Tuesday, 13 April 2010
Thailand Property and Real Estate
When relocating many people from all over the world consider the country of Thailand. In fact, each and every year more and more people turn their eyes to Thailand when it comes to selecting a place to relocate their family during retirement, when seeking out a place to relocate their company, or to seek out a location in order to purchase a summer or vacation home. One of the main reasons people choose Thailand is due to its climate, beautiful surroundings, and rich culture. Additionally, it is in the midst of a wide variety of countries and locations that are highly sought after and easy to travel to from Thailand.
Thailand property is also considered to be very affordable. This is actually one of the main reasons why companies choose to relocate to Thailand. The cost of starting up a company or relocating a company to Thailand is much more affordable than starting up a company in the United Kingdom or United States. In fact, more and more high profile companies are choosing to expand their company to Thailand or are choosing to begin their company there from the start. In fact, this is the number two reason why people choose to take advantage of Hua Hin Property.
The top reason why the majority of people choose to seek out Thailand property is in order to obtain an excellent place for them to retire or relocate their family to. This also includes seeking out Hua Hin property wherein families will start up summer homes. There are numerous types of properties that a homeowner can choose from when it comes to Thailand property. The first type is typical homes that can be built from scratch. The second type is homes that were previously occupied but that have now been put back onto the market.
Other available real estate properties in Thailand include apartments and condominiums. You can also choose from premier beachfront properties, exclusive golf villas, or even from new development properties. You can also find permanent vacation rentals or purchases. These are just a few of the Hua Hin property rentals and purchases that you can choose from when considering Thailand property.
If you are considering the purchase of Hua Hin property then you will need to turn to an expert who understands what is involved in obtaining a Thailand property. You will need a trusted and respectable company who can assist you in not only seeking out the type of property that you desire, but also in seeking out a property that is located within your general price range. You can find such a Hua Hin property if you know who to turn to for advice and guidance.
With Thailand Property, Hua Hin you can quickly find this type of guidance and can ensure that you find the exact type of property you are looking for at a price that you can easily afford. With their team of experts you will quickly and easily gain everything that you desire with very little effort.
If you are on the market for Hua Hin Property then you will need to find an expert. Thailand Property, Hua Hin is the best resource you will come across when you are on the market for Thailand property.
Article Source: ArticleSnatch Free Article Directory
Sunday, 4 April 2010
Monday, 29 March 2010
Friday, 26 March 2010
Top Tips to Avoid When Relocating to Thailand
Six Deadly Mistakes Westerners Make When Relocating to Thailand
By Johnny Farang
Many people visit Thailand on holiday or on a business trip and fall in love with the wonderful "Land of Smiles". Thailand has so much to offer: beautiful women, delicious food, great climate, fantastic beaches, tropical islands, outdoor sports activities, a dynamic social life and amazing travel opportunities. It's a wonder anyone returns home! Some don't. In this article I look briefly at six of the more common mistakes people make when they finally make the move to Thailand.
Deadly Mistake #1: Incorrect visa
Having the incorrect visa can be an expensive mistake. It's particularly important to make sure you have the correct visa if you are intending to work or start up a business in Thailand. Seek proper visa advice before leaving home. If you are in the UK I recommend checking Thaiconsul-uk.
They provide excellent support. Of course the same visa rules apply to most other Western countries.
Deadly Mistake #2: Insufficient income
Job options in Thailand are somewhat limited in supply. The vast majority of jobs available to Westerners are low paid English teaching jobs. These can range in salary from 25,000-35,000 baht per month. The better paying IT jobs, which are quite rare, may pay 40,000-60,000 per month. At more prestigious private schools teaching jobs may attract around 50,000 Baht per month, but these are very hard to come by.
If you are a qualified teacher recruited from UK for one of the International Schools in Thailand, you will get UK type rates of around £25,000 - £35,000 per year, depending on experience. This amounts to about 200,000 Baht per month - that is a LOT of money in Thailand. Often the school concerned also provides accommodation and food, much like private schools in UK, which means it's an even better deal, allowing you to save reasonable amounts of money for the future.
