You sold everything!

[Hummin]

6 minutes ago, save the frogs said:

constantly seeking out excitement causes people a lot of problems.

thats why people become alcoholics / drug addicts. 

just living a calm, peaceful life (with occasional thrills) is good. 

and a farm is a good place to do that. 

 

That's a truth with modifications. There is days I'm bored, but I can enjoy boredom to, and there is days you meet challenges that for Isaan people is the norm, or normal. 

 

But with the right girl/woman it can be great if you are a person who is willing to do something for yourselves that mean and give something to you in return.

 

I continue to say, Isaan is not for everyone, and when I'm getting older, I keeping the options open for what comes next. If things develop a bit more here like hospital options, I might stay as long as possible, but when I'm getting older, I would like to see the ocean every day and feel the evening breeze. 

 

If that makes sense for anyone. Never underestimate the last sunset with boots on.

[Artisi]

sold some, kept a bolthole just in case -plus it earns some money for me - win win.

[save the frogs]

8 minutes ago, Hummin said:

I would like to see the ocean every day and feel the evening breeze. 

 

for me, it's ocean above all else.

being near water soothes my jangles nerves.

living inland makes me feel suffocated. 

i must have been an octopus in a past life.

 

[Hummin]

6 minutes ago, save the frogs said:

for me, it's ocean above all else.

being near water soothes my jangles nerves.

living inland makes me feel suffocated. 

i must have been an octopus in a past life.

 

Right now I have my eyes at the mountains in backlight from the sun, and insects playing up as the light vanish slowly. Not to bad that either. Pic 20 min ago

Edited September 23, 2023 by Hummin

[save the frogs]

5 minutes ago, Hummin said:

Right now I have my eyes at the mountains in backlight from the sun, and insects playing up as the light vanish slowly. Not to bad that either. Pic 20 min ago

great pic.

the most amazing places in the world have the sea with a backdrop of mountains. both. 

 

[BE88]

49 minutes ago, Celsius said:

 

As predicted. No information about the imaginary Euro country whatsoever.

Your stupidity is incurable

[Nick Carter icp]

9 minutes ago, Hummin said:

Right now I have my eyes at the mountains in backlight from the sun, and insects playing up as the light vanish slowly. Not to bad that either. Pic 20 min ago

From the U.K , the dark side of the moon is on the left hand side, rather than underneath 

 

 

[transam]

20 hours ago, bignok said:

So bumming on a farm for 20 years. Most would go mad.

You did it too then.......?......

[Celsius]

5 minutes ago, BE88 said:

Your stupidity is incurable

So are your lies.

[noobexpat]

First post! ...just joined

 

I always planned to sell up. Did so in July 2023. Peak of the UK market. House was way too big for one person. Income from it was not desired as i *do things online* that i now do from Thailand. The unencumbered proceeds were a modest addition to what has already been accumulated...as opposed to the ONLY assets.

 

I've heard the burning bridges quip - but there is nothing i can't repurchase in UK, now or in the future. Old age/care is planned for thailand if needed, not the UK.

 

I'm in my 40's and plan to be here forever. Its so great owning nothing.

 

[Celsius]

1 hour ago, noobexpat said:

First post! ...just joined

 

I always planned to sell up. Did so in July 2023. Peak of the UK market. House was way too big for one person. Income from it was not desired as i *do things online* that i now do from Thailand. The unencumbered proceeds were a modest addition to what has already been accumulated...as opposed to the ONLY assets.

 

I've heard the burning bridges quip - but there is nothing i can't repurchase in UK, now or in the future. Old age/care is planned for thailand if needed, not the UK.

 

I'm in my 40's and plan to be here forever. Its so great owning nothing.

 

 

Yea.....until you get your first hospital bill.

[jaywalker2]

And if you were living in the U.S. where it reportedly now costs $80,000 to live a comfortable lifestyle, where rents and housing prices have skyrocketed, where people are arguing endlessly about stupid topics like what is a woman, you would be saying: Why didn't I sell everything and move to Thailand when I had the chance

[radiochaser]

My wife wishes I would sell everything I have in the garage, so she could park her car in there. 

