Turnkey Absentee Businesses

[thaiaan]

I would like to invest in a turnkey absentee business which I can invest in and run while i can contentrate on my websites and Ebay businesses.

How do coin-op laundromats,self-storage,motels,vending,etc.,type businesses do and what would be the cost.Has anyone noticed of other good potential cash businesses that can be run almost hands off with secure cash management and accounting?

I have about $200,000 to invest and am travelling there in February for a month.

Does anyone else sell products or services online?I have several websites and Ebay accounts and a Paypal account and have done business with Thaigem.com.

[Sunbelt Asia]

How do coin-op laundromats,

No money in this.

self-storage

Have never seen the books on this type of operation in Thailand.

,motels

65% gross margins are common. Still for absentee business, you better have good mgmt and visit at least once a week!

,vending

No money in my opinion

Has anyone noticed of other good potential cash businesses that can be run almost hands off with secure cash management and accounting?

I'm involved with six restaurants. All absentee and on Monday it will be #7. As of now, they all make money. It comes down to mgmt on your team and passion.

Does anyone else sell products or services online?

In my opinion, one word is key... " Niche"

www.sunbeltasia.com

[thaiaan]

How do coin-op laundromats,

No money in this.

self-storage

Have never seen the books on this type of operation in Thailand.

,motels

65% gross margins are common. Still for absentee business, you better have good mgmt and visit at least once a week!

,vending

No money in my opinion

Has anyone noticed of other good potential cash businesses that can be run almost hands off with secure cash management and accounting?

I'm involved with six restaurants. All absentee and on Monday it will be #7. As of now, they all make money. It comes down to mgmt on your team and passion.

Does anyone else sell products or services online?

In my opinion, one word is key... " Niche"

www.sunbeltasia.com

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks for your input and may use your company to shop for one.I used to work in the hotel and restaurant business,and found hotels/motels as easier for the owners to keep track of income,but that the restaurants I worked in required the owner being there 24 hours a day to oversee the cash register and receipts as well as take care of the food bills and deliveries,supplies,etc.Only if one had an honest manager who one could trust could one not be ripped off.

Maybe fast food may have more cash controls?

Edited December 17, 2004 by thaiaan

[Dakhar]

Have you thought about town houses?

I ask because, I just had a 7 unit complex put down. It is approx 9,000 square feet, and cost around 75K USD. The expected rent is 21K Baht a month. With these types of numbers, if one had around 225K USD, you could theoritically earn 60K baht a month... Not knowing much, I would think one could retire off of that much money in Thailand.

[thaiaan]

Have you thought about town houses?

  I ask because, I just had a 7 unit complex put down. It is approx 9,000 square feet, and cost around 75K USD.  The expected rent is 21K Baht a month.  With these types of numbers, if one had around 225K USD, you could theoritically earn 60K baht a month...    Not knowing much, I would think one could retire off of that much money in Thailand.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yes,I have had property but as the rents,taxes,etc.,are all on the books for the government,I don't know about foreign nationals owning property there and the procedures and legalities.If it is as easy as here in the states I would be interested

in income properties.Cash businesses are what I would want now but as my income grew and I found out more about properties and the areas there,then I may want to invest.

[Dakhar]

Are you married to a Thai?

I ask because this can make property ownership, and building costs a lot cheaper, and easier. You would also need to start a Ltd. in order to have control of the properties, assets, etc. Sunbelt can help you with all of that.

200K USD Whew, you really could retire with that if done right. I envy you!

Sounds to me like you are looking for a co. that can be ran "off the books."

While I can understand your desire to do so, keep in mind Thai officials could take all that you have and send you on your way....

But lets no look at it from a dooms day approach. Again, without knowing a whole lot, I would imagine if you had legitimate properties, kept books, paid taxes, etc in order to maintain legal status in Thailand, and possibly had seperate rentals "off the books," this could be done. But the properties you have off the books, you would really have no legal recourse when a person decided not to pay you owed rent.

