dsfbrit

Do you really think foreigners are driving the Thai real estate market all alone ?? maybe in Phuket, but I am talking Bkk and the rest of thailand as a whole.

Around where I live in Pattaya - there is no one driving the real estate market for houses - it is well and truly parked.

... stray rabid dogs ...

These things cannot help the Real Estate market can they.

Sadly its just bad news after bad news at the moment.

Fox commentators came up with the following analysis of last nights sad events (right or wrong this was the message to the World about Thailand).

' ... the junta in Thailand has taken control and it looks like this is event is to do with the overthrow of the previous PM. Thailand is looking increasingly shaky at the moment...'

Same sort of thing on BBC News, who at least thought it may be Muslems and not Thaksin supporters only. They added though that '..Thailand/Bangkok used to be considered one of the safest and most stable places in the region -not any more though'.

Right or wrong it does not make good press for Tourism nor Housing etc... even those who owned condos in their own name in Bangkok may now feel a little less confident about the (short term?) future.

An interesting year ahead methinks.

I still love it here and would never leave - so lets hope it gets better.

By the way, anyone know when the New legislation will be presented relating to land ownership. It was supposed to be written within 60 days - that was about 60 days ago???

I bought the ATi GeCube Radeon 9250 video card this solved my VHS to Pc requirements.

I also burn all VHS to DVD

Jim

I will look at that on the web.

Did you buy it in Thailand ?

Were all your tapes in PAL (uk) format ?

Any downsides?

I will probably burn them on DVD as well eventually, at first though I just want to get them digitised, so I dont have to carry a load of tapes back to Thailand.

I am off to read the thread suggested by monthy, so apololgies in advance if you have posted this stuff there already.

We've just been through most of the options in this thread

Thanks I will go and have a look at that thread. I did a search on 'VHS' before I posted, but the search engine said it was less then 4 characters and threw it out!

I am going to the UK next month and want to copy all my VHS (Pal - LP, SP) holiday videos etc... from the last 15 years onto my PC.

I have seen lots of methods to do this. Cannot decide what would be the best?

Have you done this, or could you recommend a simple method that works?

I have a PC with plenty of disk space to store the tapes (300 GByte on PC and 500 GByte external on USB 2.0)

Any ideas would be appreciated.

Thanks a lot for your help

I'm assuming its a thai bank. One of the advantages of western bank, full stop protection for fraud. Anyways need be very careful using your ATM card, anywhere.

If a credit, debit, ATM etc. card is skimmed or copied, there's little you can do about it.

Agreed

Lucky indeed.

I was too was 'lucky' as a week before this I had about 100,000 pounds (7 Million Baht) in this account and had just moved money to Thailand to buy some property out here!

The police reckoned the thieves had logged into my account a week before this money was transferred, but needed an account to transfer the money to.

They eventually bought an account from a Chinese student who had finished his UK Univerity course and returned to China.

A murky World out there!

Internationally recognised credit cards are OK as long as you long as you have 'reasonably protected your security details etc... (ie: have not given your security details to a friend or written them on the card or something equally as a dumb). They will reimburse 'proven' theft.

Direct Debit cards are sadly not usually covered.

A nasty experience.

I know how you feel though as 4 years ago I was the victim of identity theft - 7000 pounds about 500,000 Baht.

I eventually got my money back as it involved a UK bank and an organised gang in the UK.

This meant the bank insurance covered the theft.

The first thing you must do is report this to the police.

Then maybe contact the local news groups. I know one of the papers did a lot of work a while ago when an ATM 'sucked' back his money before he could collect it at the bottom of the ATM machine. Curiously the money was not in the 'collection' tray inside the ATM when it was eventually opened.

I think the paper was Pattaya People which is associated with Pattaya Expats club.

To answer your question though, Internationally recognised Credit Cards (ie: Mastercard and Visa) certainly are safer than Thai ATM cards as they offer guarantees in these circumstances.

ATM cards are prone to skimming (copying) and other practises all over the World.

good luck

Its a changing and messy situation it appears.

There are several good recent threads on this - this is one.

You will see that experiences are mixed - good luck!!!

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=88871

K-Bank pays interest also.

If someone does not have 800K baht to live on for a year they should make plan B.

Few countries want people with no resources to fall back on.

K-Bank - thats Kasikorn bank ?

I am jealous as I dont get interest on my Kasikorn account - which account do you have ?

Does it have a passbook and ATM card ?

My money is in a fixed interest acount so should be interesting when I renew my marriage extension in March. The marriage extension not too much of a problem now as my immigration office is not far , but when I move to Khon Kaen next year will be a pain going to Nong Kai every month waiting for it to be aproved.

Perhaps you can let us know how it goes.

I take it you are under 50 so cannot use the retirement route.

Hi ncguy

Its a bit unclear because it deals with 1)Retirement visa & 2) 'Married to a Thai' visa. For no.1 you need proof of an av balance of 800k in bank for 3month prior to visa application(it used to be 400k). For 2) you need an income of 40k p.m. and that can be earned by man/wife or both parties. No Bank balance requirements just a lot more 'red tape'. Recent threads would help with other points. Good Luck & Happy New Year

I am not trying to be argumentative here, but if av means average - I think that is incorrect. If it drops below 800K Baht for one day - I believe you will need to do some explaining.

