olsen

That sound's terrible, Harrykrabi

I never pay more than 1 month deposit even all the house owners do try to get 3 to 6 months.

But I have lived too long time in Thailand so if they do not accept my offer I simply walk away....because what you have experiened here happens every single day for thousands of tenants in rented houses all over Thailand ;-)

The going rate is between 3 to 5% commish of the asking price.

It is up to you to offer the commish.

Some offer 6 to 10% commish because they believe a high commish means a quick sale.

You can offer any brokers 3% (or whatever you offer) commish if they just introduce their potential client to you by phone or email.

You write down the name of the client, write down the name of the broker and the exact time and date for the introduction.

Then you will take care of closing the deal yourself.

If some brokers introduce the same client as a previous broker, then you just tell them right away: "I am already in contact with Mr. X".

You can offer a higher percentage, say 5%, if the brokers introduce their clients to you in person and assist you closing the deal.

Again you write down the time and date of every single introduction, first one is the one who get the commish.

You can also state if you PREFER the broker to accompany the client to you and pay 5% rather than just an email or phone contact.

You can tell that you ACCEPT a phone or email intro, but that you prefer the broker to show the property in person, and that you favor the personal apperance over email and phone intro, so if 2 different brokers have the same client, then the broker who introduce him IN PERSON will get the commish!

Just have in mind if you chose personal appearance you will get less brokers on the case... not many brokers wanna spend one day out on the roads showing a property far from their office.... :-)

He he, yeah this is amazing. And this funny cartoon explains it very clearly :-) I just love it

Only PR1 since it is quite new ;-)

If you want to improve your search engine ranking and get more vistors to you website you need to exchange links with other website owners.

So why not start with exchanging links with me?

Another thing is that I wonder why ThaiVisa do not create such a link exchange forum??

I am sure many members out there would use this service and visit regularly to add new links to their websites....

Just my 2 baht ;-)

This thread has turned into a debate on overpopulation in the world which means

the insane man in Norway have made his voice heard and his arguments are accepted.

This is really the danger with media today that they report everything and people can

not sort out insane ideas from reality.

This man was Norwegian and the event took place in Norway. Norway is one of the least

populated country in the world (#164 of 193) with 15 persons per square km and have one of

the strongest economies in the world with it's natural resource of oil and is not a member of the EU.

So immigration is absolutely not a big problem in Norway. Period.

Exactly! Just my words!

A quote from Breivik in today's court procededings. He was talking about Adrian Pracon - the son of Polish immigrants:

"Breivik said: 'Certain people look more leftist than others. This person appeared right-wing, that was his appearance. That's the reason I didn't fire any shots at him. When I looked at him I saw myself.'"

Which tells me that Anders Breivik IS insane!

He he...I like the "Flying Freehold"....

But yeah, it is quite childish...almost as childish as the law that forbids the farangs to own land here ;-)

This is the simple solution ;-)

He he...the rocket did indeed fail ;-)

Hmmm... Psychiatrists states that Breivik is not insane...

So what is he then?

People only question you because you make statements like You could take them to court and claim you have a wp on the basis of possessing special skills of which you claim is speaking Dutch wp are not issued just because you can speak a foreign language.

Just how many people work for your wives company , there is also a minimum wage of 30,000 for any work permit issued to ferang,

I think you probably do have a wp but it is not for the work you are actually doing and if you tried to take any to court to chase lost monies it would in fact come to light that you are doing a job which your wp does not cover you for, I don't have any problems with what you do but you should not come on the forum claiming this and that when you are probably not 100% legit yourself

I could actually get a special permission working here based on my ability to speak Danish. Actually I was offered a job at the Danish Embassy...just because I do speak Danish!

Or if I speak perfectly Swedish I could work on a special permission in Ikea in Bangkok ;-)

Strange...every single time I dare to post something here at TV my motives and legacy is ALWAYS questioned!

In this thread I am accused of (or at least questioned!):

1. Working illegal as a broker

2. Working illegal without a work permit

3. Overcharging my clients as a broker/agent

But I must say the Thai law is quite strange too...

As for:

1. Only Thais and Americans (Threaty of Amity) are allowed to work in real estate, selling land and property.

But farangs married to a Thai are allowed to "assist" their wives in the business. Sort of "consultant" even this work position is not accepted anymore, UNLESS you are married to the managing director of the Thai real estate company. The "consultant" position was removed from the accepted positions last year or the year before (don't remember the date)...

This leads to:

2. I do have a work permit since I do assist my wife. But I don't want to apply for a visa on the basis of work. First you need minimum 50,000 THB monthly salary as a Danish national. Then you have to prove you pay your yearly tax of this amount. Then if my wife close the company I have to leave the country to get a new visa and apply for another visa on the basis of supporting my children or on the basis of marriage.

I chose to base my visa on supporting my children because in the event I am divorced from my wife I still can get a visa for supporting my children, but if I base my visa on marriage I will get a kick in my bum if I get a divorce....bye bye Thailand...