I keep telling her, it isn't a garage, it is my hobbyist machine shop!

[Skallywag]

On 9/22/2023 at 4:50 AM, georgegeorgia said:

How many of you regret it ,admit it ,yes some if you wished you kept your house 

I kept my house and get 50K baht a month income from renting it....Property taxes, insurance, and maintenance  lowers that amount.  May take a few months to legally evict tenants if I need to move there, but it is possible.  

Always have a plan B and C man ????  Peace and Love . + Plan ahead for retirement

[Skallywag]

6 hours ago, save the frogs said:

being near water soothes my jangles nerves.

Why I live i Pattaya,  Walk next to the beaches, and have an ocean view from my balcony  

[d4dang]

On 9/21/2023 at 10:40 PM, sirineou said:

Nothing other than my soul to the devil. 

too bad we can't pawn it to him

[noobexpat]

4 hours ago, Celsius said:

 

Yea.....until you get your first hospital bill.

What bill do you consider a worst case scenario...and i'll tell you if it affects my long term plans. I'll tell you how i would fund it.

 

Don't bother with anything below 10m baht. Thats easily covered, implication free.

 

[BTB1977]

Sold everything in 2 months.   My life is amassed in 2 Tupperware plastic totes in my daughter's house. If I need to go back I can just buy another house, car and everything else.  The real question is do I really want to go back? 

[Reginald Prewster]

On 9/22/2023 at 5:42 PM, bignok said:

Where do you store gold?

The Vault Company is called CB Lockers in Bangkok,

Price is 4500 annual fee and it's worth it.

 

Beside Gold we have also some documents like last will, loan contracts for Land I paid for, Power of Attorney, some very rare Buddhas from my wife's collection and so on stored in there.

 

[sirineou]

5 hours ago, d4dang said:

too bad we can't pawn it to him

That's how it all starts 

[bignok]

13 hours ago, save the frogs said:

constantly seeking out excitement causes people a lot of problems.

thats why people become alcoholics / drug addicts. 

just living a calm, peaceful life (with occasional thrills) is good. 

and a farm is a good place to do that. 

 

 

13 hours ago, save the frogs said:

constantly seeking out excitement causes people a lot of problems.

thats why people become alcoholics / drug addicts. 

just living a calm, peaceful life (with occasional thrills) is good. 

and a farm is a good place to do that. 

 

So you live in Isaan. No farangs for 100km.

[PassportBro]

Did this decades ago. Never owned a house. Money in markets.

 

Looking to cut US loose and move account to Singapore. Be done with US entirely

[Hummin]

5 hours ago, noobexpat said:

What bill do you consider a worst case scenario...and i'll tell you if it affects my long term plans. I'll tell you how i would fund it.

 

Don't bother with anything below 10m baht. Thats easily covered, implication free.

 

If you have secured savings and assets, and smart enough to preserve it, and not spend more than you can afford to loose in lousy investments here in Thailand. 

 

Then you should be good to go. And it really depends on how you manage to live in Thailand and not only come here for holidays. Living here is a complete different thing. 

 

Manage to gave also work a little bit as well take care of yourself physically is also important to manage life in Paradise.

 

Good timing to start your first post here just out of the blue ????

 

Quite sure we had the pleasure of seeing you under another knick

[BritManToo]

3 hours ago, Hummin said:

and not spend more than you can afford to loose in lousy investments here in Thailand. 

 

Agree. loose investments are to be avoided, along with loose shoelaces and loose pants.

I'm OK with loose women though!

[4MyEgo]

On 9/22/2023 at 7:50 AM, georgegeorgia said:

So unless your say over 75 you took a  big risk in selling your house in farangland

Why would that be a big risk, are you up to date with the tax legislation in Australia for non residents ?

