Land Prices- Once More

[swissie]

1 1/2 years ago 1 Rai of land with Water, Electric and good land title went for 120'000 BHT in my aerea. Now the going rate is at least 300'000. With no water, electric and most of the time without any land papers at all (Army-Land). For sale signs are popping up at 400'000 Bht already.

I asked the locals for enlightenment: "Only Bangkok-People are buying, afraid of high water next time". As of my question of "why buy land with no good paper". = Bangkok people can talk very good with people from Army, no problem!

No problem for me also, exept for the fact, that prices for goods and sevices in general are starting to approach Bangkok levels around here!

When I settled here 1 1/2 years ago, I had no idea that within this short period of time it would turn into a madhouse.

What to do? Sell out if some Bangkokians offer and pay 400'000 Bht per Rai and move to a remote part of the Isaan and buy into the situation again, in hope that during the rainy season the water in Bangkok keeps on rising in the coming years? Hardly.

I will probably take the advice of Ex-Chancellor of Germany (Helmut Kohl) that said: Most problems will resolve themselves, if you have the patience to just "sit them out".

OK. I am sitting. Cheers.

[jamescollister]

Where I am in Issan, it's like a newly found land. Divided roads going in where once were concrete and dirt, buildings going in as soon as the new road is in. Even in the town of Buntharik, where not long ago you could sleep on the main street, now has a Tesco's, a new Toyota showroom being built, plus lots of be sheds which look like small factories.

Shop houses on the main street that went 750,000 Baht 4 or so years age, are now being snapped up at 5 mil.

Don't know where the money is coming from, but it sure is coming.

If it keep up like this I will end up selling up, why live in a jungle village, when we could live in a luxury villa in the Med with a big wedge of cash in the bank. Jim

[somo]

JC I often see you refer to retiring to a villa in the med and know what you mean. For many years it was my stamping ground and I love it still although many of the places I knew are now comercialised. Had my own sail boat and lots of friends with villas where I could put my feet up anytime. In the eighties it was the most wonderful place I have ever called home but like you cannot afford to settle there now.

[jamescollister]

JC I often see you refer to retiring to a villa in the med and know what you mean. For many years it was my stamping ground and I love it still although many of the places I knew are now comercialised. Had my own sail boat and lots of friends with villas where I could put my feet up anytime. In the eighties it was the most wonderful place I have ever called home but like you cannot afford to settle there now.

Things are always better in the memory than the reality, but spent some magic time on in the Greek islands.

If I went back today would probably be saddened by the change. Well no doubt see out the rest of my days in a jungle village here.

Yet money gives freedom and even though have a wife and 2 young kids, the urge to explore and see new places still beats in my heart. jim

[rct99q]

Not sure where in Issan you may be looking but I am located (15km) just outside of Nong Khai and a rai of land is fetching 700,000 baht with water, electricity and authentic papers. Have 5 rai on a dirt road access and have people once or twice a month wanting to buy. Predictions are a rai in my area will be worth 1,000,000 in the not too distant future.

[mike123ca]

Instead of not allowing foreigner's from owning land. Then claiming its to protect Thai's.

If they want some real land reform, then only allow those ( who reside in Isan) to be able to buy land.

If they already own land and do not reside here, then give them 1 year to sell it. ( sound familiar)

[somo]

JC I often see you refer to retiring to a villa in the med and know what you mean. For many years it was my stamping ground and I love it still although many of the places I knew are now comercialised. Had my own sail boat and lots of friends with villas where I could put my feet up anytime. In the eighties it was the most wonderful place I have ever called home but like you cannot afford to settle there now.

Things are always better in the memory than the reality, but spent some magic time on in the Greek islands.

If I went back today would probably be saddened by the change. Well no doubt see out the rest of my days in a jungle village here.

