KittenKong

5 hours ago, pegman said:

Can you tell us what type of investments have no costs, efforts, charges or taxes? 

My ETF index trackers held in the UK are not subject to tax beyond that paid by the underlying companies themselves. There is a small ETF management fee (generally under 0.1%) which is applied before dividends are paid out but I dont pay anything directly.

To actually buy or sell such holdings (which I don't often do) costs under £10. Some brokers like mine have an annual fee that covers a certain number of trades each year so in the end the cost is usually zero. As a percentage of my holdings that fee is tiny anyway at around 0.02%

My time deposits come tax-free also, and also have no charges involved.

1 minute ago, BestB said:

Small developments only cost more if it has lost of extras like pool and gym etc.

No, by definition a small building will have higher per unit costs for the same facilities.

Even in buildings with many facilities there will normally be cost savings due to scale.

2 minutes ago, BestB said:

Yes it would involve accountant or lawyer setting up company and paying minimal taxes, but it also has higher returns and growth where as your condo with stunning view could be blocked by a new development at any time or get a noisy bar right outside your window and there goes your tenant and investment

It also involves attempting to own something that cant legally be yours. This is not acceptable to me.

Buying a condo in the right place (and the right place was not Jomtien Complex) would normally ensure that the view will remain intact. So caveat emptor for that. As for noisy bars right outside my window, this is unlikely to happen on the 40th floor. You are much more likely to get noisy bars and barking dogs and party rentals in a housing village, and you will have a lot more trouble trying to deal with them there than you would in a condo.

1 minute ago, madmen said:

I know . I replied to your post that said "Thailand" is a poor investment. BKK is in Thailand

Fair enough. I'll make my comment "the part of Thailand referred to by the OP" though that should have been obvious from the context.

9 minutes ago, BestB said:

Rule number One. Always buy in smaller developments, because when you want to rent less chance of someone else renting and when you want to sell less chance of someone else selling

Small developments also cost a lot more in common fees.

10 minutes ago, BestB said:

Rule Number Two, instead of buying 1 for 5 million, you should buy 2-4 for 1 million, plenty of people including locals willing to pay 5000-7000 per month, over those willing to pay 30 000 per month. 

To me that just sounds like 2-4 times the hassle of being a landlord. And those locals paying 5000B are probably the most likely to trash the condo or do a runner with the furniture.

11 minutes ago, BestB said:

 

For 5 million can get 2 small houses which which rent for about 12000-15000, in my opinion much better investment than condo's

And that would involve company-name purchases or having a Thai partner, neither of which appeals to me in the slightest.

30 minutes ago, madmen said:

I didnt buy in Pattaya.

The topic is about buying a condo in Pattaya for investment.

Bangkok is very different, not least because areas like Asok are heavily developed and in significant demand. Quite how high the demand will be when they have knocked down all the small shops and bars and replaced them with high-rise condos, I dont know.

Either way, the same cannot be said for Pattaya which has huge areas of completely undeveloped or minimally developed land even right on the beach, and much more as you move away from the beach.

2 minutes ago, madmen said:

Complete nonsense. Bought a rental Asoke BTS sub 5 mill 78 sqm currently rented on air bnb 45k/month  and have a full time tenant moving June 37 k/month...try and get that return from your bank. 

LOCATION !!! I know many farang renting out full time unlike the west we dont lose 30% in taxes

Fine, if that suits you.

I prefer investments that give a decent return on which I pay no tax and come with no charges or costs and which above all require no effort at all from me. I dont want to deal with AirBnB, or tenants, or tradesmen, or agents or indeed anyone else. And I dont want to have to think about what will happen next month, or whether my tenant is trashing the place, or which microwave to buy when the current one breaks, or how much it will cost me to sell my rental unit when the time comes (if indeed it can be sold).

Like I said, if you like doing all that donkey work then buying a rental condo might be a good idea. Personally I would hate every second of it and I am very thankful that my income from other investments is high enough that I can stay well away from it.

3 hours ago, jacko45k said:

In your circumstances, I would not do a report, as I have been told it is not necessary by Jomtiem. I am on a retirement extension, living in the same place for many years. 

They've told me that also, repeatedly, and I take their word for it. And that applies to both local trips and overseas ones.

But what bothers me slightly is that they say all sorts of things but never write them down. Without written confirmation it would be impossible for me to actually prove later on that I had been told that I didn't need to do it.

15 hours ago, roger101 said:

My bank book and letter are up to date on the 9th. Will Pattaya Immigration except these or will they say go back to the bank and get them redone.

I have never had any trouble at Jomtien with bank letters that are dated a day or two before the application. YMMV.

