Planning A Move

[LanXang]

Hi guys and gals,

Planning to move to Phuket. Any advice on how to find a place there? Right now i've been looking at siamrealestate.com and www.houseinphuket.com. Also checked out classiafied on phuketgazzette. But there isnt many pictures of places on there. Are the prices fixed or can i bargain with them? Also i see that most places want 2 months security. What does that mean? Is that same amount as rent? Will i get this back after i'm done renting? Is there any other good sites to look at? What are the good areas to live? I want to be close to the action for a reasonable price.

Most of the places i like seem to be far away from the beaches. I will need means of transport to get around. Can i rent out motorbikes/mopeds long term without me giving them my passport? Also if there are what are the rates going to be like?

My plan is to go there and stay at a hotel for a week. Drive around and check out the places i'm interested in. Any recommendations on a fairly cheap hotel with good internet? Thank you guys in advance.

[donna]

i think you are already on the right track with regards to housing. but the closer it gets to high season, the harder it will be to find a house at a reasonable rate. i suggest you get here first, then look around.

the two months deposit is equal to two months rent.

you can rent out cars and bikes without leaving your passport.

good luck.

[LivinginKata]

It's a good plan to get here and drive about looking for the FOR RENT signs. Best (& cheapest) to rent direct from the owner. Usually the direct owner's price is not negotiable except if you offer to pay 6 months up front. Also owners usually only ask one month's rent as deposit. If through agent the 2 months rent is required to cover agent's fee. Will you get your deposit back ?? Depends on integrity of the owner !! Hard to get your money back from Thai owners.

A copy of your passport should be sufficient to rent a bike. Just walk away if it's insisted that you leave your passport. Monthly rent should be much much cheaper.

Clearly Patong is close to everything. Check out the residential area of Patong, along Nanai Rd.

[logbags]

Well I would avoid agents for a start. There are many cheap places to stay so check in to a bungalow and negotiate everything face to face, not through some middleman. Do not book online as you'll pay more. If you have little or no experience in Phuket I would suggest you find a bungalow or furnished apartment as they all usually come with maid service and have a restaurant attached or nearby.

I can recommend a great guy to get your bike off for about 3000 baht a month for a honda wave or dream 125 cc. He is a really laid back guy and won't rip you off or overcharge you for repairs if you stack his bike. I have dealt with him for 15 years at least and I actually lost one of his bikes when a drunken mate came home with another red bike similar to the one we rented off him.

I was furious as the bike my mate brought back had Trang number plates and was about 10 years older Many keys start other bikes on the older models. We just rode around Patong looking and saw our real bike parked outside a supermarket a day later. We just switched them again and I wonder what the other guy must have been thinking as he obviously knew some silly farangs had the wrong bike so just took ours until his turned up.

The guy I get the bike off laughed his head off and saw it as a funny story. Rent your bike off the wrong person and he'd want a new one straight away. My questions would be how long you want to stay? Where do you want to stay? How old are are you? etc etc. You will pay through the nose for everything if you get there after November. You must get there and lock in a low rate with no price rise over the high season. I can get this but I have both Thai language and long time contacts to fall back on.

I get the same rate all year round as I not only stay long term myself but bring lots of new customers to the place I stay. Things don't get busy until at least mid December and in reality most of the Swedes and Euros don't turn up until after Christmas. I left December 15 last year and it was still pretty quiet. This year may not be as busy. The Aussie dollar for example has crashed from 31 baht down to 26 at present. It won't stop the short stayer or package tourist but it will have some effect.

My advice is simple, take your time, look around and negotiate hard. I am quite notorious for my bargaining skills. However, I do know the real price of just about everything. I will give you a simple example. I was in Nakhon Sri Thammarart and bought a bowie knife for a Thai friend that was one of those flick knifes with the little torch and stuff attached. It cost me 200 baht at a tattoo shop at the Ocean shopping mall in Nakhon. In Patong they want 1200 to 1500 baht and if your lucky you can bargain it down to 800. So 4 times the real price

This is pretty much par for the course just because of the rents being asked in Patong. Phuket is the most expensive place in Thailand but if your careful you can live there very cheaply.

I

[LivinginKata]

Logbags.... 3,000 baht/month for a Wave 125 seems expensive to me, that's tourist rate. Should be more like 2,000 - 2,500 baht/month for long stay visitors. Everyone wants an automatic = gear bikes hard to move. I know, we rent these older gear bikes.

[LanXang]

Hey thanks for all your replies. I'll be definitely looking around first hand before i rent. I"ll make sure to remember all your advices.

