Thailand suffers sharp fall in rankings of best countries for retirement

[Yellowtail]

41 minutes ago, sekmet said:

Maybe small town Iowa. 

Not most cities where rent alone might be US$2000/month.

Are you trying to say that rent alone in most US cities is US$2,000? 

I bet not 5% of the cities in the US have average rents of $2,000 a month.

Yeah, if you want to live in San Francisco, Manhattan, West Los Angeles or Honolulu, you'd be in trouble.  

[Yellowtail]

13 hours ago, newnative said:

     Pity you know so little about the place.  Or, maybe not a pity.  In any event. I think you'll find that housing prices have dropped in some other places with an international presence, as well.   I also live part-time in Bangkok and the same goes for there--no big price increases on anything other than booze.  Condo maintenance fees stable, gas, electric, water, food, dining out, not much difference.  

Incidentally I went to "Wine Connection" today for the lunch special and they have  a new menu. Along with a few new items, it looked like about a 10% increase across the board...

Still good food and a decent value...

[GinBoy2]

1 hour ago, Yellowtail said:

Are you trying to say that rent alone in most US cities is US$2,000? 

I bet not 5% of the cities in the US have average rents of $2,000 a month.

Yeah, if you want to live in San Francisco, Manhattan, West Los Angeles or Honolulu, you'd be in trouble.  

We own rental apartments, rather nice ones and rent them in the $850-$950 range.

I'm a Californian and am painfully aware that these same apartments would rent for $2000/month, but not all of the US is reflective of San Francisco or the other hyper rental markets, and you are right, most of the US looks like our rental market.

[sekmet]

On 3/15/2021 at 7:49 AM, Yellowtail said:

Are you trying to say that rent alone in most US cities is US$2,000? 

I bet not 5% of the cities in the US have average rents of $2,000 a month.

Yeah, if you want to live in San Francisco, Manhattan, West Los Angeles or Honolulu, you'd be in trouble.  

Rent for a decent two bedroom in Vancouver, WA (a suburb of PDX) is about $1750, higher for a house.

It would be cheaper in cowlitz county, but who wants to live there?

Check numbeo for prices.

[Yellowtail]

35 minutes ago, sekmet said:

Rent for a decent two bedroom in Vancouver, WA (a suburb of PDX) is about $1750, higher for a house.

It would be cheaper in cowlitz county, but who wants to live there?

Check numbeo for prices.

Please try to follow along. what I said was:

Are you trying to say that rent alone in most US cities is US$2,000? 

I bet not 5% of the cities in the US have average rents of $2,000 a month.

Yeah, if you want to live in San Francisco, Manhattan, West Los Angeles or Honolulu, you'd be in trouble.  

Now if you have something that disputes that, bring it. I don't doubt there are a lot of expensive places to live, but apparently you can buy a two bedroom, two bath condo in Vancouver WA with zero down and $1,556 a month. 

 

[sekmet]

On 3/18/2021 at 7:14 AM, Yellowtail said:

Please try to follow along. what I said was:

Are you trying to say that rent alone in most US cities is US$2,000? 

I bet not 5% of the cities in the US have average rents of $2,000 a month.

Yeah, if you want to live in San Francisco, Manhattan, West Los Angeles or Honolulu, you'd be in trouble.  

Now if you have something that disputes that, bring it. I don't doubt there are a lot of expensive places to live, but apparently you can buy a two bedroom, two bath condo in Vancouver WA with zero down and $1,556 a month. 

 

I stand corrected. You can get a cheap house.

[GinBoy2]

This is the issue we go around and around on.

 

Is Thailand cheap?

 

Well it depends

Is your home country cheap, well again it depends

 

Thailand can be very cheap 'if' you want to live a very basic upcountry lifestyle.

 

Once you want a Western home and lifestyle, then the equation changes radically.

 

We sold our shoebox rental condo's in Noble Remix and bought condo's here in South Dakota. We paid pretty much 1:1 yet what we got was much better, and the yield is better.

 

Do they cost $2000/month? Of course not. We charge $850-900 a month for them.

 

 https://www.zillow.com/homes/4616-chalkstone-unit-f_rb/126843832_zpid/?mmlb=g,10

[Yellowtail]

5 hours ago, GinBoy2 said:

This is the issue we go around and around on.

 

Is Thailand cheap?

 

Well it depends

Is your home country cheap, well again it depends

 

Thailand can be very cheap 'if' you want to live a very basic upcountry lifestyle.

 

Once you want a Western home and lifestyle, then the equation changes radically.

 

We sold our shoebox rental condo's in Noble Remix and bought condo's here in South Dakota. We paid pretty much 1:1 yet what we got was much better, and the yield is better.

 

Do they cost $2000/month? Of course not. We charge $850-900 a month for them.

 

 https://www.zillow.com/homes/4616-chalkstone-unit-f_rb/126843832_zpid/?mmlb=g,10

 

I thought you were in Florida, did you move or am I confused? SD still booming? 

[whiteman]

keep on subject guys and gals

[newnative]

7 hours ago, GinBoy2 said:

This is the issue we go around and around on.

 

Is Thailand cheap?

 

Well it depends

Is your home country cheap, well again it depends

 

Thailand can be very cheap 'if' you want to live a very basic upcountry lifestyle.

 

Once you want a Western home and lifestyle, then the equation changes radically.

 

We sold our shoebox rental condo's in Noble Remix and bought condo's here in South Dakota. We paid pretty much 1:1 yet what we got was much better, and the yield is better.

 

Do they cost $2000/month? Of course not. We charge $850-900 a month for them.

 

 https://www.zillow.com/homes/4616-chalkstone-unit-f_rb/126843832_zpid/?mmlb=g,10

     You seem to be comparing apples to oranges.  Your high-end condos, in an excellent location, were in a large, metropolitan city--Bangkok.  Your townhouses are in a state--South Dakota--with such harsh weather that less than a million people choose to live there.  A better comparison would be how much a comparable condo, also in an excellent location, would cost you in, say, New York or LA.  

    Conversely, your townhouses, in what amounts to the 'upcountry' in the US, should be compared to what you could buy here in a non-city area.  Your Zillow report says the townhouses were around $159,000, or about 4.7 million baht.   That price point will afford you a choice of some nice single-family homes with pools in gated communities outside of Pattaya.  Single-family, not a townhouse.  Smaller single-family homes can be had in the 2 to 3MB range.  

     Determining whether a place is cheap or expensive to live in depends on a number of lifestyle factors, and largely ends up being subjective.  Are there cheap places in the US?  Certainly.   For me, wanting to live part-time in an oceanfront condo in a beach city with good amenities--Pattaya--and part-time in a very large city--Bangkok--I think I would not be able to afford that in the US.  Possibly I could afford one, but not both.   Comparing apples to apples, Thailand is much cheaper for me, and would be with my lifestyle if I was only living in one place.  But, that's me; others might do better in the US.