Help concerning mortgages

Post by **Asiaphile** » March 29, 2012, 8:52 am

A wise man somewhere on the Internet once said: “Only invest in Thailand what you can afford to lose."

Post by **harmonyudon** » March 29, 2012, 8:59 am

LKelly wrote:I work in the Australian Mining industry, I work 2 weeks straight and then have the rest of the month living in Thailand. I have been doing this since November last year. I am legally married in Thailand to my beautiful wife who I adore

Also according to the aussi laws&regulations??
I've heard that the woman-rights there are very strong in case of a devorce.
I hope @lKelly it will not happend to you....goodluck.

Post by **chrisoary** » March 29, 2012, 9:06 am

Some good advice here, personally I wouldn't bother with a loan. As has been suggested stay with the MIL or rent a place for a bit while saving some cash. This will give you some time to see how things are moving along with your fairly new relationship.

Then if all is good decide if you want to buy or build. Building in thailand can be as cheap or as expensive as you want it to be. As long as you find the right builders ( which is easier said than done).

I went for the build in the village option saved for a year, house cost just over 1mill and am very happy with the results. The inlaws are great and i have never been asked for anything, we get all the privacy we need and the family is close by to baby sit or help out when i am away working.

Renting is also a good option we are moving to udon at the end of this month so my boy can start nursary at Paramin. We have found a place that we like and its only about 8k a month. We will be travelling back to the village at weekends so have the best of both worlds.

you have plenty of options just take your time and everyting will.fall into place.

Chris

Post by **bumper** » March 29, 2012, 9:22 am

Ok guys he can rangle a Bank Loan I've done it.

I just answered his question.

Beyond that at age 30 I would take her to my home country, you have longs ways to go before retirement.

Something you need to understand before you decide to do this. Her Thai family will come first, that won't change. Her mother will make the decesion's for the family and that includes you.

The closer you are to the family the more that is going to effect your life.

Other then the snide remark, I agree with everything said to you. Honestly if that was your only questiong you have a long ways to go in WBU.

If she won't agree to go to your home country, which would not surprise me. Your not going to have a relationship, you will be the families bank.

Why didn't I say this upfront, so many times now over nine years, as a general rule no one listens anyway. Then they want to blame the Thai's. So your a big boy you have been given the advice. I would really enjoy for one time someone not crying on everyones shoulder if it goes wrong.

Nothing has changed for me Good Luck

Post by **trubrit** » March 29, 2012, 9:35 am

Just a financial observation. I would consider it unwise to borrow money in any currency but the one your income is in. You may get lucky and find yours strengthens but on recent trends you just might be penalised , not only by the interest but by the poorer exchange rate .

Post by **chrisoary** » March 29, 2012, 9:36 am

@ Bumper

Perhaps the OP would rather live in Thailand than his own country? I know that i would rather live here than the Uk. There may come a time when I have to move back to give my son a better standard of education but that would be a last resort I would rather shell out on a international school and stay here.

Not every thai family is the same or perhaps i have just had a bit of luck

Post by **bumper** » March 29, 2012, 9:46 am

See what happens when you go beyond the orignal question. Perhaps he would personally I could not afford to do that till I was 55.

Who wouldn't want to live here, but you still got to support yourself. 25 years is a very long time things change, he has job in a operating mine ias that going to last long enouhg for him to build a retirement I don't know.

Wanting to do something and being able to do it can be two different things.

In any event I wish him good luck.

Post by **jimboLV** » March 29, 2012, 10:07 am

Well I started out to type a reply, but then checked and saw that chrisoary beat me to it. We did the same thing, rented in Udon, saved our money for two years then built a house in her home town, 300 km from Udon. We did at first look at new homes in the Udon area, talked to builders and banks with varying results, and could get a loan for 50% down. The house we eventually built, on property my wife owned, cost less than a down payment would have been and we've got a much better house with no mortgage, no rent. During those two years we spent a lot of time at MIL's house and thought long and hard over whether we could stand living right next door to her mother, aunt lives on the other side, brother and wife lives two doors away, grandmother and cousin next to that, etc. We thought long and hard before satisfying ourselves that we could stand living so close. It's worked out great as long as you make it clear from the start that your refrigerator and liquor supply is not theirs, nor are your tools, etc. But we have unlimited on call baby sitting, help whenever we need it.

So, as others have said, go slow and let things happen at their own pace, keeping your eyes wide open and don’t let that little furry thing guide your decisions. (I know, that’s hard to do

).

Be careful with any advice you get on here. Some is good advice such as KP, Chrisoary and others above. But there are some negative losers that post on this (or any other board). They hate Thai people, Thai women (despite being married to one) and one wonders why they stay here.

f you want any more details PM me and I'd be glad to elaborate on any of the above. Good luck.

Post by **harmonyudon** » March 29, 2012, 10:13 am

To give you an idea of the costs of building a standard house in a village,here a video.
Total cost about 480.000bht, go to 5.31min of this video.

You can build a simpeler house for around 300.000bht.

Like some advices here,save 1st and do it if you can MISS it.

Post by **bumper** » March 29, 2012, 11:02 am

That is beatiful and one heck of a price.