So typically, if you go into a reasonable local English teaching job you might expect around 35,000 Baht per month. To put that into perspective the average monthly salary in the UK at time of writing is equivalent to over 136,000 Baht per month. So expect to take a bit of a pay cut!
On the other hand the cost of living in Thailand is considerably cheaper than the UK. You can live on 35,000 Baht per month in Bangkok. Of course what is considered by some to be living may be considered by others to be a frugal existence. If you want to be out gallivanting in clubs or travelling over Thailand, or live in a better apartment you will need more money according to your tastes and requirements. I personally budget 70,000 Baht per month whenever I stay in Thailand, but then I spend quite a bit of time playing golf, diving and travelling.
The other option that people go for is setting up a local business in Thailand. Some people make a moderate success of this. A minority can make a lot of money with glitzy nightclubs, hotels and bars. Of course this requires a lot of knowledge and capital.
I don't particularly recommend starting a business locally in Thailand unless you have a track record of business success outside of Thailand. I think there are better and safer ways to make money in Thailand, such as running your own online business. An online business that generates passive income has the added advantage that you have a lot of free time to enjoy Thailand - rather than being chained to an office or business all day long.
If you are a retiree you need to make sure your income meets the legal requirements for the retiree visa. This needs to be checked by the authorities on an annual basis and they will expect to see satisfactory evidence of your overseas income.
Deadly Mistake #3: No objectives
If you make the move to Thailand it's important to have specific goals in mind of what you'd like to achieve during your stay. There are many people who, after relocating, waste a lot of time and never really achieve anything in Thailand. Too late they realise they've squandered their life savings. It's very important to have some idea of the things you'd like to achieve. These could be specific travel objectives - diving in a certain reef, visiting an interesting area such as Chiang Mai. Hopping to places like Malaysia and Singapore. There could be business or financial objectives you want to achieve.
You may have personal objectives such as finding a wife, getting married and starting a family. You may want to learn Thai or another language. Perhaps you always wanted to write a book or learn a new skill or study for a new qualification.
Don't waste your time in Thailand - make it really count for something. Always have a clear idea of what you'd like to achieve during your stay in Thailand - otherwise after a couple of years you will be moving back home and wondering why you ever went to Thailand in the first place.
Deadly Mistake #4: Mismanage money
A big problem here is that people tend to convert Baht back into their Western currency in their heads. This gives them the impression that they are spending less money than they really are. When you do the conversion everything sounds so cheap - it is - if you are earning a Western salary.
It's also easy to fall prey to other Westerners living in Thailand. If you are freshly arrived with money in your pocket be prepared to have others try to relieve you of it. All kinds of "can't lose" business ventures will come your way, as well as requests to "borrow" money. Loans somehow never get repaid. Keep a very tight hold of your money. I always recommend keeping the bulk of your money out of Thailand. Simply draw what you need to live via an ATM and pay your main bills with your credit card.
If someone asks me if I'm interested in investing money in some project of theirs I always just tell them I don't have any, or it's tied up in property in the UK (which is something I recommend you do anyway). They soon lose interest.
Deadly Mistake #5: No appreciating assets
One of the problems with selling your house to fund your move to Thailand is that you are losing an appreciating asset. Owning a freehold property in Thailand can be done but it is not without its complications. Even if you do manage to end up owning a property in Thailand it is unlikely to increase in value as much as, say, a property in the UK - especially over the long term.
By purchasing a property in Thailand you are also exposing yourself to a number of other potential problems: what happens if the laws on property ownership change (again), what happens if the visa rules change (again), what happens if your visa is not renewed, what happens if there are legal complications, what happens if you want to sell up and move back home? Rental property is very widely available and good value in Thailand, so I suggest most people go that route.
If you currently own a house in the UK (or West) I strongly urge you to keep it. Crunch the numbers and see if it's possible to let the property out, taking into account rental income, tax, management fee and periodic repairs. If the numbers work that's fine. If not you might be better off delaying your move to Thailand until you've paid off a bit more of your mortgage - enough to bring the numbers in favour of letting the property out. There are many options on variations possible here - but ideally you should have an appreciating asset of some kind outside of Thailand.
