Older Americans repatriating to the USA -- where is good?

[Jingthing]

I don't think most of us are living in super cheap housing in Thailand.

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[NeverSure]

OK, we all know that there are very expensive places to live in the US. A returning expat on a budget isn't going to those places. Rent will always be higher in the US than in Thailand, but there a many places where it is far more reasonable.

What you really should do is buy a home in an affordable area. This is right next door to Dallas Texas. It needs cleanup. Put $8,000 down and your payments would be about $500 per month including taxes and insurance. HERE

THAT'S what an American can't do in LOS. (you get the land with it too, 555)

[Jingthing]

I agree at least for now there are US affordable housing options for purchase in non prime areas. With the 125k from the sale of my place in Thailand I could definitely buy something OK in a car needed place.

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[NeverSure]

I agree at least for now there are US affordable housing options for purchase in non prime areas. With the 125k from the sale of my place in Thailand I could definitely buy something OK in a car needed place.

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You could pay cash for the house and a new car and have $25K left in your pocket.

Some homeowners on a budget rent rooms in their houses. You could rent the 2 spare bedrooms and the renters would share the second bath. They would have access to your washer and dryer and share the kitchen. You would get the master bedroom with its own bath and walk-in closet.

They would pay about $450 a month each which is dirt cheap considering that includes all of their utilities including high speed internet and cable TV. Many people on a budget are renting that way. You woud collect $900 a month from them and live in your own house free and put the change in your pocket..

You are allowed to advertise that the house is gay friendly.

There is always a way.

Edited May 7, 2014 by NeverSure

[thailiketoo]

OK, we all know that there are very expensive places to live in the US. A returning expat on a budget isn't going to those places. Rent will always be higher in the US than in Thailand, but there a many places where it is far more reasonable.

What you really should do is buy a home in an affordable area. This is right next door to Dallas Texas. It needs cleanup. Put $8,000 down and your payments would be about $500 per month including taxes and insurance. HERE

THAT'S what an American can't do in LOS. (you get the land with it too, 555)

Why would a retired male care about buying or owning land? It's like a car. Why would an old guy want a car when he is too old to drive? Why would an old guy want to buy when He'll be too dead to see the eventual profit?

Old guys do the reverse mortgage stuff not the new mortgage. $500 a month in Thailand gets one a 2 bdr ocean view condo. Or a one bedroom condo away from the ocean with live in maid and ........

How about entertainment? Rick's Cabaret (my old Texas hangout) is 30,000 baht for a bottle of Dom and 2000 baht for a table dance!

Edited May 7, 2014 by thailiketoo

[NeverSure]

I agree at least for now there are US affordable housing options for purchase in non prime areas. With the 125k from the sale of my place in Thailand I could definitely buy something OK in a car needed place.

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I'm not willing to agree that it's a non-prime area. Crazy places like San Francisco have had rent price controls in place for years. The problem is that few will build apartments with that rule so you wind up with a massive shortage and prices actually wind up much higher. Idiots. If you want low rents, encourage the building of lots of new apartments and let the landlords compete for renters.

That house I linked is only about 10 miles from downtown Dallas. The Dallas metropolitan area has a population of about 6 million people. Fort Worth which is part of that was ranked #1 in some list posted earlier. There is nothing you can't find in the Dallas area with that many people. Dallas Cowboys football? Top flight medical care at Baylor Medical University and teaching hospital? You name it and among 6 million people you'll find it.

Yet if you live in the suburbs you are surrounded by Great Plains farmland and you can find a rural lifestyle if you want it.

[IAMSOBAD]

Another great thread JT.

Many of us seem homesick.

[NeverSure]

OK, we all know that there are very expensive places to live in the US. A returning expat on a budget isn't going to those places. Rent will always be higher in the US than in Thailand, but there a many places where it is far more reasonable.