Post by **grievous** » March 29, 2012, 11:31 am

You can quite easily live inn thailand on a FiFo roster. I know quite a few aussies who live in thailand and work in Australia.
I was doing the same thing last year and really enjoyed it however we built in the wrong village.
You still will have super paid in your account for retirement and have access to medicare in Australia if you require it.
Renting is a great idea, after spending a lot of time in our village we found that it didn't meat our needs and the childrens education. We were lucky to find a buyer and have purchased again.
The banks as far as I know will want 50% deposit if you are a foreigner and your income is earn't in a country out side of thailand.
I have had friends who the bank advised to give the wife money over a period of time, let her deposit it weekly, so it looks like she has some type of income earnt in thailand.

Post by **Aardvark** » March 29, 2012, 11:44 am

Your a fifo Worker doing a two on two off Roster, but we need more info to really give you any meaningful advice. Do you have a Home in Oz (Mortgage) or rent. Have you considered the Future ie: Super Annuation, Investments etc. If you pour your Money into Thailand and things go Wrong (and they frequently do) you will be left with nothing as you have very few rights in the los. Having only known your Lady since November and only having spent a few Days at a time with one another, how can you be sure you are right for each other ?? Sorry about the Negatives but, did you meet in a Bar, does she have any Tattoos, does she live at Home when you are away at Work, can you be sure you are the only Man in Her Life ?? Like others have already said, go SLOW and get to know the Girl before comitting any real Money and if she gets Stroppy with you and starts complaining She needs this and that Start Worrying straight away !! In the beginning it's all new and exciting, but it can turn very sour very quickly and you need to go into this with your Eyes Wide Open. Good Luck.

Post by **jonny_w** » March 29, 2012, 1:29 pm

@aardvark

maybe she is different?
not all bargirls have tattoos?
maybe she learned to speak english in school, at the university?

someone used the WBU.........that means water buffalo university <school of hard knocks>
a board search will produce stuff on it

Post by **LKelly** » March 29, 2012, 2:54 pm

Thanks to all the replies, Cheers Stantheman

, Henry.. dont be scared....I dont want your ugly women, I have my wife...good luck;)

Post by **bumper** » March 29, 2012, 4:06 pm

Hmmm!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Could be we should have stuck to the original question =D>

Post by **fdimike** » March 29, 2012, 4:08 pm

LK

My apologies for the eroneous info re: getting a loan. I was under the impression that a foreigner was not eligible to obtain a bank loan.

Post by **bumper** » March 29, 2012, 4:22 pm

It's doable mike, just a much larger down payment then a Thai. They actually didn't care about my wifes financial status. That could be if it goes wrong gives them time to recover the loan.

I had no idea you could build a nice house as our Canadian friend did for that kind of money.

Me I would lean toward his method if I had to do it over. It's asmall house but could be added onto as the money became available. No debt is always better if you can pull it off. SCB Bank will do a loan with 50% down a requirement you take out a Life Insurance Policy for the loan amount.

Our loan is with SCB so that is the only one I really know about. I believe guys have obtained them at othre banks as well.

I still wish the OP luck, it doesn't always go bad, But, it can hence some good advice on here. But really nothing that hasn't been discussed a thousand times here.

The WBU comment goes far beyond marriage we all had a learning curve just goes with the territory. I paid my tuition and still do at times.

Post by **fdimike** » March 29, 2012, 5:53 pm

Bump

How do they calculate the interest? I ask because I know that financing a motorcycle for 3 years will double the price of the bike. I understand in that situation the interest is not calculated on the unpaid balance as they do in the US but on the entire loan. ie every monthly payment contains the same amount of interest & principal.

Post by **bumper** » March 29, 2012, 6:35 pm

That my friend I don't know.

Post by **fatbob** » March 29, 2012, 9:39 pm

Going back to your original post, your situation is far different from the experience's being posted here, you are thirty years old and I bet not a lot of difference in age between you and your wife, thats your first advantage as most of the old farts on this forum arrived in Thailand when they retired and married ......

mod note: off topic comments removed

As for building a house your lucky because your an Aussie, a tin roof wont bother you, Bluescope steel roofs are available in Udon, colourbond zincalum with insulation glued to the underside is about 170 baht a metre, now the benefit of a tin roof is weight, the first thing to remember is your house in Udon is a home, not an investment, if you break up the missus gets it so the first aim is to keep the cost down.

Back to the tin roof, start at your foundations, 1metre square pads 300mm deep with one layer of 9mm rebar at 200mm centres, the brothers or uncles can dig them, make sure you use ready mix concrete though, pads are completed get precast 150mm square posts with 12mm D bar reo, stand them on the pads and lock with mortar at base, next set your roof beam or pitching plate, 100 x 50 x 3.2 steel C purlin, weld that to your rebar at the top of your post making sure your posts are plumb, grout under the C purlin at post top, pitch your roof off that and lay your tin roof. Your now ready to pour floor beams and slab, make sure your slab beams sit on top of the foundation pads, a bit extra concrete but well worth it. If your interested let me know and I'll go on later. You can build a good looking house cheap here, mine has cost me 800 thousand baht so far, not quite finished but done in stages so we could live in it as we went, we had it liveable for 400. Take your time leave the banks alone and most important do your own thing.