Land ownership? Is it possible ?

[rickfarang]

You can buy it and put it in the name of a Thai person. Then, go with that person to the Land Office and have your name added to the title of the property so that you have the right to use the property for the rest of your life. This is a gift of the use of the property.

You would not have the right to sell the property, but neither would anybody else. And you can't be forced off the property by any legal means.

If you go the lease route, somebody has to pay tax based on the value of the lease. If you go the gift route, it will be very inexpensive.

[gulfman]

rickfarang, have you done this? What was the actual wording written on to the title deed?

[max19]

Try the following website :
www.samuiforsale.com
could be helpfull

[tingtongfalang]

I read somewhere once that according to an old treaty Americans CAN own land in Thailand. But I'm not sure if that will stand up in a thai court .

[laphanphon]

Try the following website :
www.samuiforsale.com
could be helpfull

excellent website. learned quite a bit. such as, better not to be married and get gift of habitation for life. free, free, free, no taxes if not rent, and can't be cancelled by wife after 1yr following divorce, as a 30 yr lease can be cancelled by wife

i don't know about the treaty thing, but farang can own land, hold on, only if willed to, from wife, and must be sold within 2 yrs. so, not really.

[arjay]

Noting the difficulties and uncertainties in buying (leasing) property in Thailand, I tried running a few calculations through, in terms of buying or renting.

If you consider a scenario where you either buy at 2.25M THB (approx £36K sterling, or US$70K), compared with say renting at 10K THB per month.

After 10 years you would have paid out about 1.2M THB in rent, or after 20 years (assuming rent did not increase) 2.4M THB.

This ignores the value(?) of your property and whether you could indeed sell it later. I tend to work on worst case scenarios, - e.g if you had to walk away or be carried away!

Also bare in mind that if you didn't buy and instead invested your £36K sterling (2.25M THB, US$70K) and were able to achieve a return of 3.5% pa, that would generate about £100pm pm income or about 6500THB of your rent each month (without giving up the capital). Similarly, you could argue by buying you would be giving up not only the capital (and use of it) but also that future income on it.

The above ignores of course the fact that where one is in a stable long term relationship with a Thai wife, then they may well want to pass the property onto their wife upon their ultimate demise, along with any capital appreciation that has taken place, in that situation there is a stronger case for purchasing.

[lee]

IMO only invest what you can afford to loose. Many things can change within a 10 year time frame.

[wazza]

Arjay

the same applies for new cars

I got my new Chev Captiva on finance at 3.5% over 4 years,

Leaving my capital offshore and earning approx 15% tax free.

No brainer for me.

The same would apply to a house for me.

[BKKSTAN]

Don't forget the cost of continuos repair needed because of the materials and the lack of quality workmanship!All you have to do is look at some of the abandoned/foreclosed houses to see the fast deteriation of the properties!

[tingtongfalang]

The method suggested by patriot tends to be popular, but consider the situation, if things subsequently go wrong your relationship, particularly if you are buying in her village!! Would you really want to continue living there, or indeed realistically be able to??

Top comment; at least an amphur and a half away from the inlaws for a peaceful life!! But surely in Udon, once land is bought and a home set up then life is fine and dandy with divorces/seperations being a rarity .. !!

I think 8 times out of 10 the falang who is dumb enough to build in the girlfriend/fiance/wife village can kiss all that money goodbye. A rarity? The posts in this forum prove that relationships in Thailand are as temporary as a visa.

[rickfarang]

Buy vs rent - I don't recall seeing rents go down. Buying is one way to freeze the effects of inflation and the changing value of the Baht.

And yes, if you build in your thai partner's village, you won't be able to live there if anything happens to your relationship. And as tingtongfalang points out, things do happen.

[Snowden]

One thing I've learned the hard way in Thailand is to follow the Golden Rule here: if it doesn't fit in your suitcase and you can't afford to walk away from it, don't buy it.

All I know is that everything I have ever bought in this country has wound up being owned by a Thai regardless of what the law says. Every time I have run afoul of the Golden Rule, I've regretted it.

I would never buy land or build a house in this country regardless of how much I have to pay for rent. My wife has been nagging me to build a house in her village since I met her and the answer was "no" then, it's "no" now, and it will be "no" tomorrow.

It's taken me years of living here to realize that the Thai system is like a huge funnel. All of the farang assets go into the mouth of the funnel. The assets swirl around for awhile and eventually go to the same place: Thais. That's just the way the system is set-up. It's set-up to wear us down so eventually we throw up our arms and give up and say "here, take it ..."

[patriot]

[quote="patriot
Top comment; at least an amphur and a half away from the inlaws for a peaceful life!! But surely in Udon, once land is bought and a home set up then life is fine and dandy with divorces/seperations being a rarity .. !![/quote]

The second sentence here was extrememely sarcastic and very much tongue in cheek hence the exclamation marks.

[rickfarang]

That seems like such a cynical statement.

I agree completely.

It's taken me years of living here to realize that the Thai system is like a huge funnel. All of the farang assets go into the mouth of the funnel. The assets swirl around for awhile and eventually go to the same place: Thais. That's just the way the system is set-up. It's set-up to wear us down so eventually we throw up our arms and give up and say "here, take it ..."

