Investing in Thailand

rockdrummer

I have been thinking......

If I sold my house in Ireland I would be able to move to Thailand with €150,000 (after paying off the mortgage) which is 7,000,000 baht (I would be a millionaire in Thailand). Looking at property sites on the net, and seems with €150,000 you can do quite well - buy a nice house and a business. Thinking of buying a small guest house and making a living off that. Living debt free, all profits into the hand !!

My girlfriend for the past 6 years is Thai and will probably get married in the near future.... We are both living in Ireland but think we would have a better life in Thailand.

Has anybody had experience buying property, living, working etc in Thailand. What are the pitfalls with buying property / business?

Wishfulthink

Hi Rockdrummer

I reckon in a few years if i ever get money il start a business in thailand im only startin out so ive got plenty time going to do a good bit of research this year though. Check out business section of thaivisa.com. Some very successful guys there with good info but also an aweful lot of unwelcoming gits!! Sunbelt asia sponsor that site and they are business brokers always have lots of businesses for sale good/bad?? There are different rules for different business many types of business foreigners are not allowed own 100% but again your future wife will be thai so that should not be a problem.

Property ownership in thailand is dodgy technically we cant own land but can lease it for 30 yrs or work out deals 30 +30 +30. Your best bet would be for your future wife to buy it and you to lease it off of her incase anything happens to her. Im not sure about buying condos i think you can buy them in bkk (prob dont want to live there) or pattaya (prob wana live there even less!!) something like 41% of the building have to be occupied by thais.

Well thats just scratching the surface thaivisa should set you straight.

If you dont mind me asking what type of visa did your girlfriend get and how did she get it? is she able to work on it? It must have been pretty hard on her to adjust to living here cant imagine too many thais around the place maybe im wrong.

PM me if you want

rockdrummer

Hey thanks for the reply,

She's on a Student VISA, is allowed work 20 hours a week. Applied from Irish embassy in Australia for Irish student VISA. Theirs alot of conditions - have to have college paid for, have to have plenty of money in bank etc etc. She is pretty westernised - spent 5 years in Australia and now 2 years in Ireland. You'd be surprised about the amount of Thais in Ireland !!!

I suppose before I make such a commitment I would have to tie the not with her.... That would sort out all land ownership issues.

Will have a look on thaivisa.com, thanks....

Wishfulthink

rockdrummer wrote:

She's on a Student VISA

Good thinking pain in the ass though she prob earning just about enough to cover the cost of her course and i think they are making them go do fulltime courses as well if they dont have to already. I suppose eventually student visa will run out!! Honest man count down is on:D

rockdrummer wrote:

You'd be surprised about the amount of Thais in Ireland !!!

Really, I must get out more:D Im pretty good at spoting the differences between all the asians here but cant say ive spotted that many thais. Il keep looking;)

rockdrummer

She reneweed her student VISA last May in the Cop shop, once your here its very easy to renew VISA's, once you have a fulltime course paid for no prob.

My g'friend says theirs more Thais in Cork than Dublin.....

tonyboy247

Yes i would bel..e you if you told me the real story ..been there loads of times myself and well frankly it aint good ..if your looking for the dodge stay put man.

jdivision

Taken from The Sunday Business Post regarding purchasing villas in Thailand:
The leasehold title is registered with the Thai government and is fully protected by Thai law. On entry, villa purchasers will need to pay a leasehold registration fee of 1.1 per cent of the contract price.

The villas can be purchased in the name of an individual or by a company including foreign purchasers.

Villa owners are free to sell their villa at any time they wish as owner of the leasehold property. The sale involves a sale of the leasehold by way of assignment to a new purchaser.

There is 5 per cent capital gains tax and property owners are required to pay income tax at 5 per cent on rental income derived from the properties but the Irish revenue will require that this is brought up to your tax rate in Ireland by paying a balancing payment here.
Obviously you wouldn't have to make balancing payment if you were living there and wouldn't have to make it at all unless you were renting part of it out.

Wishfulthink

jdivision wrote:

The villas can be purchased in the name of an individual or by a company including foreign purchasers.

Yes but you have to set up a company, then you could be accused of deliberatly circumventing the law which is illegal. you are really at the will of the government and its policies and lets not forget there have been many a coup in thailand

Wishfulthink

Wow i must be psychic!!!!!!! well maybe not

anyway before the coup even happend the gov pretty much cut off the loop hole of setting up a company to buy land now alot of people who have done this are on shaky ground also visa regulations have been tightend so its much harder to go spend any significant amount of time in your new house.

I really think our gov should make estate agents and any one else who sell land in foreign countries to make it clear that foreigners are not allowed own land in certain countries and this is one of them.

and we are really just using trickery and dodgy loopholes that can be closed anytime to make you think everything is legit(RANT-greedy gits!!)

ircoha

Make sure you have somewhere to park the tank