koeko

Stay away from Majestic and Park Lane

Why?

Are you paying thai prices or farang prices for your apartment?

How do you tell the difference between Thai prices and Farang prices?

Koeko

Check out all your documents for what the actual situation is. There are various checks and balances and obstacles in the admin process and execution. Not just on the bank side. Things do change but a few things to be wary of:

1) Normally banks in Thailand don't lend to foreigners directly for mortgages. In our case and the policy of the bank:

- They wanted the mortgage and condo in the same name

- They wouldn't lend to me, but would lend to my wife guaranteed by me

2) For a foreigner to buy they usually have to prove the money came in from overseas. This is a key reason why mortgages for foreigners from a Thai bank don't work. If a Thai bank lends it is not from overseas

3) On buying at the land registry office, I had to sign a paper saying it was bought with the wife's own money not mine

I suspect in your case it will not be exactly 50/50, there will be a slight diff so that it can be registered as Thai or foreign. I suspect also that they are not actually processing it as a joint loan, but as a loan to your spouse with you guaranteeing. Watch also for the points 2) and 3) above if trying to register as foreign ownership - I think you'll hit issues.

In terms of choosing another condo, it's likely additional paperwork is needed. They usually want a valuation on the property you are buying as part of the process before releasing funds. It will help you had a loan approved in principle but there'll still be a revisit to the loan for the valuation.

As for your second question I would be very surprised if you could get a second bank to give you a mortgage. The banks usually take a 1st charge over the property. In our case and many I know they also hold the title deeds until the loan is paid off. In addition banks will usually often a credit check on the person buying.

Cheers

Fletch:)

BTW: I expect the sale document they are referring to is a copy of the sales contract purchase the condo.

Thanks a lot for all your helpful advice!

I hate to bring this up but have you had any DNA tests to prove the kids are yours?To my mind there is only a miniscule possibility of these children actually being yours from what I can work out of your long distance relationship!

This doesn't matter. In most European countries you are the legal father by simply declaring that you are. Only in America they actually want a DNA test in case of doubts.

When you consider children as yours, and then later discover that they aren't biologically yours, it doesn't change your feelings for them, they're still your children as you're their only dad.

You think that a simple DNA test will be like a pill that will suddenly cancel all feelings and all emotional attachments to those little human beings? No way.

Name on birth certificate does not automatically make you the legal father

what does then?

Sorry, but since you are renting, the very first person I would ask would be the landlord

no direct contact with the landlord, renting through an agency, and they don't seem to really know the process either (or they don't have time to explain it to me... )

ok will ask at kasikorn, but am still wary of buying when renting is so abysmally cheap it doesnt make any financial sense to buy, and then to be straddled with those associated ownership problems.

Well after 15 years of paying rents I could be the owner already! Taking a bank loan is the same as renting with the only difference that at the end I'll be the owner of the place. And even if I decide to move to another city, I can still rent the condo to somebody else, so there's really no reason to keep paying rents to other people (who were smart enough to become owners)!

I do have a Thai co-signer (my wife) and they agreed that the condo will be in my own name.

50% >the chicken and the egg which came first?.

first i have ever hear of foreigner being able to get a thai bank loan for a condo.

which bank? or even better which branch of which bank.

Are you kidding? It's very common. I'm not talking about tourists of course, but expatriates.

Have already received confirmation from the bank (Kasikorn) for the 50%. I could get 80% if I had a work permit, but I only have a Non-O visa.

I also have a local banking history as I withdraw money to my Kasikorn account from aboard monthly for many years.

Hey,

I returned from the bank with a list of documents needed to get a loan to buy a condo. They will only cover 50% as I'm a foreigner, so I need to have the other 50% naturally.

Now, in order to get this loan, they want a "sale document" (not sure how that's called) for the condo that I want to buy. My question is, what happen if by the time I get the money, I decide to buy another condo? Can I just use the money to buy that other condo instead of the first one, or do I need to get a permission from the bank first?

Second question, as they offer me a loan of 50% of the price of the condo, can I get a second loan, from another bank, to cover the other 50% so I will have a 100% loan? is it legal?

Thanks!

f

Siting the machine near your kitchen sink would be favored as you have both a water inlet and water outlet (drain) although you could simply hook the drain pipe over the sink and let it drain that way - making sure of course, that you don't leave the sink plug in and cause flooding as a result.

