wpcoe

I will echo the recommendations for East Coast Realty from the above posts.  I would add a recommendation for Stu Sutton at Jomtien Property.

I have bought and sold condos with both David and Stu and feel they did a very good job.  Plus, both agencies are good about keeping out-of-date listings off their web site.

On 2/12/2019 at 5:28 PM, KittenKong said:

We get them very rarely in my condo in Jomtien. There are scheduled outages once or twice a year when the PEA are working on lines, but apart from that hardly anything. Perhaps once a month, and for a few seconds.

What he said.

Starting in 2004, I used to live on Soi Watboon in Jomtien, and there were plentiful outages.  It would be surprising to go two weeks without a total power loss (in addition to the almost daily "blips" mentioned above). 

The past few years I've lived in a condo in the Jomtien Complex area and unplanned outages are very rare.  When the PEA plans an outage there is usually a notice by the elevators a week in advance.

I noticed the other day a coin laundry on Thappraya Road on the right-hand side as you head toward Jomtien.  It was about a block before the Rita Resort, IIRC.  I think the name was WASHCOIN, or some similar two-word reversed title.  Looked like it had machines like in the OP, so assume it had hot wash and hot dry capability.

Between December 16 last year and January 15 this year, the authorities visited 418 residences in the province, counting 13,859 foreigners (of which 2,896 were female), from 30 nationalities. Of them, Chinese nationals comprised the vast majority, with 12,454 living and working in the province.

So they found an average of 33+ foreigners per residence?

7 hours ago, rooster59 said:

The website said the monthly costs for a single person to live in Bangkok was 21,017.40฿ without rent.

And yet Thai Immigrations feels justified asking retirees (who probably don't have kids in school) to transfer in B65,000 each and every month?

A recent post even mentioned that a Buriram IO requires the retiree to import and spend the B65,000 each month...

21 hours ago, notrub said:

In Buriram one officer said he wanted to see the money on my account and that he wanted me to spend it, every month.

Oh, my.  I hope that does not become the norm.

On 2/7/2019 at 2:21 PM, Peterw42 said:

Start at the condo office and see whats available.

Ditto.  Maybe you're lucky and have a choice, but many condo buildings lock the residents into a single provider.

Yes, it seems that the icon Windows uses is the icon associated with whatever program you have set as the default for playing .mp3 files.  So, the path to follow would be to find a way to change the icon your .mp3-playing program uses.  Not sure that is even possible, though.

On 2/3/2019 at 2:40 PM, DrDave said:

The food court at Suvarnabhumi used to be a closely held secret, used mostly by airport staff and flight crews. Over the years, more people became aware of it, and just a couple of weeks ago, I was surprised to see a very large digital sign in the immigration area advertising it. A previous poster has detailed the location.

 

At DMK, there's also a large food court inside the terminal. It's located upstairs, and uses a card system similar to food courts in shopping centers. A little difficult to find at first, since it's fronted by regular restaurants. Prices are just slightly higher than the food court at Suvarnabhumi.

 

Try eating there around 1230pm.  Tons of Chinese tour groups who were given free coupon books.

On 2/6/2019 at 9:52 PM, marcusarelus said:

Floor safe.  Drill the concrete. 

My condo association said not to do that.  

What I really wish would happen in that complex is the long-ago abandoned plan to put a grocery store in the building with the garage on top.

On 2/2/2019 at 8:58 AM, Seismic said:

There is no evidence to show that MSG is harmful - None !!

Actually, I am a little put off by my allergic reactions to it. 

Another angle I hadn't thought of is how these changes will be embraced by retirees who are only part-year residents of Thailand.  e.g. Someone who comes here six months each year, Oct-Mar.  Will they want to transfer B65k each and every month to Thailand?  Will they want to keep B400k on ice in a Thailand bank account year-round, and an additional B400k for five more months, just to keep a part-time residency?

Every time I've had a big transfer to Bangkok Bank from overseas in USD, I've received a phone call from their main office asking if I wanted to convert and deposit it immediately.  I've been under the impression that they are calling to see if I wanted the funds converted/deposited at today's rate or to wait for a more favorable rate.  What do they do with transfers that arrive while the account holder is overseas and doesn't have global roaming active and their Thai SIM in their mobile phone?

3 hours ago, Kenny202 said:

Its not rocket surgery.

????  I love that statement!

Thanks to the many folks who have made some very interesting comments and suggestions.  As someone else alluded to above, I don't think we should speak publicly very much about potential workarounds, but I think I've enough ideas now on how to make the $65k/month method work.

3 hours ago, Kenny202 said:

So if someone has 65k at their disposal. Transfer it over and transfer it back again for use next month.

Where did you read/hear that it will be acceptable to Thai Immigrations to transfer in B65k and transfer it back every month?

