Gary

You can't own property in Thailand unless you set up a bogus company. A bogus company is one that is set up to enable you to own property. If you go this route, and many have, you will be required to pay an accountant and to pay taxes. You still risk an irate Thai politician getting a hard on for farangs and pulling the rug out from under you. You CAN own a condo freehold and in your name. The purchase money must come from outside Thailand and must be verified by your Thai bank. Not all condo complexes qualify so check that first. As far as a down payment all I put down was 10,000 baht to assure the owner that I was serious. That money was called earnest money and I got a reciept saying that it was a deposit on the condo I was buying.

Rentals in Thailand are not a very good investment unless you are looking for the properties to appreciate. Who knows what property prices will do? My condo is worth 1,600,000 baht and I get 9,000 baht a month rent. Considering the maintenance the return is about 5 %. The guys renting property for a business normally get a higher return but they have a high turnover rate because the tenant will find a better cheaper place for less money after he finds his way around the area.

That's not true! Most of the American expats are now tri lingual. The ones that have been here for a while can now speak British, Aussie and English.

Store it where you are or sell it. Some people who try to import their cars have no idea of how much duty will be. By the time everything is added up it is too late. They leave the cars in customs and the customs people "auction" them off. I marked auction because only well connected Thais can bid. It is a lucrative racket that has yet to be investigated.

There's a guy named John who works for Q Cars. Their office is in Jomtien. A number of friends of mine have rented from Q Cars and were happy with the service and quality of the vehicles. Here are a list of phone numbers; 038-231694, 01-8087213, 01-9968915, 06-5632822

I lived in Bangkok for over five years. It wasn't by choice, it was where I worked. I did quite a bit of travelling throughout Thailand during that five years and decided that Jomtien was where I wanted to retire. The other westerners, the hospitals and the malls tipped the scale for me. I eventually bought a condo and still have it but no longer live in it. I now live up country in Loei province. It is a beautiful scenic area and nights are cool. (Cold)! If anyone had told me that I would be happy living up country I would have told them they were crazy. It's certainly not for everyone but with the right woman it is great. No malls and very few farangs. I use the highway 201 going back and forth from Jomtien to Nong Hin so I pass through Chaiyaphum. If my wife had not had the house here I would have chosen Nong Kai/Udon area. Not as scenic but more farang oriented businesses in that area.

1500 sq feet. = YES! Kitchen, dining area, two bedrooms, living room, bathroom with shower and NO jacuzzi. Porch area. Single story with enough grass out the back door to have a large dog. = Golden retriever and two rai. 24x7 security for the complex. = Golden Retriever and a two meter high block fence. Washer = Plus clothes line dryer NO Community swimming pool. High speed internet service. = IPSTAR = high speed for the boonies. Weekly maid service for hire. = 24/7 built in maid. Easy Bahtbus access. = Nissan, Suzuki or Honda self service. Oh, and the price, $25,000 or 1,000,000 baht. = Free for me, belongs to my wife.

Soi 7 paid 300,000 baht for his condo? I have seen some 28 square meter units for 400,000 baht but I consider them shoe boxes. No separate bedroom and quite cramped. I don't think I could stand to live in one room. Living in my condo I think I could do it for 20,000 baht a month if I didn't drink. YES, that is where a major part of my money went. Up country my biggest expenses are UBC TV and Ipstar satellite Internet. Health and car insurance run about 2,500 per month. I live up here as I like on less than 20,000 a month living farang style with a few goodies. Actually now that I think about it if it meant going back to the US I COULD live in one room.

The short answers are $500 is cutting it pretty thin unless you live up country. For $7,500 you get a shoebox and not a very nice one at that. There are many threads on this. The subject has in fact been beat to death.

I justified buying mine with the thought that rent would be the biggest variable that I would have. I did look around for a year before buying.

NEVER would I buy a condo in the construction phase. I know of one development that has been sitting empty for years even though from the outside it looks complete. It is a high rise near the south police station in Jomtien. What a waste! You will want to look at who your neighbors would be and what the general maintenance is like. How six people can be permitted to live in a small condominium astounds me. Thai kids are not known to be quiet. Security is another important factor. I have seen green water in some swimming pools and simple lack of care as far as the grounds are concerned. You can still buy some 28 square meter units for less than 500,000 baht. That is smaller than some hotel rooms.

The guy I always dealt with has unfortunately moved to Phuket. You can still talk to the guy. His name is Paul Chow and his mobile number is 01 893 0396. The name of the company is PCD International. They are located on Pattaya third road. I now deal with a farang lady in that office. The office phone number is 038 422 825. The NSI web site is down for some reason. PCD can also sell you insurance from a number of different companies BUPA included.

I'm 60 years old. I pay about 17,000 baht a year to NSI for my health insurance. There is no deductible. A couple months ago I had an emergency appendectomy at a private hospital in Loei. That hospital is not on NSI's direct pay list so I had to pay the bill myself. It totaled about 49,000 baht. I turned in the bill to NSI and they sent me a check for all but 15 baht. I don't know what the 15 baht was for but I didn't complain.

I'm also interested in the NFL league. I'll keep my eye on this page. Last year was a disaster.

Tom, Why do you always have to be negative??? If he were a Brit would you think differently or are you simply a negative person?

I agree, it's way out in the boonies and from the web sit it appears also to be WAY overpriced for an out of the way area. If you want to stay in Jomtien there are a lot of better choices and much cheaper such as the Boat House and the Surf Hotel. They are both directly on the beach and on the baht bus route. I would guess that a baht bus would be very hard if not impossible to get in the boonies.

From what little I have seen, you would do fine bringing your 5 iron and a putter. My instructor told me that when I learn to use the 5 iron I can go on from there. I still don't have it mastered.

I live in Jomtien. It is pretty laid back as compared to Pattaya. One very marginal Go Go bar on the little straight stretch as you are coming from Pattaya before you turn left to go along the beach. If that's why you are coming to Jomtien, save your time. I have two primary watering holes in Jomtien and rarely go into Pattaya anymore. One is called the Moonshine. It's on Soi 4 a short distance up on the right side. There is a 7-11 on the corner. The other is called Drunks and Dare A Licks. It is farther down on Soi 9 up a short distance from beach road on the left. It does get a little wild in D & D at times. LOL! These are both owned and operated by Americans. Ted manages the Moonshine and Ken the D & D. Past Soi 7 a little ways there is a Soi called Soi Whitehouse. It has 15 or 20 open air bars and sometimes you can pick up some diamonds in the rough if you look around. The old Winchester now called Blind Beggar is a hit and miss also. Mostly I miss there. There are a lot of hotels and guest houses. The Moonshine has decent rooms for 550 a night. Up Soi 7 is the Jomtien Lek hotel for 350 a night. I stayed there ONE night. I came back with a couple ladies and they charged me another 200 baht for having two guests. I moved out the next day to the little German guest house right next door. It is called the TP Guest house. Very nice rooms with a free breakfast for 450 baht. Nice people and great German food. No problems with guests. Peter (German) speaks good English as does his Thai wife Noi. There are many other places but these are the ones I have experience with. Now you know what I know. LOL!

Great report Pete, keep them coming. I for one appreciate the effort. See you soon. Gary