Basically it is a tug-a-war, we don't want to pay a lot in taxes, but there are ramifications that are there, that are unpleasant enough to make one prefer to pay taxes.

Restaruants can be ran off the books, but I think you know your employees realize that too, and so they take from you too.

Coin Vendors, pretty easy off the books, but aparently there is no money in that.

Storage space is notorious for being off the books, but it has not been tried and proven to work in Thailand, at least not that I am aware of.

Inter-net cafes, now that seems like an "off the book" operation. But, you run into the same problems that restaruants have to offer.

In my humble opinion, if you are Thai, running things "off the books" is perfectly find and done very often, but for falangs..... especially those that have not been in Thailand long.... going legitimate is the best option.

Taxes, are ugly.... I hold down a regular job here, and I operate a business on the side. The business grossed 130K, and after expenses and taxes, netted around 35K. UHG makes one wonder is it worth it?

[kir]

Surplus cash?

Then i'd say purchase condominiums in new developments in popular locations as you can own and rent them out yourself.

As a guide, a mate of mine (one of your fellow USA citizens) in Dec 2003 was also in a similar position. He purchased 2 simple studio type condominiums for a total of approx. 3.2million baht ($80,000) within the space of 2 months and now hsa them rented out at approx, 40,000 baht ($,1,000).

Not such a large immediate return on investment, but he has recently been offered 3.8million (approx 17% profit in 12mths) for both! (not forgeting the rental income too....)

Of course i'm in no way saying this type of property value increase will continue. I'm just pointing out a fact.

Finally, both deals went through with any problems with either the seller, buyer or local authorities.

Regards

Kir

Edited December 18, 2004 by kir

[udon]

Self Storage: There is def. a need for that service in LoS, profitable and affordable.... not sure.

Do a search on all forums for "storage"

I'd certainly be a customer

[cdnvic]

Self Storage: There is def. a need for that service in LoS, profitable and affordable.... not sure.

Do a search on all forums for "storage"

I'd certainly be a customer

I'd say there's definitly room in the market catering to the part-time expats especially if you also offer moving and shipping/recieving services with it.

cv

[Dakhar]

When you look at the high costs of land (and they hard from an American's perspective) one would shy away from storage. Look at it this way, return on investment. If land costs a lot, then you have to ask a high price for storage fees. People may not go fo that. Not to mention, the speed of profit... not knowing much, I would guess would could earn money at a faster pace through using valuable land in a different manner...

But maybe as the above psot mentioned, there would be an expat market to cater to.

[Sunbelt Asia]

[

but that the restaurants I worked in required the owner being there 24 hours a day to oversee the cash register and receipts as well as take care of the food bills and deliveries,supplies,etc.Only if one had an honest manager who one could trust could one not be ripped off.

Maybe fast food may have more cash controls?

It’s all just numbers. Once you have spent time at the restaurant, you have consistent numbers you can track such as your food and labor costs.

With a fast food franchise, the POS is fantastic. As it constantly updating the supplies used and what is left with each sale. You then do a weekly inventory to check the variance.

With any system, some people lie in bed thinking how to beat it. Some of the more ingenious ways were

1.Selling their employee meal to a customer. They don’t ring up the sale as a sale but as their meal for the day and pocket the 200 Baht. No shortage in the inventory. How we solve that problem… eliminated employee meals at that store.

2.Ringing up a different meal and pocket the 70 Baht difference. No shortage in the bread count but the weekly will show a shortage of steak in stock.

Solution was to fire the two employees stealing and set an example. Continue to always monitor the numbers for any variance.

3. Mgr selling wine from his OWN stock. Solution... fire him on the spot.

Mystery shoppers are a great tool we use.

www.sunbeltasia.com

[cdnvic]

Solution was to fire the two employees stealing and set an example.  Continue to always monitor the numbers for any variance.

3. Mgr selling wine from his OWN stock. Solution... fire him on the spot.

Mystery shoppers are a great tool we use.

The only way to handle that imo. And mystery shoppers always put the "What if?" factor into the employees' day.

Works best if there is a reward for good mystery shopper reviews.

cv