You do not have to use the money in the 800k account to live on but guess you are planning on one movement of money each year so would have to be enough more to pay your way for 3 months?

There have already been a number of people reporting using fixed deposit accounts. Even foreign currency accounts held by Thai located banks have been approved. But I would recommend talking with officer first if you plan to use that option.

Good advice indeed, in fact for the extra bit of interest involved who needs the hassle.

Happy New Year Lopburi3 - and thanks for all your help this year

Dave

Its actually more than 800k when you think about it as the money has to be there for 3 months before at least and must not go below that figure.

the account can go below 800k during the year , but must be topped up to at least 800k 3 months before visa renewal and remain at least 800k until renewal.

Agreed - although I dont lose sleep over losing interest on this money, it is the only thing that makes the extension due to marriage even slightly attractive.

Now, with the Marriage extension I would have to transfer about 600,000 Baht 3 months before.

With the Retirement extension I need to transfer nearly 1 Million Baht.

There is some talk about people moving this money into a fixed interest/time account. Will be interesting over the coming months to see if Immigration accept this method ?

Having thought about this, for most property investment is it a big problem ?

After all, if you can transfer up to around 700,000 Baht without any problem, dont you just make 10 transfers (say) to make a purchase of a 7 Million Baht.

A nuisance with extra paperwork and will cost maybe 700 Baht per transfer, but hardly the end of the World.

Also you will be getting a better exchange rate in theory as their measures will have weakened the Baht.

He agreed with K. Phummisak that the government should consider relaxing its stance on foreign ownership of property, perhaps by allowing foreigners to own one property freehold or by introducing some sort of “perpetual lease”.

Music to my ears, hope something like this is decided in the New Year.

However, this looks like property(condo, house, land) is not exempt from the 30% holding tax as reported in other threads on this subject?

This report is dated yesterday, maybe though it was written with information from a few days ago.

Things do tend to change pretty rapidly in LOS I tend to find.

I am in the same situation as you Skipper. Currently on an extension based on marriage. I was wondering whever to switch to the retirement option. I think I am right in saying that if I do change then I cannot go back to the 400k in the bank method at a later date. As you say the retirement method is a lot quicker to process. I realise I am lucky to have the choice but am not sure which way to go. Any opinions anyone.

I was told that those of us who have a visa extension based on marriage could keep the 400K rule as it was grandfathered in under the new rules.

However if I gave it up for any reason, I would not get the 400k option back.

I think I prefer this retirement visa extension, the married extension is coming under more amd more scrutiny (and therefore increased hassle) and the retirement visa seems so easy to do - if a little expensive on the potential lost interest on the 800k Baht.

Its actually more than 800k when you think about it as the money has to be there for 3 months before at least and must not go below that figure.

Yesterday, I went to Bangkok Immigration for my Retirement VISA.

Application TM7,

Bank Statements + Bank Letter,

Copies of my Passport,

1 photograph,

1,900 baht fee.

Walked out, 15 minutes later with the 1 year VISA.

Not bad.

Thats interesting feedback. I too am thinking of switching to the retirement visa and also have an HSBC account in Bangkok - although mine is in Baht.

Did you have any problems getting the letters from HSBC or was it normal practise to them. When I spoke to them about this a couple of years ago they did not know what I was talking about.

My account is a foreign Baht account as opposed to a local (Thai) account. I opened it from the UK, but could now make it a local Thai account by travelling to Bangkok and doing the relevant paperwork(I live in Pattaya) if need be.

I have a Local Thai Farmer acount as well which I have been using for immigration purposes until now.

The draconian measures, adopted by the Bank of Thailand (BOT) on December 18, initially affected all capital inflows of US$20,000 (about 70,000 baht) or greater.

wow - with the Baht that 'strong' - I now see why they had to take such drastic measures

Come on guys, there is no way they will close suvarnubhumi, it would be as hard to reopen Don Muang as it was to open suvarnubhumi and it would cost a fortune. No other country in this region has 2 airports in one city. Suvarnubhumi is by far superior to Don Muang, the only problem I see is the arrivals hall being too small. I have flown in 6 times and never had any problems.

Perhaps no other major city in the region has two operating airports, but there aren't that many major cities in the region. Look further afar and there are many major cities that are served by more than one airport: New York, London, Los Angeles.

I have not yet visited Suvarnabhumi, but from all reports, both positive and negative, I see no mention of significant advantage over Don Muang.

As far as reopening Don Muang, I doubt the costs would be that great unless they have already destroyed infrastructure. I would think that at the very least, re-opening the domestic terminal for the domestic low cost airlines would cost little unless they yanked out the wiring and cabling.

Agreed, even if 2 International Airports could not be justified long term.

However, the Thai authorities are suggesting that their preferred option would be to

re-open Don Muang for domestic flights only.

This is a terrible idea.

