Back in Bangkok..........

Sibley

Well, that's my yearly trip to UK over with.

I had the chance to take stock of everything and spoke to a lot of friends in different situations. Here is what I heard.

Property prices in Maidstone.

Not a great deal of des res available. Anything nice sells quickly for good money.

Tunbridge Wells.

This town is close to us. Prices through the roof but mainly near the Judd school. Still number 1 choice in Kent. If you own a house there you are lucky.

Rentals.

Monthly rent is through the roof. I was shocked.

There is no panic. No problems with people not getting tenants and BTL is king. My best friend has sold his business and bought around 5 properties for this reason. On IO mortgage he is making a killing.

If rates go up there is plenty of meat on the bone before he would have trouble. Anyone waiting for forced repossessions is crazy IMHO. That is a long way away.

It seems the mortgage restrictions for normal people has worked against everyone. Now landlords are free to snap everything up. They all have good credit ratings and it seems to be a self cert style market as far as I can see.

Few of my normal mates who work for people said times are hard. Everything has gone up (I saw that). Nobody in trouble with mortgage though and have lots of toys to sell and hobbies to stop before it got to not paying the mortgage. Again, the crashers are barking up the wrong tree. There won't be a mass of forced repossessions.

Getting a good job doesn't look like fun.

The UK does look in a bit of a state but most news reporting seems to link UK recovery and house prices.

Anyone waiting for a crash will be losing a lot of money in rent.

I_know_my_ABC_and_my_CMYK

Sibley wrote: »

Well, that's my yearly trip to UK over with.

I had the chance to take stock of everything and spoke to a lot of friends in different situations. Here is what I heard.

Property prices in Maidstone.

Not a great deal of des res available. Anything nice sells quickly for good money.

Tunbridge Wells.

This town is close to us. Prices through the roof but mainly near the Judd school. Still number 1 choice in Kent. If you own a house there you are lucky.

Rentals.

Monthly rent is through the roof. I was shocked.

There is no panic. No problems with people not getting tenants and BTL is king. My best friend has sold his business and bought around 5 properties for this reason. On IO mortgage he is making a killing.

If rates go up there is plenty of meat on the bone before he would have trouble. Anyone waiting for forced repossessions is crazy IMHO. That is a long way away.

It seems the mortgage restrictions for normal people has worked against everyone. Now landlords are free to snap everything up. They all have good credit ratings and it seems to be a self cert style market as far as I can see.

Few of my normal mates who work for people said times are hard. Everything has gone up (I saw that). Nobody in trouble with mortgage though and have lots of toys to sell and hobbies to stop before it got to not paying the mortgage. Again, the crashers are barking up the wrong tree. There won't be a mass of forced repossessions.

Getting a good job doesn't look like fun.

The UK does look in a bit of a state but most news reporting seems to link UK recovery and house prices.

Anyone waiting for a crash will be losing a lot of money in rent.

As it also has in Bangkok.

.....and lets face it you are getting a really crap rate of exchange at the mo as well

chucknorris

Sibley wrote: »

Well, that's my yearly trip to UK over with.

From a lifestyle only point of view (i.e. forget any financial aspect) what do you think are the advantages of living in Thailand?

Are there any disadvantages?

Is there anything you miss from over here?

I_know_my_ABC_and_my_CMYK

When I lived out there I can honestly say the only thing I missed was family, nothing else.

We have decided we are going to sell up and move back there, we can live cheaper in Samut prakaarn than we can here. I used to live in the Sukhumvit area of Bangkok which the OP will know but you are talking 1 million Stering now for a penthouse apartment. It's cheaper to build a house in Samut prakaarn.

English and Irish pubs are not cheap, Thai bars are but it depends on what you are looking for............ but Tesco is right next door to my DIL parents house, they buy products in there cheaper to sell in their own shop lol make a hell of a profit

mystic_trev

Sibley wrote: »

Tunbridge Wells.

This town is close to us. Prices through the roof but mainly near the Judd school. Still number 1 choice in Kent. If you own a house there you are lucky.

Judd school is not in Tunbridge Wells it's in Tonbridge, over 5 miles away. There are plenty of properties for sale there, and they're not all being 'snapped up' by Investors. Many of the lower end properties have been languishing on the market for ages, it's only the higher end market that's been moving i.e. above £500,000 - not really BTL territory.

