Steve2UK

Hi (again) All,

Apologies for nearly duplicating my previous post, but after very helpful advice from CM451, I think it makes sense to broaden what I originally described - i.e. to also think about short-term rental of a house near to the city as an alternative to a condo/small house in the city. By the way, I'm sure I can provide whatever reasonable guarantees/deposit is required to ensure confidence - and it may help to know that I'm a sensible 54 year-old on a 1 year Business Visa..........

I'm planning to come to Chiang Mai in mid-January and stay for 4-5 weeks - mainly to reconnoitre everything I'll need for a permanent move later in 2005 (basically - just as soon as I can get it done!).

I prefer not to stay in a hotel/guesthouse all that time (apart from the cost, it's not a real reflection of what LIVING there is all about). I'd appreciate suggestions of a 1/2 bedroom condo or house (I'll be on my own so I actually only need 1 bedroom) to rent for that period. Furnished/equipped, obviously - and probably needs to be fairly central/near to the city for ready access to daily necessities; having said that, I'll certainly rent some wheels to get me around all the places/areas I'll want to visit. I'd also welcome internet access for my laptop from the property - dial-up's probably OK and I guess I can do it with a pre-paid card on a regular line? Laptop's also equipped for wireless connection, BTW. Failing that, I imagine I won't be far from an internet cafe..........

Thanks in advance for all suggestions/offers - I look forward to meeting you happy CM-folk face to face while I'm there .

Steve

I'm not sure on your # because they grew so fast they had promised a phone line to someone who built a house and ended up giving them one of their own phone lines because one for the home owner was not available.

I do know the office cell line is 015301132. Noi usually carries that phone and she speaks English ok.  The house that I think is open (and the cheapest one) is "Mikes house". It is the "pretty" one on the website with Jacuzzi tub, great master bedroom, full kitchen, full furnished, and fireplace for 12,000 ? I was just there today visiting my friend and it still looked empty. People usually rent it while building houses out there. 

We now rent down the road for about 5000 a month long term (not in Tanaboon) so will be glad to show you around if you'd like. we are close to the Hang Dong Lotus by the way.

Cheers,

J

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Hi again J - I've sent you a PM

Steve

When I rented short term to look for a place in CM I rented a house short term at the rate of about 12000 a month, outside of CM.  It's hard to imagine leaving CM with a favorable impression if I had stayed downtown. Just my biased opinion. So below is my suggestion.... which is not at all what you were thinking about.

So if your renting a car anyway, this place that has a lot of foreign home owners who sometimes lease out their houses might have a house for short term  Tel # 05393035 (Tanaboon) and you can talk to a lot of foreigners that live here .  It's close to the end of the line for the city bus also. so you don't have to drive to look around downtown if that's where you want to live. For internet access there I had to go down the street a bit. It's all easy.

cheers,

cm451

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Hi cm451 - and thanks very much for the tip. Thinking about it, you make a very good point - I was last in Chiang Mai for just a couple of weeks in '96 and I gather the place has got a LOT busier/more built-up since then.

I found the Tanaboon website and it gives a 'phone number as (053) 293-035. Is that correct or have the codes changed?

In the long term, I want to live in a house, anyhow - I only thought of the condo route in terms of convenience for a visit of a few weeks. So, I'll modify my original request and say that it (condo or house) needs to be not TOO far from the centre. As you clearly recognise, I do need it "easy" - but I also don't want to be worn-down by BKK-style congestion etc.

Thanks again for taking the trouble to let me benefit from your experience.

Cheers.

Steve

Hi All,

I'm planning to come to Chiang Mai in mid-January and stay for a few weeks - mainly to reconnoitre everything I'll need for a permanent move later in 2005 (basically - just as soon as I can get it done! ).

Prefer not to stay in a hotel/guesthouse all that time (apart from the cost, it's not a real reflection of what LIVING there is all about). I'd appreciate suggestions of a 1/2 bedroom condo (I'll be on my own so I actually only need 1 bedroom) to rent for that period. Furnished/equipped, obviously - and probably needs to be fairly central for ready access to daily necessities; having said that, I'll certainly rent some wheels to get me around all the places/areas I'll want to visit. I'll also want internet access for my laptop from the condo - dial-up's probably OK and I guess I can do it with a pre-paid card on a regular line? Laptop's also equipped for wireless connection, BTW.

