bangmai

A year ago, I got a quote from kaiser Permanente at 495 usd per month for health cover....most Thais live off less than that, and since I own my condo, I generally do to, except for an insurance policy I carry here that is paid for with an annuity.

A few eeks ago I was watching my uni in Virginia play football. People were sending them emails from all over the world. They commented that many grads now live in the Dallas area, which wasn't surprising, but they noted San Diego as number 2, but it just proves how attractive that lifestyle is for the twenties crowd, and in turn that just keeps driving up rents and driving down wages....for that reason I say it is way over-rated. My uncle was sent to Pendleton in 1970, and they bought an adobe house in Vista for about 25K, you could see the ocean from the roof. They liked it, but they had their issues with accidents with uninsured mexicans, somewhat bad schools, and a general high cost of living. They sold for about 250K in 1993, moved to Dallas, and never looked back for one second, but to move there now, and spend 500K for the same house/same schools, tough job market, I just can't see it, and that is likely why so many Californians have moved to Tucson, many laughing all the way to the bank.

But does'nt the letter state how much has been in 90 days, which is the key?

No it does not.

It just confirms the account owner, account type and current balance.

The three or two month check is done by the immigration officer based on the bank book.

Just came to my mind:

that is the reason why you also have to provide copies of the bank book (main page plus all entries) for the file.

so, 600K has been in a fixed deposit since January...with no entries, and no update...of course they know there isn't a chance of ATM withdrawals that would be unrecorded. I'm even willing to add 10,000 for 3 month, just to get a fresh line in the book.

As written: with Bangkok Bank it is no problem to get an update line without transaction from the bank clerk (not at a machine).

You have to ask.

Yes, I did see that, and thanks for clearing up the part about the balance....so they did that on your fixed book? Because I don't think you can update a fixed on the machines, otherwise you would have done that. However, I just noticed on my regular savings that when I updated it, it only showed the date of the last interest, not the date of the update...so that would be an argument for putting 100 thb deposit in...then getting the letter, and let the "officer" determine the seasoning. My manager is kind of young, but when I opened, I made it clear that I would eventually be needing the letter...she showed me the letter in her binder and said 1 hour/100 thb....I feel like telling her if it doesn't work, I will be moving my 800K out of their bank...but in reality, it will have to do with the rules of the day at IMM, because on a bad day, nobody has everything right, and that seems to be one of the areas where they can vary the rules just enough to DQ you.

Phoenix is like comparing Bangkok to Hua Hin. I like HH, but it ain't Bangkok. As for shopping, you'll have better access to mid-range stores also. Same with restaurants. Sadly, Asian food in the US is nothing compared to here. And if it is, it's not cheap. As you well know.

I've not spent much time in Tuscon. After Pattaya, which I like, I think you'll be disappointed. IMHO. A huge notch down.

P.S. I didn't like LA either, except for the smaller communities. Manhattan Beach, West of Highland. Carlsbad. Seal Beach. West LA. Laguna. Etc. Some great places in LA. And the weather is fantastic....near the beach.

Of course those places are nice, but choosing between working your ass off to pay 12000 per year in just property taxes, when you could pretty easily live off just that in CM, and probably Patts, it seems like an easy choice.

that's true, Al,,,,if people would just take a few precautions....like leaving their stupid gold chains at the pawn shop where they belong, and the women with the big purses, that might have cost a few hundred bucks empty, and flashing large amounts of cash.....I like to travel light, and I just can't see roaming around with a 2-3000 dollar laptop or even an expensive "smart phone." It's bad enough just getting that stuff through airport security. But like I say in Chiang Mai, why book a perfectly good three star hotel room with english tv, cctv, clean, 350 thb per night that is staring you in the face, when you can walk down the street staring into your 4 inch smart phone app. geeez.

Maya Taqueria is one of my all time favorites, however, Taqueria San Jose in Fruitvale Oakland IS my all time favorite...I think there was one in San Rafael, too.