3 hours ago, Lacessit said:

If the OP can save 40,000 baht/month out of the 65,000 baht/month, good luck to him. Given the strength of the Thai baht, IMHO he would be better off leaving it here, or buying gold as a currency hedge. Fees and exchange rates transferring back and forth are going to eat up some of the funds, and Immigration officers are not idiots. The money is supposed to be spent here, not repatriated. That would raise red flags with them.

Oh?  I'm supposed to double my spending here just to qualify for a retirement extension.  Right.  Got it.

5 hours ago, Sheryl said:

Check with Dee Money to see if there is a maximum to how much they can transfer at a time and be guided by that.

Sadly, neither of my US financial institutions -- my credit union nor Fidelity Investments -- are on their list.  Quite surprised about Fidelity.

8 minutes ago, OJAS said:

But if you let the 65k's pile up in your BKKB account you should eventually accumulate an 800k balance which you could then use for future retirement extensions and from then on only transfer equivalents of 20k per month (on presumably a rather longer timescale) to fund your cash expenses in LOS!

I'm not overly fond of letting B800k (~US$23k) just sit there, either, but I'm aware of that option.  I think I would like the B65k/mo option better as long as I could repatriate the unused baht on a regular basis to invest as I prefer.

BTW, I'm one of the folks in the survey who indicated they may just pack up and leave Thailand.  The changes have been coming quickly and not to my liking.  Supposedly there is another Police Order change imminent.

I did a quick calculation for the past two years:

B10,464.82 = avg monthly BBL withdrawals

B14,592.76 = avg monthly VISA charges from Thailand

B25,057.58 = avg monthly THB expenses

So, if I did ALL my expenses in THB from Bangkok Bank, I'd still be surplussing B40k each month with B65k monthly inbound transfers.

1 hour ago, DrJack54 said:

If over time it acculates too much, then send it back in one hit. 

Sending it back in one hit refines my original query:  how soon and how often?  I suspect that nobody knows, but thought I'd submit it to the forum hive mind to see if anybody had any insight.  Also, I wanted to confirm that with the B65k/month method there was no minimum amount required to remain in the account untouched.

2 minutes ago, Suradit69 said:

My broker initiates a swift transfer to Bangkok Bank Thailand but since they have no direct connection with BB Thailand they use an intermediary US bank ( a bank that does deal directly with BB Thailand aka a correspondent bank).

Thanks!  That was what I was missing:  Your broker lets (makes?) you specify the intermediary bank, whereas my credit union doesn't.

On 2/4/2019 at 12:49 PM, Suradit69 said:

I've now switched from doing ACH transfers via Bangkok Bank New York to having my broker send SWIFT transfers, but I directed my broker to use Bangkok Bank New York as the correspondent bank. 

I keep getting confused, so please bear with me: Your broker does a SWIFT transfer to Bangkok Bank New York, essentially a domestic (US) bank?  Or, does your broker permit you to specify the intermediary bank on an international SWIFT transfer?  I'm not clear what "the correspondent bank" means in this case...

My only experience with SWIFT transfers was with my US credit union before I switched to the Bangkok Bank system, and on the credit union SWIFT application form there was no place to specify a desired intermediary bank.

I'm sorry, and this is truly ironic, to create yet another thread about the recent retirement/marriage extension changes, but there are just. too. many. pages. of. messages!

So, if I start transferring B65k/month into my Thai bank this month, how long before I can transfer it back to the USA?

e.g.  15-Feb-19 -- receive B65k into Bangkok Bank account in Jomtien

15-Mar-19 -- receive B65k into Bangkok Bank account in Jomtien

15-Apr-19 -- receive B65k into Bangkok Bank account in Jomtien

On 01-May-19 can I transfer B195k back to the USA?  If I've read and remembered correctly, the B400k minimum balance requirement doesn't apply to the paragraph of the Police Order that applies to the new option of transferring B65k into Thailand monthly.

Since I own my own condo and use my USA VISA card for many purchases, I usually spend less than B20k cash per month and don't really need the B65k's piling up in Bangkok Bank.

I'm curious how they decided to make the B800k requirement to be two months prior and three months after the extension.  It currently is three months prior (except for the very first extension) so they consciously made an effort to reduce it but then added on the new "after" period to be three months.  A before & after period of two months would have been adequate, no?  Actually, I'm surprised it's not three months before and after.

I'm not familiar with foreign currency accounts, but might consider using one with the new changes (*if* I choose to remain in Thailand).  Does your bank book show the balance in the foreign currency or in the baht equivalent?  If the former (shows balance in foreign currency) how would Immigrations know that the amount had dipped below the THB400k (or THB800k in the relevant months)?  Do they have a computer program or app that calculates balances on a daily basis for the past year based on exchange rates?