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Hi

I have done a search for Estate Agents/Real Estate Agents for Chiang Rai and can only find 3. Does anyone know of anymore?

Hello

Does anyone know of a good vet in Chiang Rai

Thanks

Hello

Where are the best places in Chiang Rai to buy good quality furniture and electrical goods?

Hello

Can foreigners take out life insurance with a Thai Company, if so can anyone please suggest a good company to buy with

Thanks

Hi

I would like opinions on the best places to live in Thailand and why?

The "Best" place to live in Thailand isnt even in your poll list

Suggest you enlargen the scope of possibilities.

Or, are you, only intrested in the places mentioned?

When you add Buriram, I will vote

Sorry about not putting Buriram, I don't seem to be able to add to the list. What is it like living in Buriram?

Hi

I would like opinions on the best places to live in Thailand and why?

Mostly crime by stealth, I'd say. Plus, the crime of romance here....

It's clearly different than San Francisco, where physical crime is more popular than being a burglar or some other kind of thief.

Personally, I have taken normal security precautions, including bars on my window.. That's just the norm here, pretty much everywhere. I don't think I'd feel unsafe without them

I do feel completely safe everywhere I've been in this country, from riding a bike alone along a lonely road on the Burmese border, to Patpong. I've never been to Pattaya, but Chiang Mai is definitely safer, from reports.

Just use common sense and pay attention. That's my great advice.

I don't think that the crime of romance will be of any bother to me, I am a happily married woman. I have been a frequent visitor to Thailand over the last 15 years and I have always felt safe. I was thinking that there was a crimewave going on in Udon Thani with some of the threads on the forum

Hello

I am wondering if there is a big problem with crime in CM,been looking at a forum for Udon Thani and it seems that burglary and robbery are everyday occurances. Everyone there seems to be putting bars on windows and doors and deadbolts everywhere. I am leaving UK to escape all this.

Is it the same in CM?

Thanks

chang mai expats

i too am moving to thailand and am wondering where to live until recently this was a no brainer, pattaya, but there is a lot of negative to that choice

joe p

Should we list them here. Possibly not - don't want to destroy the server!

chang mai expats

my second choice would be chang mai, this choice based on what i hear from people, my biggest challenges between now and july is to find out as much about chang mai as i can, if any of you could suggest something i would appreciate it much, what i want to know has already been asked (best place to live).

i like to live close to the activities and i enjoy working out, so my choice of living area would be close to fitness center as well as night life and of coarse i will have a dog.

thanks in advance

joe p

Firstly, read the Chiang Mai section of the Thai Visa forum. from beginning to end. Post questions on the forum when you have a knowledge base from which to ask.

If you want to live close to "activities" you will invariably be close to places to work out. CM is not a large city.

If you decide you are still interested in coming here. Do not jump in immediately with long term leases or property purchases. Rent a short term guest house room or a condo hire a bike or a car and take time to get to know the area. Such time is well worth the investment if you want years of happiness to follow.

Chiang Mai is a great place to live.

i notice in pattaya that they have an expats club that meets every sunday at this one restuarant, city officials are brought in to talk to the expats and explain thing about thailand, pattaya in particular, people like the chief of police, hospital officials, these people were very helpful for newcomers in that city, doe's chang mai have such a club and if so what day of the week do they meet.

thanks in advance

joe p

Chiang Mai has a recently started expats club, which I hesitate to recommend. It seems to be mainly a for-profit organisation organised by recent arrivals here. I know of no long-term expat who is involved, although I may be wrong.

Hi

I have recently posted questions to the Chiang Mai Ex Pats Club(I'm assuming its the same one) and I have been corresponding with a guy who's lived in Thailand for 18 years. He is very helpful and has even gone out of his way to find information out for me. Looking at their website it doesn't seem to me to be for profit.

It is indeed so, but who do you have in Thailand that you can trust to lease the land from?

I have to say most situations involve a Thai and farang marriage, so normally the Thai will buy the land and the farang will own the house and lease the wife off of their spouse. What you are proposing to do is lease the land off someone you dont know and then spend your hard earned money on eiter buying or building a house.

I dont mean to put a damper on things, and i am sure there are others out there that have gone throught hte smae experience, but persoanlly i wouldnt trust someone i didnt know to lease a plot of land and then build a house on it or indeed to buy a house on land owned by soemone else.

I know the lease will offer some protection BUT this is Thailand and it could be made difficult for you if the owner of the land decideds they want you out.

Also what sort of visa will you be applying for?