Under item 1: this sort of rule is not and has not ever been rule under Thai labour law, Marriage status has absolutely no bearing on being granted WP, whether married to a "managing director" wife or not

"consultant" position has not been removed last year or any year...because there was never a rule like this.

Amity agreements have absolutely no bearing on working in real estate per se...Amity agreement rules permit a US citizen to hold 100% ownership of a Thai entity, thats all. There is absolutely nothing in Thai law which permits only Thai's & Americans to work in real estate

Therefore everything you have written under item 1 is absolute rubbish...you are making it up.

Under item 2: THB 50,000 relates to being granted an extension of stay has absolutely no bearing on the visa you hold...based on what you say if you do in fact have a WP you are doing 3 monthly visa runs out of country. The fact you have a WP means you are paying tax.

What sort of company is your wife a managing director of ??

Amazing! Now I am also accused of lying!

I ask a simple question and then I just get rant by rant....

The things I state is things I've learned in my 15 years living and working in Thailand.

As for:

1. So I lie to you?? Fine...no problem. I got this info from the labor officers who issued my work permits...And I know it is true because I was actully employed as a "Consultant" for years and then I was asked to change my position....

As for the Americans. Why don´t you do your research before you sprout nonsense?

This is what Siam Legal says on their website (They are one of the sponsors on TV, so they are maybe also lying??) :

"American companies may engage in business on the same basis as Thai companies, and are exempt from most of the restrictions of foreign investment imposed by the Alien Business Law of 1972."

Do I still "make it up"??

2. Yes if you want a 1 year visa you must show proof of income...or show a bank statement with 400,000 THB....or a combination....the 50,000 THB is the salary I need as minimum to be employed by a Thai company...but I only need to earn 40,000 THB/month to get a 1 year visa....

Strange...every single time I dare to post something here at TV my motives and legacy is ALWAYS questioned!

In this thread I am accused of (or at least questioned!):

1. Working illegal as a broker

2. Working illegal without a work permit

3. Overcharging my clients as a broker/agent

But I must say the Thai law is quite strange too...

As for:

1. Only Thais and Americans (Threaty of Amity) are allowed to work in real estate, selling land and property.

But farangs married to a Thai are allowed to "assist" their wives in the business. Sort of "consultant" even this work position is not accepted anymore, UNLESS you are married to the managing director of the Thai real estate company. The "consultant" position was removed from the accepted positions last year or the year before (don't remember the date)...

This leads to:

2. I do have a work permit since I do assist my wife. But I don't want to apply for a visa on the basis of work. First you need minimum 50,000 THB monthly salary as a Danish national. Then you have to prove you pay your yearly tax of this amount. Then if my wife close the company I have to leave the country to get a new visa and apply for another visa on the basis of supporting my children or on the basis of marriage.

I chose to base my visa on supporting my children because in the event I am divorced from my wife I still can get a visa for supporting my children, but if I base my visa on marriage I will get a kick in my bum if I get a divorce....bye bye Thailand...

As PattayaPhom states in his latest post, why do the immigration not clamp down on those illegal brokers who do visa runs...I can only agree with you....how hard can it be?

The immigration officers can just take a look at the internet..there are tons of websites run by farangs in Thailand who are not Americans and who are not married to a Thai...

I did actually ask the immigration once...They said it was too difficult to prove! A website, an email address and a phone number to the farang is not enoug. They have to catch the farang red-handed doing his illegal job...and it is far too time consuming and the immigrations do not have the resoures....

3. I am aware of this breed of brokers/agents overcharging their clients...and they give us all a bad reputation...so I can hardly blame the hard-core posters here at TV for being grumpy....

I like to compare brokers/agents with Muslims. Many people hate Muslims because of terrorism and they regard all (or most) Muslims as terrorists. Same same with us brokers. Many people hate us because some of us overcharge their clients.

There is not much to do about this and I have learned to live with it and ignore the usual rants by the grumpy old posters ;-)

Someone mentioned earlier that selling real estate is on the list of prohibited jobs for ferang anyone confirm this if so Olsen you may have a work permit but it is not for the job you are doing hence how are you going to take anyone to court.

The few times me and the wife have looked at land or rentals as soon as a ferang appears I walk away my wife is a local and speaks Thai so why the he'll do I need to deal with these socalled real estate agents

I am permitted because my wife do not speak Danish and her English is not that good...but if she have Thai clients, she can handle on her own....

So you are permitted to do real estate if you have "special skills" that Thais do not have...

Why do you name the real estate agents "socalled"??

You can easily avoid the brokers, just tell your Thai wife to mention when she is looking for property, she must tell people she will ONLY deal with owners directly!

A problem for buyers in my area of Thailand is that 90% of the land owners here they live far away, since the land is bought for investment or they have relocated to another area. So they only deal with brokers and never directly with buyers....

http://www.thaivisa....43#entry4434743

I see you are not averse to going direct and screwing the agent to get a better deal yourself.

Well...I visited that agent, inquired about Air Asia..rejected their offer and then bought Thai Air...from the same agent...so nope...I did not buy directly from Thai air... ;-)

One funny thing however in this case is that the 5th plot I offered Dale at a price 200,000 THB lower than the seller's price, because the seller told me he needed a quick sale and would accept a lower price.