Yet money gives freedom and even though have a wife and 2 young kids, the urge to explore and see new places still beats in my heart. jim

Crickey would not go back now as I would be overcome with nostalgia for days gone. Greece/ Turkey was also my area. Based in Lindos (Rhodos) but all over working charters and delivery jobs. Even got to like retzina - an aquired taste for sure Dropped my anchor here a while back and here for the duration me thinks. Cheap wine is the one thing do miss though.

Efcaristo poly

[jamescollister]

JC I often see you refer to retiring to a villa in the med and know what you mean. For many years it was my stamping ground and I love it still although many of the places I knew are now comercialised. Had my own sail boat and lots of friends with villas where I could put my feet up anytime. In the eighties it was the most wonderful place I have ever called home but like you cannot afford to settle there now.

Things are always better in the memory than the reality, but spent some magic time on in the Greek islands.

If I went back today would probably be saddened by the change. Well no doubt see out the rest of my days in a jungle village here.

Yet money gives freedom and even though have a wife and 2 young kids, the urge to explore and see new places still beats in my heart. jim

Crickey would not go back now as I would be overcome with nostalgia for days gone. Greece/ Turkey was also my area. Based in Lindos (Rhodos) but all over working charters and delivery jobs. Even got to like retzina - an aquired taste for sure Dropped my anchor here a while back and here for the duration me thinks. Cheap wine is the one thing do miss though.

Efcaristo poly

I may have even met you years age, southern Turkey, Greek islands, sailed around a few. Still a few that only had fisherman's camps. Searched for homers grave on Ios. Don't know how old you are, but I am 56 now and the adventure lives on. Jim

[somo]

JC I often see you refer to retiring to a villa in the med and know what you mean. For many years it was my stamping ground and I love it still although many of the places I knew are now comercialised. Had my own sail boat and lots of friends with villas where I could put my feet up anytime. In the eighties it was the most wonderful place I have ever called home but like you cannot afford to settle there now.

Things are always better in the memory than the reality, but spent some magic time on in the Greek islands.

If I went back today would probably be saddened by the change. Well no doubt see out the rest of my days in a jungle village here.

Yet money gives freedom and even though have a wife and 2 young kids, the urge to explore and see new places still beats in my heart. jim

Crickey would not go back now as I would be overcome with nostalgia for days gone. Greece/ Turkey was also my area. Based in Lindos (Rhodos) but all over working charters and delivery jobs. Even got to like retzina - an aquired taste for sure Dropped my anchor here a while back and here for the duration me thinks. Cheap wine is the one thing do miss though.

Efcaristo poly

I may have even met you years age, southern Turkey, Greek islands, sailed around a few. Still a few that only had fisherman's camps. Searched for homers grave on Ios. Don't know how old you are, but I am 56 now and the adventure lives on. Jim

Me a young 62 now. First sailed to Greece from the UK early seventies. Went agin in the 80's and earn't my living sailing for over 10 years. Have run naked around the original olympic track and spent the night (after the 20 tourists went home) gazing down at the Delos ruins. Had the use of rock star's villas and occasionally their nice big yachts but always had my own humble one to call home.

Ended up with a charter company and earnt a fortune before losing it all. <deleted>

Magic Times

All a bit of topic but nice to chat

[jamescollister]

Somo, you have had a life, 10 years sailing the Med, is better than 100 years behind a desk. An adventurer by birth and like me you end up here. Could be south America or Africa, but there is a bug that makes some, just want to step out of the safe lane.

Hope the rest of your life continues to be an adventure and fun. Jim

Off topic of course.

[farangme]

Not sure where in Issan you may be looking but I am located (15km) just outside of Nong Khai and a rai of land is fetching 700,000 baht with water, electricity and authentic papers. Have 5 rai on a dirt road access and have people once or twice a month wanting to buy. Predictions are a rai in my area will be worth 1,000,000 in the not too distant future.

A lot of money coming from Laos these days.