Thailand is trying to attract a ‘different’ type of tourist, families etc…

I cannot see a family arriving from the UK for their hard earned 2 week winter break in Koh Samui, being excited about the prospect of travelling to the other side of Bangkok to get a connecting flight.

Especially if they have a couple of (tired) kids in tow.

The tourist numbers are already down in Pattaya according to the news last night, blamed on the new visa regulations.

However as the new visa reguslations don’t affect genuine tourists anyway, you can only guess at the reason for this reduction.

That why I say, its better to shut down the new airport and use the old airport for a while, or use both airports for both International and Domestic flights.

Or better still keep the new airport open as it is now and fix the problems.

Anything else is just added problems for the tourist – and they have a choice to go elsewhere.

As for K. Kaak who decided to go to Cambodia because of Pattaya, I'd say good for you. Good luck. If you knoweledge of beautiful Thai beaches is really only limited to Pattaya, then I'd say that you are well fit to go and live in Cambodia.

Do you watch the Thai News ?

I was watching last night and I was not sure if they said they were considering re-opening Don Muang for domestic flights or had actually decided to do so?

I always thought the 60/ 40 was a good division between the airports. Originally they were gonna move 60% of the traffic over to NBIA and DMK would retain the other 40% traffic based on regional, domestic and charters.

Don Muang is a time tested airport and can become a wonderful budget carrier airport for all Thailand destinations plus Singapore, Hong Kong, Macau, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Vietnam, etc...

I can understand that if you are in Thailand going to another part of Thailand that going to DMK would be ok. If you arrive in Thailand on an international flight at the new airport, then you had to transfer to the old airport to continue your trip to another city in Thailand. Now that another story, what a hassle that would be.

They will build a shttle between the two airports and it will be another good source of......well, better not say, we all know !

I dont really understand the problem with 2 airports in Bangkok.

If you are flying into London and you land at Heathrow and want a connecting flight to Manchester you get the connecting flight at Heathrow.

If you land at Gatwick then you get the connecting flight from Gatwick - you dont transfer to Heathrow for the local connecting flight.

All that would need to happen in Thailand is for Eva Air (say) to go to Don Muang and British Airways to Savarnabumi(say).

Then pick up internal flights from current local carriers or maybe this is an opportunity for new low price carriers if current local airlines dont have enough resources to provide this service.

Hey, perhaps landing fees could be cheaper at Don Muang as well as it wont need so much expense to keep it open with all the repairs.

Or am I missing something?

Merry Xmas

Up to you.

Where did you read this?

The Land Office recognizes and registers 30 years only. The lease may be willable but only until the end of the original lease, same as a new landowner is bound to respect the original 30 years.

Nothing else is guaranteed or has legal standing, it is merely an agreement between two individuals and if one dies the agreement dies, if the land is sold the new owner is not bound by any personal agreement signed by another person.

I would not want to be in a Thai court at the end of my 30 years.

As said before, if you buy a car from someone the owner prior to him is not on the hook to you no matter what he signed with the guy who sold to you.

Think about it, can you imagine the chaos if there was a series of rolling personal agreements? Nobody would ever sign one because their family could be on the hook for generations.

http://www.samuiforsale.com/index.htm

A terrific link that - thanks JohnnyK - I thought over the last months I now understood all the issues, but this has it all in one place and is comprehensive - I will explore some more after Xmas.

hey Mods could this be pinned, it really does appear to explain all the issues in a sensible easy to read way.

And Merry Xmas mods and thanks for your help this year

Dupont agreed.

Curiously, the Thai authorities may not want to bring in Draconian legislation that could see it both lock horns with the wealthiest farangs in Thailand and the Thai legal profession - whose staff are the major source of these nominee shareholders.

If there were a major battle it would make the news in the West and no doubt all the detail of the argument would soon get lost and the headlines in the UK would be along the lines 'Brits robbed of their homes' etc... bad publicity for Thailand indeed.

Mind you I suspect if 'push comes to shove', then most farang will just 'bite the bullet' and find a way to lease it from a Thai.

The New Year will bring some interesing news.

I cannot wait

Have a good Xmas

I did my 90 day report at Jomtien Immigration last week and they said they would be implementing the rules as per those published elsewhere in TV - not like you report.

Jomtien are pretty farang friendly though.

I am not saying you are wrong, just that its the policy of that Immigaration office in MaeSai and nothing more should be read into it.

I do remember that, at least in the past, a foreigner could form a company with 51% Thai ownership?

Sadly, as soon as you mention 'company' and 'land ownership' and 'farang' you enter a whole World of grief.

I have such a company and 'own' land and it is 'illegal' - always has been we are constantly reminded by the 'I told you so' Brigade.

To explain all the subtleties of this would take a lot of time for those of us who have been following this debate word by painful word for the last 8 months.

However, we farang 'landowners' are wating to see what new rules the powers that be decide on in the New Year.

I cannot speak for the whole market, but where I live in Pattaya there are 6 houses on the market nearby - have been for months. Not an offer, from farang or Thai!

Please dont get me wrong it may be different where your friend lives, I hope so - good luck!

This may help a bit with some of the issues, but if you search this forum you will find lots of information on this.

http://www.property-report.com/archives.ph...6&date=0610