What you really should do is buy a home in an affordable area. This is right next door to Dallas Texas. It needs cleanup. Put $8,000 down and your payments would be about $500 per month including taxes and insurance. HERE

THAT'S what an American can't do in LOS. (you get the land with it too, 555)

Why would a retired male care about buying or owning land? It's like a car. Why would an old guy want a car when he is too old to drive? Why would an old guy want to buy when He'll be too dead to see the eventual profit?

Old guys do the reverse mortgage stuff not the new mortgage. $500 a month in Thailand gets one a 2 bdr ocean view condo. Or a one bedroom condo away from the ocean with live in maid and ........

How about entertainment? Rick's Cabaret (my old Texas hangout) is 30,000 baht for a bottle of Dom and 2000 baht for a table dance!

I'm not that old. I still run around all over the place and enjoy life.

Wine is dirt cheap in the US as are cars. Of course you can always buy a Rolls Canardly if you have money to burn, but you sure as hell don't have to pay $1,000 for a bottle of good wine.

[Jingthing]

I would buy when older for housing security. Who wants to be at the mercy of a landlord when you're a geezer? You could still do a reverse mortgage if you buy with cash.

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[fiddlehead]

Good list.

I've been to about all those places. (except the one in AL)

I'm more happy in the sticks but from that list, I'd have to say Sedona.
Sedona is full of old people.
There are no kids around.
Beautiful scenery, great walks. fairly warm climate.

Southeast US is too much bible belt for me.

And Florida has much to high of a crime rate for me.
Hard drugs, robberies, murders. Not for me.

If you don't mind a little cold, South Dakota is wonderful. Someone mentioned Bellingham WA. That's an awesome town with front yards, traffic circles instead of red lights. I love it.

AZ has the most variety.
You want mountains, you don't have to go far.
You want desert, it's probably closer.

Big city

Navajo land

Grand Canyon

Close to Vegas and CA

Close to Mexico and cheap beaches.

Many places in CA are awesome too.
Especially northern CA.

But expensive.
My brother lives in Tahoe and I visited him last year.
What a beautiful place.

Anything north of SF is quiet and much of it very beautiful.
Doesn't rain much either. (not enough as a matter of fact)

OR and WA also great but expensive.

Anyway, just stay out of the middle states, bible belt, most of Texas (too much attitude there), and hard desert (NV)

And although Maine is "the way life should be", a winter there can be brutal.
I lived through one in 1989-90 and I can understand why the Swedes and Norwegians come here for the winter.

[NeverSure]

I would buy when older for housing security. Who wants to be at the mercy of a landlord when you're a geezer? You could still do a reverse mortgage if you buy with cash.

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You can actually buy with a reverse mortgage if you're at least 62. The older you are the higher percentage they will loan. But someone in his 60's could put 1/2 down and get the rest as a reverse mortagage and never have to make a payment.

That doesn't work for me because I want to own something outright, and not have interest accruing against my home until I don't really own anything.

It's also the pits if you want to move. IMHO a reverse mortgage should be taken out only by someone who intends to live in that house the rest of his life.

But it is an option for those on a budget.

[thailiketoo]

OK, we all know that there are very expensive places to live in the US. A returning expat on a budget isn't going to those places. Rent will always be higher in the US than in Thailand, but there a many places where it is far more reasonable.

What you really should do is buy a home in an affordable area. This is right next door to Dallas Texas. It needs cleanup. Put $8,000 down and your payments would be about $500 per month including taxes and insurance. HERE

THAT'S what an American can't do in LOS. (you get the land with it too, 555)

Why would a retired male care about buying or owning land? It's like a car. Why would an old guy want a car when he is too old to drive? Why would an old guy want to buy when He'll be too dead to see the eventual profit?

Old guys do the reverse mortgage stuff not the new mortgage. $500 a month in Thailand gets one a 2 bdr ocean view condo. Or a one bedroom condo away from the ocean with live in maid and ........

How about entertainment? Rick's Cabaret (my old Texas hangout) is 30,000 baht for a bottle of Dom and 2000 baht for a table dance!

I'm not that old. I still run around all over the place and enjoy life.