Sent from my PC36100 using Thaivisa Connect App

[BEVUP]

KORAT / CHOK CHAI UPDATE

village land ( 2/3 of Rai ) appr 40 min to korat with chanoote / power / water & road (concrete ) frontage access = 100,000 bht 4 yrs ago

Now 1 Rai maybe 400,000 or more

Korat (city ) good location in new Moo Baan - appr 2 km from everything - Priced 1 mth ago

61 sq Talang wah mt ( land size )

50 " " ( House 30 -35 ) + outside

Talang wah = 4 m/2

= 2.4 mll bht or if land slightly smaller 2.2 mll

Have come across some in same area on resale 2.2 mll but for got size

[Michael Hare]

Land in my residential street in Ubon is now selling for over 8 million baht/rai or 5,000 baht/m2. These are actual selling prices, not asking prices. When I bought my land 12 years ago I paid 1,750 baht/m2.

[Squigy]

Off topic:

Time has come to move on also from 14 years here in Issan.. Also thinking about South America somewhere. I have empathy with you guys as I have been in "exile" and will continue for the rest of my years on this planet to be on the move.

As you said Jim 10 years sailing the Med is far superior to 100 years behind a desk. Really not much future for Thailand going forward.

[Gary A]

About three years ago my wife bought a one rai plot for 100,000 baht. It was on a good road and had electricity. I criticized her for paying too much. She then sold that land to her sister for what she paid for it. Now, just up the same road one rai is for sale for 500,000 baht. My wife keeps saying to me, "I told you so".

Land prices are going absolutely crazy here in Loei province. This area is about 300 meters above sea level so no danger of flooding here.

[swissie]

Folks, Us land-owners are on easy street if this keeps going. Just imagine: Economies in Europe and US are stagnating and not that much room for land values to increase. All we have to do is wait for further increases of land values in Thailand and eventually we will all be able to buy a small parcel of land in the mittle of Manhatten.

(I for one have no idea what I would be doing in the mittle of Manhatten though).

But seriously: Does it all not have the makings of a "Bubble" ? If so, how little does it take to make a (real-estate) bubble to burst.

If I remember correctly, such an "act of god" happened in the US in 08-09, and the world economy has not yet recovered from this blow of the century.

Next time, a cross-eyed "Bangkok-Golden-Family" comes around and offers me 400'000 to the Rai. I will probably let them have it. And then I will move to Manhatten. This only after I have looked around in Nakhon Somewhere in Thailand. Chances are, I will drop Manhatten in favour of Nakhon Somewhere.

Cheers.

[jamescollister]

Folks, Us land-owners are on easy street if this keeps going. Just imagine: Economies in Europe and US are stagnating and not that much room for land values to increase. All we have to do is wait for further increases of land values in Thailand and eventually we will all be able to buy a small parcel of land in the mittle of Manhatten.

(I for one have no idea what I would be doing in the mittle of Manhatten though).

But seriously: Does it all not have the makings of a "Bubble" ? If so, how little does it take to make a (real-estate) bubble to burst.

If I remember correctly, such an "act of god" happened in the US in 08-09, and the world economy has not yet recovered from this blow of the century.

Next time, a cross-eyed "Bangkok-Golden-Family" comes around and offers me 400'000 to the Rai. I will probably let them have it. And then I will move to Manhatten. This only after I have looked around in Nakhon Somewhere in Thailand. Chances are, I will drop Manhatten in favour of Nakhon Somewhere.

Cheers.

Don't know if it really is a bubble or not, that big monster to the north keeps growing, even if at a slower pace. They want what Thailand has to sell. Know some Chinese Thais from BKK [ Wife University ] They look at things differently from us and Thais. We look at things as ROI, but they see things in a different light.

As posted before, wife's friend [ family ] spent near on 1 Mil US buying a rubber plantation near Burma, rubber is my game. Said to him you will never see a return on that money, he said, but my children and their children will.

Who knows what tomorrow may bring, but even in the west, bubbles come and go, yet to see the prices drop back to the 50s, things just go up over the cycle. Boom and bust, but prices keep going up over time.