I am sorry to sound so negative about things but there are a lot of questions that you need to get answered. I do hope it works out for you, CM is a beautiful place to be

Hi

I am sure that their are enough foreigners who have bought the house and leased the land who do not have any problems. I would have thought that if you get professional advice when doing this then it would be ok. I cannot see that if you bought a house on say an estate that the owner would want you out, it seems that quite a few posts that I have read on different forums make it sound that they are queing up to rip you off. I found the following information which sounds reasonable to me:

Most foreigners who 'own' land and houses (as opposed to condos, which can be owned outright) go for a leasehold agreement of typically 30 years, with two prepaid 30-year renewals. The lease will include clauses that automatically allow freehold ownership if the laws of foreign ownership change in future, and the right to sell and/ or transfer the property. This gives you 90 years with strong backup, making it effectively ownership.

Just to complicate things a little, while you can only lease land, all the buildings (either on the land when it was purchased, or improved or built by you after purchasing the land) are your freehold. Technically this means that once the lease expires, the owner of the land must purchase the building(s) at an independently and legally valued price, or negotiate another lease period.

The structure of a lease agreement needs to be watertight. But because this has become the preferred way of holding land in Thailand for foreigners, this type of lease agreement has become more or less a template, with add-ons to suit individual buyer's needs.

As for sounding negative, I'm getting used to it as quite a few people on these forums are negative about everything. I will be applying for a Non Immigration Visa type O 'Retirement'. I am sure that everything will work out a I am determined that it will.

The "Best Place to Live"? This really is a case of horses for courses. However I would recommend looking at the area around Wat Umong. It is fairly central, quiet and nicely wooded, so cooler than many other places. From there you can take your time and explore before deciding the best place for you.

Hi

Is Wat Umong not at the end of the runway?

so we were going to rent house untill we spotted a house for sale we really liked.

Got to ask the question, how are you going to buy a house? Are one of you Thai? If not are you going to set up some sort of business? If your answer to these 2 questions is no then i am afraid you wont be able to buy a house

Hi

No neither of us is Thai and I wasn't really thinking of setting up a business but I was under the impression that Thai law forbids foreigners from owning land but that Thai law does not stop foreigners from owning buildings. Also Thai law allows foreigners to lease land for up to 30 years (with 2 successive renewals making 90 years). Is this not so?

The "Best Place to Live"? This really is a case of horses for courses. However I would recommend looking at the area around Wat Umong. It is fairly central, quiet and nicely wooded, so cooler than many other places. From there you can take your time and explore before deciding the best place for you.

Hi

Is Wat Umong not at the end of the runway?

Renting houses with pets is no problem ... it's rare that people won't allow pets. Finding places to rent is easy, so I also recommend you do it from here ... main reason being that the advertised price is rarely the price you end up paying ... I've lived in about 10 places and have bargained a good few thousand a month off all. The place I'm in now we found on a Sunday and moved in the following Saturday and that includes getting movers in to pack everything (and there was a lot!) all in such a short space of time, so you needn't worry about finding somewhere before you come. Don't know about the places you're looking at but, in Bangkok, Oakwood (which has hotel rooms and apartments search on internet and you will find it) allows pets so it could be a place to stay while you're looking for permanant accomodation.

Hi

I can see the sense in what you say. The only problem is I will have my elderley mother and German Shepherd with me. I think we are going to Chiang Mai.

I am considering Hua Hin as a place to retire to in early 2007. I will be coming with my husband and elderly mother. I am a little concerned regarding the hospitals in Hua Hin as I have read a number of articles on various forums and to be quite honest they do not sound very good. We will of course be buying health insurance. Could anyone put my mind at ease regarding this or should I look for somewhere else to live?

Hello

Thank you for all the replies. I have at least 5 areas which have been recommended to me now. On the replies I see the word expensive, looking on the websites of real estate agents in Chiang Mai for sales and rentals looks quite inexpensive to me, but then I am going by UK prices and also we were considering moving to Phuket until we compared prices to CM. I don't really want to put my GS in kennels as he did not enjoy the experience in December when we came to Thailand for 2 months, so we were going to rent house untill we spotted a house for sale we really liked. Is it difficult to get house rentals which allow pets?

Hi

Its not important to us to have lots of ex pats friends to hang out with as we keep pretty much to ourselves. I am much more interested in basic amenties to live eg hospitals, drs, dentists, vets,supermarket to buy essentials etc. Which are the best areas to live in? Also do they have pet friendly rentals as I will need to rent a house before we arrive?