Wine is dirt cheap in the US as are cars. Of course you can always buy a Rolls Canardly if you have money to burn, but you sure as hell don't have to pay $1,000 for a bottle of good wine.

For the price of a bottle of Dom at Rick's I could rent out the entire club with all the dancers in Thailand.

You don't have to pay $1,000 for a bottle of good wine in Thailand. That is being ill informed. http://www.wineconnection.co.th/our_stores.aspx

Most old guys I know would not drive if given a choice and in Thailand unlike the USA you don't have to. I can rent a car and driver for $90 a day in Bangkok and outside of a big city half that. Or monthly much less per day.

Van transportation is $1 per 20 miles. Air conditioned Bus transportation half of that or less.

The only time you are better off in the USA is a life threatening complicated illness. Simple things that kill most of us are cheap to treat in Thailand and without waiting. My mother died of old age. My father died of old age. My grandfather died of old age as did my grandmother.

[thailiketoo]

I would buy when older for housing security. Who wants to be at the mercy of a landlord when you're a geezer? You could still do a reverse mortgage if you buy with cash.

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The reverse is actually true. Neighbors loud? Crack house opens across the street? The police shoot your dog? If you rent you can move. If you buy you are stuck with the house. Why oh why does everyone in Thailand say rent, women, housing ....... You can buy a condo in Thailand but why oh why? You have to be........

[jellydog]

OK, we all know that there are very expensive places to live in the US. A returning expat on a budget isn't going to those places. Rent will always be higher in the US than in Thailand, but there a many places where it is far more reasonable.

What you really should do is buy a home in an affordable area. This is right next door to Dallas Texas. It needs cleanup. Put $8,000 down and your payments would be about $500 per month including taxes and insurance. HERE

THAT'S what an American can't do in LOS. (you get the land with it too, 555)

Why would a retired male care about buying or owning land? It's like a car. Why would an old guy want a car when he is too old to drive? Why would an old guy want to buy when He'll be too dead to see the eventual profit?

Old guys do the reverse mortgage stuff not the new mortgage. $500 a month in Thailand gets one a 2 bdr ocean view condo. Or a one bedroom condo away from the ocean with live in maid and ........

How about entertainment? Rick's Cabaret (my old Texas hangout) is 30,000 baht for a bottle of Dom and 2000 baht for a table dance!

Didn't think I'd see a reference to Rick's in this thread.

[thailiketoo]

OK, we all know that there are very expensive places to live in the US. A returning expat on a budget isn't going to those places. Rent will always be higher in the US than in Thailand, but there a many places where it is far more reasonable.

What you really should do is buy a home in an affordable area. This is right next door to Dallas Texas. It needs cleanup. Put $8,000 down and your payments would be about $500 per month including taxes and insurance. HERE

THAT'S what an American can't do in LOS. (you get the land with it too, 555)

Why would a retired male care about buying or owning land? It's like a car. Why would an old guy want a car when he is too old to drive? Why would an old guy want to buy when He'll be too dead to see the eventual profit?

Old guys do the reverse mortgage stuff not the new mortgage. $500 a month in Thailand gets one a 2 bdr ocean view condo. Or a one bedroom condo away from the ocean with live in maid and ........

How about entertainment? Rick's Cabaret (my old Texas hangout) is 30,000 baht for a bottle of Dom and 2000 baht for a table dance!

Didn't think I'd see a reference to Rick's in this thread.

Rick's is quite a place. Rick's charges employees to work there. And they say Thailand exploits workers,

[jellydog]

OK, we all know that there are very expensive places to live in the US. A returning expat on a budget isn't going to those places. Rent will always be higher in the US than in Thailand, but there a many places where it is far more reasonable.

What you really should do is buy a home in an affordable area. This is right next door to Dallas Texas. It needs cleanup. Put $8,000 down and your payments would be about $500 per month including taxes and insurance. HERE

THAT'S what an American can't do in LOS. (you get the land with it too, 555)

Why would a retired male care about buying or owning land? It's like a car. Why would an old guy want a car when he is too old to drive? Why would an old guy want to buy when He'll be too dead to see the eventual profit?

