Gary

Well Gonzo, indeed there are two sides to every story. What you or anyone else thinks about Eric is up to you. I told you what he did to me and if he wants to tell his side of the story it's up to him.

What lease, what deposit? Sometimes we take people's word as this is how it is. Unfortunately I have discovered that a handshake and a man's word is worthless.

I have Siam Commercial bank now. Since I have been in Thailand I have had Kasikorn (Thai Farmers), Bangkok Bank and Krung Thai. The only one I had problems with is Kasikorn (Thai Farmers). I do think Krung Thai is the best of the bunch but Siam is a lot more convenient for me.

It is obviously different strokes for different folks. I would NEVER buy a condo unless it was already up and operating. I want to take a look at the grounds maintenance as well as the security. I also want to see what sort of people are living there and who my neighbors are. If you go down beach road in Jomtien nearly as far as Soi Chaiyapruk (second police box) you will see a beautiful high rise development. It is totally empty and has been since it was built. It appears and looks like it was intended to be a top shelf complex. What happened? I have no idea but I always think about that

To get a bank mortgage here the person must have a legitimate job and work history. They must be able to prove they can make the payments and must also have a substantial down payment. As I said before the only SAFE way is to buy a condo in your name and if you are planning to get legally married you MUST buy it before you do the deed. If you buy a condo AFTER you are married it will belong to both of you. If you buy a house after you are married the same rule applies BUT since you are not able to own property she will get it all. A lot of guys spend a lot of money to set up bogus com

The 30 year lease must be recorded at the local Amphur. They will NOT register it for more than 30 years. It is renewable ONLY at the option of the land owner. After 30 years what chance is there that the land owner will renew it without you paying for another lease at whatever price he asks? A lot of guys have all kinds of expensive paperwork drawn up to protect them and fail to really think about it. What are the chances of you wanting to live all alone in a house on leased ground that is more than likely out in the boonies some where. The best advice and the only legal option you ha

I was hoping Eric would respond. The reason I posted this puzzling post is because that is exactly what he did to me last year. I really didn't appreciate his lies and having to make two trips from Loei to take care of the details because he didn't have the balls to tell me in person.

Eric, I'll give you a one month deposit on the condo. You can hold it for me until November and you can answer a hundred emails from me asking all sorts of silly questions. I'll meet you in November and tell you that I'll deposit the rent in your account because right now I have a problem with my bank account and don't have the cash. You can give me the keys and after you go back home 650 kilometers away I can tell you VIA EMAIL that I changed my mind and really don't want to rent it after all. Good deal or not? Gary

How much per month has been beat to death many times. It's definitely different strokes for different folks. What it costs me per month wouldn't pay some guy's bar bills. I live exactly how I want to live and I buy what I want to buy whether I need it or not. For living expense we pay no rent. My Jomtien condo is paid for as well as her house in Loei province. I give my lady 20,000 baht a month. She pays all the utilities and household bills including my UBC TV and my Ipstar Internet. She normally has about 5,000 baht left to put in her bank account. She doesn't pay for my several times a

When you are dealing with an agent the only thing you can be sure about is that it is going to cost you more money. I had a young farang agent show me a couple condos. He was appallingly ignorant and when I asked him to pursue some quite pertinent details he failed to call me back. I tried one other farang agency and when he found out how much I wanted to spend he lost interest. He was only interested in selling 4 and 5 million baht units. I found out it was much easier to go to each condo complex I was interested in and talk to the people in the condo offices. They know what is available and

I live in the boonies of Loei province and have UBC TV. It works fine but is a little expensive at 1,600 baht per month. You have to buy one of the premium packages to get ESPN. Long ago I once had a satellite dish here and it was great for a while. After most of the stations scrambled their signals it became a yard ornament.

I was referring to the Siam Commercial VERY near Walking Street.

