Hello all;

Here is the situation, a US person who still lives and works in the USA wants to buy a condo in Thailand for vacation home. He had spent a lot of time looking for the right one and finally have found the one he likes most. He plans to make one transaction in cash.

1. How long will it take the buyer and the seller to finish the business at the land office?

2. What kind of documents the buyer (US) to bring to Thailand at the time of purschas?

3. The money is all in the US, what's the best way to transfer, exchange money?

When he gets to Thailand he will have some Thai (police officer, lawyer) friends to accommodate, is there anything he should be prepared for, like unexpected fee or anything?

Thank you

1. For me it was around 4 hours, can be less (few thousand bahts in cash will make your application go faster) or more. That was the day they accepted the application, because they had refused it twice before. So depends a lot on the land officer dealing with your case.

2. Your passport, a copy of your passport, and the foreign exchange certificate given by your Thai bank.

3. You need to open a bank account in Thailand (which may be difficult in your case given that you are not staying in Thailand), transfer the money in US dollar (important) and then get the foreign exchange certificate from the Thai bank showing that your money comes from abroad. Then in order to retrieve your money in the form of a cashier cheque (or banque cheque) you may need a copy of the selling contract (due to restrictions on foreign investment), this depends on the Thai bank.

4. There are some fees to be paid at the land office, the contract should state who will pay those (buyer, seller or 50/50).

You can try to contact a lawyer in Thailand to see if there is a way to avoid opening a bank account here.