Old guys do the reverse mortgage stuff not the new mortgage. $500 a month in Thailand gets one a 2 bdr ocean view condo. Or a one bedroom condo away from the ocean with live in maid and ........

How about entertainment? Rick's Cabaret (my old Texas hangout) is 30,000 baht for a bottle of Dom and 2000 baht for a table dance!

Didn't think I'd see a reference to Rick's in this thread.

Rick's is quite a place. Rick's charges employees to work there. And they say Thailand exploits workers,

If I was an 18 year old busboy I'd pay to work there.

[CWMcMurray]

I would buy when older for housing security. Who wants to be at the mercy of a landlord when you're a geezer? You could still do a reverse mortgage if you buy with cash.

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Rather than renting out a room... You can always buy a duplex/triplex/four plex

You can then have a place to live and rent out the other unit(s) for some extra cash to supplement

The below is a good website to search the market... Lots of properties in the 50-100k range in a number of cities/states

http://www.loopnet.com/forsale/more/?LinkCode=19580

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[Jingthing]

I agree at least for now there are US affordable housing options for purchase in non prime areas. With the 125k from the sale of my place in Thailand I could definitely buy something OK in a car needed place.

Sent from my Lenovo S820_ROW using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

I'm not willing to agree that it's a non-prime area. Crazy places like San Francisco have had rent price controls in place for years. The problem is that few will build apartments with that rule so you wind up with a massive shortage and prices actually wind up much higher. Idiots. If you want low rents, encourage the building of lots of new apartments and let the landlords compete for renters.

That house I linked is only about 10 miles from downtown Dallas. The Dallas metropolitan area has a population of about 6 million people. Fort Worth which is part of that was ranked #1 in some list posted earlier. There is nothing you can't find in the Dallas area with that many people. Dallas Cowboys football? Top flight medical care at Baylor Medical University and teaching hospital? You name it and among 6 million people you'll find it.

Yet if you live in the suburbs you are surrounded by Great Plains farmland and you can find a rural lifestyle if you want it.

Prime area is measurable.

How much is a parking space in a good area of Manhattan?

That's objectively a prime area.

For the same money you can buy a fantastic and large house in the suburbs of a number of moderate sized cities.

Nice places to live.

Not prime real estate.

[Amavel]

Detroit. Cheap property and it can't get any worse.

[Jingthing]

Detroit. Cheap property and it can't get any worse.

As long as we're talking last resorts ...

Hey, talk about DOWNSIZING!

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_eye/2014/05/07/a_new_memoir_about_living_small_the_big_tiny_by_dee_williams_published_by.html

Edited May 7, 2014 by Jingthing

[NeverSure]

Detroit. Cheap property and it can't get any worse.

Becoming a hub of "middle eastern" people with burkas and turbins. Bitter cold winters. High taxes.

Massive urban blight and "white flight." LINK

In 1980 there were 300,000 union auto workers in Detroit. Today there are fewer than 30,000.

Detroit filed for bankruptcy but it didn't solve its ills. California is probably next. LINK

TEXAS has a balanced budget!! LINK

[thailiketoo]

Thailand has three big advantages. 1. You don't have to buy a house. 2. You don't have to buy a car. 3. You don't need a long term relationship with a woman.

So when comparing places to Thailand what are the things to compare? 1. Rent. 2. public transportation. 3. Availability of short term companions.

Edited May 8, 2014 by thailiketoo

[KonaRain]

I saw Hawaii on the 'I don't want to leave list of States'. Kona is a Prime area, its just cheaper up on the Hill..sometimes, of course it can be more expensive up country! Anyway I'm on a laptop, so I'll put of a pic everyday of this Magic Island..Hawaii Island.. alohz

[KonaRain]

I saw Hawaii on the 'I don't want to leave list of States'. Kona is a Prime area, its just cheaper up on the Hill..sometimes, of course it can be more expensive up country! Anyway I'm on a laptop, so I'll put of a pic everyday of this Magic Island..Hawaii Island.. alohz

by the way, the Surf photo is from across the channel on Maui, we don't (want to) get Waves like that!