Deadly Mistake #6: No escape plan
You need some kind of escape plan. The very least this should be is backup money for a ticket home. Ideally keep this money in a different account and don't touch it. Better still, give your escape funds to a parent or sibling and tell them not to give you the money unless it's for a ticket home - preferably they should actually buy the ticket for you. Westerners can get themselves into all kinds of hot water in Thailand - for a wide range of reasons. They might fall foul of the law, lose their money in a failed business, have their heart broken or be robbed blind by a scheming gold-digger. It's at this point many people can get desperate and get themselves involved in drugs and other crimes. Don't get into that position - always make sure you have a clear and bullet-proof exit strategy before moving to Thailand.
Summary
In this article I've looked at some of the most common things than westerners get wrong when moving to Thailand. No one can live a perfect life - but you need to make sure your foundation (mentally, physically and financially) is solid before attempting to relocate overseas to Thailand. The same advice goes for other countries in Asia or even to other countries in the West.
Living in Thailand can be a fantastic experience, with a bit of planning ahead you can avoid all the most common errors.
Johnny Farang has been visiting, living in, and writing about Thailand since 2003. He hopes to retire there one day and is working towards that end. Johnny is founder of the site http://www.dreamofsiam.com which he has been running since 2004.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Johnny_Farang
http://EzineArticles.com/?Six-Deadly-Mistakes-Westerners-Make-When-Relocating-to-Thailand&id=900169
Retirement in Thailand
Buying a House in Thailand For Your Retirement
By Paul Aragones
Buying a house in Thailand for your retirements is one of the best options that you can do after your work is done and you want to have peace and quiet. However, there are plenty of laws and regulations that you need to be aware of so that you can effectively procure the property that you want.
You know that there are a lot of investment opportunities in Thailand and real estate is what many foreigners go there. And while there are plenty of restrictions that are put on the procurement, there are also a lot of ways that you can go around them.
Here are some rules that you need to keep in mind:
Know what you can not own
There are various things that you can buy in Thailand and a house is one of them. However, there are things that are off limits for you. One of the things that are not available to a foreigner is that foreigners are not allowed to have a 49% ownership of a condominium. This ensures that majority of the ownership of the property remains on the hands of the Thai.
How you can get around this
And while this is the case in most of the people, there is a way that you can get around this one. You can get around this rule by establishing a local Thai limited company. Since you cannot get more than 49 percent share, then you must enter an association with 6 other Thai investors in order to form such an organization. Remember that in a Thai limited company, you need a minimum of 7 shareholders involved. After this, you need to be named the executive director of the said company and be voted by the rest of your associates. After this, the six other investors should sign an undated share transfer thereby giving you the whole property.
The other option
There is another option that you can have other than the Thai limited company. If you can not find six other investors that is willing to cede ownership to you then, Thai limited ownership is not the best option for you. If you are in this predicament then you might want to try the second option.
Your second option is through the lease of land for 30 years and after that you can be offered an extension of 30 years and can be extended to up to 990 years more at maximum. Remember that the foreign owner has the right to will the land to his heirs.
These two ways are the easiest ways to buying a house in Thailand for your retirement. Try and follow the tips so that you can have the easiest time.
Paul is a long time Asian traveler and hopes he can help a few foreigners in their search for the bets spots to visit on earth. To Retire in Thailand one must know the ins and outs of the place.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Paul_Aragones
http://EzineArticles.com/?Buying-a-House-in-Thailand-For-Your-Retirement&id=2052219
Moving To Thailand
Moving to Thailand - The Many Benefits
By Mitch Bowler
In the heart of Southeast Asia - that is where you can find Thailand. Wai is what they call an act of respect that they do for greetings. You will put your hands together in a prayer like gesture and bow your head. In India they call it namaste. One of the most important parts of their custom is the belief that the head is the most honored part of the body and feet are the dirtiest. So touching a person's head is a rude attitude for Thais. As almost all of us know, Buddhism is the most practiced religion in this country.