Quote; I have to disagree. I went to the sub branch in the Tesco at Sukhumvit and was taken care of in 20 minutes. I opened an account and deposited baht. They were pleasant and cheerful. The branch near Walking Street sucks big dick. There is always a line of 30 people with one or two tellers, and going upstairs to get something done is a 2 hour wait. Quote The teller windows ARE upstairs and there are about eight windows. I imagine if you waited for a teller downstairs you would wait a lot longer than two hours.

Actually I don't have a dog in this fight but I do have a lot of "LOWLIFE" friends who live there. I don't live there and never have. I lived in Jomtien and still have a condo there. I now live in the boonies upcountry. I am very happy with my girlfriend and after three years I hope it continues as it is. If it does go to hell I will be loading my truck and heading back to Jomtien. There are bottom feeder lowlife types all over Thailand. You as a broke but intelligent businessman could be one of them. Maybe not right now but when you realize there are MANY more astute businessmen than you alre

I had a VERY good year in the stock market in 2005. I took my money off the table and ran with it. One day I got his feeling of gloom and doom and sold out the next day. Soo far this year I would have been up pretty good but a bird in the hand is OK with me. I put about 60 percent of the money in closed end bond funds. They are PHT which pays 9.7 percent per year, PTY at 9.5 percent and PFN at 8.3 percent. I get my interest every month. These funds are pretty safe. The other 40 percent is in a money market and I am starting to take a monthly draw from that. My monthly draw will last for 28 yea

There are basically three kinds of obnoxious assholes. The first is the born again christian, the second is a guy who has stopped smoking and insists that everyone else quit too. The third is a reformed whore-monger. Now all the rest of the active whore-mongers are low life scum balls. LOL!

I use the Siam Commercial Bank on Beach Road. Very convenient to walking street and easy to get to. I have had good luck with them.

Citibank also has branches in Thailand. I had a problem with my Citibank ATM card and found out that the Bangkok Citibank may as well have been Bank of Bumfuck Anywhere. No help and nothing is linked. It does sound like a good idea but don't count on them being able to do anything for you.

Sounds like VERY poor planning. My funds are direct deposited into my US bank account. (Citibank). I check at least once a week via the Internet to make sure nothing is happening that could amount to fraud. I'm still a little old fashioned and don't totally trust all this high tech stuff. When I first came over I used my Citibank ATM card because I got five free transactions a month. Later they decided to charge $1.50 per transaction and then added 1 percent on top of that. Now I wire transfer once or twice a year. That costs $30 regardless of the amount transferred. The exchange rate is e

I started driving in Thailand in 1991. Within the first week I decided that a person has to have a death wish to drive a motorcycle. A farang friend of mine was the worst driver that I have ever seen. He was naturally afraid to start driving so the company elected me to ride with him the first few trips until he got acclimated. The very first morning there was an old lady pushing a cart along the highway. She had cardboard loaded on the cart. My friend came so close to her that he actually knocked the cardboard off her cart. I told him that he could either ride with me or get someone else

Short, I don't know about that. My Jomtien condo is 60 square meters and I thought it was plenty big. I looked at a lot of condos before I bought and some of the 28 square meter studios would not suit me at all. I would say that 40 square meters would be the bare minimum size for long term residence. I now live upcountry in a house and I rent out my condo. I rented it pretty cheap because I wanted someone who would stay long term and take care of any small problems that would occur. My return is about 5 percent net. NOT a great investment.

I think 30 million baht is a little more than I would want to pay for something I can't own anyways. (Even if I had 30 million)!

Retire and stay in holiday mode. It may take six months or so before you croak. If you need to go faster than that about 3 months on a motorcycle every day should do the trick.

Normally I would NEVER recommend buying pre construction but this small complex is being built by the same farang who has the Residence Garden and the Jomtien Boathouse. The last time I passed it they were pouring concrete so it is moving along. Here is the link; http://www.jomtienbeachresidence.com/index.php

Yes, it was over one million baht. I bought it from a Thai after verifying from the condo association that I was able to legally buy it. My receipt was hand written and it stated the purchase price. The terms were that the money in full would change hands at the land office after I received the ownership documents. Payment was in full. You will not be able to get a loan in Thailand.