Posts Tagged ‘Retirement Home’

Buying A Car And Land In Thailand To Build A Retirement House On

My experience this week has been very eventful in our quest to buy land and build a retirement house in Thailand.

Both my wife and my son flew out to Thailand on the first leg of the journey toward building our retirement home in Thailand.

Here’s what happened this week.

Our Strategy For Buying Land In Thailand

In case you haven’t already discovered from other sections of the website I’m married to a Thai lady and we have a half Thai son, Alex, aged 22 who was born in the UK.

Since a Farang (myself) can’t own land in Thailand I had to come up with another strategy other than to buy the land (upon which to build our retirement house) in my wife’s name.

Why don’t I want to buy the land in Thailand in my wife’s name? Well, it’s not related to whether I trust her or not.

It’s a more practical problem I face and I wonder if other Farangs retiring in Thailand have thought about it.

The issue is this: If the land is in my wife’s name, what happens to ownership of the land and house if she dies before I do?

Under those circumstances:-

A) I don’t know if I would be allowed to continue to live there legally

B) I may not want to continue to live there. I might want to sell up and repatriate myself and the funds back to UK.

So I came up with (what turned out to be not such a…) cunning plan…

Our son, Alex, is eligible to get Thai nationality. So that done, I could buy the land in his name.

That was the strategy. But it didn’t turn out that way. Here’s why…

All Thai Males Aged 20 to 30 Are Eligible For Conscription Into The Thai Military!

They flew out to Bangkok on Sunday 7th February, 2010, and arrived the next day. On Tuesday, they went to the Amphur to undertake the first step of getting Alex’s Thai nationality – registering on the house papers of my wife’s Thai daughter, Daeng.

That day, the Thai computer system was down, so it was a wait until Wednesday.

They returned to the Amphur on Wednesday and Alex phoned me “Dad, there’s a hitch” he said. “They are telling me that if I put my name on the Thai house papers I am eligible to be consripted into the Thai Army”.

So I did some research on the ‘net and it seems to be true.

I even posted the question on a Thai Forum and received the answer, as follows:-

Hi, I’m a half Thai male aged 22 and want to get a Thai passport so that I can buy land in Thailand. My mother is Thai, my father is English (UK), I was born in the UK.

If I get a Thai ID Card and am put on the house papers am I then eligible to be conscripted into the Thai Military?

Or can I be exempt as a naturalized citizen?

Even if liable to be drafted I doubt if the Thai army would want me because I’m not ‘Thai’ like the Thais. I can’t speak Thai, I’m not a Bhudist, and know nothing about Thai culture.

You are eligible for draft Military service if you get yourself a Thai ID/passport.

I understand after age 30 they will not bother you…

Being a dual national does not exempt you from Military Service have a look at your British passport says exactly this.

You have to make a choice, get yourself your Thai citizen and take your chance with the call up or wait till your 30…

you are not a naturalised Thai citizen. Rather, you are a Thai citizen by birth who is only just getting around to getting his paperwork in order.

If you were born in the UK, you’ll need to approach the Thai embassy to get your Thai birth certificate issued. At the same time, you’ll can apply for a Thai passport.

I am unsure if purchasing land requires you to be in Thailand personally. However, if not, you could get someone to take power of attoerny and they can process the transaction on your behalf without having even to go to Thailand. Should be possible as power of attoerney is available for most things.

Alternatively, if you are a little worried about it all, your mum can purchase the land on your behalf.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Thai-Thai-Pp-Eligible-Conscrip-t338232.html

Here are some more links on the subject of conscription into the Thai military:-

http://www.thailandqa.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9471

http://isaanstyle.blogspot.com/2008/04/army-conscription-in-thailand.html

Anyway, that’s the first clever idea blown out of the water!

Bearing in mind that the main reason for sending Alex to Thailand was to get his Thai ID then it’s been an expensive and time-wasting trip for him.

And things weren’t getting any better…

Buying A Car (Pickup) In Bangkok, Thailand

You can buy pretty decent motors (cars, pickups etc) here in Uk for a few thousand pounds.

Daeng (and my wife) warned me not to expect the same thing in Thailand.

I wanted a second hand pickup (preferably Japanese) for about $6,000. (Say 200,000 Baht). I was ready to accept a diesel vehicle with 100,000 miles on the clock.

Not to be. It appears that the Thai’s run their vehicles into the ground. Often the mileage isn’t given and if it is how true is it?

So may forums warn “buyer beware” when it comes to buying a used car in Thailand.

Examples of second hand cars (Toyota pickups) for sale in Bangkok:-

2008 Pickup TOYOTA HILUX VIGO D4D 2.5 [E] D4D (Mileage not given)

Price ::  410,000 Thai Baht

Pickup  TOYOTA  HILUX VIGO D4D  2.5[J] (Milaege not given)

Price ::  375,000 Thai Baht

2007 TOYOTA HILUX VIGO 3 l Diesel (Mileage 102,087 km)

Price ::  $20,909 US, about 693,000 Thai Baht

These are just afew exanples of the prices you’ll pay to get a second hand Toyota pickup in Thailand. My research on the Internet indicated that there was not much available below $10,000 (330,000 Baht) and with milages of around 200,000+ km.

Alex and his Mum in Bangkok found a brand new Toyota Hilux 2.5 l diesel for 550,000 Bhat. That included road tax and one years free insurance.

The price in UK for this model (Toyota Hilux 4WD 2.5 D-4D HL2 Single Cab 2dr) is £17,753 (905,403 Bhat)

The pickup comes complete with ABS, driver and passenger airbags, power steering, electric windows, air conditioning, tilt adjust steering column, remote central locking and an audio system with CD player with MP3/CD-R compatibility. The engine is the latest development of the Toyota 2.5-litre D-4D diesel engine.

