DaRoadrunner

Can't be arsed to do it. They'll have to come get me. How long before they link this to our visa extension? Then it's bye bye Thailand

If he goes to Immigration with his 60 day on arrival visa and applies for Retirement Non O, they will extend 30 days while under consideration. But need to show 800K in bank or use an agent. I have done it for years without an agent, but this time IO said I should not be able to convert 60 day to Retirement. Took me four visits to immigration to get it. This paper chase is the biggest waste of time and has never improved. What you encounter also depends on the whim of the individual IO.

3 hours ago, harryviking said:

Something is terribly wrong with the Thai society! Seems like insanity has taken over! This seems to be an increasing problem all over the land. I fear for the future. 

There is only MONEY.

Some of the bouncers like beating people up, many are ex Thai boxers. And they want to promote Pattaya as a family friendly tourist destination. It is far too easy to have a problem on Pattaya's Walking Street. Why bother going there?

Four visits to obtain one visa. I suggested to the officer in charge that this could have been done in one visit, thereby saving them work. Suggestion fell on deaf ears. No hope of progress at Immigration. You can't fix stupid.

1 hour ago, khunPer said:

First and most important thing to consider is that you cannot own the land under your house. Your status in US, green cards and citizenships have no value in Thailand, only your Thai wife can own the land.

 

Secondly, you shall remember the good old advice: "Never invest more money in Thailand than you can afford to lose".

 

Thirdly, if it is your money flowing into land and future house, you might need some level of protection. Be aware of that any agreement between husband and wife can be terminated. So, if you need any protection – like a usufruct registration on the land title deed – it shall be done before the land is transferred into your wife's name. You can also protect yourself with a registered loan, but again, it shall be before the deed is transferred to a spuse.

 

That brings up "title deed". The 10 rai land you buy shall be of "Nor soor 4" title, often named as "Chanote", eventual "Nor Sor 3" title, which can be upgraded to Nor Sor 4 title. Only Nor Sor 4 title is full ownership. If it's a lower title deed, you need to be sure that the land cannot only be used for farming.

 

You need a building permission – however, in some rural areas houses might be build without one, but I'll not recomment to build without one – and an architect will normally be able to clear all the legal stuff for you.

 

You can be owner of a new built house – but as said earlier, not the land under it – for which you need to begin with a permission from the land owner, which could be a superficies-agreement. It's the "tessa ban" local office that issue building permission, and later gives you a house number and a "blue house book" in which Thai-residents are registered. All architect drawings, construction contracts and payments need to be in your name, as theese documents are you proof of ownership.

 

Costs for a house depends of choice of materials and escpecially finish. As a hand rule you can count around 15,000 baht per square meter (10 square feet). A house in Western-level quality would rather be around 30,000 baht or little more per square meter. Luxury costs more than the double of that.

 

A pool is often calculated as 1 million baht, but depends of size and finish (tiles). For solar panel, check other threads in AN-forums, there are numerous about solar panel, installation, benefits and costs. So, 150 square meters house with a pool might cost from a level around 3 million baht and up.

 

A few advices from my experience with building a house in Thailand:

• Use areated congrete for walls for better insulation and lower power costs for aircon. Preferabkly double walls, which also will cover any visual parts of posts. The extra cost for this is easily earned back by lower power expenses and better indoor climate.
• Use "water proof" concrete to avoid cracks in posts, decks and plaster. The surcharge for water proof additive is only a few hundred baht per cubic meter.
• Get a separate quote from SCG/HomeMart's "roof experts" for roof construction. The will make a detailed drawing and give you quotes for free. They use galnanized steel construction, which means both a lighter roof and better rust protection. A water-proof roof is a must for a good house, and doing so requires more than placing some plates or tiles on a steel construction. Get a heat insulation foil under the roof tiles. Furthermore, avoid cement on a roof, cement cracks and water runs down. Preferably select "Neu Style" or similar roof tiles for best water protection. SCG's team will do it all and give you a 5-year warranty – a local building construction might have disappeared when you new roof leaks after one year – SCG/HomeMart is most likely still around.
• Make sure that sewers-pipes are big enough and have no 90° angles – only 45° – and correct fall to a drain well. Normally you will get 2" pipes for kitchen and shower, but 3" would be preferred for kitchen where Thai food with lots of oil is made. If you get longer stretch of sewer-pipes, make an 45° opening with a scew-cover, so you can mechanically clean the pipe with a spring, instead of banging a cement deck up to find where the pipe is blocked. Remember, in Thailand, you are a certified plumber, when you can cut and glue two blue pipes together...👍
• Let (water proof) wall-plaster cure (dry) for at least one month – preferably three – before painting. Use sandpaper to remove looser particles off the surface before start painting: it's actually an easy job with great benefit. Make sure you get a good quality primer painted twice, before color. Preferabky use three colordecks outdoor. Don't save on paint, if you do will need to repaint the outside of the house after a few years. Use semi-gloss outdoor paint, it will fade in gloss after a year or even a few month, but gives you a long-term better surface protection.
• Don't make any too advanced stuff in house design, build a house in Thai-way-of-building. As my Thai architect said: "We can draw anything, but that doesn't mean you can built it!" Construction workers are uneducated – however, many have some experience from construction jobs – so, it basically up to a good forman to get a good built house. Therefore, make sure the foreman understand and know what he is doing.
• Aluminum window frames are good; if you choose wood it has to be very hard wood, which is expensice but worth the costs instead of doors and windows that cannot open in the wet-season and cannot close in the dry-season. It also counts for internal doors. If you wish to save money, than indoor plstic-doors are an alternative. Aluminum has the advantage that many locals can make them so the fit the holes in your house. Bying vinyl doors and windows on steel-frame are limited to the size from factories.
• If you are considering a European-style kitchen, then be aware of both humidity and termites – the latter loves the European gormet-dish – and if you are expecting to make Thai food, consider an outdorr or semi-open kitchan for that; i.e., you might wish two kichens.
• For pool, make sure you have easy access to pump(s) and sand filter. You will need to both maintain and exchange the stuff. You don't need to buy the most expensive imported pump, a cheap one can do the job and might even last longer than the three times more expensive imported.
• In general, think of maintenance and service. It's you that are going to do it – or find some that can do it for you – so make your life easy.

