A Sangha For Retirement

[Xangsamhua]

I came across this on the weekend - an option to buy in to an intentional retirement community near Pai, about 3 hours from Chiangmai.

http://buddhistretirementthailand.blogspot.com/

I haven't contacted the person yet, but wondered if anyone knew anything more about the project.

[mohinga]

Sounds like a good idea... but I would like to know how they hope to own the property; since, as far as I know, it must be in the name of a Thai national.

[paiinthai]

I came across this on the weekend - an option to buy in to an intentional retirement community near Pai, about 3 hours from Chiangmai.

http://buddhistretirementthailand.blogspot.com/

I haven't contacted the person yet, but wondered if anyone knew anything more about the project.

Hello, I am the person that is initiating the retirement community. To date I have had about 20 replys from persons around the world. The project is slow to form but shows promise. Please feel free to respond with your questions. Daishin

[paiinthai]

Sounds like a good idea... but I would like to know how they hope to own the property; since, as far as I know, it must be in the name of a Thai national.

Hello Mohinga, here is a copy of an email I sent out recently to a person who responded to my blog. It may answer your question. I am most interested in your comments as well as anyone else.

Dear George,

Thank you for your email, suddenly I am getting many responses after a long quiet time, must be a sign of the times, many people seem to be awakening to what's real in these times of "crisis".

Your life experience is the right profile for our emerging community. Your retirement income is about the same as mine and I live very simply and very well here in Thailand.

Here is a copy of the email I am currently sending to the resent enquirers: "Our community is developing slowly as one would expect since it involves a commitment to live in Thailand and trust that the folks who join are compatible, etc. We have had about 20 inquiries, funny that we just got four in one day including yours.Perhaps that is an omen??

No one has committed to joining and only one person has actually visited here. He was very impressed with the property but he is unsure about committing to group living.

My plan is to wait until we have five people committed to join and invest enough money to buy the property. That would require an average investment of about 35 K, USD. These people would form the core group and draw up the bylaws and design the program.

After that new members could join by buying a membership or any other procedure that the core group decides on. The new members would have to agree to the bylaws, but the bylaws must include a method for amendments and changes as the community grows. As is, the property could support about 20-30 people depending on how many couples and singles we have. Memberships could be bought and sold easier then buying and selling pieces of the property. As new members join we could structure a pay back or pay down return to the core members for their investment.

If we need to build more housing we would need to annex property next door which should be possible since the property has large farms on both sides. Possibly one more small home could be built on the existing lot.

Financial security in Thailand is a big challenge, it requires a lot of trust. We have to buy in the name of a Thai person and that person would have ownership but my lawyer can draw up a binding contract that would allow the community to have control of the property. My wife could be that person or we could find another person that the core group trusts. We could also form a land trust but that would be more complicated and involve having a board of directors with 51% Thai people on the board. One man who is interested in our community and presently lives in Thailand offered this information about incorporating: " the real advantage of the board option has perhaps not been mentioned, the silent partner(s). For foreigners who want to run businesses in Thailand, they do not want the Thais making their decisions or they would not invest. I have been told that lawyers arrange this by having “silent partners” in tow. Whilst these Thais would constitute 51% they do not know each other, presumably legally they do not have voting rights on a board (why would the businessman accept that?). Therefore the Farangs run the business and accept presumably that they make only 49% of the profits etc. " I am not aware of how this works but it is a scenario that we could investigate.

I am not interested in being in control of anything, I want the community to make community decisions. I am willing to invest time and share my community life experience and meditation background for those who like. I do not have 35K so I would become a member later by what ever method the core group decides.

So that's it for now. Send me your ideas and feedback, please.

Be well, Daishin