cost of living in or near Udon ?

[motorhomes4sale]

What would be the basic monthly costs for Electric / Gas / Water and are there any monthly charges from the town for garbage collection etc. Please base the figures on 2 people living in a small house or bungalow.

Cheers
Andy

[JimboPSM]

There is a Cost of Living page on the Udonmap site with a forex calculator which has a lot of info on Udon which Admin update as and when they get new info.

It is well hidden in the dreaded drop down menus you find at the top of most pages:

:Udon Thani> - Information> - Costs of Living

Alternatively use this link: http://www.udonmap.com/costs_of_living.html

[motorhomes4sale]

Thanks Jimbo.

It says

Average electricity per month - 600bt-800bt

Average water cost per month - 200bt-400bt

Do these figures sound about right ?

what about Gas ? does everyone have to buy gas in bottles ? how much ?

Cheers
Andy

[JimboPSM]

You will need someone who is already resident to answer those questions.

The numbers quoted are general guidelines and there can be substantial differences in the costs depending on such things such as size of property and individual living preferences.

From memory (which is often faulty ) of previous comments on other threads, not sure whether the Living Costs estimate quoted for electricity would include AC (still comparatively rare in Udon) or whether it is based on just using fans - AC is a pretty heavy user of electricity and, dependant on the size & number of rooms you want to chill out in, I suspect the cost could rise substantially; again local input could give you a better idea.

[businessman]

Andy,that figure is definitely not with any ac.I run two air conditioners on each night and the bill is around 2000 Baht a month.Water is right.Gabbage collection is 20 Baht a month here.Gas cyliners about 300 Baht.

Marcus

[Prenders88]

[quote="businessman"]Andy,that figure is definitely not with any ac.I run two air conditioners on each night and the bill is around 2000 Baht a month.Water is right.Gabbage collection is 20 Baht a month here.Gas cyliners about 300 Baht.

Bizman, I agree the a/c bumps up the total, we only have one unit so far, about 1000 to 1300 a month, if you have kip during the day.


Tony

[businessman]

Tony,on average use each air conditioner will add about 800 Baht a month to the electricity bill.(On throughout the night)

[tomyam]

just got back from a trip to loei , where we were staying in a typical thai style house , brick and mortar on the ground floor with wooden upper floor , noticed stuck on a nail , the electricity bills , dating back several years , highest was 110baht , non-air-con , but plenty of fans...

[Bump]

just got back from a trip to loei , where we were staying in a typical thai style house , brick and mortar on the ground floor with wooden upper floor , noticed stuck on a nail , the electricity bills , dating back several years , highest was 110baht , non-air-con , but plenty of fans...

This is such a subjective thing But you can do Ok on on 20K a month, more fun 40 k go crazy and it will be the highest figure you could think of

We live in a new two bedroom two bath house aircon may be off six hours a day, UBc T.V. DSL line, Full time housekeeper there motorcycles and one New pickup payments 12 k a month. Go bowling at least three times a week full day rides on the bike at least once a week. We eat about 50% thai and farang foods. Out to eat three of four times a week. Wive has clothes that has no longer any place to out. Goes to the beauty parlor a few times a week. What I don't do is hang out in bars I don't sink money into girlfriends and Mia Nois, all of which are readily available here. Our household budget is 50 K a month. You could sure as heck spend a lot less then that if you wanted to or you get into the things that I don't do and I assure you, you will spend a lot more.

I think if you look at the requirments of immigration for a married couple ( Farrang and Thia ) of 40K a month that is probably pretty realistic. You could do it for less but I doubt you would be very comfortable

[BobHelm]

Thanks Ray, some nice detail there - enough to convince me that I CAN afford to retire...
You mention truck payments of 12K a month. Is it easy for a Farang to get large items (like trucks) on credit??

[banpaeng]

Very good write up Ray. Very useful. Bob ask my question. A followup question is during car shopping, is it like here in the states or is the price pretty much set? Beings as it is Thailand I would have a hard time thinking you do not bargian till your socks fall off.