[farang]

Noting the difficulties and uncertainties in buying (leasing) property in Thailand, I tried running a few calculations through, in terms of buying or renting.

If you consider a scenario where you either buy at 2.25M THB (approx £36K sterling, or US$70K), compared with say renting at 10K THB per month.

After 10 years you would have paid out about 1.2M THB in rent, or after 20 years (assuming rent did not increase) 2.4M THB.

This ignores the value(?) of your property and whether you could indeed sell it later. I tend to work on worst case scenarios, - e.g if you had to walk away or be carried away!

Also bare in mind that if you didn't buy and instead invested your £36K sterling (2.25M THB, US$70K) and were able to achieve a return of 3.5% pa, that would generate about £100pm pm income or about 6500THB of your rent each month (without giving up the capital). Similarly, you could argue by buying you would be giving up not only the capital (and use of it) but also that future income on it.

The above ignores of course the fact that where one is in a stable long term relationship with a Thai wife, then they may well want to pass the property onto their wife upon their ultimate demise, along with any capital appreciation that has taken place, in that situation there is a stronger case for purchasing.

rent. for a few years

do not buy , not now !!!!!!. wait a few years !!!!

now is not the time to buy in thailand !!! wait .............and lets see how things work out in the next few years..............

[pompui]

One thing I've learned the hard way in Thailand is to follow the Golden Rule here: if it doesn't fit in your suitcase and you can't afford to walk away from it, don't buy it.

All I know is that everything I have ever bought in this country has wound up being owned by a Thai regardless of what the law says. Every time I have run afoul of the Golden Rule, I've regretted it.

I would never buy land or build a house in this country regardless of how much I have to pay for rent. My wife has been nagging me to build a house in her village since I met her and the answer was "no" then, it's "no" now, and it will be "no" tomorrow.

It's taken me years of living here to realize that the Thai system is like a huge funnel. All of the farang assets go into the mouth of the funnel. The assets swirl around for awhile and eventually go to the same place: Thais. That's just the way the system is set-up. It's set-up to wear us down so eventually we throw up our arms and give up and say "here, take it ..."

Probably your wife is getting the usual hassle from her elders in the fact that she has sacrificed a number of Thai ways to become a farang wife and needs compensation for the family,ie when the parents get too old they want a permanent place to be taken care of.If no house for her,have you been asked for a car,land,buffalo,loans to family members,gold/diamonds for herself on anniversaries,etc.
Do you have any children with her that would secure your pension when you are 'brown bread',trust monies for the child etc?
Trying to find longterm reasons that she wants to stay with you,apart from your longterm 'funnel of love' between each other.Hassling like she is doing will have a big reason behind it.

[arjay]

rent. for a few years

do not buy , not now !!!!!!. wait a few years !!!!

now is not the time to buy in thailand !!! wait .............and lets see how things work out in the next few years............

Would you apply the same criteria to buying in Laos (Vientiane)?

[LoveDaBlues]

One thing I've learned the hard way in Thailand is to follow the Golden Rule here: if it doesn't fit in your suitcase and you can't afford to walk away from it, don't buy it.

All I know is that everything I have ever bought in this country has wound up being owned by a Thai regardless of what the law says. Every time I have run afoul of the Golden Rule, I've regretted it.

I would never buy land or build a house in this country regardless of how much I have to pay for rent. My wife has been nagging me to build a house in her village since I met her and the answer was "no" then, it's "no" now, and it will be "no" tomorrow.

It's taken me years of living here to realize that the Thai system is like a huge funnel. All of the farang assets go into the mouth of the funnel. The assets swirl around for awhile and eventually go to the same place: Thais. That's just the way the system is set-up. It's set-up to wear us down so eventually we throw up our arms and give up and say "here, take it ..."

Well you got it half right. Actually it's a huge funnel with a vacuum attached!

Not wanting to wish you bad luck but I suspect your wife will start looking for another partner soon. Put yourself in the Thai spouse's place. They have to get something permanent before they get too old or their farang kicks the bucket.

I'm married to a Thai and yes she wants a house. I do too (tired of renting) but the house won't be built unless I have some legal protection built in. I won't build a home that can be taken away from me simply because the spouse wakes up on the wrong side of the bed.

Having said all that it's important to see how the game is played and become a better player. For instance, the in-laws house in the village was literally falling apart. I agreed to rebuild/expand ONLY IF they could get a bank loan in their name. They got the loan and I'm paying if off at 3,500 baht a month (as I promised). They've got a beautiful like-new home now and the monthly note is peanuts. If the wife decides to dump me (unlikely) they can't keep up the payments. She's 27 and we have a baby so she's not exactly prime farang-bait. Learn to play the game..............

BTW, I love my wife and believe she loves me......but how often do we read threads that start off with, "She said she loved me; but now she's etc. etc. etc.

I do think a lot of farangs hurt themselves because they want a wife and also want to play on the side. This is just as hurtful to a Thai spouse as to one from your own country. I know the temptation is there; I guess that's why the wifey keeps a leash on me. I've been faithful so far but it's sure tough to stay away from the young poonie......

[arjay]

LDB, A good post and sound thinking.

[BKKSTAN]

LDB, A good post and sound thinking.

I agree!I really liked to part about the family getting the home loan!Brilliant,like a Masters thesis from WBU