THE WEEK THAT WAS A Little House on the Thai Prairie - is it really too much to ask?

[Artisi]

40 minutes ago, WinterGael said:

I agree 100%.  My brother has leased land in the Philippines.  He built on it (beautiful house), and he's retiring there.  Totally protected by law.  If I had kids, then I would simply buy my wife a home in her name knowing that if the marriage went south I would get nothing.  But my kids would, as that can be addressed in the purchase.  

 

If there is one thing COVID has done for Thailand, it has shown how flawed the countries economy is.  Someone on here stated that tourism accounts for less than 20% of GDP.  looking around me, I'd say its more like 30 to 40 percent.  That's great for a bike little island nation, but deplorable for a country like Thailand.  And all these residence schemes and now land possible land sales just emphasises Thailand's need for foreign money in a way that is unthinkable for most nations.  This is not the investment the country needs. 

 

Thailand needs to make its economy more competitive against its neighbours again rather than trying to be like another Taiwan or South Korea:  those days are gone.  It needs to start investing in its agricultural economy.  Thai rice used to be some of the best, now India, Vietnam, the Philippines have far superior varieties... 

 

In the end,this all comes down to governments that do not know what they are doing...

You're spot on there, "do not know what they are doing", would add, unfortunately for the average Thai they have never known, it's always been what's in it for me. 

[Bebop77]

1 hour ago, RobU said:

As has been posted before let your wife own it it still goes to the children when she dies

I ve no Thai wife and my chidren are from europe

[bangon04]

5 hours ago, mahtin said:

How about the umpire raising an arm with one extended finger in response to an appeal of Howzat! for LBW or a run-out?

or even the Umpiress....?   By the way, when is the first female "batter" joining the England test squad? (or maybe the Pakistan test squad?)  I am sure we are all waiting to see .....

[RobU]

57 minutes ago, Bebop77 said:

I ve no Thai wife and my chidren are from europe

I understand you but I have said before foreign investors in land buying holiday homes drive up prices and make it almost impossible for indigenous poorer people to get housing. It has already happened in the UK if you have a condo you can own that but not the land it is on. You can rent a house and land with a hundred year lease and be very secure. Leasing property is common in London (99 years) and has been accepted for hundreds of years. The fact that the land must be owned by a Thai tends to stop such investment.

Edited September 26, 2021 by RobU
Addition of qualifying statement

[Rocking Robert]

Stop paying taxes on that land and you will see who really owns it

[thaipara]

12 hours ago, rooster59 said:

While there is a case for some dual pricing of tourists who don’t pay tax in Thailand,

Tourists don't pay tax in Thailand? Where does one find such? Or isn't the VAT a tax? (Do retirees living on retirement income from abroad pay any significant tax _other_ than VAT?)

 

In 2019 total tax income in Thailand came to a bit less than 3,000 million baht. [1] There were about 54 million adults, [2] so the average such Thai paid around 50 baht in taxes in the year. Did the average tourist pay less? Hmm, 7% VAT on a 1000 baht per night room is 70 baht.

 

[1] https://www.oecd.org/tax/tax-policy/revenue-statistics-asia-and-pacific-thailand.pdf

[2] https://www.statista.com/statistics/667800/number-of-adults-in-thailand/

[Stargeezr]

My Thai wife and her sister own a parcel of land in the country north of Bangkok about 2 hours

car drive. It does not even have a road way to it, but a trail to the neighbor next to it. The neighbor grows rice on

the lot and well as let his cows graze on part of it as well. Thai do like to own land for sure. There is plenty of land in the country side that is

still forested and wild and seems not to be owned by anyone.  If a foreigner is allowed to own a small plot of land to build a house

on, that is okay. Just keep the rich people from other countries buying up vast chunks to make money by raising the price of land

later.  thanks for the news up date.

Geezer

[Purdey]

22 hours ago, Tony125 said:

A lease can be for 30 years , a usufruct is for your lifetime but in a diviorce the court takes control and can order you out from the home and a 50/50 split of marital assests.

I stand corrected, it is for all my life. 

Edited September 27, 2021 by Purdey
Factual error

[JohnHans]

The Chinese will own this country within the next 10 years.

[Thunglom]

On 9/26/2021 at 10:15 AM, monty1412 said:

Rampant Rabbit , you have the wrong end of the chopstick my friend.... when TAT measures success by number of tourists / visitors and not be a sensible metric say like  "local spend per tourist head" then plane and shiploads of Chinese tourists arriving will always be the flavour

Chinese tourists spend more per head than just about all visitors except Arab emirates

[Thunglom]

10 hours ago, JohnHans said:

The Chinese will own this country within the next 10 years.

that's what they said in Oz - but they ended up with about 2.5 % of the land, which they found they couldn't take back to China,

[jacko45k]

6 hours ago, Thunglom said:

Chinese tourists spend more per head than just about all visitors except Arab emirates

I often see such unsupported statements and find them incredulous. Yes, some may be swanning around Harrods buying items at silly prices.... but those of us who live in Thailand see a very different majority. Large groups being herded into canteen like eating houses and through Mikes Mall and Walking St, hardly spending a penny... clamouring to pick up their souvenir picture cling filmed to a Styrofoam tray on the beach, and fighting like starved beasts over the shrimp tureen..  

I struggle to believe they even spend more than drunken Billy from Yorkshire in his vest and flip-flops. 