I fear, one day someone will give me an offer to good to refuse, then what. London, Paris or NY, not my cup of tea, getting a bit long in the tooth to start again, or just sit by a pool waiting to die. Jim

[NeverSure]

If someone offered me a huge price I'd sell, sit back and lick my chops, and wait for it to crash. Then I'd buy it back.

Wish to h3ll I'd done that with my home in the US 6 years ago. I could have gotten double what it's worth today, and that 1/2 lost would be enough for most folks to retire on.

I did sense a trend and sold every thing else real estate I had, but I couldn't let go of my "home." Fortunately I've owned this land for a lot of years, since way before the run-up began, so I'm better than even, but I still lost a real opportunity.

When all believe that "everything will keep going up because it has been going up," and that frame of mind puts people into a buying frenzy, constantly outbidding each other for property, there always comes the day when there's no one left willing or able to pay that last upward increment, and then it abrubtly ends. Often the end isn't apparent for a while. Prices stay the same and high, but "days to sell aka average days on the market" increase. Properties sit there at that high price with few buyers. All seems well though because the price is still high. But it isn't because you'd have to lower the price and be the low offer to actually sell. So prices have actually dropped.

Watch for actual sales price after concessions such as offering free furniture to hold the apparent selling price high. Or the farm at the same price now includes all of the farm equipment to hold the line on price. These and others are all signs of things going sideways before they drop.

Please listen to me. If prices kept rising for the next three years at the rate they did the last three years, no one but foreign investors could afford to buy. Thais and expats mostly couldn't buy. Ready, willing and able buyers would dry up. Now what? You know what.

[meatboy]

bought our plots mooban korat[72sq.wah 1mill bht] [93sq.wah 1.4mill bht] one piece of land 200mts from us total 1 rai,14sq.wah 2yrs ago sold for 3mill.bht today after raising the ground up for sale at 6mill.come and get it.

[swissie]

Folks, Us land-owners are on easy street if this keeps going. Just imagine: Economies in Europe and US are stagnating and not that much room for land values to increase. All we have to do is wait for further increases of land values in Thailand and eventually we will all be able to buy a small parcel of land in the mittle of Manhatten.

(I for one have no idea what I would be doing in the mittle of Manhatten though).

But seriously: Does it all not have the makings of a "Bubble" ? If so, how little does it take to make a (real-estate) bubble to burst.

If I remember correctly, such an "act of god" happened in the US in 08-09, and the world economy has not yet recovered from this blow of the century.

Next time, a cross-eyed "Bangkok-Golden-Family" comes around and offers me 400'000 to the Rai. I will probably let them have it. And then I will move to Manhatten. This only after I have looked around in Nakhon Somewhere in Thailand. Chances are, I will drop Manhatten in favour of Nakhon Somewhere.

Cheers.

Don't know if it really is a bubble or not, that big monster to the north keeps growing, even if at a slower pace. They want what Thailand has to sell. Know some Chinese Thais from BKK [ Wife University ] They look at things differently from us and Thais. We look at things as ROI, but they see things in a different light.

As posted before, wife's friend [ family ] spent near on 1 Mil US buying a rubber plantation near Burma, rubber is my game. Said to him you will never see a return on that money, he said, but my children and their children will.

Who knows what tomorrow may bring, but even in the west, bubbles come and go, yet to see the prices drop back to the 50s, things just go up over the cycle. Boom and bust, but prices keep going up over time.

I fear, one day someone will give me an offer to good to refuse, then what. London, Paris or NY, not my cup of tea, getting a bit long in the tooth to start again, or just sit by a pool waiting to die. Jim

As far as the chinese buying mentality is concerned, you just gave a clue, because I noticed that most of the land-buyers from Bangkok seem to be Chinese-Thai.

BUT: After having bought the land, they build Resorts on said land. We now have over a 100 Resorts in the aerea (no printing error!).