On 5/5/2019 at 4:40 PM, Guderian said:

Another thing that has struck me here is that only Rimmer and Pilotman seem to be paying the property tax, of all the expats on the Pattaya forum living in houses in a company name. Or are people just ambivalent and couldn't care less?

I know a few people who have paid it. All in company-name houses. For some of them it amounted to many tens of thousands of Baht.

1 minute ago, Olmate said:

How do they certify it, check its real, check content, what exactly ?

They dont check that it is real. They just copy it and then certify that the copy is an exact copy of the original.

Usually the only requirement is for the photo ID page, though I suppose that in some cases other pages might be needed.

23 minutes ago, dabhand said:

Depending on requirement I have used a Pattaya based registered local notary for certifying my UK passport. This was for UK banks / UK pension life certificate / legal cases. All accepted with no problem. Only Bt500 per page and fast service.

Euro Thai Law, opposite side entrance to Big C off Suk / South Pattaya.

Yes. There are lawyers in Soi Post Office who do the same thing for about the same price.

The main stumbling block is knowing whether the entity asking for the certified copy will accept one from a Thai lawyer or not. They usually do, but not always.

Just now, jacko45k said:

If I get away with just 800 baht 'fine' I can live with that.

I would rather avoid that. If there is one thing that really annoys me it is paying for nothing.

8 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

Personally, as a long term owner of my property, I have not been required to submit a TM30 at Jomtiem, and no repercussions when attending immigration for whatever  reason.

The rule, in reality, is you should submit a TM30 within 24 hours when you return to your residence. IE A after a trip out of town.

 

For myself, I wait for them to tell me I have to do it!

Jomtien Immigration have told me several times that as a retiree owning my own condo I dont need to file a TM30 when returning from any trip inside or outside of Thailand.

The only thing that bothers me about this is that it isnt written down anywhere and I suspect that they are quite likely to simply change that "rule" one day without telling me.

1 hour ago, Vacuum said:

Yes, but the 800k would drop to zero for an hour.

I've never seen time stamps in bank books here. Transactions only show the date.

4 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

The longer a lawyer can draw out the process, the more fees they claim.

That depends. In many cases the fee could be a fixed amount or a fixed percentage of the value of the estate.

Sometimes lawyers are just slow and lazy and need poking with a sharp stick.

11 minutes ago, Peterw42 said:

OP, besides a Thai will etc, why not just give any beneficiaries access to your account, ATM card, online banking, signatory etc. 

In the event of your demise, they open online banking and transfer the funds. Or they hop on a plane and come and withdraw funds from an account they are signatory to.

Could be of use for savings accounts but in most banks it would not give access to time deposits which many long-term farang residents have here.

9 hours ago, opporna said:

The Banh Mi place on Kao Talo has closed.

That's a shame. I used to go there once a week or so and it always seemed to be fairly busy. Hopefully they will come back some time.

1 minute ago, mikebell said:

Bugger. 3800 up in smoke!  My extension is due next week so two weeks back I bought a multi entry to avoid Songkran.

How annoying. Perhaps you could ask the immigration people nicely if there is anything they can do for you when you apply for your extension? It certainly cant do any harm.

A friend of mine made a similar mistake. He found that renewing his extension early invalidated his existing re-entry permit completely. So I suspect that the OP may be obliged to enter on a 30-day waiver and to restart his entire extension process again. An agent may be able to ease this process, for a price.

Moral: always do the re-entry permit after doing the extension.

8 hours ago, josephbloggs said:

Standard in Singapore too on the way in and the way out.  Japan also.  And undoubtedly dozens of other countries.  

They definitely took mine on arrival in the USA last year, even though I was on a two-year e-Visa that I had already used once before so they already had all my details on their computer. The scanner was at each immigration desk, and that was for four fingers too.

No fingerprints on leaving though.

1 minute ago, Beggar said:

But perhaps you have more luck. Not every case seems to be the same. 

For several years I have been doing my extension with a bank book that is never up to date and I have never had any trouble with that at Jomtien. Perhaps it helps that the bank book clearly shows time deposits going back several years and never falling below 800kB. Also I own my condo and they must know this, so maybe that counts for something too.

Luck of the draw also seems to count for something.

It's just that this particular new issue of presenting an up to date bank book 90 days after the extension is granted will be hard for me to comply with. So maybe I wont be asked to.

10 minutes ago, Beggar said:

The bank letter shows the balance on the day of the letter. It doesn't show if the balance has been below 800.000 before this date. Hopefully Jomtien Immigration still understands this the same way as when you applied for the extension and accepts it :-) But what I have learned in this forum is that at some banks it seems to be possible to create a posting in your book without any transaction. 

Some banks certainly can, but mine cant.

As far as I know the bank letter confirms what the current bank balance is and also that the bank book is up to date. So any previous lower amount should be visible.