Travelighlty

ABill97,

I do appreciate your thoughts along with others input. What you are considering my "charging stubbornly ahead with questions about insignificant fees," hear me out. A person I considered a good Thai friend is saying they will buy the property on my behalf for 1 million Baht. Someone else mentioned here they were paying 85,000 Baht a year - 2,500,000 Baht over the lease. These don't appear to be insignificant numbers to me.

Being not the sharpest knife in the drawer, I want to gather as much info as I can, along with others experiences, so I can at least ask somewhat informed questions. This is a learning curve for me.

Again, I appreciate your time and input on my questions. Thank you.

Bill97,

There's the rub. I have no idea of how much a one time fee, or occasional payments would be as a reasonable charge. Or even a monthly or yearly "lease" payment might amount to be. And from what I've read, I think on the Siam Legal site, at worse, at the end of the lease period, whoever owns the house would have to be paid a fair market evaluation on all buildings constructed on the land.

Hml367

Thank you for the link.

I wish someone would come along and say what a reasonable and customary fee would be for the Thai who has purchased the land on the foreigners behalf. Of course, that begs the question whether there is such a standard.

Alfieconn, no, that was not my idea. If other arrangements are not made, the property reverts back to the Thai and the foreigner has no claim to the property. That was what I was thinking.

I guess I was looking at it as paying for the land and the.new land owner having the property ownership and free title at the end of the lease period was the lease. My bad. Thanks for simplifying for me. The monthly, yearly, or total sum for the lease then is purely up to the lease owner and the person paying for the lease. Whatever the lease owner thinks they can get, right?

Bill97

I follow I "loan" money to the lessor to buy the land. In this case, a single payment of 100% which is given to the seller. I'm sorry, I don't follow the remaining description you are making regarding the need for any loan payments or rent. Am I correct in assuming the person who has signed with the seller, in addition to gaining full ownership of the land in thirty years is also entitled to payment for the lessee's use of the land? And so, in actuality, the lessee is buying land for the eventual ownership of the lessor?

In one of my previous responses I asked what a reasonable payment might be for the lessee to pay the lessor. Do you have any thoughts on what this payment might be?

Madmac,

A Thai can sell their property, and perhaps I've misunderstood, but they can not sell land directly to a foreigner. Ownership must stay with a Thai. And the foreigner only acquires the leased property. As you say, the foreigner holds a lease. And if it is not the seller, who comes to acquire the right to lease the property? Personally, I don't understand why the property owner would not want the added advantage of recovering an additional million or three as the lease holder, and at the end period, the land could be a nice present for a child or grand child, or add it to his estate if the owner doesn't outlast the leased period.

So, how do you not employ the services of an attorney to construct a lease that protects the foreigner? There's many a story where there is a lease in effect, yet the lease holder is out on the street. Even then, it's possible an attorney was involved. I understand the foreigner can own outright any buildings. Even there, stories go around where the foreigner is kept out of their own house.

Any tips on keeping clear of such pitfalls?

The question I'd really like answered is, how much is considered reasonable to pay the owner of the lease? Is it based on purchase price? Lot size? How does a lease get calculated for a determined yearly charge on the lease?

If someone were to buy a property in the Chiang Mai area with a lease agreement, having a Thai friend holding the lease, is there any standard used to apply for paying the lease holder who has made no financial investment into the property? Would it be based on the size of the property? The cost of the property? No house. Bare land. You would pay 100% of the land price to the property owner, then the friend would intervene to hold the lease. Or, considering they will own the property that is being leased to you with your money, how much should they pay you!?! (Like THAT's going to happen! 555) I have never heard this issue addressed.

I'm coming up on the last of my two month tourist visa and thirty day extension through Immigration. Is it still possible to do a border run for one last 30 day extension?

Slightly off topic, but can anyone say how long you can remain in Thailand on a tourist visa during a one year period? Having received a 60 day tourist visa from outside Thailand, I was able to get a 30 day extension after that. Is it still possible to leave Thailand and return the same day for a final 30 day extension, doing a border run? The last time I did this, about a year and a half ago, I was told I would have to have an airline ticket leaving Thailand after that final extension. Then, when I returned after a month (or three months?), Thai Immigration told me I had spent too much time in Thailand, (5 months over the previous year) and, after the 30 day visa they then "graciously" gave me, told me I would have to leave Thailand for 6 months!

I have been in Thailand now for just short of three months and wondering if I can get one of the long-stay visas without the hassle of leaving Thailand again. I've only got a week left of the 90 days and don't have all the required legal paperwork. I did try looking on the Thai Embassy page, leaving even more confused.

Thanks for your input, Allane and Stevenl. She's convinced this is what she wants to do.

Thanks. Useful info.

My Thai GF has life/health insurance she is paying 70,000B a year for her and her son. This is paid through her bank. She's 40. He's 17. It's 70,000B a year for 15 years. After 15 years, she gets the cash back that she has paid in is what she told me. This amount is almost the total amount of her yearly savings after living expenses. Works out to about a million Baht over the 15 years. Considering inflation at maybe 5% a year, her funds would be worth about half or so. After 3 years, if she dies, her family would receive 300,000 Baht. She says this is very popular insurance with Thais. I'm not so sure it's such a good deal. It's through Bangkok Bank. While I appreciate her dedication to her family, it didn't sound reasonable to invest almost her entire yearly savings on this sort of insurance. Does anyone have any experience with this type insurance? Is it a reasonable return on her investment? I'd just like to see her buying insurance in a sensible way. Thanks in advance for any thoughts on the topic.

