Phitsanulok (Surrounding Areas) - Land Prices? Schools? Expats?

[BTM]

Hi, Im an Aussie expat who has been in Phuket for the last 15 years and I have a wife and 3 kids..

My family and I are wanting a major life change and we want to find some part of Thailand where we can relocate to that has mountains, rivers, waterfalls and a colder climate (at least a couple months of the year).

We are thinking of Chiang Mai, but the air quality from the burn offs is a major turn off, so we are searching for other ideas.

We are hoping someone here might have a finger on the pulse in the Phitsanulok or surrounding areas.

The wish list is:

3 Rai on a mountain with maybe a stream or river running along the boundary for around 100k a rai.

Im looking for land with at least a Nor Sor 3 title if possible for that price... The budget can stretch a little, but Im looking for land in remoter areas with a view to build a bamboo/ adobe style resort, so I feel there should be land in that price range.. I could be mistaken, advice more than welcome..

We as a family, will do most of the work ourselves and take our time over the next couple of years.. We are a looking for a relaxed lifestyle to be with our kids away from the city life, but we will need an income later on down the track..

The land wish list:

3 Rai with title (prefer Nor Sor 3 or Nor Sor 3 Gor as its usually a tad larger than what the paper says)

Land not more than 5kms off a main road

Primary School within 30 mins off the land

Town should be within 30 mins of the land

3G coverage is a must as I will be working online a little.

Please let me know what you think is possible and any info is much appreciated..

We are aware of foreign ownership rules and my wife and kids are Thai.

Any real estate agents, websites or helpfull expats that can point us the right direction would be a great help.

Thanks.

Edited January 21, 2013 by BTM

[fredob43]

Big list. Most unavailable.

Off the beaten track 'electric, water, ???' near a school and town with 3g internet (you would be lucky to get a dongle to work 5km out of town) and all for about 100k a rai N/B there are no estate agent's I know of this is not Phuket or Pattaya. I think your best bet would be to come for a holiday and have a look around to see what's available. You are right on the C/M smog bit but some of the thing's you require might be more gettable there but not in your price range, other's might know more than I do let's see. N/B There might be something between Pitso & Phetchabun, Hot summer, very cold winter. Best of luck.

Edited January 21, 2013 by fredob43

[ajahnlau]

Big list. Most unavailable.

Off the beaten track 'electric, water, ???' near a school and town with 3g internet (you would be lucky to get a dongle to work 5km out of town) and all for about 100k a rai N/B there are no estate agent's I know of this is not Phuket or Pattaya. I think your best bet would be to come for a holiday and have a look around to see what's available. You are right on the C/M smog bit but some of the thing's you require might be more gettable there but not in your price range, other's might know more than I do let's see. N/B There might be something between Pitso & Phetchabun, Hot summer, very cold winter. Best of luck.

Biggest problem in op's post will be 100k@rai. Edited January 21, 2013 by ajahnlau

[BTM]

Big list. Most unavailable.

Off the beaten track 'electric, water, ???' near a school and town with 3g internet (you would be lucky to get a dongle to work 5km out of town) and all for about 100k a rai N/B there are no estate agent's I know of this is not Phuket or Pattaya. I think your best bet would be to come for a holiday and have a look around to see what's available. You are right on the C/M smog bit but some of the thing's you require might be more gettable there but not in your price range, other's might know more than I do let's see. N/B There might be something between Pitso & Phetchabun, Hot summer, very cold winter. Best of luck.

Yes we will take a month road trip to find something.. Electricity and water connections are not at the top of the list.. We want to be off the grid and we have our own ideas on that side of things.

"something between Pitso & Phetchabun" would be what we are looking for.. off the beaten track is exactly what we want... The 3g side of things I will have to rethink.. I have no idea what coverage is available throughout Thailand.. Im coming from a 15mb 3bb connection, so Ive obviously got a lot to study before the move.

