in the north Jomtien area?

A couple of years ago, my friend bought through this same group and now stays one week per year in View Talay Villas.

He paid... about 500,000 baht or $13,000 upfront, PLUS 10,000 or 12,000 / year maintenance / maid service.

If he were to instead rent the unit for the one week each years, he would pay about 12,000 baht

In essence, he threw away 500,000 to start.

You did not get into enough detail on your initial post, but this is what I think migh be beneficial for you based on the information that you provided.

If the company has already billed your credit card, as you have not used the services yet, contact your credit card company and cancel the bill. It is YOU -- wih a long credit history with your credit card company, versus this company based in Thailand. Your credit card company will take your side. If not, then walk away from the deposit. if you are worrid that they will increase the bill to your credit card if you do not attend the seminar, then simply notify your credit card company not to accept any more bills from this company.

You are better off avoiding the snakes.

Could you make one item in the contract that says the land must be returned in the same condition in which it was leased, and have pictures with all signatures on the back. This way, you are allowed to destroy anything that you have built without the possibility of the owner forcing you to maintain any improvements.

Good luck.

Next time a really pushy un-solicited investment scamsman calls I will have to try it. Set up a meeting in a restaurant a reasonable way out of town & just don't turn up. Waste the idiots time.

... and a very expensive restaurant at that!!!

Does anyone else get pestered by these cold callers offering financial consulting services?

Since my name is in various business dirctories, I sometimes get several calls a month from different people selling offshore investments. Apparently, this business is "unregulated" in Thailand, but regulated in Hong Kong and Singapore, so the cowboys all flock here to Bangkok. Some of them can be pretty rude to secretaries screening the calls.

In my experience, they never have any specific product to discuss on the phone and they are always desperate to set up a face-to-face meeting. I'm just wondering what happens at such a meeting and whether it's a hard sell or not. I can see why some expats might want to invest offshore in their home country's currency but for those of us here permanently I don't see any advantage in investing offshore.

Once you are in any business directories you are easy prey to these guys.

Friends of mine complain about the number of calls and that their secretaries often are scared not to put a farang through to another farang and these scumbags do lie to those girls too.

Set up a meeting or two and do not show up but apologise then say you are travelling on biz for a month

They can not operate in markets that are regulated as you say so try to prey on victims elsewhere 0- scum to a man

I get all sorts of calls here in Singapore but its usually from large resepectable banks - I reckon Singtel sold my details

The only financial advisotr who called me was a guy from Barclays who said he got my card from a mutual friend. I told him my advice as paid for by the company through one of the large accountancy companies and he thanked me politely for my time and was off.

Didn't think of that one.

Next time a really pushy un-solicited investment scamsman calls I will have to try it. Set up a meeting in a restaurant a reasonable way out of town & just don't turn up. Waste the idiots time.

Cheers,

Soundman.

There are housing estate developers in Pattaya who are no longer trying to sell their remaining houses, and have instead decided to rent them out, as they have no buyers in site.

It is not that there are NO buyers, but there are a lot of houses, both new and second-hand on the market--far more than the number of buyers for this year and possibly most of next as well.

RENT!!!!

While I was working in Afghanistan in '04, I found out that the police (RCMP in Canada) raided the small community my father still lives in. Yes, they raided the WHOLE community of about 90 total residents (including kids). They used 160 police officers to do it. Ended up arresting 12 people, and confiscating about 50 weapons and 20,000 marijuana plants. Not everyone in the community was involved in the grow-ops, but the police estimated that maybe half the people living there were involved in one way or another.

%%%%% In the above case, 13% of the residents were arrested including finding 50 weapons. Certainly a great haul.

%%%%Nirun Condo must have at least 3,000 people living there. What percentage were arrested and how many weapons were confiscated? The police need to be a little more precise in their targeting. Nirun may have some drug dealers, some car thieves, some pickpockets, etc., but that does not men that everyone in the development should be questioned.

%%%%Whomever (sing.pl.) they were looking for, I hope that they did find him/her/them and in the future, I hope that they find another way to locate the people they are looking for.

It makes me laugh how people will gripe about a situation in Thailand and totally (forget ? Ignore ?) similar situations in their home countries.

So a guy who was wrongly convicted was released from Thai prison after 17 years. You mean to tell me the NO ONE in your home country was ever wrongly convicted ? In Canada in recent years there have been numerous cases of people being released after spending years in prison for crimes they apparently didn't commit.

So the authorities are doing a house-to-house search for (a specific person ? acting on a tip ?). In your home countries, have the police never set up a "drunk driving" road-block and checked drivers licences, and arrested people found to be driving without licences, or insurance, or other infractions ?

While I was working in Afghanistan in '04, I found out that the police (RCMP in Canada) raided the small community my father still lives in. Yes, they raided the WHOLE community of about 90 total residents (including kids). They used 160 police officers to do it. Ended up arresting 12 people, and confiscating about 50 weapons and 20,000 marijuana plants. Not everyone in the community was involved in the grow-ops, but the police estimated that maybe half the people living there were involved in one way or another.

Funny thing is, of all the people that were not involved in any ways, NOT ONE of them complained about the whole procedure. Nobody bitched about the early morning raid, the road-blocks, the helicopters flying overhead, the police checking ID, nothing. The people I spoke to were glad it happened, as it weeded out a lot of the less desireable (i.e. criminal) element, and made the rest of the community feel safer.

