Question: Living expenses in the Pattaya / Jomien area

[Turbota 0]

I am 58 years old, single and retired from the US Federal Civil Service. While living here in the PI, I always seem to be thinking about moving from the Philippines to Thailand. I guess I would deposit the required money and stay on a Retirement Visa .... A few of the living expense figures below are kinda old, so things may have changed.

 

Could you look at these figures and tell me if they look about right for living in the Pattaya or Jomien area. Maybe it would be better to rent a house vs a condo ... not really sure about that.

 

I did not include transportation costs here since I plan on selling my car and buying another one in Thailand. (I now have an 04 Toyota Camry here in the PI)

 

 

Condo Rent (2 Bedroom / in upscale neighborhood):

25,000 baht / $667

 

Utilities:

3,000 baht / $80

 

Food:

11,000 baht / $293

 

Internet DSL:

3,000 baht / $80

 

Basic Cable TV:

500 baht / $13

 

Misc. Personal & Household Items:

5,000 baht / $133

 

Bar (drinking only):

12,000 baht / $320

 

Live-In GF (monthly allowance):

10,000 baht / $267

 

TOTAL: 69,500 baht / $1,853 per month

 

( based on currency exchange rate: $1.00 USD = 37.5 baht )

 

Did I leave anything out? Are my prices about right?

 

Thanks,

Ron

___________________________________________

Edited October 4, 2006 by Turbota

[Owen` 2]

What about health insurance?

[Turbota 0]

I have Blue Cross / Blue Shield paid by the government through the retirement plan.

 

When I am 60, I will have the standard military retirement health insurance since I also retired from the US military reserves.

Edited October 4, 2006 by Turbota

[guido13 0]

2 Bedroom upscale condo will probably run you more.

Good food can be had for less.

 

Guido

[wannabeexpat 0]

How do your figures compare with your costs in the PI?

[Turbota 0]

Electricity is very high in the PI now. Much higher than LOS

 

Rent, internet costs and drinking in the bars are cheaper here in the PI. About everything else is about the same.

 

And as pretty much everyone knows already, an overnight barfine in the PI is cheaper than in LOS .... although that has nothing to do with the figures I was posting above.

 

I really thought rent would be cheaper in LOS than in the PI .... but I guess I was wrong.

[guido13 0]

I really thought rent would be cheaper in LOS than in the PI .... but I guess I was wrong.

It may be cheaper as you can find a 2 bedroom condo at the number you posted.

Upscale is a relative term. What I consider upscale may be very different from what you do.

I'm no expert, don't take what I posted as absolute.

 

Guido

Edited October 4, 2006 by guido13

[sinkorswim 80]

looks ok but your internet should only run you approx 1000 baht per month that is what I pay with TOT for a 1mb download shared connection.

 

Also for TV the basic package is crap the top package for UBC is 2200 baht per month but if you dont watch too much TV then it might not be necessary.

 

 

Also if you get yourself a nice live in that is not a money grabing slapper then she should be good to go for 5000 baht. As long as you are paying for her food and other essentials then she should be happy with that. I would persoanlly say 10000 baht if for if you sponser a girl and dont live here but living here you are going to pay for everything. Remeber she does not have to pay for rent or for food so all the money you give her is for her to spend or send to the family. A decent girl will be happy with 5000 baht per month if they are in it for the long haul. Or until you get bored

[Eneukman 1]

I am 58 years old, single and retired from the US Federal Civil Service. While living here in the PI, I always seem to be thinking about moving from the Philippines to Thailand. I guess I would deposit the required money and stay on a Retirement Visa .... A few of the living expense figures below are kinda old, so things may have changed.

 

Could you look at these figures and tell me if they look about right for living in the Pattaya or Jomien area. Maybe it would be better to rent a house vs a condo ... not really sure about that.

 

I did not include transportation costs here since I plan on selling my car and buying another one in Thailand. (I now have an 04 Toyota Camry here in the PI)

Condo Rent (2 Bedroom / in upscale neighborhood):

25,000 baht / $667

 

A one-bedroom condo (living room & seperate bedroom) would cost around 25,000 baht. A condo with a living room and 2 seperate bedrooms would cost quite a bit more.

 

Utilities:

3,000 baht / $80

 

Should be half that or less - depending on how much you use the aircon. Ideally, get a place that has a ceiling fan in the bedrooms. The ceiling fan I have costs less than 1 baht an hour to run.

 

Food:

11,000 baht / $293

If this includes food, drink, water etc for the condo, should be too far off the mark.

 

Internet DSL:

3,000 baht / $80

 

I pay 800 baht + vat a month for a 512/256 connection and the rental on my landline.

 

Basic Cable TV:

500 baht / $13

 

I pay 250 baht per month for the crap Sophon cable

Misc. Personal & Household Items:

5,000 baht / $133

 

About right

 

Bar (drinking only):

12,000 baht / $320

Again, about right

 

Live-In GF (monthly allowance):

10,000 baht / $267

 

Up to you

 

TOTAL: 69,500 baht / $1,853 per month

 

( based on currency exchange rate: $1.00 USD = 37.5 baht )

 

Did I leave anything out? Are my prices about right?