Edited September 27, 2021 by jacko45k

[Marpa47]

On 9/26/2021 at 2:04 PM, BadSpottedDog said:

Apparently, no one is paying attention to the Evergrande situation in China. "Some people" need to keep their eyes open.
https://nypost.com/2021/09/22/evergrande-collapse-could-be-worse-than-lehman-for-china/

Ditto the price of wine as affected by rumors of legislation.  It has been stated elsewhere in the news that “shipping costs have skyrocketed” of late.

[BE88]

""It was stated by the British Embassy this week that there are 45,000 Brits in Thailand. I was surprised there was enough lager to cope. ""

 

I remember that there were 165,000 a few years ago, surely the richest remained to whom the government promises bridges of gold ready to invest 10 million for a piece of land of 100 square meters.

[MRToMRT]

On 9/26/2021 at 1:30 PM, RobU said:

If foreigners are allowed to own land Thailand could become like the uk where land/house price rises are fuelled by demand from foreign buyers and immigrants, pricing the poorer indigenous population out of the market

Prices have not gone up in my northern village for about 10 years. I looked at a website the other day that said prices in my area had gone up 13.4% in the last year BUT prices are still the same on those places for sale. Its a conundrum.

Edited September 28, 2021 by MRToMRT

[Thunglom]

8 hours ago, jacko45k said:

I often see such unsupported statements and find them incredulous.

You need to look for support then - nice to see you are "incredulous"

 

where is YOUR support for any argument against that?

Edited September 28, 2021 by Thunglom

[jacko45k]

23 minutes ago, Thunglom said:

You need to look for support then - nice to see you are "incredulous"

 

where is YOUR support for any argument against that?

Onus is on the person making the claim or presenting the numbers.... you did neither. 

My visits to China, and working with them, to me they exhibited quite a frugal nature. Plus, as I said, the ones we usually see around Pattaya also.

Edited September 28, 2021 by jacko45k

[RobU]

6 hours ago, MRToMRT said:

Prices have not gone up in my northern village for about 10 years. I looked at a website the other day that said prices in my area had gone up 13.4% in the last year BUT prices are still the same on those places for sale. Its a conundrum.

I agree same in Nong Khai but an influx of foreigners buying what they consider to be cheap holiday homes in beautiful quiet areas would send land prices rocketing. Double or treble the price would still be cheap compared to European housing costs. Cheap freehold housing in the UK is around £120,000 (only available in small areas of the North of England) the average House price is £250,000 that's over 11.5 million Baht at todays low exchange rate, £100,000 or 4.6 million Baht for a small freehold property would be peanuts to most middle class retiree's, who pay much more for holiday homes in the UK and Europe.

Edited September 28, 2021 by RobU
Addition of further info

[Thunglom]

11 hours ago, jacko45k said:

Onus is on the person making the claim or presenting the numbers.... you did neither. 

My visits to China, and working with them, to me they exhibited quite a frugal nature. Plus, as I said, the ones we usually see around Pattaya also.

is it? Well you made the claim.

 

[jacko45k]

2 hours ago, Thunglom said:

is it? Well you made the claim.

 

Didn't appear that way to me...anyhow, you won't appear any more to me at all. Look elsewhere for your arguments.

 

[overherebc]

On 9/28/2021 at 4:09 PM, RobU said:

I agree same in Nong Khai but an influx of foreigners buying what they consider to be cheap holiday homes in beautiful quiet areas would send land prices rocketing. Double or treble the price would still be cheap compared to European housing costs. Cheap freehold housing in the UK is around £120,000 (only available in small areas of the North of England) the average House price is £250,000 that's over 11.5 million Baht at todays low exchange rate, £100,000 or 4.6 million Baht for a small freehold property would be peanuts to most middle class retiree's, who pay much more for holiday homes in the UK and Europe.

What you say is true but when you buy a holiday home in uk or eu how many strings are attached.

Do you stll need to show your yearly earnings or savings?

Do you have to invest xxxxx in some gov' scheme?

Do you have to go through the 90 day report system?

Do you have to submit loads of paperwork every year?

I don't know, you tell me.

 

[RobU]

On 9/28/2021 at 10:09 AM, RobU said:

I agree same in Nong Khai but an influx of foreigners buying what they consider to be cheap holiday homes in beautiful quiet areas would send land prices rocketing. Double or treble the price would still be cheap compared to European housing costs. Cheap freehold housing in the UK is around £120,000 (only available in small areas of the North of England) the average House price is £250,000 that's over 11.5 million Baht at todays low exchange rate, £100,000 or 4.6 million Baht for a small freehold property would be peanuts to most middle class retiree's, who pay much more for holiday homes in the UK and Europe.

 

2 hours ago, overherebc said:

What you say is true but when you buy a holiday home in uk or eu how many strings are attached.

Do you stll need to show your yearly earnings or savings?

Do you have to invest xxxxx in some gov' scheme?

Do you have to go through the 90 day report system?

Do you have to submit loads of paperwork every year?

I don't know, you tell me.

 

A valid point but it would still be cheaper at twice the price just inconvenient.

However I was talking about holiday homes not permanent residence. UK pensioners and people over 50 are entitled to a 3 month visa without those restrictions which is suitable for a holiday over the winter months to ease their aching bones. A holiday home is a good investment for them because it saves expensive hotel fees all they pay for is transport and food. A foreigner who lives in his/her own country for the majority of the year can own a car in Thailand without having to submit those details why would it be any different owning land in nice quiet villages and pricing the locals out of the market as has happened in the UK and Europe?