I remembered while taking a piss...Maya on Church St. in SF. My friend at 18th and Delores had their bikes stolen, but I practically became an autoglass expert in Oakland...the crackheads would smash a window for toll change you left on your console...coins! But worst was one of their rinds in SF was knocked off his bike in the Richmond District of SF, with a baseball bat, I believe it was Fulton St.. And I was out there during the big riots after those cops in were acquitted in SemiValley.....it was a bad time to be white....that was about when I started to seriously look elsewhere, including Portland, but as much as I love the rain after the desert; I hate the cold, dark, rains of Portland, and actually thought Oakland was a bit on the cold side. They always told me I looked like a tourist in shorts, even though I had been there for 6 years.

yes, in Oakland you'll here things like "East of Macarthur" or "above 580" or "above Telegraph." street boundaries determine crime levels, law enforcement, and property values. Google for crime maps by city, and put in a date range and you will see just how bad some areas are, you can even say just violent crime....can be mind blowing. You mentioned SF...I can remember when South of Market was taboo, and a sane person wouldn't go to the Mission, ever. But dollar per dollar, those areas have given investors quite a bit larger returns over the last 20 years than The Marina or Russian Hill. North Oakland might have beaten them all.

Encanto Historic District is probably the gay HQ in Phoenix. Nice mid century and older homes in mostly good condition, 200K+, but also proximate to some pretty bad areas. Plenty of then are 60ish, likely many came from California. Personal safety, as well as financial security were likely major factors for them and many others from California. I moved to PHX from North Oakland, where I had been for 6 years...I could kind of see the writing on the wall that I wold never be able to afford a house in anywhere decent kind of hood....like not even in the same league as the Longview West Neighborhood the pictured 18K house is in. That zip code is 4% black, and without trying to make a racial stir, the larger black populations are value killers.

Baltimore. Oakland, and 1/3 of Berkeley are a lot scarier than Tucson or Phoenix. The black gangs are in South Phoenix, the hardcore Mexican gangs are in West Phoenix. Good areas can be close to bad areas, which makes for a lot of opportunities in real estate. No State income ax in NV, but if you are lower income; you won't owe in AZ. Sewer/water is high in NV and so is electric. Sales tax is high, too. Oregon is murder on property taxes, and their State income tax is bad, too.

A non-recourse mortgage is what people get in 13 States....

If you're referring to the United States there or if you're suggesting that anyone in any state in the US commonly gets a non-recourse mortgage, whoever told you that is absolutely incorrect. Almost all (well over 90%) of home mortgages in the US are promptly sold by the bank or mortgage institution on the secondary market and a non-recourse mortgage doesn't qualify for sale on the secondary market (let alone qualify for Fannie Mae, VA, etc., participation or insurance).

wrong...https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonrecourse_debt my last mortgage in AZ was sold to IndyMac. If the mortgage is a first, you can mail in the keys and be done with it. AZ is also one of the non-jusicial foreclosure States, but you probably don't know about that, either.

There are ample non-smoking casinos now, as well as race books. I remember Ramada Express in Laughlin had two deals, one was 2 nights for 8 usd per night, came to about 19 with taxes. The other was play two hours slots and get two nights free. The first two Canadians I met, told me their "free" room cost them 250 USD. People always bragged about their "comps," but basically meant a) they had lost a lot of money they had slot personnel following them around tracking their gaming. However, they've been known to give great comps to anyone, who wins big, to get them to stay and give it back. They used to almost automatically slide a flyer under your hotel door Sunday morning; stay one more night: 5 USD. I guess if you really hated gambling and smoke, you could just stay at the Super 8, across the River in Arizona. It was 65 per night, which reminds me of Lake Havasu..the place where people go, who are turned off by the Nevada scene...total tourist trap rip-off, more like Sedona price wise, along with plenty of mobile home parks...good boating, but I'll do my almost free hotel room, and taco/steak specials and try to keep my wallet in my pocket.

But does'nt the letter state how much has been in 90 days, which is the key? This is a good point, and I would like to clear it up. I'm due for first extension based on 800K, this month. Do I make a small deposit, then get the letter? Also, 600K has been in a fixed deposit since January...with no entries, and no update...of course they know there isn't a chance of ATM withdrawals that would be unrecorded. I'm even willing to add 10,000 for 3 month, just to get a fresh line in the book. Just don't want to go back and forth....I even know someone who was paying an expensive agent that got sent back....any clues? Thx, this might be helpful for everyone. I know it accounts for a significant amount of problems encountered at renewal.