[Bump]

Very good write up Ray. Very useful. Bob ask my question. A followup question is during car shopping, is it like here in the states or is the price pretty much set? Beings as it is Thailand I would have a hard time thinking you do not bargian till your socks fall off.

Easy yes and no matter what your credit is like you need a cosigner preferrably a Thia with a job, I think that only happens once till they get a feel for if you will pay or not. Of course things change here so maybe you will and maybe you won't I did. You can haggle a bit but not much cars hold thier resale value much better here then they do in the states.

[polehawk]

We live in a new two bedroom two bath house aircon may be off six hours a day, UBc T.V. DSL line, Full time housekeeper there motorcycles and one New pickup payments 12 k a month. Our household budget is 50 K a month. You could sure as heck spend a lot less then that if you wanted to or you get into the things that I don't do and I assure you, you will spend a lot more.

I think if you look at the requirments of immigration for a married couple ( Farrang and Thia ) of 40K a month that is probably pretty realistic. You could do it for less but I doubt you would be very comfortable

Ray, appreciate the info. I have an additional question. Caught in one of your previous posts that you folks are renting a place at "First Home"? Would you mind giving an idea how much a person can expect to pay for rent for a 2BR/3BR, 2Bath with A/C? Interesting to me because I emailed First Home about 6 months ago and got a response which said they had no rentals and tried to steer me towards a couple of their houses for sale (approx 1,750,000 Baht neighborhood). We checked out First Home during their early construction in 1997 and liked what we saw there. Like you, we don't plan on buying right away after I retire in Thailand.

[Bump]

We live in a new two bedroom two bath house aircon may be off six hours a day, UBc T.V. DSL line, Full time housekeeper there motorcycles and one New pickup payments 12 k a month. Our household budget is 50 K a month. You could sure as heck spend a lot less then that if you wanted to or you get into the things that I don't do and I assure you, you will spend a lot more.

I think if you look at the requirments of immigration for a married couple ( Farrang and Thia ) of 40K a month that is probably pretty realistic. You could do it for less but I doubt you would be very comfortable

Ray, appreciate the info. I have an additional question. Caught in one of your previous posts that you folks are renting a place at "First Home"? Would you mind giving an idea how much a person can expect to pay for rent for a 2BR/3BR, 2Bath with A/C? Interesting to me because I emailed First Home about 6 months ago and got a response which said they had no rentals and tried to steer me towards a couple of their houses for sale (approx 1,750,000 Baht neighborhood). We checked out First Home during their early construction in 1997 and liked what we saw there. Like you, we don't plan on buying right away after I retire in Thailand.

We have been in first homes for about seven m oths now we were lucky and got a two year lease at 3500 a month. The house was just a building essentially no one had lived in it. so we bought everything screens on up, some of the things we had already such as aircon. Put in our own water system tank and pump. In thss area and much of Udon that will could save you a lot of discmfort. Watre doesn't go off often but it does happen. Also the pump as the water pressure is seldom high, just a part of living in this area. You have to be careful in doing that sort of thing, most Thia lesaes have a clause saying whatever you put in they keep. I had a addendum written saying I would take everything I put in wiht me when I left.

The other advatage to first homes is there are dedicated phone lines here and it only takes a few days to get phones.

Yes there are houses available for rent in the complex, but at the moment the rents they are asking are way beyond the market 2 bedroom two bath newly finsihed across the 7K a month, the same thing I have. Grea place to live nut you would have negoiate that. helped a friend find a 3 bedroom 2 bath house, really nice place for 5K a month. Down side heaven knows when he will get a phone.

I have rented in four areas of Udon since I have been here this is the nicest area that I have lived in at any cost. But that is today and this Thailand could be very different next year.

It is possible to find place with aircon and you can pay up to 12k a month for a place or more easily, depends on what you want. It is better to purchase the aircon and just move it when you want you will save the cost of aircon in the reduction of rents.

The same thing with transportation.

So the answer to cost in negoaite, negoiate you can always do better then the first asking price six month in advance and long term lease seem to bring proces dow pretty good. The place the friend got for five they wanted for seven.

[banpaeng]

Ray, how much are the window units AC to purchase.