I still think 100k a rai is possible. I have bought land for 20k a Rai (titled) in Nakhon Si Thammarat and thats only 40 minutes to the main city center and only 5kms to a busy town.. Anyway, I guess I will find out when we get on the road.... I would of stayed on at my place in Nakhon, but its just to hot to be outside in the day time..

Thanks for your thoughts.. appreciated..

BTW.. What is the price of land in the areas Im looking at? thanks

Edited January 22, 2013 by BTM

[Route21]

Big list. Most unavailable.

Off the beaten track 'electric, water, ???' near a school and town with 3g internet (you would be lucky to get a dongle to work 5km out of town) and all for about 100k a rai N/B there are no estate agent's I know of this is not Phuket or Pattaya. I think your best bet would be to come for a holiday and have a look around to see what's available. You are right on the C/M smog bit but some of the thing's you require might be more gettable there but not in your price range, other's might know more than I do let's see. N/B There might be something between Pitso & Phetchabun, Hot summer, very cold winter. Best of luck.

...........

I still think 100k a rai is possible. I have bought land for 20k a Rai (titled) in Nakhon Si Thammarat and thats only 40 minutes to the main city center and only 5kms to a busy town.. Anyway, I guess I will find out when we get on the road.... I would of stayed on at my place in Nakhon, but its just to hot to be outside in the day time..

Thanks for your thoughts.. appreciated..

BTW.. What is the price of land in the areas Im looking at? thanks

We have around 8 rai behind our place on the 21, less than 30 mins south of Phetchabun, with external concrete road access down the full length but, based on the very recently sold plot next door, with access only from the 21, prices are more like 400-500k/rai!

Regards

R21

[chrgrims]

close to me (chondaen), you can get some land at 50-100k per rai, but its a bit from the main road.

[BTM]

thanks for the info so far.... We might stay closer to home if what we want is not available in this area... high speed internet is a must and the more I research the more Im thinking to cross this off the list... Early days in our search, so thanks for the info and time given in replies... appreciated..

[hopdafru]

thanks for the info so far.... We might stay closer to home if what we want is not available in this area... high speed internet is a must and the more I research the more Im thinking to cross this off the list... Early days in our search, so thanks for the info and time given in replies... appreciated..

You can get an external antennae which you plug onto the USB dongle (get one with antennae connector) and it will highly improve signal - up to several kilometers. available for both CAT telecom and GSM 3G - make sure antennae is designed for the appropriate frequency.

Ask the internet provider for info, equipment cost is 2-3k thb range if I remember correctly.

[fredob43]

thanks for the info so far.... We might stay closer to home if what we want is not available in this area... high speed internet is a must and the more I research the more Im thinking to cross this off the list... Early days in our search, so thanks for the info and time given in replies... appreciated..

You can get an external antennae which you plug onto the USB dongle (get one with antennae connector) and it will highly improve signal - up to several kilometers. available for both CAT telecom and GSM 3G - make sure antennae is designed for the appropriate frequency.

Ask the internet provider for info, equipment cost is 2-3k thb range if I remember correctly.

I get around 6mb and that's the best I can get in K.P.Phet and it's though a TOT land line 2/3 km out side of K.P.Phet you cant get a land line not at any price. Have a friend 4 km west of Phetabun has got a land line but it's a party one so if the other peep's is using the internet he get's bugger all signal great A. Back wood's you had better believe it.

[Route21]

I get around 6mb and that's the best I can get in K.P.Phet and it's though a TOT land line 2/3 km out side of K.P.Phet you cant get a land line not at any price. Have a friend 4 km west of Phetabun has got a land line but it's a party one so if the other peep's is using the internet he get's bugger all signal great A. Back wood's you had better believe it.

I'd love the reliabilty(?) of a landline but were told they need 10 people to sign up for one before they'll consider running one. We were No. 3 at the time, but the longer it drags on, the more people like us will opt for smart mobile devices and be less open to landlines.

We were also offered an exclusive line-of-sight microwave link, on an ugly mast, to peer at their mast over tall local trees, for 50k baht. The electric people were also looking to us for funding a new 180k baht transformer for their projected future needs in the area. We declined both!

