Cost Of Living In Chiangmai

[ARISTIDE]

I dont totally agree with the comment not to invest in Thailand at all. There are many farangs or japanese already invested quite a lot in condos also non local Thai investor but they pick really good ones and they know what they are doing.

[NancyL]

We didn't have any problem opening a bank account at the Bangkok Bank Kad Suan Kaew branch in CM when we arrived. Admittedly Hubby had an O-A visa, but I just had an O visa. We plopped down several thousand U.S. dollars in cash and said we wanted to open a joint account plus an individual one for me so we could immediately wire in 800,000 baht to start me on the road to a 12-month retirement extension to the O visa. Of course, we were treated like royalty and had no problems in opening the accounts. This was before we had a rental agreement or even a mobile phone number. Actually that mobile phone number was the biggest sticking point. The manager herded us off to the phone vendors in KSK and waited to complete our paperwork until we could return with a Thai phone number.

I agree with the accessments to wait a year before investing big sums. I know several westerners who do make money from rental property. They specialize in condos in one building or homes in one area. They get to know the building managers, contractors, etc. Some live in the same building where they have their rental income units. Makes it easier to keep an eye on things. The most successful seem to be people who like to buy a cheap, run-down unit and refurbish it to western standards. That means the OP had better like making trips to Home Pro and getting to know building contractors. May cut into those rounds of golf.

One big expense that no one has mentioned is health insurance. It's often overlooked, especially by younger, healthy retirees. The time to buy into a health insurance policy is when you're still fairly young and healthy. Most have a 2-year exclusion for pre-existing conditions. Buy while you're still healthy, pay in for two years and then they can't claim your bad back or stroke from clogged arteries was caused by a pre-exisiting condition. Those claims are likely to be refused as being pre-existing during the first two years of a policy.

[ludditeman]

I tried to open one at Bank of Siam and Bank of Bangkok. Spoke to the managers and both spoke excellent English. They stated that it is not individual bank policy but Bank of Thailand ruling policy.

Strangely enough, I have accounts recently opened with both those banks, it wasn't a problem.

I would suggest both the bank managers you spoke with didn't want foreigners to have accounts at their branch.

Nothing to do with the policy of anyone else.

Bank of Bangkok tried to get me to open an account with a form titled "Account for Tourist"

I had to point out to them quite forcibly that I wasn't a Tourist before they found the correct form for me to fill out.

Edited November 1, 2011 by ludditeman

[sfokevin]

I agree with NancyL... Just go to a bank branch in KSK or Airport Plaza where they are accustomed to foreigners. Mentioning that you will need to transfer 800K baht into the account ASAP will increase your chances of being accepted too

Edited November 2, 2011 by sfokevin