There are plenty of "pensioners" in LV, doing just fine, but they rely on their monthly checks a lot more than their winnings. If you get in the reward clubs and all that; you can do some very cheap entertainment/dining, but it sure isn't what it used to be. My house was close tot he Carl Hayden VA in 85014...I lived there for two years, worked a school job, and rebuilt a 68 year-old house...without a car. One Summer was Hell, and the next Summer I left to Thailand to escape the heat from 15 June to 15 September. Saved 30K during my time there. Reno has much more of a NorCal, Bay area influence, and for a while it looked like it would be able to capitalize on businesses fleeing California. The old places like Elderado, and the Flamingo were hard to beat, but I've heard a lot of the same reports about the trashiness of the place, but can personally attest to the trashiness of the people in LV, many of whom are refugees from California. Laughlin may be the best bet for a pensioner, who wants to do cheap breakfasts and have a place to go, but it is way hot down there, and many of those folks live in Bullhead City, which is a different flavor of trashiness, but no one has ever disputed that Needles, CA, the third city of the triangle, is clearly the trashiest of the Cal-Nev-AZ area. Likely because CA has the most liberal welfare benefits for single moms. My first trip to LV was in 1993 and I stayed at the Tropicana..I actually thought that the gaming kind of sucked compared to Reno/Tahoe, but back then, you could bet 2 usd every thirty minutes or so, and drink bottles of Beck's for free all day...I kind of felt like they were sticking their noses up at not just the low rollers, but anyone who wasn't dropping off a large amount of cash at the tables (in LV).

Tucson would be OK, housing costs are pretty darn close, with more low end options in Phoenix. It is very spread out, but so is LV. In its heyday, the job market was just as good in Tucson, as Phoenix (but so was LV), but there has been a noticeable contraction in Tucson, too. The big mountains are closer to the city in Tucson. I've actually seen it snow on Easter Sunday in Tucson. The young and upwardly mobile will go to Phoenix, and those who chose Tucson will often be second guessing their decision. I got 131.05 per day to Substitute Teach in Tucson back in 2000, TUSD is about as bad as it gets, and so is CCSD (in LV)...but the pay hasn't gone up 1 cent in the 15 years since....that's indicative of the economic growth problem. Many do fine in Sierra Vista or Vail. If you are going to live without a car; your choices thin a lot, but the savings are immense for someone on a budget. The desert heat is hell on cars.

A non-recourse mortgage is what people get in 13 States, and that means that if you get sick of your house or it goes down in value, dramatically, you can throw the keys on the table, and all they get is the collateral; they can't come after you. I was told by the head of an Australian investor group, buying homes in America, that is something people can only dream about in OZ, and if they did have them, they sure as heck wouldn't be buying houses in Atlanta and Detroit.

http://phoenixwealthgroup.com.au/about-salena-kulkarni/ from Canberra.

Same here, Konni, over and over, and many act like it was the biggest accomplishment of their lives. If you don't declare bankruptcy, they will still get a judgement against you for 10 years plus interest, and it can be renewed for an additional 10 years...if it attaches to real property, they will be the first ones paid, when it is sold, or could stop the transaction altogether, Bankruptcy laws are more stringent now, you will disclose everything, and lying would become a Federal matter. Student loans aren't dis-chargeable.

Thankfully, not everyone comes from a country, where government can rape you and still consider itself to be biggest democracy

In OP's case, what happens in US or to US citizens has zero relevance.

Try getting a non-recourse mortgage in Australia, with 3% down or even 50% down.

You should not rest easy because you will be paying more for a lot of things for decades. Many employers also look at your credit (in America), it's perfectly legal. "Delinquent" doesn't go over to well with landlords, either, who are also creditors. Pfizer makes an 8000% profit on a tablet of Zithromax...doesn't mean it's ok to steal from a pharmacy.

Same here, Konni, over and over, and many act like it was the biggest accomplishment of their lives. If you don't declare bankruptcy, they will still get a judgement against you for 10 years plus interest, and it can be renewed for an additional 10 years...if it attaches to real property, they will be the first ones paid, when it is sold, or could stop the transaction altogether, Bankruptcy laws are more stringent now, you will disclose everything, and lying would become a Federal matter. Student loans aren't dis-chargeable.

the mobile burger place on Nimman...there's only one. I realized the cow is dead before it goes on the grill, but this one smelled like it was dead before it went to slaughter.

Yes, of course it is different, but just out of interest, here is an example of a woman in Arizona being hospitalized on 9 December 1997, and released on 14 January 1998. 161K USD was the bill. It took them all of 9 days to get a lien against her, in a court recorded document.

19980048100.pdf

As far as not paying unsecured debt being a choice...that is true, kind of....if you took the credit or the cash without any intention of paying it back, that's clearly bank fraud, but intent is difficult to prove. In the end, the consumer/taxpayer pays as people with 800 credit scores are still routinely issued 15% APR credit cards.

