Selling Up And Moving To Thailand

[Blackandwhite]

Please help with the above, I understand there will not be an answer for everyone, just interesting to see what you all have done

[flying]

none of the above...Have residence in both places....for now at least

[cobra]

Concur with BW,

Until your confident this is the right move, try it on for size for extended period, leave everything intact at home,

re-evaluate then proceed with revision if applicable,

your results may vary,

Edited November 10, 2010 by cobra

[GuestHouse]

Non of the above.

I'm here to make money, not spend money I've already made.

[CharlieH]

none of the above...Have residence in both places....for now at least

Ditto :jap:

[sarahsbloke]

Wife took my UK house in divorce ..... homeless, so moved.

[givenall]

none of the above...Have residence in both places....for now at least

it is a very bad idea to move all your money to Thailand. Especially to buy properties. What I have found is very easy to buy property but very difficult to sell. I am trying to sell my house I bought here for a year and I am selling below market

best is to leave money at home and just take as little as necessary amount to leave in Thailand

[waza]

Waza's rules for living in Thailand.

1. Dont burn your bridges (always have an escape plan)

2. Dont invest more than your prepared to loose. (my compliments to the original author)

3. Blood is thicker than semen. (dont expect your rights to be above those of the relatives)

4."You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake. You are the same decaying organic matter as everyone else," Fight club. (be guided by the experiences of others)

5. Leave detailed instructions on what to do in the case of emergencies. (a will, insurance details, teach the missus CPR)

6. Be worth more alive than dead.(20 year old women dont marry men twice their age for love)

7. Dont learn Thai (its easier to be a bah farrang, your given more slack)

8. Dont think your Thai. (your not and will never be considered Thai by Thais)

9. Never fight with a Thai in a public place. (obvious reasons)

[geriatrickid]

none of the above...Have residence in both places....for now at least

You sir, are a wise man.

[thaimate]

Keep most of your money out of Thailand ,we sold up ,i didnt want the trouble of renting our house out ,luckily as my familly are quite well off we have somewhere to live if it hit the fan ,as for the guy who said women dont marry men 20 years older than them for love ,rubbish. i am 23 years older than my wife and we are as close now as we were 17 years ago when we met. I was also married to and English girl much younger than me and we had a good marriage ,that lasted many many years. so dont listen to all the doomsayers,Thai women lovve their husbands the same as any woman,just be carefull who you marry

[craigt3365]

it is a very bad idea to move all your money to Thailand. Especially to buy properties. What I have found is very easy to buy property but very difficult to sell. I am trying to sell my house I bought here for a year and I am selling below market

For sure, but that can be said for many places around the world right now!

[chainarong]

U have got all the right advice from the forum , don't put all your eggs in the one basket.

[FritsSikkink]

Waza's rules for living in Thailand.

1. Dont burn your bridges (always have an escape plan)

2. Dont invest more than your prepared to loose. (my compliments to the original author)

3. Blood is thicker than semen. (dont expect your rights to be above those of the relatives)

4."You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake. You are the same decaying organic matter as everyone else," Fight club. (be guided by the experiences of others)

5. Leave detailed instructions on what to do in the case of emergencies. (a will, insurance details, teach the missus CPR)

6. Be worth more alive than dead.(20 year old women dont marry men twice their age for love)

7. Dont learn Thai (its easier to be a bah farrang, your given more slack)

8. Dont think your Thai. (your not and will never be considered Thai by Thais)

9. Never fight with a Thai in a public place. (obvious reasons)

I agree on all but 7.

Do learn Thai including read and write and use it when needed. Pretend to be the bah farrang when needed

[PoorSucker]

Sold the apartment, donated furniture, books etc. to salvation army.

Renting Thailand and have a summer cottage in the northwest.

[ozzieovaseas]

I will not be suprised (and happy) if the first option ends up being the most voted.

As its possible to glean from stories on these pages, our existance here can crash from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows in all but a few days, or in some cases,a few hours. You have to be prepared for the possibility of things to change very quickly.

Numero uno: Never leave your hapiness or base any future plans in the hands of a thai GF.

For me it is a great place to live, provided you can live off a passive income such as the rental of a property or pension without dipping into savings...savings being an absolutely essential safety blanket in this situation.

If you are the sort of person who appreciates the occasional time alone, in lieu of not having to work and do the rat race thing back home, then it might suit you.

I certainly appreciate not having to work and deal with :jerk:'s daily back home. For me this is a spinoff that is very much worth NOT having to live in a flash condo, and not always needing to have a GF hanging around..these are the things that will cost you most.

Not for everyone though, and many here will no doubt say this sort of life is not worth living..up to them.

One other thing i will add is to think very carefully before selling your house, whether coming to LOS or not . Even if you come out of it moderately wealthy your financial days are then on countdown, living with a figure that might last you X years without any other income.

If you keep your house rented for as long as you can the "countdown" is obviously going to be shorter. So my theory in Thailand is to live off the passive income for as long as possible.