 

So what your suggesting is because we sold our principal place of residence, we lost out on the increased value, I believe you haven't done the math, you see as a non resident, you pay 1/3rd of the rent in tax from the very 1st dollar and you can not claim anything on the property, like rates, repairs, levies if strata title, etc and then you will be up for, get ready for it, capital gains tax from the very 1st day you purchased the property, not the day you left Australia, those rules changed in 2020, so if you purchased your property in 1980 and sold it in 2021, your capital gains tax will go back to the very beginning, i.e. what you paid for it, not the value of it when you left Australia, so in my opinion, unless one was absolutely going to return to Australia to live, they would have rocks in their heads as a non resident to hang onto their property.

 

Now as you mentioned above, people "selling" their property, would mean that they are asset poor, cash rich, so why would they regret it, I mean there are income streams and other investments that provide tax free earnings vs holding onto property which is taxed to the hilt if you hung onto it.

 

On 9/22/2023 at 7:50 AM, georgegeorgia said:

How many of you regret it ,admit it ,yes some if you wished you kept your house 

I have zero regrets selling my place, actually it resold this year again, I sold it some 8 years ago when I came here and when I did the calculations on the increase of value vs the capital gains tax that I would have had to pay as a non resident, not to mention the 32c in the $ from rent in tax, I am miles ahead from having sold up and investing elsewhere as it's been tax free and capital gains tax free ride.

 

If you have a property m8 and are living here as a non resident, you will have regrets when you sell up, so would be taking the bigger risk ?

[noobexpat]

4 hours ago, Hummin said:

If you have secured savings and assets, and smart enough to preserve it, and not spend more than you can afford to loose in lousy investments here in Thailand. 

 

Then you should be good to go. And it really depends on how you manage to live in Thailand and not only come here for holidays. Living here is a complete different thing. 

 

Manage to gave also work a little bit as well take care of yourself physically is also important to manage life in Paradise.

 

Good timing to start your first post here just out of the blue ????

 

Quite sure we had the pleasure of seeing you under another knick

There is no need for assets to leave their respective uk wrappers. Emergency fund is all i intend to keep in the thai bank. 

 

When i arrived i was far more curious to experience daily living than partying. I was out last night (and subsequent drunk post) for the first time in 2 weeks. Usually 1 night per week is ample.

 

The condo has a decent gym and i embrace healthy eating. Having some structure midweek whilst i do a bit of *stuff on laptop* keeps me in the traditional mindset of mon to fri work week. That structure has mental and financial benefits.

 

I assumed that when talking to other expats that most would be happy that someone has made the move here ...but mostly they are not. There isn't a collective sense of ...everyone enjoying it together. Some get rather salty when they hear about geo-arbitrage.

 

Been lurking for a few weeks without registering. Only realised it was the old thai visa forum when i clicked on something about buying the forum. 

 

Enjoy your day. 

Edited September 24, 2023 by noobexpat
spelling

[4MyEgo]

On 9/22/2023 at 4:42 PM, Stevemercer said:

We chose Thailand and built a house. After 10 years here I sometimes wonder what would have happened if we had bought a house in Australia. I've no doubt it would have been a great investement and probably doubled in value over that time.

If you purchased a property in Australia 10 years ago, yes it would have probably doubled, however, would you be having the LIFE you have in Thailand, or would you be working to survive, i.e. having using all of your savings to purchase that property.

 

On the other hand, is you purchase a property in Oz as an investment, $0.32c in the $ would be taxed, and you wouldn't be able to claim anything against the property, i.e. rates, insurances, repairs, agents commission, etc, etc, and then you would be up for capital gains tax from the very 1st day you purchased it, e.g. 2010, not when you left the country as it used to be, legislative changes in 2020, so you would be giving a HUGE slice of that capital gains on your investment to the government, on top of the 1/3rd in taxes that you collect in rent.