R21

[fredob43]

I get around 6mb and that's the best I can get in K.P.Phet and it's though a TOT land line 2/3 km out side of K.P.Phet you cant get a land line not at any price. Have a friend 4 km west of Phetabun has got a land line but it's a party one so if the other peep's is using the internet he get's bugger all signal great A. Back wood's you had better believe it.

I'd love the reliabilty(?) of a landline but were told they need 10 people to sign up for one before they'll consider running one. We were No. 3 at the time, but the longer it drags on, the more people like us will opt for smart mobile devices and be less open to landlines.

We were also offered an exclusive line-of-sight microwave link, on an ugly mast, to peer at their mast over tall local trees, for 50k baht. The electric people were also looking to us for funding a new 180k baht transformer for their projected future needs in the area. We declined both!

R21

3 G now there's a thought they have only just started to issue 3g licences in Thailand more than likely several year's before we can get it up here. Regarding TOT connection's have two friend's who live less than 300mt away from each other just outside K.P.Phet one can get a TOT line (keep's going down) and the other has been refused why well it seems that it's because his house believe it or not is on the wrong side of the road.

Reliability has all but once been great it went down for two day's during the flood's but I can put up with that. N/B they TOT do offer a 9mb set up tried it at first but never got more than 6,5 switched to their 6mb cheaper set up 700bt a month including the line rental and still get most day's 6.2 They also do a 12mb but only available in BKK so it look's like the OP wish for 15mb and 3bb +++ is a long way off.

I started off a few year's ago with a dongle 'had to wait for the TOT line to be put in' better than nothing but most day's I was lucky to get 2mb every 30 min: or so it lost connection TIT.

I think the Op might want to reconsider his plan's 5km off the beaten track no water/electric/internet sound's great if your into camping.

[Route21]

Hi fred!

We had a similar situation when we bought our land in 2004. Our next door neighbour had a public phone box outside, but our friend, just on the other side of the 21 needed a microwave link for his housephone/internet. In time, the phone box and the payphone at the noodle shop were removed. Now there's no phone line on our side of the 21 - a major dual carriageway from Saraburi to Phetchabun/Lom Sak.

We need 10 people to sign up for a landline before they'll consider it - and we're no. 3 on their list.

We similarly started off with dongles 2 years ago when living with inlaw's out in the sticks. Signal was only available upstairs. Better now that we've moved into our own place on the 21, but still patchy on the laptop's dongle.

It's even better now, relatively speaking, as we're now both using smartphones for the I/net. Not sure what our connection speed is - still getting to grips with all the new-found facilities!

I currently pay AIS 799 baht + vat/month. My wife, who uses hers primarily for posting on her Facebook page, is now trying out a cheaper package with DTAC.

Regards

R21

[fredob43]

Hi fred!

We had a similar situation when we bought our land in 2004. Our next door neighbour had a public phone box outside, but our friend, just on the other side of the 21 needed a microwave link for his housephone/internet. In time, the phone box and the payphone at the noodle shop were removed. Now there's no phone line on our side of the 21 - a major dual carriageway from Saraburi to Phetchabun/Lom Sak.

We need 10 people to sign up for a landline before they'll consider it - and we're no. 3 on their list.

We similarly started off with dongles 2 years ago when living with inlaw's out in the sticks. Signal was only available upstairs. Better now that we've moved into our own place on the 21, but still patchy on the laptop's dongle.

It's even better now, relatively speaking, as we're now both using smartphones for the I/net. Not sure what our connection speed is - still getting to grips with all the new-found facilities!

I currently pay AIS 799 baht + vat/month. My wife, who uses hers primarily for posting on her Facebook page, is now trying out a cheaper package with DTAC.

Regards

R21

I think I paid about 400bt for my AIS set up. You can check your speed via Thai Visa click on their more tag and then on speed check.

As I said even getting something simple like a line put in is an impossibility hope the OP has better luck but cant see it. Regard's Fred.