Thanks in advance for all suggestions/offers - I look forward to meeting you happy CM-folk face to face while I'm there .

Steve

The condo must be worth 3mil +. If my info is correct, it must also be in a brand new development.

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That is correct.

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And would that also apply to building a new house or buying a newly-built house?

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No, because foreigners cannot own land, so the house would not be in your name.

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Thanks, Zovox - should have spotted that point for myself!

The condo must be worth 3mil +. If my info is correct, it must also be in a brand new development.

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That is correct.

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And would that also apply to building a new house or buying a newly-built house?

BTW, just 5 mins ago CNN carried an interview with an analyst from BusinessWeek.......... who said that she sees a strong possibility that the US$ will slide another 10% in 2005.

Just another economist, I guess

Corkscrew:  Cash is King at this juncture!  Sometime within the next several weeks, the USD will very likely reverse course and outclass and eclipse ALL other currencies.  Gold will be heading back to $350.  The Baht, which is very strong now, will reverse and head towards 46 and above.  The year for the Dollar is 2005.  Switch from Baht to USD within the next 2 months.  Open a USD  account @ HSBC in Singapore or SCB in Thailand.  Cash is King!  Goodluck!

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What is your reasoning ? Most experts seem to think the dollar will continue to fall next year.

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Couldn't agree more!

Hi Sunny - I think most people were surprised at the at the UK£ - Euro change (I remember the rate sitting at or near UK£1 = Euro 1.60 for quite a while and then it slipped to the current UK£1 = Euro 1.44.......... at about the same time that you bought into the UK£ )

For what it's worth, the consensus seems to be that the Euro is way overvalued (against the UK£, anyway) and that there will almost certainly be an adjustment. My comments weren't about UK£ versus Euro but rather about interest rates available for UK£ deposits. Having said that, even if Harmonica is half-right about US$ reversing course (personally, I think it's more like 2 YEARS - Bush needs a low dollar to boost exports/production/employment and thus partly counter the lunatic & growing deficit for as long as he can get away with it), then Sterling still looks good.

In any event, given the unpredictability of the Thai & neigbouring economies, I would still want to keep the bulk of my money in a "hard" (stable) currency.

Thanks again, lopburi3 - you've explained that aspect very clearly.

Thanks to both Paulfr and Lopburi3 for the responses......

From what you say (and from what I continue to read elsewhere), it seems that starting off with the retirement visa won't in any way prove to be an obstacle if I later decided to change my status after a period of happy retirement - whether it's to then go the Non-Imm B (+ work permit) route or set up my own company. Is that correct?

Lopburi3 - are you saying that the clock (for 3 year qualification to apply for PR) is re-started if your status changes? (BTW, I do take your point that PR doesn't seem to provide/avoid much more than I would already get through annual renewing of my visa.)

For my situation (as best as I can foresee it), my take is that if I found Thai businesses beating on my door asking for my help - that's when I would have the choice: a] form a company and provide my legitimate services through it or b] invite the Thai business to apply for a work permit for me. Presumably, the company route would give me more flexibility in terms of working (legally!) for various clients? And it opens the way to looking later at land/house ownership through the company......... as I mentioned in my first post.

Or c] - say "NO". I appreciate from what you are both saying that there just can't be a safe halfway house between retirement status and some form of company/work permit status.

Paulfr - yes, you're quite right........ I don't want to be tempted to lie. Not necessarily a moral judgement that makes me agree with you - just a well-developed sense of self-preservation!

Thanks again. Anyone else have something to add???? Particularly - am I right in thinking that the only realistic route to providing self-employed/freelance types of services is through my own Thai-registered company?