I wish you good luck with your project...

Lots o luck achieving that in Thailand!

Not so sure of the answers so far..... having seen a very sick Farang brought to Immigration in an ambulance and wheeled in on a gurney by a couple of nurses. What is wrong with Immigration that this was necessary?

It does not help that construction here is single wall, not double wall with a cavity filled with sound insulation as found where most of us Farang come from. Yet the Thais want ever escalating sums for these poorly constructed buildings. It pisses me off that we are not considered worthy of being allowed to own land on which to have a private house and some peace and quiet. Yep, they only want our money, they don't want us.

Having already applied for my retirement visa, it only remains for me to go back for the result and get the passport stamped.

However, I have since broken my leg, so do not want to try going to Immigration in this condition.

I have a medical certificate from the hospital.

Can I have my friend go to Immigration on my behalf to get the passport stamped?

Do we need a power of attorney?

Thanks to all for assistance.

Check there is no finance company stamp in the reg book. If there is, you will need to talk to the finance company about clearing off the loan.

Check that the name in the book matches the ID card of the seller.

Take the car to an authorised dealer and have their workshop check it over. If the seller won't agree to this, walk away.

Condition of used cars in Thailand is often appalling. Poor maintenance. Accident damage been covered up hiding a bent chassis.

15 hours ago, fezza said:

Servicing is stored on the car computer itself, with the registered BMW dealers code next to each service in the computer.  There's no more stamp in a service book on modern cars.

I think you will find that the service records are on the dealer network computer.

How are BMW going to know if your friend did the job? The only possible problem is if regular servicing must be maintained with their stamp in the service book in order to keep the warranty valid. But this is Thailand, many cars have no service book anyway as they have been clocked.

4 hours ago, Gecko123 said:

It sounds like the two Thai guys were interviewed together, and I'm willing to bet if they had been interviewed separately cracks and inconsistencies in their account of what happened would likely have emerged.

Typical sloppy Thai Police work

You know you are past it when young girls you would have chased after, merely take pity on Poppa and stand up to give me their seat on the train. Sigh.....

I presume you mean machine the discs, not the calipers. Discs only need machining if heavily scored or warped. Cost about 400 Bats at B Quik where they have the machine for doing the job on the car without removing the disc. If they are too far gone you will need new discs. It may be on the schedule to check them, but they rarely need attention. Sign of warped disc is a pulsing brake pedal.

There are fields in China full of unwanted first generation electric cars. Nobody wants em, worthless. Battery technology keeps progressing at such a rate the cars become obsolete. Am I going to buy a new Chinese electric car?

2 hours ago, norsurin said:

The next is foreign properties.. condos.. apartments etc etc

They will tax it and take it.

If they let us own land they would not have this problem of nominees. Seems like the racist Thais want our money but they don't want us.

23 hours ago, JBChiangRai said:

 

Batteries are expected to last 18-25 years.  You're misinformed.

Did some Thai car dealer tell you that? And you believed him?

On 11/14/2024 at 3:22 PM, UWEB said:

What a nonsense, Seal Batteries having a warranty of 8 years.

So what happens on year 9? It is nearly 10000 US$ for new batteries.

Being ex uk motor trade, Da Roadrunner is appalled at what he finds on examining a used Thai car. Let the buyer beware. If you don't know about cars, take an expert with you (and I don't mean the idiots talking rubbish on a bar stool). Or have the car inspected at a main dealer for that model. The main dealer should also be able to use the VIN to check if there is a service history. If the seller will not allow such inspection, walk away.

Chinese cars depreciate alarmingly. Up to 50% in the first year. Saw a BYD Seal advertised on Facebook Marketplace for 995K, don't know which version it was. I would guess the trade in value of one to be around 800K. It looks a bargain until you have to buy a new battery at around 7 years old. Check cost of battery!

This is Thailand! Image vs substance. Thais like to wash the engine, its all about image. But water gets into the electrics and its hard to dry them out so it will start. More important is that the INSIDE of the engine is clean with new filter and quality oil. Meanwhile, the Dynamo shops (Alternator to us) are doing a roaring trade replacing Alternators that got wet inside.

I think it dates from prehistoric times, when the girl went for the roughest cave man she could find to defend her from Dinosaurs, Saber Toothed Tigers and other cave men. ...... Nothing much has changed.

Today's girl though, tends to go for credit cards, a condo and a car.

17 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

 

The things one sees when you don't pay the bar fine and stalk your dream dancer after hours.

And how is it you would know this?