I rarely carry my passport with me when I'm in LOS. I know it's wrong, and know what the likely consequences are if I'm caught without it. I weigh that risk against the possibility of losing my passport whilst out and about on the town, and elect to keep it safe. I usually have a photo-copy on me though.

If the police raided my block and wanted to see my passport, no problem. I'm pretty sure that once I showed them my valid passport with a valid visa, they would carry on.

I am after all, a guest in their country.

Question for the day.

How many Western foreigners are granted Thai citizenship each year?

Nah wait tanah

น่าเวทนา

""Um. I've actually done a masters subject as to why this type of insurance would be hard to find. A lot to do with the insurance fund paying out more that received in payments. I can spin some equations, throwing in some probabilities taking into account risk aversion or being a risk lover, drawing fancy curvers and shading the area of probable return vs expected return, but I won't bore you.""

You would not bore me as I graduated from UCLA at age 20 with a degree in economics, taught math overseas for years, and have articles published on currencies, the Asian melt-down, etc.

I wish you the best of luck in your search.

""sorry to burst your bubble eljeque, but I'm not a drifter.""

Nowhere did I insinuate that you were a drifter. SEE BELOW

Tell me if I am wrong, but it almost sounds like you are searching for employment insurance in order to be paid when you cannot or do not find work.

I can think of a lot of people here in Thailand who would like to find that kind of insurance for when they are too lazy to go back to work or there simply is not any work available in their field.

Think about why this insurance may be so difficult to find. It may be because it is not available overseas because of the difficulty of insurance companies reviewing claims.

I wish you luck in your search.

Interest Rates

http://www.bangkokbank.com/Bangkok+Bank/Pe...tes/Default.htm

6.5% for three years and then 7.5% for the remaining term

Fees

http://www.bangkokbank.com/Bangkok+Bank/Pe...+Apply/Fees.htm

Appraisal Fee: 2,500 baht

Loan Fee: 0.5% of loan amount

My friend's wife is a nurse and a few years ago she borrowed nearly 3 million for a house and her salary was only 20,000 / month. The property was worth well in excess of that amount, and her Japanese husband put down a large enough down payment.

Please redirect me if I am wrong, but are you looking for "disability insurance" or "unemployment insurance". If you are looking for unemployment insurance, then I truely wish you the best of luck, because after living my entire life out of my home country, I am as of yet to hear about overseas unemployment insurance that will cover a self-employed individual.

Tell me if I am wrong, but it almost sounds like you are searching for employment insurance in order to be paid when you cannot or do not find work.

I can thing of a lot of people here in Thailand who would like to find that kind of insurance for when they are too lazy to go back to work or there simply is not any work available in their field.

About 130 years ago in Thailand, an English citizen of Indian heritage had a debt to a Thai man. Back then, Englishmen were covered by English law, not Thai law.

The Englishman died, and the Thai creditor went to his home to take his daughter into a brothel to pay off the debt. This was standard practice then. The English "embassy-equivalent" told the creditor that as English people, they were covered by English law, and that although Thai law may allow this, English law does not.

The Thai creditor lost his loan.

From the book: History of Anglo-Thai Relations

Hutch offers a card for about 5,000 that plugs into your computer and for about 900 / month, you have internet connection through it just like a cell phone, but it might work on the antennaes or satellites--I don't know which.

YOU HAVE TO SIT NEAR A WINDOW TO USE IT. A friend of mine increase his download by 300% by moving to the window from inside the middle of his house.

Good luck.

I heard something about Sophon beginning to offer cable internet. Has anyone else heard about this?

Hi Everyone

I am seriously thinking of retiring to Thailand (LOS)

BUT......

I have tried various links and websites for advice and so far all I have got is estate agents and various people trying to flog me something (this ThaiLongStay program)

I have subscribed to various magazines which are sent over sort of regular (but they are full of ad's)

Would anyone be prepared to help out with WHAT I actually need and require for retiring in Thailand ?

Do I actually need this longstay program or can it be done without it ?

*******Not necessary

Type of visa and would it have to be done BEFORE leaving the UK, and where do I get it from ?

*****Contact the Thai Embassy in the UK. Different consulates in different countries will give you different answers. It is in your best interests to talk to the people who will be approving the visa.

Any advice about the 30+30+30 lease program ? who, what and where ?

******NO!!! No 3, no 5, no 10, no 30, and no 30 + 30 + 30 + 30 + 30 anything. You do not need to lease anything.

I like the Pattaya/Mapbruchan area, but am open to suggestions

*****This is like asking someone to spice your food. Come to Thailand, get an inexpensive apartment, and then travel to a couple of different locations and talk to a lot of people at different venues. Also, the country is different from high to low season, at least in the Pattaya area where you mentioned.

Is it worth renting for a while (just to see how things go) and any recommendations, please

******Absolutely. Again, speak to the people wwhom you meet concerning houses and condos and apartments and get their views and why they have them.

I'd prefer recommendations rather than being pointed at a estate/lawyer/solicitor, people who YOU have worked with and not ripped off

I am over 50 so I know I qaulify for the reirement visa and have savings (but havent won the lottery)

*****Present proof of this information to theEmbassy in the UK and they will be very helpful.

A rough idea of living costs would be nice to know as well (gas/power/internet/shopping/etc)

*****It varies from person to person. What kind of life do you live? I know people who get by on 30,000 / month and others who spend that in a week or less.

Dont have a Thai wife or GF (my scouse wife wont let me) so actually owning a property is out of the question, hence the 30+30+30 thing or renting.

****** Rent. You can always move.