Problem is: Exept during holidays, those resorts stand 100% empty. They generate not enough income to allow for decent maintainance and as we know, Thai-Buildings are not made for eternety.

So whoever owns those things must truly have "deep-pockets", otherwise the grandchildren will inherit a pile of rubbish. (And the land of course). At some point some ROI will have to come into play. May the buyer be Chinese or not. I am sure they do expect that the resorts will be profitable within the forseeable future. But the plans of man and mice do not always pan out. Right?

Cheers.

[jamescollister]

Folks, Us land-owners are on easy street if this keeps going. Just imagine: Economies in Europe and US are stagnating and not that much room for land values to increase. All we have to do is wait for further increases of land values in Thailand and eventually we will all be able to buy a small parcel of land in the mittle of Manhatten.

(I for one have no idea what I would be doing in the mittle of Manhatten though).

But seriously: Does it all not have the makings of a "Bubble" ? If so, how little does it take to make a (real-estate) bubble to burst.

If I remember correctly, such an "act of god" happened in the US in 08-09, and the world economy has not yet recovered from this blow of the century.

Next time, a cross-eyed "Bangkok-Golden-Family" comes around and offers me 400'000 to the Rai. I will probably let them have it. And then I will move to Manhatten. This only after I have looked around in Nakhon Somewhere in Thailand. Chances are, I will drop Manhatten in favour of Nakhon Somewhere.

Cheers.

Don't know if it really is a bubble or not, that big monster to the north keeps growing, even if at a slower pace. They want what Thailand has to sell. Know some Chinese Thais from BKK [ Wife University ] They look at things differently from us and Thais. We look at things as ROI, but they see things in a different light.

As posted before, wife's friend [ family ] spent near on 1 Mil US buying a rubber plantation near Burma, rubber is my game. Said to him you will never see a return on that money, he said, but my children and their children will.

Who knows what tomorrow may bring, but even in the west, bubbles come and go, yet to see the prices drop back to the 50s, things just go up over the cycle. Boom and bust, but prices keep going up over time.

I fear, one day someone will give me an offer to good to refuse, then what. London, Paris or NY, not my cup of tea, getting a bit long in the tooth to start again, or just sit by a pool waiting to die. Jim

As far as the chinese buying mentality is concerned, you just gave a clue, because I noticed that most of the land-buyers from Bangkok seem to be Chinese-Thai.

BUT: After having bought the land, they build Resorts on said land. We now have over a 100 Resorts in the aerea (no printing error!).

Problem is: Exept during holidays, those resorts stand 100% empty. They generate not enough income to allow for decent maintainance and as we know, Thai-Buildings are not made for eternety.

So whoever owns those things must truly have "deep-pockets", otherwise the grandchildren will inherit a pile of rubbish. (And the land of course). At some point some ROI will have to come into play. May the buyer be Chinese or not. I am sure they do expect that the resorts will be profitable within the forseeable future. But the plans of man and mice do not always pan out. Right?

Cheers.

Don't know how true this is, but it may explain your resorts.

Was leaving Ubon a few years ago, driving home, asked a Thai friend, no country bumpkin, rick BKK family.

Asked why people were building or had built all these shop houses at the side of the new highway. None seemed occupied and to this day most lay empty.

He said, if you have spare money, you buy land, build something that makes nothing, write the loss off tax wise from your money making businesses. Land values out strip bank interest, and if you sell later the tax on return from the increased land value is much lower than if you had just left the cash in a bank. Seemed logical to me, plus Thais like to own land. Jim

[NeverSure]

Folks, Us land-owners are on easy street if this keeps going. Just imagine: Economies in Europe and US are stagnating and not that much room for land values to increase. All we have to do is wait for further increases of land values in Thailand and eventually we will all be able to buy a small parcel of land in the mittle of Manhatten.

(I for one have no idea what I would be doing in the mittle of Manhatten though).

