dave111223

A lot of Thai Visa members will ask: "Why buy when you can rent?" save your cash and your sanity ..

...

Or do one better and just live under an overpass, then you don't have to spend on rent or buying! Cha-ching

Keep in mind that the Xbox 360 has overheating problems, my overheated and got the RROD and was unrepairable, i wouldn't recommend buying one unless you play in air conditioned room all the time.

Hearing that the PS3 is now modded i'm considering buying one. Does anyone know if it is affected by overheating problems such as the Xbox?

My logicical thinking was that. at like 50k per month for 25years(no dp), they make double the money. If somehow i am one of those that cant pay, they keep my payments and then sell the house at the same price or higher value since it's a crazy nice house. Would make no sense to refuse someone even if its a 6 million something loan and that our declared salary is only 100k with not much $ left in the bank

If you stopped paying the loan L&H wouldn't keep the house, the bank would repose the house and sell it at auction. This process costs the bank money and may not even cover the full mortgage amount (that's why they don't just give out loans with no down payment to anyone with no proof of income just because it's a "crazy nice house").

I recently bought land 200TW at Ram Intra soi 39 for around 16,000 per TW, but not in a Moo Baan. This was a "good deal" i feel and most other land in the area that i looked at was around 25K per TW.

I would think in a (good) moo baan the price would probably be about double that (maybe 35K per TW)

There is a new Moo Baan project around that area and i calculated their land rate at about 70K per TW but i thought that was a rip off.

Land that has been filled and settled to be above road level? Any infra-structure built, drainage, power, fencing, lighting?

The 16K land is not filled (currently below street level); on a road with access to power lines, city water etc..

I figure filling the land will add around 1500-2000 per TW.

I recently bought land 200TW at Ram Intra soi 39 for around 16,000 per TW, but not in a Moo Baan. This was a "good deal" i feel and most other land in the area that i looked at was around 25K per TW.

I would think in a (good) moo baan the price would probably be about double that (maybe 35K per TW)

There is a new Moo Baan project around that area and i calculated their land rate at about 70K per TW but i thought that was a rip off.

New location is 1000X better than Suan Plu. Distance wise it's probably only about 25% closer to me, but i can get there in less than half the time, as the traffic is much less and bigger streets.

Parking is abundant, at Suan Plu parking sucked! You had to park all the way down the street in an apartment building and pay ridiculous parking fees (80baht per hour i think it was?)

The new building is impressive; Suan Plu looks like something out of a scene in "Exploring Chernobyl"...

On arrival I immediately requested a complaints form

LOL, can you imagine Somalian guy living on a Visa in the US going into the US immigration office and "immediately requesting a complaint form"....lol we foreigners have some high option of ourselves don't we?

Actually makes me feel better about flying when i see the stats...even the "most dangerous airline in the world" (cuba air) has only 8 crashes out of 320,000 flights...

Ok sucks if your in one of the 8, but those are pretty good odds of not dying.

Do you still have a receipt for the water tank/pump?

If so i would just take them with me, but make sure you re-connect the pipes in the same manner as before the water tank was installed.

Leaving curtains that you paid for is just mental. Maybe he'd like you to leave a closet full of your clothes behind too?

I'm not sure what you're so worried about with no deposit anyways? You should have done it the Thai way and mentioned nothing about the end of the lease, quietly packed up and then stuck everything into a couple of pickups at 2AM.

If your honour demands that you concede to being extorted, you have a different sense of honour than I. I find that if I have been reasonable and another party has been unreasonable then I must find a solution that fits the circumstances.

I cannot find a definition of extortion which includes purely leading money at a high interest rate without the threat of harm...

In fact the only reference i found to extortion and money lending was:

The term extortion is often used metaphorically to refer to usury or to price-gouging, though neither is legally considered extortion

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extortion

Yet you seem to be saying just because the Ex BF lent money at an illegal high interest rate he is therefore guilty of extortion, but this appears to be incorrect.

Obviously if one was actually extorted (ie "borrow this money at 50% interest or i'll break your arm") then i don't think anyone would consider it "dishonorable" to renege on the loan, but seeing as that is not the case here it seems a moot point.

And even if the GF was in a very tight spot needing the money really bad (life or death) unless the Ex BF put her in that situation it still wouldn't be extortion.

we are all intelligent beings who have opportunities to make choices, good or bad

having made a choice and given your word upon it, i believe you have a moral obligation to stick to your word

it is my choice not to respect those people who do not think the same and feel differently about matters of personal integrity and honour

i think a person whose word is no good, is no good

that's my choice, if that offends you, then so be it

I wholeheartedly agree.

honour actually spells "honor"...

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/honour

Would you also agree that a 4 year old agreeing to sex is OK, because it suited him/her at the time? No, in this case we all agree that a law is in place because the 4 year old is incapable of understanding the consequences of their actions. Similarly, people of all ages are incapable of understanding how expensive interest truly is, and a law has been made to protect them, even if it is only from themselves.

Please never try to use an analogy again.

Maybe you should increase her salary?

This particular employee takes about 3 days off every month (outside of the usual holidays, sick days etc) and it is not fair to the other employees and it is not fair to me and the company.

Many of you suggests that it would be ok to cut the salary if he did not show up when expected, but he always tells me a few days in advance that he will gonna take leave, but still, I think it is too much, and I would like to cut his salary, but would feel hesitant if I knew it was not common practice to do so.