Edited May 8, 2014 by KonaRain

[KonaRain]

Looking at other posts: I learned to use the quote on my android! San Francisco is having a bidding war..Some Apts. are $8,000 dollars! Landlords should not evict tenants, so younger people can move in, and $$ the rent.. You wouldn't want to go there..!

Here's an image of my mountain road at 3,000 ft. Kaloko, Kona, County of Hawaii..

Edited May 8, 2014 by KonaRain

[craigt3365]

Very interesting thread, JT! And great job of moderation.

I stumbled onto this the other day and just got around to perusing the thread. Lots of great info guys! Especially the health care part. That's what worries me about living here. Unless you've had insurance for many years with a particular company here, some give you the boot after a certain age. Or make the price sky high. And for those who have read the horror stories here, bills of several million baht and more are common.

I'm almost 57 and am starting to look into places other than Thailand. The US pops up for a variety of reasons. But I'm on a budget, so no townhouse in SF for me. I did meet a member here a few years ago who lives 2 blocks from the beach in San Diego and pays 1,200 per month. I lived in SD for 12 years. Traffic is horrible there now and the Gas Lamp quarter is too touristy. And pricey. Not real impressed with the rest of downtown. Water is very cold if you like to swim and winters are a bit chilly also, especially if you are near the beach. Inland gets super hot in the summers. The beach area gets jammed during the summer and finding parking spaces is impossible...or very expensive.

I think I'd like Seattle, but couldn't deal with the weather. My best friend from college moved there and is now regretting it. He lived in SoCal for 30 years.

I've been looking at a few things. One is RV'ing, but not full time. Maybe have a small apartment in a warm place (FL, AZ, NM, etc) and RV during the summers. All these places are just too hot during the summer. Fantastic during the winters. Sorry, but I couldn't take most of the South. My good friend lives in Gulf Shores, AL. They just moved to AZ after 10 years there. Said they got tired of the "Bubba" factor. They are atheists also. Not a good match in that part of the US.

The nice thing is you can cruise around easily and have your home with you. Easy to do up until you approach 70 or so. Summers in the Pacific NW are fantastic. In October, head south as the heat wave has broken.

Another is house sitting. I've been researching this extensively. Just saw a house sitting ad for 1 year in suburban DC. I've seen many others like this also. You have to be good with pets, but that's not too hard. Also been seeing a lot of ads for people to keep up houses while they are for sale. If you don't mind being a bit mobile, this could give you an opportunity to really explore different parts of the US. And the world.

[craigt3365]

Regarding costs, a lot of things are cheaper in the US than here. Housing can be cheap. Especially if you compare apples to apples. Hard to compare a small box condo here at 10k Baht a month to a condo near the beach in San Diego. In the small city my Mom moved from, outside Vegas, you can rent a really nice house for $500 a month. $1k gives you a big 3BR/3BA house with a huge yard. Even in Vegas, you can get a really nice condo in a nice part of town for $700 a month.

Another option is over 55 places. Some are stick built houses, some are manufactured homes. Some are really nice. And many are quite cheap, and have pool tables, tennis courts, onsite restaurants, game rooms, etc. When we were RV'ing a few years ago, we'd stay at some places like this that had RV spots for rent. It wasn't too bad.

[KonaRain]

Hawaii Island..[ I know.. broken record] bring your own girl.. Filipino, Thai etc.

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[Jingthing]

Opportunity Knocks!

You know there has GOT to be some cheap real estate offer in these places:

10 most miserable cities in America

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/10-most-miserable-cities-in-america-2014-05-07

Edited May 9, 2014 by Jingthing

[bikerlou47]

Just to reply in general to this thread I lived in NY and Florida for over 50 years in my opinion if you are on a limited budget I doubt if you can find a place that has what Thailand can offer. The are only 2 reasons I can see to move to the USA one is quality of health care especially if you have Medicare and the other is if you have young children you have better school choices!

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