He needs to worry more about being a loser, than the unsecured debt he will fail to pay. He's lucky it isn't a Thai Bank. because my understanding is that financial insolvency is grounds for deportation....it would also bring into question the legitimacy of his letter about his income or his savings. I grew up the son of Depression kids, as a result I think I was fooled into believing that older people are generally frugal and good with money. Since then, I have seen those considered to be pillars of the community zeroed out by dotcom and the real estate bubble. Some of the older baby boomers seem to be especially bad with money, as a number of them are quite a bet worse off than before they inherited a large chunk of money from their late parents. One guy in a similar situation on his Discover Card. He is now teaching English in Colombia, but knew all along that he was going to stop paying his card, once he got there. His dad had left him 3000 shares of IBM in 1999, and his friends convinced him to sell and buy internet stocks. He even has a degree in Finance from Boulder.

I walked by that burger place on Nimman the other night, and the cooking meat smelled bad....up to you.

I've hear the "Helping Mrs. Jones" excuse 1000 times. Did Mrs. Jones know that the student was scheduled and required to be in another class after school? Did the student have a note from Mrs. Jones? Once the student is enrolled in an extra class, it doesn't mean he can play in the corridors after school, it means he is required to be there, on time. Imagine your the teacher giving instructions to 40 students. Every time someone walks in, you have to start over...it gets old quickly. The survivors put a policy in place to minimize the repeats. Roll is taken and immediately sent to the office...they can deal with those missing. Anyone else entering, needs a note from a teacher or the office. Parents need to wait until after class to speak with the teacher, they can't come barging in and demand that you give their kid his two weeks of missed assignments. Some schools require parents and all visitors to report directly to the office or they are considered trespassers. People need to be considerate of the learning process. In customer service; they have the 10/90 Rule, it is 100% applicable to schools. 10% of your students will take 90% of your time and effort. My experiences have proven that the parents, who are always ready to fight the smallest of battles with the schools end up with worthless kids. Pick your battles carefully; there will be a time, when they need you. They took your kids toy, that was forbidden, and you try and make a police case out of it. I've seen stuff that was kept until the end of the school year; the end of the day simply wasn't a deterrent.

We had to learn our home phone numbers after our names, but before learning to tie our shoelaces.....when we were four years old! The only thing I see that the school did wrong was the teacher not allowing the kid to catch the late bus, then not following up to make sure he was safe. But...the school very well may have a policy where students, who are stranded report to the office and are accommodated. Apparently, you haven't properly instructed the child on what to do in a situation....100 THB for an emergency, how to find a responsible adult and ask for help. Even in a scummy place like Pattaya, I think any Tuk-Tuk would give a kid a ride on credit. I was walking around the train station area in Pattaya, and a lady on a motorcycle actually stopped and offered me a ride, as has happened numerous times in Thailand...they do have a certain amount of good Samaratan in them.

No, but there weren't police cars circiling the businesses very slowly with their flashing red lights on....

So, it wasnt like Chiang Mai before the curfews then, was it .

At least Santitham was like the old CM, while I was there, which was before midnight; Nimman was not. LK is not. MM is not.

In Chiang Mai, Imm. has been known to call people who have problems, like no TM30 on file and tell them they can't report by mail and because of poor English language skills, the message is "heard" as "no more reporting by mail, you have to come and report in person". And then the rumor is started that Chiang Mai has stopped accepting 90 day reports by mail.

Also, in Chiang Mai there is a story, don't know if it's true, that you have to report in person if it's your first report after having been out of the country.

So, perhaps there is just a problem with this one specific report being mailed and not all 90 day reports in the future.

There may be some truth to that. My first one after returning didn't work, it was so bad, I didn't even try number 2, and 3 worked great, but it felt like a different system. It would almost make sense that the local Immigration offices maintain the master report files, that are read only for the user, and that file is different, than the ones used at the airports, which are the national databases. It might have been the only way, they could get it to work, and is actually a low-cost solution to what could be a very expensive problem. Look at how many billions of USD were squandered on the insurance "marketplace."

Their attitudes at Myanmar Immigration have taken a 180 degree turn for the better over the last few years. We were joking that they sent the ones at the Maesai/Techelek crossing to Dale Carnegie courses. Good for them that they see the opportunities in participating in the global economy.