Hi

I am coming to live in Thailand in 2007. I am considering Chiang Mai or Chiang Rai. Did consider Phuket but decided against it. We are looking for somewhere that is quiet and peaceful. Are ther plenty of amenties in Chiang Rai eg international standard hospitals, supermarket, drs etc? Also are their any vets and shops to buy dog food? Have done a search on internet but cannot find much info on Chiang Rai. Would be grateful for any advice

Thanks

Hi

Are there are Pet Superstores either in Chiang Mai or Chiang Rai? If not where's the best place to buy complete dry dog food of a high quality + toys etc.

Thanks

Hi

We are considering moving to Chiang Mai from UK in 2007. Our other choices are Chiang Rai or Phuket. We will be bringing our German Shepherd with us, have no option cannot possibly leave him in UK. We will need to rent a house before we arrive. Can anyone reccommend where to find pet friendly rentals? Thanks

Hi

We are considering moving to Chaing Mai from UK in 2007. Our other choices are Chiang Rai or Phuket. We will be bringing our German Shepherd with us, have no option cannot possibly leave him in UK. We will need to rent a house before we arrive. Can anyone reccommend where to find pet friendly rentals? Also which are the best areas to live in? We would like somewhere nice and quiet.

Thanks

Hello

I have an 11 month old German Shepherd dog called Marco, who is coming to live in Phuket with us in 2007

Hi

I was just wondering if you were going to Phuket why your dog had to be seen at Bangkok Airport. I have been told that Phuket's is an international airport, so it has all the animal inspection

facilities required of any international airport. Apparantly the info came from Sunart Wongchawalit, chief of the Phuket Livestock Dept. Also Thai Airways have quoted me a price from Manchester UK to Phuket and told me that my dog will be checked through to Phuket, as my checked baggage. As you can see my pet dog is a beautiful boy and I couldn't leave him behind whatever the cost.

Hi,

after a long search for a aircompany who could bring my 2 dogs for a acceptable price from europe to Thailand(1000€ or 45.000 I finaly arrived at bkk with my dogs. Before I had booked a ticket also with thaiairways from bkk to Phuket on a flight 2.5 hour after arrival in bkk.

It took a whole mountain of difficulty to be able to get my dogs, a guy from cargo offered me some help and we run from one desk to another ..

finaly the 2.5 hours past bye .. and 1) still had no dogs, 2) next to price for flying the dogs to phuket (7.400 I had to pay the guy 41.000 B !!!

otherways no dogs .. I had no choice, had to check in, because all next plains were full and so I went away without even seeing my dogs. Finaly they arrived in Phuket 7 hours laters. They have been locked up in a box for more than 24 hours :-( and had cost me a lot of money

there was a paper that proved the costs of where importtax was 33.000 B ! + docter + taking care + this and that ..

Is this normal ? I never heard of people have to pay so much on arrival in bkk. also not one aircompany told me I would have to pay these taxes ..

anyone with the same expierence ? can I try to get my money back ?

txs for help

Chris in Phuket

Hi

I'm new to the forum but 80000 baht seems like alot of money to be able to live in Phuket a month on. I still live in UK and have a mortgage and lots of bills plus food to pay for and the cost is not that much higher. I am coming to live in Thailand next year, either Phuket or Hua Hin, not made final decision yet and thought that the cost of living would be a lot less expensive then UK, it always seems to be on my regular visits over the years.

How big is the dog?

Is it an Alsation?

Have you used the search engine yet?

Most people have brought in Toys without a problem.

Just make sure it is well vaccinated and you can produce the corect paperwork on demand at the airport on arrival.

Hi

Hre is a German Shepherd and his measurements and weight are:

weight approx 84lbs.

length 49in

floor to belly 17.5in

widest point 10in

height 31in

Yes I have used the search engine and I have asked for quotes from several pet relocators. The quotes so far have been quite high. I have checked with Thai Airways and there amount per kilo for excess baggage is quite expensive. If I do it myself it might work out as expensive as using one of these firms. I am trying to find out without much success how much a vet would charge to complete the DEFRA paperwork. If I could find this out I would be able to compare which is the cheaper option. He is well vaccinated and is going for his booster next month. He will also have the other necessary jabs before he comes. Its like pulling teeth trying to get all the info I need.

Thanks

Hello

I am new to the forum so if anyone else has asked this before I am very sorry. I am moving to Phuket and I am taking my dog with me. Has anyone any experience at using a professional pet relocator? I don't know whether to use the services of one or make the arrangements for him myself. I know it isn’t going to be cheap as he is a big boy, but a couple of the quotes I have received have been very expensive. In the end it doesn’t matter what it costs, he's going with me, but I just wondered what anyone else has done in the past

Thanks