I_know_my_ABC_and_my_CMYK

Sorry Advantages, you get the weather, the sun shines daily, its a great way of life but not everyone can hack it. If you work out there you will work extremely hard compared to the UK.

Shopping is brilliant as the Thais love to shop all day long. Medical care is cheap and depending on which are you are in excellent.

I saw Buddhist monks do things out there I can't find a logical reason for. The Thai way of life is mae pen lie, never mind doesn't matter, I'll work tomorrow as this may be the last day of my life, they are pretty laid back, having said that they are hard workers.

Aberdeenangarse

I_know_my_ABC_and_my_CMYK wrote: »

I saw Buddhist monks do things out there I can't find a logical reason

So can Ting Tong with ping pong balls......ping pong with Ting Tong!:rotfl:

I_know_my_ABC_and_my_CMYK

Aberdeenangarse wrote: »

So can Ting Tong with ping pong balls......ping pong with Ting Tong!:rotfl:

Been there seen that, the ping pong show lol

the_flying_pig

Sibley wrote: »

...Maidstone.

Not a great deal of des res available...

Fair play to you for painting that as a positive, Sibs. When I was a lad we tended to just call places like that shitholes.

Sibley

From a lifestyle only point of view (i.e. forget any financial aspect) what do you think are the advantages of living in Thailand?

Are there any disadvantages?

Is there anything you miss from over here?

IMHO living here and working here are 2 different things.

I used to love coming on holiday here. Never really got fed up with it and always dreamed of selling my UK house and retiring here.

However, this plan went wrong when the pound lost 30% value against the Thai baht a few years back.

Working here has been a big shock for me and opened my eyes to a few things.

Yes, the Thai way or never mind we can do it tomorrow may be great if you are here on holiday. Try that when you have sales figures to meet and a team of people who don't worry about anything. It's hard going.

It's sort of inconvenient on holiday if your internet goes down or TV channels stop working. Not quite as good when your living here full time.
Most services in Thailand are inferior to UK. I find it like dealing with Indian call center 24/7.

You can live out here cheaper than UK for sure but personally I find it quite boring.
If you can buy yourself a cheap house and are happy just poodling about then fine. Like ABC is saying.

I was the worlds worst for moaning about UK.

Now being away I find I miss so much. The sense of humor, the polite shop keepers, customer service and clean standard of living.
Whatever anyone tells you about Thailand there will always be 1 massive disadvantage and that's no perminate visa or ability to own a house or land.

Yes there are ways round it but no way is it safe money to buy here. OK, you can do it in your wifes name but come on guys. We all know marriages fail. I wouldn't want to fall on the mercy or anyone with everything in their name would you?

Health is cheaper here and great if you have the money. However, if you don't have money it's horrific and you will die unless you go home for treatment. Nobody cares about you. I've seen that as well.

The old boys have taken a hell of a beating out here. Lots were on the UK standard OAP.
In the past it was enough for a decent life. Now it's not. I couldn't live how they do. Small fan rooms and sitting down the beach with cheap 7/11 beer. No thanks.

First sign of illness they are home.

Even people with decent private plans have taken a hit. Cost of living higher and less coming in.

So can Ting Tong with ping pong balls......ping pong with Ting Tong

Listen fella. Just this once and once only.

Let me put you right about Ping Pong balls, ladyboys and sex in Thailand.


For guys like you it would be a dream place like you could never imagine.
Instead of sitting in Wetherspoons looking into a pint dreaming of pulling some 40 year old woman with bingo wings. You can take your pick from thousands of 40 odd kilo sexy ladies.
I don't know many blokes that wouldn't love it.

It's nothing like going with a hooker in Europe. The girls stay with you 24/7 and act like your girlfriend if you want that.

Anyone who has spent any amount of time here has seen and done it all. Ping pong balls, ladyboys, gays and Go Go girls.

It's quite tame to us and not even worth mentioning really.
Very old hat.

Somebody like yourself keep going on about it like you do is frankly quite embarrassing to see.

It's obviously fascinating for you.

I suggest you treat yourself to a holiday out here and get it out of your system.

hallmark

Sibley wrote: »

It's nothing like going with a hooker in Europe. The girls stay with you 24/7 and act like your girlfriend if you want that.

So kind of like a girlfriend then?