35 years experience as a domestic appliance engineer .... s

35 years as an domestic appliance engineer and you provided the above suggestion! You must want him to hang the machine from the ceiling as the drains are not connected to a pump like western units,they are gravity fed. If he followed your advice he would fill it once and it would never drain!

I'm not sure but according to some video tutorials I've seen on Youtube, he is correct and the drain needs to be placed ABOVE the washing machine, from my understanding this prevents water from going back into the machine in case there's a problem in the drain:

(go to 1:09 for the drain part)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bb9UTcqAeqo&t=1m9s

Thanks all for the helpful replies!

One question that remain however is the water pressure. If for example I split the water outlet of the kitchen's sink, will the pressure (which isn't too high already) be divided by two whenever the washer is active?

Thanks again

WOW what's the point if you need to do everything yourself... I though that the cleaning+rinsing was done on the left (automatically), and the fast-spinning on the right, but you actually need to rinse by hand? That's crazy!

So I guess I'll only want a real washing machine like the Samsung I quoted or eventually this Toshiba for the same price (6000 bahts):

One concern that I have is the water bill, I'm really scared to pay literally thousands each month. My condo charges me near 40 bahts/unit (how much litters is one unit??), I know that in a house I would pay something like 4 or 5 bahts/unit so it's a huuuuuuuge difference. We're two to shower twice daily and our monthly bill is usually between 800 to 900 baths. We don't waste water, showers are shorts and I close the tap while I brush my teeth!

Would a washing machine increase my water bill to 2000 or even 3000 bahts/months?? Scary isn't it! For this price I could have it ironed by hand at the laundry service downstairs! Jeez I hate the condo charges...

OP, my ISP has been TOT for the last 6 years +, and I don't really have any complaints.

Currently paying about 550 Baht plus tax for 10Mb down and 512 kb up.

That's great! So how did you get this plan exactly? I had a look at the TOT website but couldn't find much content in English. I guess I'll have to call them?

Also what where the installation fees? I've heard it's something like 4000 baht to open a line?

Where are you going to place the washing machine? Where is it going to drain? If you plan to keep in in the bathroom make sure that you but one that is totally made of plastic, not metal, but they usually are the top of the line and more expensive. If it is always wet the metal one will rust to bits in a short time. The fittings that is in your picture is available, Home Pro has them, and they are easy to install with no plumber required. The washing machine will most likely come with a standard 2 pin electric plug and possibly a green wire for ground, some don't come with the wire. The main thing, since you are working with water and electricity, is that the washer be "earthed" , the green wire connect to a good ground.

If your condo has grounded three prong receptacles it's pretty easy. If not, finding a good ground could be difficult. I prefer the one tub machine since you can put in the clothes and forget it. My wife prefers the 2 tub, so we have two 2 tub machines.

Does your condo have two or three prong receptacles? If it has three prong the next question would be whether or not the ground pin is actually connect to eartfh which would require someone with a meter to check.

Thanks a lot for your reply!

"My wife prefers the 2 tub, so we have two 2 tub machines."

May I ask why? Does it clean better? is it faster? is it more energy-efficient?

I've never used this kind of 2 tubs machine but considering it's half the price I'm really wondering whether it is as good, and would be willing to accept the little inconvenience added. By the way what are we talking about, is it only 2 cycles instead of 1? For example in a regular machine I would start the cleaning cycle and forget about it, but with a 2 tubs machine once the first cycle is finished I'll only have to put the closes in the second tub and run the spin cycle and then it's over, right? It's just that?

My condo has 3-pin plugs, but I can't say if they're really connected, I could easily check though.

I don't know yet where I could put it, it's really not easy to find an appropriate space... The easiest would be either in the bathroom either near the sink of the kitchen. I don't know yet where I could connect the drain...

Thanks again for the advice

You don't say what city you are in.

pattaya jomtien

I'm renting a small condo and it doesn't have any free water outlet available in order to connect a washing machine.

For this reason, I believe that I'll need to split one of the available outlets in two, using something like this:

Now I have some questions about this:

• Where can I buy such splitter? (is it expensive?)
• Can I install it myself or do I need special tools/skills etc.?
• Should I hire a plumber to set it up? (how much would it cost?)
• Should I ask the owner of the condo before attempting anything?