If he asks you to take a day off and he's already used up all his holiday why not just say "No"? Or "You can take a day off but i'm going to cut the pay for that day"

If our employees take days off then the days are cut from any available holiday days that they have.

If they don't have any holiday days left then we would cut the salary as you described. We have never had a problem with this as employees have always considered this fair (this is Thailand...why would you get paid for not coming to work..)

We don't differentiate between "sick" and "holiday". Obviously if a serious illness arises we'd consider this on a case by case.

Interesting, well my employees get the usual 30 days sick leave (which i think is a lot as it is), plus the regular thai public holidays, and they never work on Saturdays, plus two weeks paid holiday during christmas, even though thais do not celebrate christmas.

That is why I am a little concerned, I think I give them a lot of holidays as it is, should they then on top of that also get random days off without losing anything?

Only 5 days per week + 30 days of sick leave + 2 weeks paid holiday + public holidays! You're employees must be having a right laugh, if i had people on that kind of setup and they didn't show up to work they'd be looking for a new job immediately!

Sound like they are on the "he doesn't know he's in Thailand expat owner package"?

If our employees take days off then the days are cut from any available holiday days that they have.

If they don't have any holiday days left then we would cut the salary as you described. We have never had a problem with this as employees have always considered this fair (this is Thailand...why would you get paid for not coming to work..)

We don't differentiate between "sick" and "holiday". Obviously if a serious illness arises we'd consider this on a case by case.

Parcels banned from sending???? SMH. What a place. Amusing - not really - Thailand. And to top it off you might be able to send parcels w/out weight restrictions from another Thai postal location. This place seems to be more and more bizarre. Actually I'd be afraid to send anything valuable thru Thai postal services considering how things are here.

"considering how things are"... Do you know how things are?

FWIW I've been using Thailand Post to ship about 90% of my orders over the past 5 years and have found them to be very reliable and less expensive than private couriers.

When I started my business I was worried about shipping via Thailand Post, but over the last five years I've been please to discover that the Thailand Post is more reliable than the USPS in America or the LaPoste in France.

Cheers!

Tony

Agree 100%. I have been shipping items by Thai Post worldwide daily for the past two years. I have had a total of three items go missing. They made it to the destination countries (USA & Australia), and then went missing.

Thai Post incoming and outgoing are 2 different animals.

Sending items out of Thailand they are extremely reliable...send items in to Thailand they have around a 50% chance of arriving (especially if the mail is not a "sign-for" package).

I'm sure i've seen a sign for "The Buddha Bar" somewhere around in Bangkok i just can't remember which street it was on...so i guess it's "doable"...

Not sure about the "statues of Buddha", i guess it depends in what way they are used. If they just a background item might be ok. If you are interacting with them (ie Buddha ash trays, or Buddha beer mugs...probably a bad idea)

but it is getting sold to another thai and i think it could end up being to hard explaining to them about 2 prices 1 for the house and 1 for the furniture.......

Most Thai sellers push to declare a lower sale price than the real sale price in order to avoid taxes. And normally with no other reason than "I want to pay less tax", so i think your "furniture value" argument should be even easier to swallow.

Surely this cannot be true? A block on all international mail over 430grams??? That's mental...sending employee to post office now to check.

Yes VERY true, I was just at the Post Office and was handed a copy of the Instruction. I had one parcel for 700g, just broke it down to make 2 parcels 350g each and off they went. Just means more parcels but same weight.

By the way, EMS is the same rule.

I wonder if they offered you the 700g price, instead of the 350g price?

Cost to send a 4Kg airmail package to US: 2450 THB

Cost to send 10 400g airmail packages to US: 9500 THB

Surely this cannot be true? A block on all international mail over 430grams??? That's mental...sending employee to post office now to check.

Shouldn't you be consulting an accountant about VAT, not a lawyer?

http://www.thaivisa.com/thailand_vat.0.html

Your services would appear to qualify for 0% VAT. Which means you'd have to register for VAT, but would not actual end up owing any VAT.

4.2 Zero percent Rate

Certain activities are liable to VAT at the rate of zero percent. Those activities include :

-export of goods;-

services rendered in Thailand and utilized outside Thailand;

Here is a perfect evidence for you of what to expect should you be one of the few unlucky ones

http://paypalsucks.com/PayPalFormerEmployee1.shtml

This seems to address general grievances against Paypal and does not address the specific topic of opening an International account to avoid regulations of a domestic account? And also does not seem to address the money laundering laws that you initially mentioned?

Please explain further how this article relates to the above topics of discussion?

That would be based opon my 10 years experience with Paypal and all the reviews and stories across the web.

No need to worry, will look forward to your next thread when the time comes with the headline "how do i get the money out or problem with Paypal, please help me"

So you have used Paypal for 10 years despite receiving emails "addressing money anti-laundering laws" and freezing your account?

Or if this is not your personal experience please provide a specific source of the story regarding "money anti-laundering laws" that Paypal enforces?

You wil see the point once you get that email and they holding on to your money

And what rules/information is this based upon (source please)?

Source for IRS rule changes in my OP: https://cms.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/marketingweb?cmd=_render-content&content_ID=marketing_us/IRS6050W