My questions would be how long you want to stay? Where do you want to stay? How old are are you? etc etc. You will pay through the nose for everything if you get there after November. You must get there and lock in a low rate with no price rise over the high season. I can get this but I have both Thai language and long time contacts to fall back on.

I really don't know yet how long I'll be in Phuket. Problably 6 months minimum. I was thinking staying until the rain season comes then head to bangkok till Nov/Dec, come back to canada to visit family and friends and do it all over again. As for where i want to stay. I really have no clue. Just not somewhere in the middle of nowhere. I'm heading to Phuket at the beggining of Dec.

[logbags]

I would just rent a bungalow if only 6 months. Find a nice bungalow with nice gardens and a pool. If you have any hassles you can move out and go elsewhere.

My advice to everyone who asks is to leave yourself an escape route by not locking yourself in anywhere.

This can be for many reasons, for example last year it rained and rained on Samui, all these people who had booked places came to Phuket to get some beach and sun time and lost their dosh to the places they booked on Samui, they said it was better than sitting indoors all day.

If you go to bars or indulge in women even more so. You could have bar girls turning up at bad moments or drunk looking for a bed for the night. I can't remember how many times I've had drunk Thai girls knocking on my bungalow door at 4am looking for some bloke This usually only happen just after you check in and the other bloke has recently left.

Why not buy a bike? A new wave 125cc cost me 45,000 baht 2 years ago. Best move I made as I just put it on the bus and take it wherever I go. The autos are ok but cost a little more for parts, servicing etc. You just take it to the bus station, screw off the mirrors so they don't get broken and the bus boys will carry it on the bus for you. If you have an arse of stone you can ride it to where you want to go and give your bags to one of the mini bus drivers to deliver.

My mate bought a honda dream 125cc. He rode it to the border of Malaysia to get a new visa, rode back up to Nakhon Sri, across through Krabi back to Phuket all in a couple of days. Talk about endurance!! . If you do ride a bike in Thailand you will know there is a God, or better believe there is..........LOL

[fiddlehead]

Wow, the bus boys will put your motorcycle on a bus. Cool.

This I have yet to experience seeing here in the LOS.

How much do they charge for, oh, say delivery to Hua Hin?

[gary09]

I would just rent a bungalow if only 6 months. Find a nice bungalow with nice gardens and a pool. If you have any hassles you can move out and go elsewhere.

My advice to everyone who asks is to leave yourself an escape route by not locking yourself in anywhere.

This can be for many reasons, for example last year it rained and rained on Samui, all these people who had booked places came to Phuket to get some beach and sun time and lost their dosh to the places they booked on Samui, they said it was better than sitting indoors all day.

If you go to bars or indulge in women even more so. You could have bar girls turning up at bad moments or drunk looking for a bed for the night. I can't remember how many times I've had drunk Thai girls knocking on my bungalow door at 4am looking for some bloke This usually only happen just after you check in and the other bloke has recently left.

Why not buy a bike? A new wave 125cc cost me 45,000 baht 2 years ago. Best move I made as I just put it on the bus and take it wherever I go. The autos are ok but cost a little more for parts, servicing etc. You just take it to the bus station, screw off the mirrors so they don't get broken and the bus boys will carry it on the bus for you. If you have an arse of stone you can ride it to where you want to go and give your bags to one of the mini bus drivers to deliver.

My mate bought a honda dream 125cc. He rode it to the border of Malaysia to get a new visa, rode back up to Nakhon Sri, across through Krabi back to Phuket all in a couple of days. Talk about endurance!! . If you do ride a bike in Thailand you will know there is a God, or better believe there is..........LOL

Thanks logbags some good info & advise , iam looking into doing something similar like LanXang, moving to Thailand/Phuket/Patong for at least 12 months,

i will ask u more info & advise soon if thats ok ,

[logbags]

Thanks logbags some good info & advise , iam looking into doing something similar like LanXang, moving to Thailand/Phuket/Patong for at least 12 months,

i will ask u more info & advise soon if thats ok ,

## Well I am always happy to talk about Phuket and Thailand in general, I have been to the north and isarn but prefer the south by a long way as I like the beaches. I did like Chiang mai and Chiang rai but was last there in 1987 so a long time has passed since I've been there.

I like Patong simply because of the convenience and variety of food and the fact you can go walk or ride around at night and find plenty to see. I spend most of my day time at Surin beach or at my friends house in Cherng Talay. At night I usually just wander around talking to Thai people I know or playing the odd game of pool. I don't actually mix that often with farangs except for a few guys I've known going back 10 years or more. I have found the Aussies either mix with the Irish, English or Nordic people whilst the Germans stick together or mix with the French and Italians.

