Moving To Cm Soon

[Okertes]

My little family Thai wife baby girl and myself are moving to Thailand and decided to settle in CM . I''ll be very happy to get some advise or recommendations about housing around CM and also what to avoid .We also would like to get a car second hand is there any good car agency in CM ? Thank you .

[Blinky Bill]

Okertes, no offense meant, but these subjects have been done to death.

You could try searching previous threads to find the answers to your questions.

[sarahsbloke]

What sort of place do you want, in town, out of town, size, near international school or Thai school, price range, etc.

Chiang Mai is a nice place with very little to avoid IMHO.

[jackr]

Op, your best bet is to get over here, stay in a condo for couple/three months while going through this forum and looking around the place with car/motorbike to see what takes your fancy. For cars, check out classifieds.

[Okertes]

Okertes, no offense meant, but these subjects have been done to death.

You could try searching previous threads to find the answers to your questions.

Not taken . thank you I will look deeper in this forum

[DavidOxon]

Okertes, no offense meant, but these subjects have been done to death.

You could try searching previous threads to find the answers to your questions.

Good advice Blinky, but have you ever tried the search engine on TV? It sucks and then some!

Much easier to search in Google, most of the hits will be TV related anyway and more specific to the question

Edited May 3, 2010 by DavidOxon

[orang37]

Sawasdee Khrup, Khun Okertes, and welcome to Chiang Mai !

Second Khun Blinky's recommendation to search here for lots of information already present.

We often use Google (agree with one poster here who says it's often easier to use) to find content on ThaiVisa posts : for example : Example Google Search on "Chiang Mai" house rental

When we were looking several years ago, we went to a variety of local real-estate people : in general found them not helpful, steered us toward properties way outside of where we wanted to be and that were more expensive than our stated target price range.

But then we found one local lady we thought was loco (intensely nervous, continually making scribbles that looked dyslexic mutant calligraphy in a cluttered notebook, etc.) from the moment we met her : dam_n if she didn't find us the ridiculously cheap little gem, in a quiet neighborhood, surrounded by trees, within fifteen minutes bicycle ride of the Night Bazaar, we found (it needed fixing up badly, which we were willing to do if we could have a three year lease).

Will see if can find her name, and see if she's still on the planet, and send to you, if possible.

best, ~o:37;

[orang37]

Sawasdee Khrup, Khun Okertes,

We've sent you by "private TV e-mail" the phone number for the agent we mentioned (those numbers date back to 2005 : no idea if she's still alive or at those phone numbers).

Also, meant to mention we completely agree with the idea that the best idea is for you to find temproary dwelling in-townish for the first few months so you get a chance to know the city, and really "shop around."

Another thing we wanted to mention to you is the danger of fraud in rentals here in Chiang Mai.

You want to make sure you know who the "real owner" of the house, or whatever you rent, is. For one thing, you'll find yourself at some point needing a certificate of residency for (buying a car, etc.) : that's going to need to be signed by the official owner.

If dealing with an "agent" : you absolutely need to have a xerox copy of the agent's id card, and, in our opinion have somebody you trust research who the "real owner" is. We won't tell you the horror stories we've personally known about in this area : but one fine example is of two farangs who, between them, had more than thirty years experience, at least, in living in Chiang Mai, spoke Thai : they rented a building for their business, paid deposit, rent, got all the utilities connected : the "real owner" showed up a month later to kick them out : it was all a fraud.

If we knew a good lawyer in Chiang Mai who we thought could reliably do a "title search" and make sure any contracts you signed were binding and with the real person or entity that owned the house and land, we'd recommend : but we don't know such a person. Maybe someone else will give you information on how you solve the issue of "real owner" and "clear contractual title." As a "rule of thumb" : we don't trust Thai lawyers.

best, ~o:37;

[OriginalPoster]

Sawasdee Khrup, Khun Okertes,

We've sent you by "private TV e-mail" the phone number for the agent we mentioned (those numbers date back to 2005 : no idea if she's still alive or at those phone numbers).

Also, meant to mention we completely agree with the idea that the best idea is for you to find temproary dwelling in-townish for the first few months so you get a chance to know the city, and really "shop around."

Another thing we wanted to mention to you is the danger of fraud in rentals here in Chiang Mai.

You want to make sure you know who the "real owner" of the house, or whatever you rent, is. For one thing, you'll find yourself at some point needing a certificate of residency for (buying a car, etc.) : that's going to need to be signed by the official owner.

If dealing with an "agent" : you absolutely need to have a xerox copy of the agent's id card, and, in our opinion have somebody you trust research who the "real owner" is. We won't tell you the horror stories we've personally known about in this area : but one fine example is of two farangs who, between them, had more than thirty years experience, at least, in living in Chiang Mai, spoke Thai : they rented a building for their business, paid deposit, rent, got all the utilities connected : the "real owner" showed up a month later to kick them out : it was all a fraud.

If we knew a good lawyer in Chiang Mai who we thought could reliably do a "title search" and make sure any contracts you signed were binding and with the real person or entity that owned the house and land, we'd recommend : but we don't know such a person. Maybe someone else will give you information on how you solve the issue of "real owner" and "clear contractual title." As a "rule of thumb" : we don't trust Thai lawyers.

best, ~o:37;

That's useful advice about verifying the ownership before renting a place but could you elaborate on how one would do that? For a newcomer that sounds like a daunting task, especially if you can't trust real estate agents or lawyers.

Edited May 4, 2010 by OriginalPoster

[Okertes]

Sawasdee Khrup, Khun Okertes,

We've sent you by "private TV e-mail" the phone number for the agent we mentioned (those numbers date back to 2005 : no idea if she's still alive or at those phone numbers).

Also, meant to mention we completely agree with the idea that the best idea is for you to find temproary dwelling in-townish for the first few months so you get a chance to know the city, and really "shop around."

Another thing we wanted to mention to you is the danger of fraud in rentals here in Chiang Mai.

You want to make sure you know who the "real owner" of the house, or whatever you rent, is. For one thing, you'll find yourself at some point needing a certificate of residency for (buying a car, etc.) : that's going to need to be signed by the official owner.

If dealing with an "agent" : you absolutely need to have a xerox copy of the agent's id card, and, in our opinion have somebody you trust research who the "real owner" is. We won't tell you the horror stories we've personally known about in this area : but one fine example is of two farangs who, between them, had more than thirty years experience, at least, in living in Chiang Mai, spoke Thai : they rented a building for their business, paid deposit, rent, got all the utilities connected : the "real owner" showed up a month later to kick them out : it was all a fraud.

If we knew a good lawyer in Chiang Mai who we thought could reliably do a "title search" and make sure any contracts you signed were binding and with the real person or entity that owned the house and land, we'd recommend : but we don't know such a person. Maybe someone else will give you information on how you solve the issue of "real owner" and "clear contractual title." As a "rule of thumb" : we don't trust Thai lawyers.

best, ~o:37;

Wow thank you very much and Sawadee Khrup your advises are very helpful we will try to call that lady when we get to CM 1st Aug 2010