If i was 65 years of age and could sell my (100% owned) property for around AU$400k i'd do it tomorrow

[nong38]

none of the above...Have residence in both places....for now at least

it is a very bad idea to move all your money to Thailand. Especially to buy properties. What I have found is very easy to buy property but very difficult to sell. I am trying to sell my house I bought here for a year and I am selling below market

best is to leave money at home and just take as little as necessary amount to leave in Thailand

Very wise, if you are going to buy you must be sure where you want to buy and be happy because selling is going to be difficult, locals will just wait till price falls and ex pats have a bad exchange rate so short of cash. Thailand is a buyers market and will be for some time to come. It might be worth telling folk what you have and where see if you get a response, nothing to lose.

[Blackandwhite]

none of the above...Have residence in both places....for now at least

I am guessing you did not move to Thailand a resident of both, read question and respond again, your input is valuable

Thanks

[flying]

none of the above...Have residence in both places....for now at least

I am guessing you did not move to Thailand a resident of both, read question and respond again, your input is valuable

Thanks

Yes sorry I live in both places & own residences in both places so.....Yes I did not move one way as I live in both every year.

Not a bad way to go even if you do spend more time on one than the other.

Most folks I know who do well never sell hard assets they just leverage them.

Otherwise Your question boils down to basically closing the door on one to have the other. I doubt I ever would. Even if I lived in only one for 99.999% of the time.

Good to have options eh?

As I said...at least for now.

Edited November 11, 2010 by flying

[Canada]

I kept the property at home until I decided that I no longer wished to go home nor needed the back door. The missus and I (here) split and I decided that she had nothin to do with me staying here. I went home, sold everything, gave it away or threw it away. It took three and a half years to make this decision. During that time I rented the house to some friends, kept all my personal possessions intact, and went home on occasion. When I got there I had my house as it was ready for me. It was a good arrangement. After a while though, people move on, change, change plans and the rental scheme faded away. It became more difficult than it was worth. This co-incided with the missus here going south. So it all worked out at the right time. If I had sold out while the missuss was still around, there could have been more problems. She was connving.....know what I mean. Eventually that's why she moved on. I wouldn't buy the things that she wanted. You know, a truck a house, a house in the village. This selling out just happened earlier this year and I still haven't figured out what to do with myself or my money. It is all back home. I just earn (albeit not much) of it.

Don't know if you are trying to make a decision or what....if you are....take your time. Things get clearer here the longer that you stay. You could make some pretty big mistakes if you were in a hurry. I agree with the one guy who said DO learn Thai. I have dedicated much time to this. It is well worth it. If you want to be led around by the hand, and down the garden path, can't go anywhere by yourself, pay too much for everything, can't understand a freakin thing around you, then by all means, don't learn Thai. Learn Thai and look after yourself. I have been here for 4 years. I speak Thai better than most guys that have been here for twenty. It's difficult but not impossible.

I'm rambling now.......

[turgid]

You know, a truck a house, a house in the village.

Somewhere out there is a farang who bought a bar girl a Camry and gave her half a Condo. I know this because I used to regularly meet bar girls who believe that i will buy them a camry and give them half a condo. I always found it interesting that they wanted a Camry not a BMW or Merecedes (which is what a girl in Singapore would want). Never been asked for a truck - maybe i move in less agricultural spaces.

I speak Thai better than most guys that have been here for twenty. It's difficult but not impossible.

I'm probably asking the obvious - what was your tested method for getting there ? I've seen a lot of Thai language schools that seem to be offering visa enabling not language teaching.

I'm rambling now.......

Excellent ramble though.

[ableguy]

I rented my house through an agent and nothing but problems, sold half my furniture TV fridges etc, the rest I shipped here as I have some pretty expensive stuff and did not want to leave in storage, only to find when I got here finding an unfurnished house with a pool was very difficult, finally found one where the owner was will ing to move most of the stuff out. Would love to sell the house I rent out but with the market dead no chance of that just now. Happy living here and as they say they can burn my bones here.

[mitsubishi]

Waza's rules for living in Thailand.

1. Dont burn your bridges (always have an escape plan)

2. Dont invest more than your prepared to loose. (my compliments to the original author)

3. Blood is thicker than semen. (dont expect your rights to be above those of the relatives)

4."You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake. You are the same decaying organic matter as everyone else," Fight club. (be guided by the experiences of others)

5. Leave detailed instructions on what to do in the case of emergencies. (a will, insurance details, teach the missus CPR)

6. Be worth more alive than dead.(20 year old women dont marry men twice their age for love)

7. Dont learn Thai (its easier to be a bah farrang, your given more slack)

8. Dont think your Thai. (your not and will never be considered Thai by Thais)

9. Never fight with a Thai in a public place. (obvious reasons)

I agree on all but 7.

Do learn Thai including read and write and use it when needed. Pretend to be the bah farrang when needed

Agree on all apart from 6 and 7

Bring over cash, it's king over here!