 

Thanks,

Ron

___________________________________________

 

 

Some other possible costs

 

Not all condos have washing machines (mine doesn't) so you might have to spend 1,000 to 2,000 baht on laundry.

 

It's inlikely that your landlord will insure your personal goods - laptop etc. My cover costs around 500 baht or so per month. I also have an annual travel policy, which again costs around 500 baht or so per month.

 

I rent a one-bedroom condo in Jomtien for 20,000 baht (many are quite a bit more expensive) and spend just under 80,000 baht per month. However, I don't have a live-in so a fair proportion of my costs go on bar fines and sanuk

 

In addition to the routine monthly costs, you will always find that there's something you need to buy over and above these costs - such as printer for the laptop/PC, DVD's

 

Your proposed budget seems to be pretty sound.

 

Alan

Edited October 4, 2006 by Eneukman

[wannabeexpat 0]

Electricity is very high in the PI now. Much higher than LOS

 

Rent, internet costs and drinking in the bars are cheaper here in the PI. About everything else is about the same.

 

And as pretty much everyone knows already, an overnight barfine in the PI is cheaper than in LOS .... although that has nothing to do with the figures I was posting above.

 

I really thought rent would be cheaper in LOS than in the PI .... but I guess I was wrong.

Thanks

[Turbota 0]

Well, thank's everyone for the good info. Really appreciate it.

 

Overall prices in LOS are pretty reasonable ... with the exception of rent. I would have thought that rent would be alot cheaper in a country like Thailand, but I am wrong .... Rent appears to have really increased alot in the last 5 years since I last looked at rental costs. Looks like Thailand maybe now has a much larger middle class than it did 4 or 5 years ago.

 

Oh well

[OnMyWay 0]

Having looked at housing in both Angeles City and in Pattaya it's not comparing apples to apples. While most everything in Pattaya is newer and much more aesthitic than in AC. Most everything I saw in AC is just like mexico....cynder block construction with razor wire everywhere.

 

I couldn't find a condo building in AC that has parking, swimming pool, nice balconies or patios, AC for each room, etc.

 

Cheers,

Mark

[BigDUSA 71]

From what I've been told by expat's who live here and I've not done the research myself that there are many good quality condo's/houses available within your price range. One thing I've noticed by looking in the Pattaya Mail the local farang real estate agents are asking silly money for rentals.

 

I'm starting to get close to making the move. Looks like I'll have to start doing my own hunt for a suitable place to live at a reasonable price of course.

[bob2005 0]

I just paid 6.13 baht per kilowatt in AC, it's about 3.6 baht in Pattaya.

[Owen` 2]

The AC vs Pattaya electric data is good. Slight modification. That's per kilowatt-hour, not per kilowatt.

 

Sorry for the nit pick. It can matter because guys can actually calculate how much consumption by adding up not just how many kilowatts a device consumes, but also how many hours per month it is on.

 

6.13 vs 3.6 is good, hard data. Thanx.

[BBB 3]

I normally expect to pay 2000bt electric, 1000bt water, UBC 1400bt per month and general running costs on the car will come to a couple of thousand p/m.

[bob2005 0]

I just paid 6.13 baht per kilowatt in AC, it's about 3.6 baht in Pattaya.

 

I should add that these are the Electric Company prices. Some landlords try to stiff you for more if they charge the tenant for electricity.

 

 

per kilowatt-hour, not per kilowatt.

 

This came up before and it's news to me. And I did get 'A' level Physics in the days when the exams were hard!

 

Watts = Volts x Amps and I thought amps had a time element in it, like number of electrons per second.

 

If you use half a kW for two hours, surely thats the same as 1 kW for one hour?

[Owen` 2]

This came up before and it's news to me. And I did get 'A' level Physics in the days when the exams were hard!

 

Watts = Volts x Amps and I thought amps had a time element in it, like number of electrons per second.

 

If you use half a kW for two hours, surely thats the same as 1 kW for one hour?

 

 

Amps do have a time component but only in the context of being a rate of change of charge.

1 Amp = 1 coulomb / sec. That is irrelevant to the point because electricity is priced in money per Kw-hrs.

 

Half a kilowatt consumed for 2 hrs is 1 kilowatt-hour. And yup, that's the same as consuming 1 Kilowatt for one hour, i.e., 1 Kw-hr.

 

Look at this way. If you consider your microwave oven, it will maybe say on it that it consumes 900 watts when it's on. If there were no time aspect to the billing, then how could you price it per month? If it was ever on during the month . . . for maybe 1 minute, that can't be the same price as having it on 24/7 during the month. So the unit for billing has to be watt-hours in order to reflect how long it was on.

 

So the bill is baht, or pennies or pence per Kw-hr. In the US a price of 10ish pennies per kw-hr is typical.

 

Here's a website with better text on electric bills:

 

http://www.callawayelectric.com/Safety%20T...20Breakdown.htm

Edited October 7, 2006 by Owen`