But somehow Dale forgot my offer and paid the full price.

He he...this cost him 200,000 THB instead of saving him 140,000 THB as he had imagined by pissing me off....

And of course I told him this and proved it by emails I had sent to him previously...and he went raving mad :-D

Now he accuse ME for pissing off HIM ;-P

i don't like real estate agents but

"Having said that, I agree that it's a pretty shitty move to intentionally screw a broker by making him/her show you around all day and pinpoint what you want, then do an end-run to the owner. That's a bit of a douchebag move, IMHO."

yes i have to agree

I don't like real estate agents myself...so should I hate myself then? ;-)

Why dont you like real estate agents ??

I am not one...

I dont like a lot of the agents and I have to work with them......some of the customers are just as bad as well

Wrong....some of the customers are WAY WORSE! I have just been lucky only to deal with this Dale guy ;-)

Yes, I am an agent.

My wife is Thai and own the company.

And yes, I have a work permit to assist her selling her properties.

I am aware that most buyers out there do not like brokers, because the brokers are "jacking up the prices"....

But not all brokers are alike, right?

In the area where I work the Thai brokers are the worst...they can easily add some 20 to 50% on the property price ;-)

I add 5% to my prices only when the seller do not want to pay the commission.

This Dale guy I never signed a service agreement with him because I have the sole sales right on 4 of the 5 plots he viewed....so no way he could contact the other owners...but the 5th plot was the plot he liked....so it was my luck ;-)

But yeah....I do have a contract with the seller of this plot but he stated that the buyer only bought the land if the seller cut my 5% off the price...

And he had to sell...so he cut the price and now he cannot affird to pay...so suing him and wait 2 years for the case to reach court is pointless...at least we do not want that....

By the way, this is FIRST time in my 15 years in the trade here in LOS that a client has gone behind my back...coz I do protect myself with service agreements....

However even with a signed service agreement some of those nasty buyers can still piss you off and you must then wait 2 or 3 years for the case to reach the court...and many of the buyers know that...

Strange ... Phuket has hundreds of brokers and agents...must be hard to live there and be regarded as the scum of the earth, he he. Everybody hate us brokers...even the sellers who hire us to sell their properties hate us :-)

I must say...if I spoke Thai myself or have a Thai wife, I would also never use a broker myself!

Find the properties yourself and save the 3 to 5% broker fee plus the 10 to 50% "jack-up" fee some of the sleezy brokers add on the top of their prices ;-)

Danish news agency says a 5 meter high wave has hit Banda Aceh!

Have any of you brokers out there met this guy from Australia?

He call himself Dale and is most likely from Australia.

Bragging about all the land he has bought in Thailand the past 10 years.

He only buy when the owners agree to finance the deal, he never buy cash.

I want to know if I am the only one who have fallen victim to this guy and cost them a lot of money in commission and a lot of time wasted?

What this guy do is to ask to view a lot of land.

He ask many brokers in the same location.

Then little by little he meet all the owners of the land plots and after chosing what he like and without you knowing he simply contact the sellers directly and offer them to buy without the seller needs to pay the brokers any commission.

This bloke did this to me and my wife this week...

I want to know if any other have met this guy somewhere?

Else I would warn you against him...

When I asked him why he did such a horrible thing against the brokers, he just told me:

"All farang brokers are conmen and I piss them off because I can and because it is my money and it is not their land"....holy crap.

This guy is really an asshol_e so be aware of him!

Thanks for all the comments...

I asked about the offshore account because I and my partner are setting up a 100% internet based service that can be run from anywhere in the world, but we both like to live in Thailand...but I guess we then have to either relocate to Singapore or pay full tax in Thailand, since we do work from our computers here in this lovely country...

Another issue was that since we deliver an internet based service I would love to have the company's head office in say Singapore since this is a more reputable address than Thailand when it comes to business....

So we were talking about regisering an office there and then just open a representative office here in Thailand.

But it that legal to do?

We will of course pay tax of all the income we get from our "land based" business, but the internet based business will be wired to Singapore where the tax is only 17% compared to 35% in LOS when you earn more than 4 million THB per year.

Guess we will have to check this more carefully, eventually with a Thai lawfirm who do actually also register offshore companies in both Singapore and Hong Kong ;-)

But I just need to know the name of some reputable firm who can do this for us ;-)

I have registered companies in both countries, for more than 10 years now. HK is by far easier and cheaper to set-up your company, and to maintain your registration and documentation. As for HK banks not allowing you to transfer money, I have not experienced this. I use HSBC, Standard Charter and RBS, I transfer money in and out weekly around the world with no issues.

Sounds interesting...what agency did you use to set up your Hong Kong Company and bank account?

You are also welcome to PM me ;-) Thanks.

This is a good thread and i will also be interested in any input from knowlegdeable posters

http://www.thaivisa....o-minimize-tax/

Thanks for the link Naam, but I find that this thread contains more questions than answers ;-)