But seriously: Does it all not have the makings of a "Bubble" ? If so, how little does it take to make a (real-estate) bubble to burst.

If I remember correctly, such an "act of god" happened in the US in 08-09, and the world economy has not yet recovered from this blow of the century.

Next time, a cross-eyed "Bangkok-Golden-Family" comes around and offers me 400'000 to the Rai. I will probably let them have it. And then I will move to Manhatten. This only after I have looked around in Nakhon Somewhere in Thailand. Chances are, I will drop Manhatten in favour of Nakhon Somewhere.

Cheers.

Don't know if it really is a bubble or not, that big monster to the north keeps growing, even if at a slower pace. They want what Thailand has to sell. Know some Chinese Thais from BKK [ Wife University ] They look at things differently from us and Thais. We look at things as ROI, but they see things in a different light.

As posted before, wife's friend [ family ] spent near on 1 Mil US buying a rubber plantation near Burma, rubber is my game. Said to him you will never see a return on that money, he said, but my children and their children will.

Who knows what tomorrow may bring, but even in the west, bubbles come and go, yet to see the prices drop back to the 50s, things just go up over the cycle. Boom and bust, but prices keep going up over time.

I fear, one day someone will give me an offer to good to refuse, then what. London, Paris or NY, not my cup of tea, getting a bit long in the tooth to start again, or just sit by a pool waiting to die. Jim

As far as the chinese buying mentality is concerned, you just gave a clue, because I noticed that most of the land-buyers from Bangkok seem to be Chinese-Thai.

BUT: After having bought the land, they build Resorts on said land. We now have over a 100 Resorts in the aerea (no printing error!).

Problem is: Exept during holidays, those resorts stand 100% empty. They generate not enough income to allow for decent maintainance and as we know, Thai-Buildings are not made for eternety.

So whoever owns those things must truly have "deep-pockets", otherwise the grandchildren will inherit a pile of rubbish. (And the land of course). At some point some ROI will have to come into play. May the buyer be Chinese or not. I am sure they do expect that the resorts will be profitable within the forseeable future. But the plans of man and mice do not always pan out. Right?

Cheers.

Don't know how true this is, but it may explain your resorts.

Was leaving Ubon a few years ago, driving home, asked a Thai friend, no country bumpkin, rick BKK family.

Asked why people were building or had built all these shop houses at the side of the new highway. None seemed occupied and to this day most lay empty.

He said, if you have spare money, you buy land, build something that makes nothing, write the loss off tax wise from your money making businesses. Land values out strip bank interest, and if you sell later the tax on return from the increased land value is much lower than if you had just left the cash in a bank. Seemed logical to me, plus Thais like to own land. Jim

Jim, That's my definition of speculating, not investing. If we buy land, appreciation is really nice if it comes as a bonus. It's equally bad if the price crashes.

But if we get a reasonable return on investment from rents or crops or other in the meantime, then that return as a percentage of the investment almost makes the land value irrelevant after we buy. If I buy a rental property for the income, and the income is 7% per annum of what I paid, then I really wanted the income. If that income continues through land price fluctuations, I'm really not hurt because I can get a decent earning while I wait for land prices to settle down.

But if I buy it only for the speculation that it will go up in price and get no income, it has to stay even or go up or I'm toast. I truly think that too many people are buying only on the speculation of price increases and are getting no return at all to justify the price. This is a recipe for others to stop buying. What is the value of farmland if it isn't for the commodity it can produce? Would I pay 10 million baht for a restaurant that made no money, hoping that the value of restaurants goes up while they make no money? Who would pay more and more for restaurants that make no money? Owning land is so emotional. It feels so good. There is a maximum that someone would pay to feel good.

[meatboy]

maybe its a way of doing you laundry in public.there is a few olivers in thailand.[please sir may i have some more.

[DerkMR]

Time has come to move on also from 14 years here in Issan.. Also thinking about South America somewhere. I have empathy with you guys as I have been in "exile" and will continue for the rest of my years on this planet to be on the move.

