I am an Italian citizen, resident in France, and am 39 years of age. I want to take up longer term residence in BKK where I have just bought an apt. What are my realistic options for a long stay visa?

thanks

Well, I would have considered asking that before buying but as they say here, up to you.

For the VISA question, check out the page dedicated to it on TV.

Moved to visa forum.

It would depend on what you paid for the apartment. If you invested more than 10 million baht you can get a visa and yearly extensions of stay based on that.

If not, you don't seem to qualify for a non-immigrant visa, unless you are married to a Thai national.

You would have the option of studying in Thailand. Could be Thai or English for example. A Thai language course would cost around 28,000 baht a year and would require you to study at least 4 hours a week.

It will be hit and miss, depending on your local embassy/consulate.

I have friends being issued multiple non immigrant visa's after showing their condo ownership. Not sure if it is a legal reason for issuing one, but the embassies/consulates do have a bit of leeway.

Hull (UK) is known to be issuing multiple non immigrant visa's based on visiting friends, however the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is known to have instructed the embassies/consulates to be stricter, i.e. request copies of ID cards of friends along with invitation letters...

Otherwise, a double entry tourist visa (normally always issued without questions asked) will see you stay in Thailand for just under 6 months (with a border run halfway).