Just a thought....... I noticed on the Siam Commercial Bank site that the interest rates for Sterling (GB Pounds) is 3-4 times higher than for Baht and better than all the other foreign currencies. Might be worth finding out about the benefit/cost of buying Sterling and keeping it in a Sterling deposit account at Siam Commercial or similar?

(Most analysts regard Sterling's future as good and stable - based on solid fundamentals in the UK economy). The rest depends on commission costs going into/out of Sterling........... unless there is a limit on buying foreign currencies? (I don't know). BTW, depending on the amount - you would probably get a much better rate through a currency broker rather than through any Bank.

The points above about gold are also sensible - its rise (in US$) is matched almost exactly by the fall in the US$ rate against the Euro & Sterling, so gold hasn't increased in those currencies' values by anything like the same amount. BUT - if the Baht is effectively linked to the US$ and if you're only interested in the domestic worth of the Baht, then holding gold when its US$ (and therefore Baht) price is going up has to be good.

Steve

Hi All,

I've been reading the forum for over a week now - and searched on a few subjects to piece together the info I'm looking for..... but still need to ask some questions. Please don't flame me if what I ask has been covered before and I've missed it - I think a lot of people are in my situation so the answers will be useful to many more than just me.

I'm 54 and a UK citizen. I plan to move to Thailand (probably Chiang Mai) for permanent settlement. I have sufficient funds that maintaining the 800,000 Baht bank deposit when necessary (e.g. for annual visa renewal) is not an issue for me for the foreseeable future - neither is the 65,000 Baht per month alternative, come to that (I don't have a pension, but I would be able to maintain a flow of funds from private capital - as well as some accumulated profits that are in a UK company which I own 100%). That appears to make me a straightforward candidate for the Retirement Visa route (type O-A, I believe?).

One other point of introduction about myself and my view on things. I'm not really into living dangerously now (if I ever was) nor do I want to out and out abuse the Thai system - for which I have a good deal of respect (sure - I KNOW it's far from perfect........ whose is?). Without wanting to sound holier-than-thou and given that I also expect to apply for residence some years down the line when I'm qualified for it, I want to do the right thing that a] enables me to live without fear of being bounced out of the country and b] keeps my record clean for the future.

Like (I think) many people of my age, I'm not 100% sure that I'm quite ready to do absolutely nothing but laze around etc - so I foresee that I MIGHT want to occupy myself with something after a while. So here are the questions:

1) I have a background as a writer (as well as film/video producer/director) and I may well want to write that novel that's inside most of us. I know that the strict letter of Thai law absolutely prohibits what they can interpret as "work" under a retirement visa (whether paid or unpaid) - but I also know from previous experience of Thailand (and from reading posts on here) that it's usually a matter of how discreet how you are; basically, if you take the p*ss - you're asking for trouble and you'll probably get it. So the question is - would I be asking for trouble if all I wanted to do was my "private" writing or maybe some (possibly pseudonymous) articles etc? Come to that - how would it stand if I found myself being asked to give some help to a Thai with his/her writing, or a Thai business with their marketing (e.g. business English) etc ?

2) If I found that this almost "hobby" activity was growing to the extent that it was starting to look more conspicuously like work, would I find it a problem to switch to a different kind of visa that would make a work permit possible? If this happened, I'm thinking more in terms of what we regard in the West as self-employed/freelance - but that doesn't seem to exist as such under Thai rules (am I right?)........

3) In which case, I might find myself wanting/needing to form a limited company (2 million Baht registered capital etc) which I understand would automatically (?) entitle me to a work permit for myself - and enable me to do pretty much any kind of work/service/activity that is not prohibited for foreigners. Again, would this present a problem if I had first entered under a retirement visa scheme?

Connected with the reasons for thinking about 3) [limited company] is also the point that I might well want to buy a house after a period of renting - therefore it would need to be in the company's name, of course.

I stress that all of what I'm describing as possible scenarios are NOT "read between the lines" plans. It's just me trying to establish what the options are - IF I found myself wanting to do more than I currently envisage. I just don't want to drop myself into a future blind alley because I took the wrong first step by going for the (seemingly easy) retirement visa route at the beginning.

Thanks in advance for any input on these questions.