From my plans some years ago I looked around Latin America (being fluent in Spanish this was primary target) and there were few possibilities.

Paraguay as comparable cheap, Uruguay as having good medical care and at that time still reasonable prices and that was it - Brazil wasn't in focus because of the language but also had reasonable prices.

As posted before, wife's friend [ family ] spent near on 1 Mil US buying a rubber plantation near Burma, rubber is my game. Said to him you will never see a return on that money, he said, but my children and their children will.

My plans in Thailand are similar.

Building up an income stream for my future wife as I can live from my pension.

So ROI on investment is not primary target, but profit/cash-flow ratio and education what it means to run a business.

If someone offered me a huge price I'd sell, sit back and lick my chops, and wait for it to crash. Then I'd buy it back.

...

When all believe that "everything will keep going up because it has been going up,"

That I wanted do do with a condo in Spain.

Sell and after the drop buy a vintage house with some land.

Unfortunately my parents had an usufruct on the condo and my father was from the "going up" people.

So in the meantime I just gave the condo back to my parents, now valued at around 50% of what would have been possible at peak sales price.

Bye,

Derk

[swissie]

Folks, Us land-owners are on easy street if this keeps going. Just imagine: Economies in Europe and US are stagnating and not that much room for land values to increase. All we have to do is wait for further increases of land values in Thailand and eventually we will all be able to buy a small parcel of land in the mittle of Manhatten.

(I for one have no idea what I would be doing in the mittle of Manhatten though).

But seriously: Does it all not have the makings of a "Bubble" ? If so, how little does it take to make a (real-estate) bubble to burst.

If I remember correctly, such an "act of god" happened in the US in 08-09, and the world economy has not yet recovered from this blow of the century.

Next time, a cross-eyed "Bangkok-Golden-Family" comes around and offers me 400'000 to the Rai. I will probably let them have it. And then I will move to Manhatten. This only after I have looked around in Nakhon Somewhere in Thailand. Chances are, I will drop Manhatten in favour of Nakhon Somewhere.

Cheers.

Don't know if it really is a bubble or not, that big monster to the north keeps growing, even if at a slower pace. They want what Thailand has to sell. Know some Chinese Thais from BKK [ Wife University ] They look at things differently from us and Thais. We look at things as ROI, but they see things in a different light.

As posted before, wife's friend [ family ] spent near on 1 Mil US buying a rubber plantation near Burma, rubber is my game. Said to him you will never see a return on that money, he said, but my children and their children will.

Who knows what tomorrow may bring, but even in the west, bubbles come and go, yet to see the prices drop back to the 50s, things just go up over the cycle. Boom and bust, but prices keep going up over time.

I fear, one day someone will give me an offer to good to refuse, then what. London, Paris or NY, not my cup of tea, getting a bit long in the tooth to start again, or just sit by a pool waiting to die. Jim

As far as the chinese buying mentality is concerned, you just gave a clue, because I noticed that most of the land-buyers from Bangkok seem to be Chinese-Thai.

BUT: After having bought the land, they build Resorts on said land. We now have over a 100 Resorts in the aerea (no printing error!).

Problem is: Exept during holidays, those resorts stand 100% empty. They generate not enough income to allow for decent maintainance and as we know, Thai-Buildings are not made for eternety.

So whoever owns those things must truly have "deep-pockets", otherwise the grandchildren will inherit a pile of rubbish. (And the land of course). At some point some ROI will have to come into play. May the buyer be Chinese or not. I am sure they do expect that the resorts will be profitable within the forseeable future. But the plans of man and mice do not always pan out. Right?

Cheers.

Don't know how true this is, but it may explain your resorts.

Was leaving Ubon a few years ago, driving home, asked a Thai friend, no country bumpkin, rick BKK family.

Asked why people were building or had built all these shop houses at the side of the new highway. None seemed occupied and to this day most lay empty.