Now, next question, I don't have much space available so I'm looking for a small washing machine. I'd love to get a simple top-loader one, the cheapest I've found is this Samsung for 6000 bahts:

However, I have also found another type of washer which has 2 tanks! here it is:

This one costs only half, 3000 bahts, and actually offers a higher capacity of 7 KG!

Apparently it is cheaper because it has one tank for the cleaning, and one tank for the spin cycle, and you must manually take the cloths off the first tank and put then in the second.

Can anyone tell me if, apart from this little annoyance, this type of washing machine does clean as good as the regular top-loader single-tank ones?

I mean, I could afford the Samsung for 6000 bahts, but if the one at 3000 baths cleans as good for half the price, I don't see why pay more!

Let me know what you think

If you get the land-line in a Thai person's name it will save you 2,000 Baht.

Good to know!

I've also tried to get a True ADSL line but they said that my condo was too high (6th floor) and refused to take my money.

@lemoncake I'm not sure how it works, but if you want I can send you some links that works from a TOT connection and that don't from a 3BB connection. I have never ever seen the MICT warning from a TOT connection yet.

Right now i am on Sophon, so if you want to test it, either pm or post the sites and i will try to open it and let you know the outcome

PM sent.

Got it and replied

Thanks! So just to confirm so everybody know, I sent a link to a site that I have no problem accessing from a TOT connection, while @lemoncake couldn't access it from its Sophon connection and he got a MICT warning instead.

@lemoncake I'm not sure how it works, but if you want I can send you some links that works from a TOT connection and that don't from a 3BB connection. I have never ever seen the MICT warning from a TOT connection yet.

Right now i am on Sophon, so if you want to test it, either pm or post the sites and i will try to open it and let you know the outcome

PM sent.

Thanks I'll ask the office tomorrow.

@lemoncake the reason I want TOT is that they don't seem to censor some websites... while on the other side 3BB displays a warning with a picture of the King instead of showing the actual website I intended to visit. Can you confirm that "Sophon Cable" doesn't apply censorship? If yes then it could be an option!

Sophon rents their lines from CAT, so whatever CAT censors is what you get.

So far, the only sites i have seen censored/blocked are porn sites and its done by MICT

Ok so it's a no-go for me. I can access all porn sites using TOT WiFi Hotspot. Can't do the same using the 3BB from a hotel where it shows the "MICT" warning you're mentioning. This also goes for some Wikipedia pages and some YouTube videos.

So TOT is my only option at the moment.

lmao. You live in Pattaya and you base your ISP on accessing porn sites? Sorry but that is too funny.

As for the Sophon suggestion I will call them tomorrow. My condo uses a router in front of the building and I stay on the back so my internet really sucks !! I think it is 3BB. Our cable is sophon however.

"lmao. You live in Pattaya and you base your ISP on accessing porn sites? Sorry but that is too funny."

No you clearly misunderstood. I never visit porn sites, however I do care when some Wikipedia pages and some Youtube videos are being censored, and even if those pages aren't very interesting anyway I am still concerned about the ethical aspect of censoring, and it's a matter of principle to get the purest Internet access as possible, without any filtering/censoring going on.

@lemoncake I'm not sure how it works, but if you want I can send you some links that works from a TOT connection and that don't from a 3BB connection. I have never ever seen the MICT warning from a TOT connection yet.

Thanks I'll ask the office tomorrow.

@lemoncake the reason I want TOT is that they don't seem to censor some websites... while on the other side 3BB displays a warning with a picture of the King instead of showing the actual website I intended to visit. Can you confirm that "Sophon Cable" doesn't apply censorship? If yes then it could be an option!

Sophon rents their lines from CAT, so whatever CAT censors is what you get.

So far, the only sites i have seen censored/blocked are porn sites and its done by MICT

Ok so it's a no-go for me. I can access all porn sites using TOT WiFi Hotspot. Can't do the same using the 3BB from a hotel where it shows the "MICT" warning you're mentioning. This also goes for some Wikipedia pages and some YouTube videos.

So TOT is my only option at the moment.

Thanks I'll ask the office tomorrow.

