Land prices in the sticks.
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valentine
Sorry Jetdoc, I didn't mean to imply you had purchased any land or that you financially aided your wife to do so.
My posting was really a general warning on the pitfalls awaiting the unwary considering the purchase of land, and the things to be observant for. It is perhaps unfortunate that your wifes circumstances seemed to fit that bill.
However if it prevents just one member reading it making a mistake then I feel it was justified.
My posting was really a general warning on the pitfalls awaiting the unwary considering the purchase of land, and the things to be observant for. It is perhaps unfortunate that your wifes circumstances seemed to fit that bill.
However if it prevents just one member reading it making a mistake then I feel it was justified.
As a side note, the rai next to the rai my wife bought was owned by an old lady, not sure if a relative or not. A couple of months ago when visiting, I was speaking with a German fellow who is married to a niece of my wife's mother. I mentioned to him that I was trying to get my wife to buy that rai. His wife (a cousin of my wife) said she was thinking of buying that rai but old lady didn't have "paper". A few weeks ago my wife told me that her cousin had bought that rai, probably had to pay a bit more since she knew that my wife trying to buy it also. Go figure.
I live with my GF in a small village in in the lower Loei province, about 100 houses. She tells me that the land in this area is all Sor Por Kor only and nobody that she knows of has Chanotes. Even though they acknowledge the rules regarding only being able to pass the land down to immediate family this does not seem to hinder them from routinely buying and selling land outside the family. I have never been present to witness an actual transaction to see how the paper work is handled but am told that paper does pass hands and some village official is involved. My GF's family history to the area surounding this village goes back a long way even to a great grandmother who is 101 years old and they have passed land down within the family as well as buy and sell it outside the family. It seems that buying land with a Sor Por Kor in small rural areas is fairly routine and safe. However, I think any farang thinking about getting involved with this type of transaction should base their judgement on how solid of a relationship you have with the wife or GF and how good of a family she has. I think you would have to trust them to handle the transaction completly and not be involved yourself once the decision is made to buy the land. After all, if things go bad no matter what kind of paper you have you are going to have some problems. Again, this is isolated rural farming area and farangs are almost non existant. Anywhere near or in a big city or developed area I believe would require a Chanote before my involvement in a purchase.
Thai wife and I bought 21 rai near Phrae with Nor Sor something, from friend of family. When wife goes to local land office to upgrade to Chanote, another guy turns up and claims half the land is his! Land seller tried to help us and provided stacks of old papers, rolled out the granny, everything, but no help. Land people totally in with the bad guy. Long story short, we were left with 11 rai chanote. We sold that off ASAP and managed to just break even.