He said, if you have spare money, you buy land, build something that makes nothing, write the loss off tax wise from your money making businesses. Land values out strip bank interest, and if you sell later the tax on return from the increased land value is much lower than if you had just left the cash in a bank. Seemed logical to me, plus Thais like to own land. Jim

If a writeoff aginst other profitable business (tax-aspect) comes into play, this would explain the onegoing madness. Market forces (supply and demand) are under such circumstances no more relevant.

Only sorry for traditional Rice-Growing-Families that will succumb to this one-time-windfall profit and sell out. Only to find out after a few short years, that the "windfall-profit" has gone and so has their land. And then what?

Some more proletarians scraping by in Bangkok from a day to day basis?

Cheers.

[jamescollister]

Swissis,That is how the west was made, get the people off their land and into the factories where they are meant to be. Teach them that the most important thing in life is the latest mobile phone, wide screen TV, car. Loan them money, loan their kids money as in student loans.

One day you own them from birth to death, slavery hasn't gone, just changed from one owner to being own by banks and financial institutions. You sign on the dotted line that you will work for them, for the rest of your life. Jim

[cardholder]

JC I often see you refer to retiring to a villa in the med and know what you mean. For many years it was my stamping ground and I love it still although many of the places I knew are now comercialised. Had my own sail boat and lots of friends with villas where I could put my feet up anytime. In the eighties it was the most wonderful place I have ever called home but like you cannot afford to settle there now.

Things are always better in the memory than the reality, but spent some magic time on in the Greek islands.

If I went back today would probably be saddened by the change. Well no doubt see out the rest of my days in a jungle village here.

Yet money gives freedom and even though have a wife and 2 young kids, the urge to explore and see new places still beats in my heart. jim

As I have said many times; home is where the heart is - be it UK, Greek Islands, Benidorm or Isaan.

[swissie]

Swissis,That is how the west was made, get the people off their land and into the factories where they are meant to be. Teach them that the most important thing in life is the latest mobile phone, wide screen TV, car. Loan them money, loan their kids money as in student loans.

One day you own them from birth to death, slavery hasn't gone, just changed from one owner to being own by banks and financial institutions. You sign on the dotted line that you will work for them, for the rest of your life. Jim

Amen Jim. You just said it all. Nothing to add or correct. Cheers.

[cdmtdm]

lets not forget the state of the world economy, i will never forget my grandfather telling me of his time surviving the great depression , if u have land u can at least feed your family from home grown produce ... the rest when it is crunch time is ancillary ... and it is coming the clock is ticking , denial will not fix this ... every economy on the planet will see the mother of all corrections and until that happens we will not see the end of this ... lets be thankful we have land a roof over our heads and family around us ......i say hold onto the land and begin planning to be self sufficient ....

[jamescollister]

lets not forget the state of the world economy, i will never forget my grandfather telling me of his time surviving the great depression , if u have land u can at least feed your family from home grown produce ... the rest when it is crunch time is ancillary ... and it is coming the clock is ticking , denial will not fix this ... every economy on the planet will see the mother of all corrections and until that happens we will not see the end of this ... lets be thankful we have land a roof over our heads and family around us ......i say hold onto the land and begin planning to be self sufficient ....

Don't think the whole system would be allowed to implode. Those who rule [ not the Governments ] would never allow it.

Yet some will fall by the wayside, countries will go broke, people will go hungry, but the world will turn.

On an individual / family level, their, our, world can implode.

I live by world commodity prices, rubber. That dictates whether it's meat or frogs, potatoes or rice, nice car or on foot.

After having kids have become a bit of belt and braces man. We do very good when things are good, but after 2008/9, leaned, if things go bad they can go very bad.

Set off on a diversity plan to avoid starvation, if it all fell apart here. we would not go hungry. Land is life and I would rather sit out a collapse of the world economy here on the farm, than some big city.

Jim