Buying Land

[manjara]

Be wary sunshine...her reaction seems suspicious !! You cannot ever get this money back you know !!! If yo ubuy it for her there will be a myriad of things that pop up and hard cash coming back to you ...haha ! I smell a rat here !

I've seen the quote "Don't put into Thailand what you can't afford to lose!" many times, and I think it applies here.

If you can easily afford to buy the land for your GF, and you would like to trust her, then I would say give her the money and tell her to buy whatever land she likes, or not buy the land and keep the money.

Personally I always tell my wife, when she comes up with these things, is that it's her money. Buy what you like, but your spending your money.

My view is that Thai women have an unrealistic expectation of how much money farang have, and they don't appreciate the value. When I transfer the money to her account and she has to hand it over, she becomes more reticent (it's momentary!

I've done things, terrible things, if the people on these forums are to be believed! I've bought a condo & a house and land, all in my wife's name. Essentially I have nothing in Thailand, but I don't care and I trust my wife. If she comes and lives in the UK, she'll have nothing there and will have to trust me. That's how it works.

There are problems, I never have managed to convey the meaning of the term 'budget' in Thai. It always seems to be translated as 'You don't trust me...'

I think it would be the same in the West...

[plachon]

Girlfriend wants land for her papa and then will not have to support mama and papa. Land is adjacent to existing land papa owns. She got quite odd when I told her it was costing too much. And told me there was someone else interested in land.

Also told her about land being useless after eucalyptus growing on it. Said I didn’t understand. Know this girl 3 years but after this it seems like I meet her last week.

Called her this afternoon and she was very apologetic about losing her cool and said she did not know why she acted like she did. Told me she did not want to talk about it any more.

Land was to be bought in her name.

This land will be a catalyst in breaking up our relationship

It's not unknown in Thailand for someone to "buy" land they or their family already own, especially when the money is coming from an unexpecting farang. Just suppose that mama and papa have a bit of a finiancial crisis, say bank or moneylenders are calling in land mortgaged to hilt or son needs a ton of money for sin sot to marry the girl of his dreams, then how difficult would it be to transfer land rights from papa to daughter with farang boyfriend and pretend the land is being bought? I'm not saying that is what is happening here, but all the alarm bells are ringing, and your g/f friends reaction sets off even more. Sounds like she thought the money was as good as in the bank, but through a wobbler when you baulked.

The fact that she has now conveniently changed the area of land from 19 to 28 rai as you thought the original price a bit steep, sends off every siren in the country. How well do you know her and her family? Have you seen their land limits before? Do you know the neighbours? Making decisions about land purchases from another country is not the wisest way to go. IMO. Beware mate.

[Maizefarmer]

Better still - you can avoid the problem Plachon raises by looking at the land papers to see who owns it - how long they have owned it and exactly who they are.

And let me take that one step back - would you buy land for a girl in Europe or the USA if you knew so little about her that you didn't know who her family were? i.e. if anyone buys land without knowing who the person is that the land is been purchased from and what their connection is or could be with the other half or their family, then they are completely off their head.

Tim

[OneeyedJohn]

Unless you can read Thai how are going to understand the written ownership and dimensions of the land. You will have to trust your girlfriend totally. It is an easy trap to fall into, the idea of owning large lumps of land is very appealing and a big boost to your ego.

Don't forget this is rice paddy which in days gone by would support an average family ( say 10 Rai ) of up to 10. The labour was shared by all and sundry so very little maintenace costs. That is how it WAS, nowadays people are fertilising, diiging ponds, double cropping to keep up.

Take the advice above and be wary.

[Maizefarmer]

I would like to add that the comment I made regards precautions to be exercised in buying land in Thailand were not aimed at any paticular person or circumstance, but were generic.

The fact that you the buyer cannot read Thai is no excuse - it is only common sense that any legal document you are presented with in Thailand (e.g. a land reg document) you get translated to you (in writing or verbally) by someone who you trust, but better still somone who is independant of the transaction (i.e. a professional translator).

Dont forget you get land ownership documents and you get land ownership documents - make sure you understand which type you are presented with (not all types of land ownership give you unfettered right to what you want with the land - in fact some types do not even give you 100% ownership beleive it or not), make sure they apply to the land in question and have a "search" done to ensure that there are no outstanding legal charges against the land you are "buying". Any legal charge against the land will have to be registered with the local land reg office prior to sale for it to be enforceable after sale (i.e. don't fall for any doc's you are presented with after sale that inidicate you are not the owner of what you thought you were - if it ain't registered with the land reg office, then it ain't worth the paper its printed on.

In summary - exercise the exact same caution(s) that you would exercise in purchasing land back in Europe or the USA.

.......... now lets get back to farming.

Tim

Edited October 22, 2006 by Maizefarmer