 

The above said, I did the exercise recently having sold up 8 years ago and seeing the my old property resold, and I am well ahead for that 8 year period vs holding onto the property, as my investments are tax free and capital gains tax free.

 

On 9/22/2023 at 4:42 PM, Stevemercer said:

On the other hand, our house/land in Thailand is probably worth similar to when we purchased it 10 years ago.

Nothing wrong with that, you lived in it mortgage free, rent free and can re-coupe your money if you ever decided to sell. Don't forget, you have LIVED a different LIFE here vs back in Oz. In my opinion, you can have your cake and eat it too with the right tax free investments vs owning property back in Oz and paying taxes and sacrificing this lifestyle if living in Oz, it just depends on what you want in life, for me, no amount of money can replace my freedom to choose what I want to do, when I want to do it and how I want to do it, never a slaveagain.

 

On 9/22/2023 at 4:42 PM, Stevemercer said:

Like most farang I did not fully appreciate why the cost of land/houses is so cheap over here. One of the reasons is that there is only a limited market for second hand properties out here in rural Thailand and it is easy to over-capitalise.

It it not an over-capitalisation, it is debt free, no mortgage, no rent to pay, it's yours (or your wife's) and you can re-coupe the money paid for it when and if you sell up. It's the sacrifice you make for the lifestyle change.

 

To me, building this big house for 2 mil was worth every penny spent, i other words, it has cost me about $200 per week to live here, 6 beds, 3 baths, well insulated and cool. If I was living in the place I sold back in Oz, it would cost me a minimum $700 per week to rent it, that said, I did own it outright, however my money was tied up in it, so my lifestyle would be to work to survive vs using that money to invest and receive a tax free income here, with no capital gains tax payable and I LIVE the life I want, like I said, no more a slave.

 

I knew when I built this place that I would more or less be worth what I paid for it, that said, that said, at the time, back in Oz you could probably build a one bedroom granny flat or a double brick double width garage for the same outlay, so to me, it was the freedom factor, the living off of my life savings as opposed to being asset rich, cash poor.

 

Haven't regretted it one bit, that said, you have to have money to live anywhere and keep earning as living on the pension would be restrictive, regardless, so using your sale of your assets via tax free investments gives you a good quality lifestyle here.

[statman78]

We sold everything in the US and moved to Thailand for my retirement.  We have no regrets.  We still have accounts in the US so it would not be difficult to go somewhere else.  Definitely not back to the US.  In order for that to happen they would need to drag me out of here.  I love it here and since my wife is Thai she can stay and manage the rental properties we have here.

[Artisi]

1 hour ago, BritManToo said:

Agree. loose investments are to be avoided, along with loose shoelaces and loose pants.

I'm OK with loose women though!

Not too loose ????

[KhunLA]

1 hour ago, statman78 said:

We sold everything in the US and moved to Thailand for my retirement.  We have no regrets.  We still have accounts in the US so it would not be difficult to go somewhere else.  Definitely not back to the US.  In order for that to happen they would need to drag me out of here.  I love it here and since my wife is Thai she can stay and manage the rental properties we have here.

To the thread title ..

 

Pretty much the same, though sold everything before TH was a thought.  Knew I was leaving the state I lived in (TN), and the state (PA) my properties were in.  And probably the USA all together.

 

TH being last place I visited, during retirement place recons, and decided, why not.  Doubt if I'd return to USA, to live anyway.  Maybe a year or 2 nomadic visit of all the National Parks, but that's all.

 

Same, Thai wife, makes RE investments (not rentals) very easy,   Still have brokerage account in USA, with address (brother's), though everything else is TH (SS/DD).

 

Keeping the properties in USA would have only made sense if I needed the income they produced (rentals), all were free & clear.  RE Taxes being a killer, and investing in TH has been better.

 

Friends & family live in an area I'd wouldn't return to, so no need for any connection in the USA.

 

Definitely no regrets, as It's been quite fun living in TH.  Same same as USA, but different ????  No real desire or thoughts of leaving.