@lemoncake the reason I want TOT is that they don't seem to censor some websites... while on the other side 3BB displays a warning with a picture of the King instead of showing the actual website I intended to visit. Can you confirm that "Sophon Cable" doesn't apply censorship? If yes then it could be an option!

Hey,

Where should I ask? Who should I call? What are the available ADSL plans? I would like to pay monthly, what documents do I need?

And how much time will it take to be effective?

Thanks!

Thanks till now for the people who have wrote constructive comments. To the 1s who make a joke out of it, well...this is to be expected when opening a topic on this forum.

For the posters who write that i have the right to take the kids away from any other than the mother.

Yes i know that i can do that. Children are however no toys, they are human beings. Till now the present situation has been created by my WIFE. She has made the choice that the kids will be raised by FIL and are being withheld from their father. As parental alienation had already been effected before i came there in March, now this is still ongoing. ( if anybody interested in reading about it and the effects on both the alienated parent and the child, read a topic on the fam&childforum from me and the topic of Scott1999). In the eyes of my children i am a bad man, this most likely repeatedly told by SIL. I have to wait in order to get everything sorted before i will try 1 time to go there and take my kids with me. This without knowing till what extend members of her family, and herself, will go to prevent me from doing. Fysical ? I need to take them with me with mothers consent otherwise it will be parental abduction. Not so much in thailand but in my homecountry.

For the posters who write that i need to stop sending money. I do that, unfortunately, already. I know they will be fed there. I am fully aware that this will get other posters of their sofa who claim; u have kids and dont provide for them, irresponsible etc... All my years of providing and trust has led to this, so....its only leverage i have. Sadly enough ! I have had threats continiously from wife and SIL, not being able to speak with kids etc. There are though people in the family who understand what i am doing. These are however not influential enough. I am trying to work around the centre of influence by being consistent that all this brings nobody anything. But the family and thai culture prevents real progress. With the latter i mean, saving face, lack of confrontation, in this case irrational emotional behaviour without any form of empathy due to simple vision ( LOS is centre of the world) and really thinking about best interest of the kids.

To the posters who write to let it all go. Well.....i cant, i wish i could care nothing about myself and thus my kids. The emotional attachment to my kids i need to let more go though to make it for me more bearable. Is difficult because they are in my heart 24/7. I know that it is my weakness in their eyes. I know. I know too that i am a way better parent than the 1s who are in control now. Apparantly this is a path of life i need to follow. Never ever thought that the present situation would be a reality. The guilt i feel reguarly is enormous because as i am part of it, i am too blame 2. Letting go however is no option. It would be the ultimate failure of my life. Mistakes i have made plenty in my life. Plenty. Trust in my wife was the last 1.

All this happening now is beyond comprehension. It is difficult to listen to people who say that she as an individual needs 30k a month to live on. Gotta stay nice because she can come in handy later on. Biting my tongue is a neccesaty. My children have a mother and a father and going to act similar as them makes me no better. Playing games well......sadly enough.......yes, because reason is not really possible with them.

I wish i could turn back times....but....cant.

Dear Friend it appears that you're in a very unlucky and delicate situation. I have seen a couple other similar cases, and according to what you have said it is clearly at their advantage to prevent you from seeing or speaking to the children, in order to force you to send more money.

This looks typical to a low value family in deep country village, with no education and almost no ethical values, it's just about money after all. Probably she had those children with you ONLY for the money you'd send monthly. And rest assured nothing from this money goes to the children themselves, I can guarantee it!

Now, you say that you would like to retrieve your children, OK very well that's a very good thing, and there is only 2 ways to make it happen, both require you to stop sending ANY money, no 1 bath, nothing! This will be the Step 1 to recovery.

Step 2: Prepare the legal documents

Okay so you are the biological father, very well, however are you the legal father? Is your name written on your children's birth certificate?

• If yes: Go to the Police Station, and ask them to escort you to the Sister-In-Law's house where your children are living in order to retrieve them. In Thailand only the Mother or the Father have the absolute right on the children. If the mother is not present, you have the absolute rights to take your children with you. The Sister-in-Law has precisely 0 rights to keep them (legally speaking).

• If no: This is a very delicate situation and you will need to legalize your status first. Even if the mother handles the children over to you willingly, you will still need to legally be the father in order to get them a European passport the take them aboard.