GinBoy2

The other way to look at this is that rents had stagnated for years. In my own case I hadn't increased rents on my rentals for 5 years, and I don't think I'm alone in that, and it's not that I was in any rent controlled thing, it was just what the market rate was. Thinking about it I even reduced the rent on one of the units a couple of years back by $50 to get it rented out. So maybe we should look at it more as a correction to a previously stagnant market, rather than an unprecedented increase. But that doesn't sound as good for the press trying to get eyeballs

I've been thinking about this, and isn't the same true of even intra country? I grew up in California, and I always heard the story, 'if you leave you can't come back' And at a certain level it's true, that once you cash out your chips in a high value location, be it within the US or overseas and mover to a low cost location, life moves on and as a returnee you are marginalized. I'm sure this is true in other countries, the UK is the one that springs to mind. Move out of London and after a few years return is probably hard, and as with the California example you will return to something less than what you left. Multiply that by a factor or two when you cash out and move to Thailand and maybe want to go back. I know you hate this JT, but thats when 'chickens and roosting' come to mind. Decisions we make years, maybe decades ago determine our options in the here and now. I always try to advise the rookies, don't cash out keep stuff back home just in case, because the future is a really uncertain place, and ultimately there really is no place like home

I get all that, but it still seems odd. I don't get why the airline refused them at check in. You know better than any of us, the usual flow of things is that you show the passport at check in that grants you entry into the country of destination, either a passport of that country or a visa to that country. It's usually only at immigration where a Thai passport, or a foreign passport with an entry stamp is shown. I along with thousands of us have done this when traveling with our kids out of BKK. I've never come across airline counter agents acting as first line immigration

I rather relate to this. My wife thinks a 'hike' is walking from the parking lot to the store. Now, add the lure of food and that woman is on a mission, I'm practically jogging to keep up lol

Section 8 vouchers are a pain, as are 'some' of their recipients. Years ago I had a lower end rental, and the bleeding heart liberal that I am decided I'd offer it for Section 8. Trouble is do a background and credit check, folks tend to have much lower credit, sometimes tenuous or sketchy employment histories and little to no rental history that you can check. One day I got called by building management to let me know my tenant had done a runner, dumped garbage everywhere and trashed the place. It's not like you get any guarantee from HUD they just give you the money. Never did any Section 8 housing again. After that bitter experience which cost me thousands just went all in for higher end, managed properties and never had to worry again Maybe it's a minority which can ruin things for the many, but it's the property owner who picks up the tab when things go bad. So yeah, I'm part of the problem with folks not being able to find housing that accepts vouchers!

I can envisage the phrase "Hansum Man, I luv u long time" seconds before his little brain responds with "I will never look at a white woman again" LOL

Business Class is spiraling outta control right now with the price of Jet A fuel. Now all airlines have their own version of Premium Economy, but we've flown United Premium Economy several time. It's definitely a good upgrade from regular economy, and on UA at least the seats are wider and more legroom, and a much more agreeable price. My wife has a trip booked in a couple of months and the DEN-NRT segment is in Premium Economy. Unfortunately ANA don't offer it on the NRT-BKK segment

Your MIL will be fine with a B1/B2 visa. Older ladies it's not a problem, as opposed to the young women, for somewhat obvious reasons. The biggest problem is just the visa backlog, so apply asap. Hopefully everything works work well for your wife, sounds like she's in the best of hands, so best wishes

Yikes that is high. We pay $175 for our primary residence and $150 for the rentals. Guess I should keep my mouth shut and enjoy what we have!

Never was really a kisser myself. I do the peck on the cheek thing, which I do with my kids, but it's a totally non erotic, just loving thing. My wife (Thai) equally has never been into that Western kissing thing, French kissing I think we should cal it. We display affection, a peck, and the Thai, general Asian thing of a mutual sniff on the cheek. That works for us, I guess 25 odd years together means it works for us

Well it depends on what those HOA fees are paying for. We live in an HOA, all our rentals are in an HOA. I don't mow the grass, shovel snow, pay for the pool or insurance, I'm done with all that. Couple of years back massive hail storm destroyed our roof, thank God for that HOA insurance policy. HOA's for me at least give you, if thats what you want the easiest way of living, if like me you're lazy. With our rentals, I'm fine with paying the HOA fees and a property mngt company to take care of everything if it means I don't have to deal with anything and check gets deposited in my account every month

Hmmm, no real input here, but your situation is terribly familiar to anyone trying to take an un married Thai woman almost anywhere in the West. The default position from any Western Embassy CO is 'will they return'? The family in Germany I would think would be a huge Red Flag, so I'd skirt around that. The tour group seems to be a good option. It takes you out of the equation, since you are probably also a huge Red Flag. Get to Europe, get married, and we're off to the races so to speak! Before me and Mrs G decided to get formally married and subsequently move to the US where she's now a permanent resident, we tried a couple of times to get both a UK and Schengen tourist visa so we could do a European tour. All denied of course! After she became a US permanent resident, we've gotten both UK and Schengen visa's for Euro vacations without any problem. It's all down to that thorny problem of a Thai resident traveling then disappearing into the Thai Diaspora

There is only one really bullet proof way to get around this. The banks are getting really savvy on detecting any virtual VOIP numbers, and if if you think thats gonna get better rather than worse, you really are smoking the good stuff! You suck it up and get a US mobile line that supports WiFi calling. That phone sits in your house connected to your WiFi network and is for all intents and purposes is in the US, good for banking, the IRS, girlfriends etc. You can dick around with all the VOIP options you want, but it's just a cat and mouse game

I think I'm having flashbacks to Y2K I wonder how many Y2K'ers still have 10000 gallons of bottled water holed up in their survival bunker lol

Exactly

I'm kinda curious. Tourist steps of plane in BKK and thinks. "Hmm where do I get a gun?" Is there a website for that? "Daddy can we go to the beach?" "Hush child, cant you see I'm buying a gun and a case of tequila to do some damage" Gotta love Thai logic

Not quite sure I follow that one. I don't think the illegal is plonking down a $20k deposit on a home. We have rental homes, but use a property management company who set the market rate. Two units just came up and the rent increased 30%, they rented within two days. Here in South Dakota the illegal population you can probably count on two hands, and maybe a foot. So, no I don't buy in to that argument

I think we need to clarify 'welfare' SS, and Medicare are NOT welfare. We've paid into them all our working lives, I expect to get that money back. Never equate those programs to real welfare, which I'm not opposed to helping those who fall on hard times, within reason

I'm with you on, why treat Medicare differently to Tricare. You'd think they would be happy since treating someone outside of the US costs less. But then again, covering zero costs even less!

I have heard that same story from various arms of government. Ahh my tax $$ at work!

For as long as I can remember SS has 'going to been bankrupt' within the next 10 years!

Unfortunately you can't dodge the fact that you can't not avoid a protection plan if things do go tits up. I'm not moralizing here, but when you move to Asia at some point you realize that you're not a citizen, you're not a permanent resident (yes there may be a handful in Thailand) so things are tenuous and uncertain, and Plan B always needs to be in your back pocket Maybe I was just a nerdy worry wort and I always thought about these things as I traversed the world. My Plan B was always that I could return to the US. For others it may well be move to a different country for which you are a non citizen But you can't complain 'if' your Plan B was to return to US, but didn't put in the effort ahead of time to ensure that it was always a viable option