This is an excellent website to review the technical details and prices of the Toyota Hilux range.

So we paid our deposit and take delivery on 15th March 2010.

That’s all for this post. Next time I’ll be running through the trials and tribulations of our experience of buying land in Thailand.

Update On Buying A Car In Thailand

On 16th March 2010 my wife collected the car we had ordered from the dealer in Bangkok. It was a day late (not sure why) and she had problems with central door locking and electric windows. it took an exchange of money to sort that out, but finally we have the car.

Go to the new update called “collected the Toyota pickup yesterday” to read about collecting the car and the expensive problems on a brand new car that we had to pay to sort out.

Making A Map Of  Your Land Using A GPS SatNav

Need a quick and easy way to get a map of any piece of land you might be interested in buying to build your retirement home in Thailand on?

This article might just be what you need, because I have written a comprehensive web page all about how to map a plot of land using a hand-held GPS SatNav.

Can a GPS SatNav really be used to generate a map of a plot of land? If so, here are some questions that spring immediately to mid:-

• What type, make and model of SatNav is the best to get the GPS coordinates?
• How correct will the finished map be? Withing 10 meters? Or within 1 metre.
• Is it difficult to get the SatNav’s GPS coordinates?
• Are there any suitable maps available covering the plot of land you want to map in Thailand?

If so, what kind of maps are there? Are there ‘soft’ maps i.e. maps that you load into a computer and perhaps can plot your land on? Or are there any tradditional ahrd copy (paper) maps of big enough scale available?

All these questions are ansered and more in my article.

The BestGPS  SatNav To Use For Mapping In Thailand

You probably wouldn’t buy a GPS SatNav just to make a map of a plot of land upon which to build a house in Thailand.

But you might want a GPS SatNav to navigate your way around the country and cities. This is where a hand-held GPS SatNav comes into it’s own.

However, not all GPS SatNavs – TomTom for example have maps for Thailand and many are not sufficiently accurate for the purpose of making a map.

In my article, “Making A Map Of The Land To Build A House In Thailand” I show you how I have researched all kinds of GPS SatNavs and one particular model stands out far above the rest. If you want a GPS SatNav to use in Thailand then this article is simply a must-read for you.

Thailand House Prices

I have just created that new page I promised giving all the details of what it costs to build a house in Thailand.

Here is the link: The Budget Price Of Building A House In Thailand

On that page you will find:-

• Unit rates in Baht/m2 (Baht per m2) for building a house in Thailand
• A cost estimate for the house I am planning to build when I start retiring in Thailand
• A fee proposal from an Architect to make the house plans (drawings) that can be used to get a price to build a house in Thailand from a Thai builder and actually build the house.

This cost information is brand new and up to date.

Some of the house building cost information is as received by email from Kensington Company Limited – a design-and-build company based in Bangkok. I have posted the exact document they sent to me so that you can read exactly what they say about the cost of building a house in Thailand today – and not just what my opinions are.

The other building cost information is from research I have carried out on the Internet. Over half a dozen case examples are given all presenting the cost of building a house in Thailand in Baht per m2. One example even breaks down the unit cost into the separate elements of the building. For example the cost of roofing, flooring, windows, electrical etc are all given as a cost in Baht/m2.

This just has to be the the best resource for unit rates for building a house in Thailand on the Internet today. And it will be regularly updated as I receive more pricing information as a result either of my further research or of my own activity as I build my own retirement home in Thailand.

Keep Updated Of The Latest Thai House Price Information

Join the announcement list and receive an email whenever I post new information about the cost of building a house in Thailand.

Just pop your name and email address in the Keep Updated box at the top of this webs page to start receiving these valuable emails.

Where To Get The Cost Of Building A House In Thailand

This is the post where I tell you how to get an estimate of the cost of building your retirement home in Thailand and you don’t have to go to Thailand to find out.

If you have read the last post Building A Retirement House in Thailand you will know that I promised to give you this information – where to get Thailand house prices.

I have completed the update the drawings I had made of our planned retirement home we want to build in Thailand as mentioned in the previous post. The drawings have been updated now but I still have to upload them to the website.

More importantly, I have sent them to a couple of companies in Thailand to get quotations. One company produces plans (drawings) of Thai houses so I have asked for a quotation to have my outline house drawings fully developed.

Another is a design-and-build company in Thailand who will design and build your house for you. I have asked them for a quotation for producing the drawings and also a budget price for building the house.

You can find all this information including the website addresses of the companies I approached on the Thailand House Prices page.

Building A Retirement House in Thailand

We are more than just planning to build a retirement house in Thailand we are well on with the house plans. You can see some of those on this website at http://retiringinthailand.net/house-build-thailand-2/

Those plans I made myself on AutoCad but did I did start with a basic house design I downloaded from this Thai website:-

http://www.dpt.go.th/download/PW/house_model/framehome.html

The next stage is to obtain budget quotations for my house design before moving to the next stage. I’ll be doing this over the internet and will tell you exactly how when I have been through the process myself.

But before I seek the quotes, there are a few things I need to do to the house drawings to provide more information. (These may well be done when you read this – depends upon what time you came to this post).

Here’s what I’m going to do next to the drawings for of our Thai retirement home:-

• Add to the drawings:-
  • Sink and drain in the Workshop
  • Designate the WC and shower area walls as being made from brick
  • Add a finishes schedule showing what materials and finishes are to be used for walls, floors and ceilings
  • Add the folding windows to the Living room
• Make a cross section though the building
• Add some Thai language notes

So you can see I still have plenty to do before I start to get budget quotations from Thailand for our planned retirement house.

Keep in touch and I’ll update the web page holding the Thai house drawings as soon as I’m ready.