Hi,

Are there any Canadians on this forum that have moved to Thailand? I'm looking to get as much information as I possibly can. I hope to teach English during my stay, and my girlfriend will be instructing scuba diving. We will be living in Koh Tao, Thailand. I like to buy a house there and settle. Any information on a cheap house over there is appreciated.
Thanks
santiago

on a teacher wages you don't have much chance of buying a property in the prime holiday resort or in fact anywhere else in thailand - unless you have savings from you country. As a foreigner you can't get a mortgage from the thai bank.

teacher wages are around $1000/moth and most probably you won't be payed for holidays. Of course living is cheap in thailand - but to buy a small, budget house you need at least $30 000 and more in the big cities, like Bangkok, or by the sea, like Kho Tao.

that's on top of the legal labirinth which will face you when trying to buy property in thailand.

if you do have savings the best way to buy the land and property in thailand is to open a company (for example english school or a diving school). If it's a genuine company you will have a chance of buying property - but for the last year there is a crackdown on the bogus companies, which were set up by the foreigners for the sole purpose of buying property and nothing else. To set up a company you need thai partners (foreigner can't be the sole owner), pay taxes (some 20% of profits) and bribes to the local officials (including police).

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