I don't usually go to Phuket at high season but this year I will be there from November 10 to February 10. March and April get so hot I usually avoid those months and spend the Australian winter in Phuket. I am very working class so know little about higher end living in Phuket. I do know there is a concerted effort by certain people to have the island divided with all the wealthy up the Laguna/Bang Tao area whilst all us riff raff will be left to Patong/Kathu.

The biggest problem I find people have is simply not understanding the Thai culture or mentality well. Even guys I know who have been going to Patong for 15 years still struggle in dealing with Thais because they try and hold them to their own countries standards. I have lived with Thais since I was 22 and currently live in a house with 9 of them here in Australia. All of them are from either Phuket, Krabi or Surat Thani so I understand the south style language reasonably well.

The Thai language itself is not hard to learn, however, the style and method of applying it according to your age and status is absolutely paramount if you want them to respect you. If you speak Thai like a bargirl and use phrases only a woman would use you end up making yourself look stupid. Respect and the concept of "kreng jai" is very important and flattery is a huge part of dealing with Thais. Thais love politeness but you never treat a person lower in status than you as an equal. Thailand has not socially evolved anywhere near us in terms of equality of the sexes or in the social classes. So you must play by their rules.

Trying to apply your own standards will end up causing you grief as you are dealing with a country that has no pensions, no welfare umbrella, no healthcare and little in the way of social security. As a farang you will have more money than many of the people you may come across. Thai culture has the most cashed up person usually footing the bill so remember that if asking Thai friends out for a meal.

I usually take my Thai friends to the "Moo Katha" in Phuket town where it is 120 baht all you can eat and you cook all your food in a big wok with hot plate on top. You can shout 8 people food and drink for about 1000 baht

[jdinasia]

Hey thanks for all your replies. I'll be definitely looking around first hand before i rent. I"ll make sure to remember all your advices.

My questions would be how long you want to stay? Where do you want to stay? How old are are you? etc etc. You will pay through the nose for everything if you get there after November. You must get there and lock in a low rate with no price rise over the high season. I can get this but I have both Thai language and long time contacts to fall back on.

I really don't know yet how long I'll be in Phuket. Problably 6 months minimum. I was thinking staying until the rain season comes then head to bangkok till Nov/Dec, come back to canada to visit family and friends and do it all over again. As for where i want to stay. I really have no clue. Just not somewhere in the middle of nowhere. I'm heading to Phuket at the beggining of Dec.

If you need lots of stimulation/interaction with other foreigners at night then Patong is probably the place, I lived in Kamala Beach for a year, 8km from Patong and 300meters from the beach and spent less than 10k a month for a 2 bedroom (Thai standard) house. I found it by riding around and looking, but speaking Thai helped me a lot.

[LanXang]

Any recommendations for a hotel with good internet? I guess i'm looking to stay at a hotel for a week while i drive around and look for a place. Also would it be a good idea to hire a local to look for a place for me and negotiate?How fast can i get the internet hook up once i move in? I'm 31/m and straight Canadian of Lao decent. Anybody wanna hang out when i get there can PM me. I'll be there beginning of Dec.

[LivinginKata]

Also would it be a good idea to hire a local to look for a place for me and negotiate?How fast can i get the internet hook up once i move in?

Depends if you can trust your 'local' to negotiate a discount for you or commission for him/herself. Quite honestly you would be much better (cheaper) looking by yourself, on a cheap motor bike and not looking like an obvious newbie.

Internet depends on whether your target apartment already has a phone line. If no phone line and you need internet then forget anywhere without a phone line forget it (as it takes months ++ to get a line) unless wireless internet available. If have phone line then it just takes a few days to switch on ADSL service, subject to your landlord's cooperation.

[LanXang]

Haha I am a newbie. How do i not look like one.

When you say subject to landlords cooperation. U mean some wont let you have one?

[LivinginKata]

Haha I am a newbie. How do i not look like one.

When you say subject to landlords cooperation. U mean some wont let you have one?

T-shirt, shorts, flip flops, and NO socks. Socks are a sure sign of a newbie. And rent an old motor bike. Oh... get a sun tan quickly.

The phone line is in the landlords name, so the landlord needs to apply, AND take the responsibility of bills being paid. Also there will be cancellation penalties if tenant leaves earlier than stated and service is canceled within the first year. I speak with a lot of experience as we (wife & I) are landlords and have had to deal with these sort of problems.... often So many owners/landlords don't want the hassle.

Edited October 18, 2008 by LivinginKata