You must be 50 years or older in order to apply for a Thai Retirement Visa. The first requirement in applying for this visa is a non-immigrant visa and in order for you to get that, you need to be 50 years old, have proof of a monthly income and a letter from the bank, which shows the statement of your pension or funds. To fulfill the financial requirement for the visa you must show proof that you have a bank account with at least the amount of THB 800,000 which is US$ 24,330. You must also have a monthly income of THB 65,000 or US$ 1,975.40 to be exact. Your retirement visa is valid for a year and you will need to renew it every year that you plan to live here. Once you have been granted a retirement visa you will no longer be allowed to work while staying in the country.
Internationally, Thai food is one of the most popular due to its taste with a touch of both Western and Eastern unique flavors. Thai food is also well-known for its hot and spicy dishes. Like many other East Asian countries the main food here is rice. Some examples of Thai cuisines are Chok, which is a breakfast food; a porridge which is eaten by most Thais. Another example is a rice soup with pork or chicken which they call Khao tom. When it comes to desserts, you will often find fresh fruits. Thais traditionally drink Sato (rice wine). For anyone willing to be extra adventurous and walk on the wild side you can also find exotic insect dishes here that really must be seen to be believed!
The cost of living in Thailand is very affordable. You can live a comfortable and simple life for only US $400 to US $500 a month, including the house rental, other utilities (electricity, water, etc), transportation and food. Thailand is also a safe country but like in other countries, you still need to observe and apply safety precautions for your own protection.
Mitch Bowler is an avid traveler, having lived the majority of his adult life overseas exploring different cultures and learning about the best that each has to offer the expatriates who live there.
Visit http://www.retiring-overseas.com/moving-to-thailand.html for more information on living abroad.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mitch_Bowler
http://EzineArticles.com/?Moving-to-Thailand---The-Many-Benefits&id=3855230
Thailand Property and Real Estate
Real Estate and Property in Thailand
By Martin Juarez
Because of the exotic beauty and splendour of Thailand most of the tourists who come to visit temporarily end up living in this majestic and tropical country as expatriates.
Generally, under the Thai law, foreign ownership of land is strictly prohibited. Financially smart foreigners however, have found the process of purchasing condos in their own name and renting those units out for income generation to be a very attractive investment.
Thus, resourceful foreigners have directly gained full control over the property they acquired in the form of condominium units. Some expats will live in the Thai condo themselves while other owners choose to have a property management company handle the rental. Some Thailand condo developers will even offer this service to the new buyers.
Since foreigners are forbidden from acquiring real properties in Thailand, they have chosen to purchase the next best thing. Acquisition of condominium units have become the simplest and most trouble-free substitute for foreigners who want to own real property in the country.
Although foreign ownership of condominium units is allowed, acquisition thereof is limited to a maximum of forty-nine percent (49%) of the whole building.
Another method of indirectly acquiring real property in Thailand is through a long-term lease. Although the non-Thai is merely considered as a lessee in this case, he is converted into the virtual owner of the leased premises since the lease agreement may be drafted in such a way as to render the agreement binding for a very long time, the maximum period of which is for thirty (30) years.
Before the expiration of the contract of lease, if the latter changes his mind and decide to sell his rights to the leased premises, he may validly be allowed to do so as long as such an act is provided for under the contract of lease.
Another alternative approach to indirectly owning real estate is the purchase of land through a duly registered Thai company. Although purchase of land by an individual foreigner is prohibited, it isn't prohibited for the Thai company to own and to acquire Thailand real estate.
Thailand condo legal services are provided by Siam Legal International in Bangkok, Phuket, Chiang Mai, Hua Hin, Pattaya and Samui.
Martin Juarez is a Business Correspondent for Siam Legal International, Thailand's largest legal service network with offices in Bangkok, Phuket, Pattaya, Hua Hin, Chiang Mai and Samui. The firm has international locations in London and Los Angeles. Siam Legal is a full-service law firm and provides a wide range of legal and Thailand visa services. Reach Siam Legal at +(66) 2-253-8100, or info@siam-legal.com.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Martin_Juarez
http://EzineArticles.com/?Real-Estate-and-Property-in-Thailand&id=3613527