I'm wanting to ship about 75 kilos of personal items from Chiang Mai to Da Lat. I was told this could be done by bus from someone. Has anyone experience doing this? Can you forward the carriers that would do this? Are there any airlines that do cargo airfreight. I'm looking for something that would be inexpensive. Any useful suggestions would be appreciated. TIA

Thanks. Helpful. Appreciated.

It it possible to get a visa in Siem Reap? A 60 day stamp? Or would I need go to Phnom Penh? US citizen.

If I get a 30 day entry visa landing in Bangkok, heading to Chiang Mai, can I get a 30 day extension for a total 60 days? Can this be done at CM immigration or would it require a border run?

Sorry, I'm sure this is covered somewhere in the forums but I couldn't find an answer. I did look.

Thanks in advance.

Thanks for the info. Just what I was wanting.

My GF is interested in buying a new car and she thinks there is a new car tax beginning in 2016 of 100,000 Baht added onto the price of the car. Does anyone have information on this tax increase?

so 3 back to back tourists = 180 days plus 60 non-visa = 240 days?

I think it may change the kind of visas people are asking for now that all g7 visitors can stay for 2 months without the need for a visa.........couple this with some tourist visas and the visa runners, who won't show up for another month.....looks like a busy time for immigration. i hope they are all well versed in ALL the new regs!

I entered Thailand 15-07-2015. Thai Immigration at Bangkok Airport looked at my passport and saw that I had been in Thailand with my tourist visas and extensions and told me I could not be in Thailand on entry visas for more than a total of 6 months a year.

Hmmmm... I just came into Thailand last night. They checked all my entries. Said I could only come into Thailand a total of 6 months and. I'm assuming it was because I was just such a great guy they gave me a bonus one month for my efforts and said I'd have to exit in one month not to return for 6 months. Didn't know there was a limit of ins-and-outs for Thailand. Will have to go to the Immigration office and see if there's anything I can do. I'd qualify for the over-50 retirement visa.

Three months and no sign of either of two small packages $100 plus each. A large envelope came in under two weeks. All from the U.S.

In most European countries you are called Mrs after a certain age, even if you are not married. It is a sign of respect.

Sounds better than the American Ms., pronounced Miz., any day!

I will admit to knowing next to nothing about currencies, but there seems to be a consideration for the Swiss franc. If someone was wanting to hold currencies, would that be a worthy option? When we do again have inflation, will it matter what currency you have? I'm not a gold purchaser, but it seems gold is very popular during times of uncertainties. I had a Korean gf who had a big ring that was basically a chunk of gold bullion wrapped around her finger.

It's been interesting over the last 50 years and hear about the next world crisis destroying civilization as we know it. I think it's been more "The Times They Are A Changin'" – for better, for worse.

Related to this discussion, if your air conditioning is used, and lets say it's 100 degrees outside. You want to get a room to 70. Once the room reaches that temperature with the air conditioning, does it take any more air conditioning usage to keep it there than it would if you wanted it at 75 and maintained it at THAT temperature–given a reasonable amount of insulation and a sealed environment for the room? So, over an eight hour period, other than the initial cooling period to get the temp to either 70 or 75, would the air conditioner have to work any longer to keep the respective temperatures stable.

I’ve heard fans can keep skin temperatures feeling 10 degrees cooler. Any truth to that, enabling less electrical usage of the air con?

On most ACs the compressor is running full while cooling, the compressor will cycle on and off to maintain temperature based on input from the thermostat. Every time the compressor turns on there is a spike in power which uses more energy than while running. Variable speed air conditions, or inverter AC will vary the speed of the compressor to maintain temp rather than cycle on and off thus reducing energy usage. Of course the better insulated the room is the temp will be maintained with more efficiency.

Regarding fans, when the air blow across you you will lose heat through convection resulting in feeling cooler. A fan in an empty room or that is not blowing on you is actually counter productive due to the fan motor being a source of heat. However the fan could be configured in a window or as some type of exhaust to keep air flowing in the room which would help keep it cool.

Another thing to consider is humidity, the comfort level for humans is 70%. With a constant temperature you will feel cooler as humidity increases to 70% the start to feel warm as humidity increases beyond that.

Maswov, thanks for the explanation. It was helpful and easily understood.

Related to this discussion, if your air conditioning is used, and lets say it's 100 degrees outside. You want to get a room to 70. Once the room reaches that temperature with the air conditioning, does it take any more air conditioning usage to keep it there than it would if you wanted it at 75 and maintained it at THAT temperature–given a reasonable amount of insulation and a sealed environment for the room? So, over an eight hour period, other than the initial cooling period to get the temp to either 70 or 75, would the air conditioner have to work any longer to keep the respective temperatures stable.