Living in Isaan on a budget

Do you have a Thai partner that can own the pand or.property??

Most Thai live form wages varying between 9000 to 15000 a.month.

Mid managent makes 50,000  minimum and pay off house and car...

I think especially in Isan tou can live easily on 35000 to 40000 thb not having to pay of house and or car. Luxury in anything will take you over these costs and depend on your budget. Fortunately for you not a lot.going on in Isaan. No competing wives, 5*restaurants or expensive malls where they sell the.same goods as in the regular shops with a markup for location....😀😀

@martinoo2002

Thank you very much for your reply.

Yes my wife is Thai, and can own land.

She has her own land, but has fallen out with her brother regarding this, so building on this land is a non starter.

I have savings, and a house to sell in the UK if need be, I also have a pension as income every month (approx 40,000 baht), so can use this, and take from savings as and when required.

guess you are ready to go

If you want to buy and not build, quality in Isaan can be an issue

But if you have some you can build what you want

We designed the house we live in, no tile flooring, quality bathroom materials, EU kitchen.

20 minutes land inward from both Hua Hin and Cha am, right on the border. On 2 rai of land for a fraction of the price they sell smaller houses on very small land, where you can see what the neighbors are having for dinner.

My porch is bigger than most living rooms at 60m2, mosquito netting all around.... every night we sit outside and hear nothing but animals.... you can have that too. It is a second living room with 8 pax dining table and sitting area... we moved from 3 different locations so we had some spare furniture....hahaha

We found a builder with architect that worked according our drawing. we approved their drawing and quote and the replaced some of their quote with materials that we bought ourselves.

I hired another builder to check on progress and who approved payments per segment of the contract....

Little extra money but worth it for sure as I am not a construction man... and the wife handled day to day issues. Overall we needed to change /correct 2 things... so it was not too bad.

A good way to find a good builder is when you go to ObBorTor to discuss your plans as early as you can, they know the good ones... We more or less went with a suggestion from our bank as they know the companies as well....

Thank you again.

If I buy land, do I have to put soil down?? or is this just for rice land??

Simon

Our land was former sugarcane land

I increased the land on the area where want to build one meter and than the house (bungalow style) another meter up just have nice view of the mountainous area around us.

I would not advise to buy land in an area where there is rice fields, everything will be soggy and your house will gradually show wear and for sure tear.

Concrete comes in 2-3 qualities, tell them you want the expensive one, no tearing on firm ground

Thank you very much for your advice.

Yes my wife is Thai, and can own land. - @Simonbolton

Hello,

Personally, I have banned gas cooking at home, but your wife will easily inform you about the prices of daily life (water, electricity, gas, etc.) via her Facebook network. ;-)

On this subject, in recent years the price of land has increased significantly, even in Issan, and even outside or far from urban areas.

Another subject, I would advise you to carefully consider all aspects of health. In particular health insurance (which is one of the highest items in our family annual expenses), even more so if you decide on a definitive and permanent expatriation. For example, the proximity of a modern hospital, to Western standards, (even better if it is approved by your health insurance) can be important.

Another point : air quality. Many provinces suffer from polluting hazes that can make outdoor activity difficult for several months a year. Don't build a house near a sugercane factory...

As for the big cities of Issan, you will find almost the same as in the other cities of the country. Shopping centers, cinemas, annual festivals... enough to brighten up the countryside daily life.

Good luck !

Translated from French by Google.

Thank you for your advice, yes, health is a key issue, I should have mentioned it before.

I am on medication and would probably require hospital treatment at some point, in theory, if I keep an address in the UK, then I could pop back over for NHS, it would be cheaper for airfare for us both, and staying in our UK property, than treatment in Thailand, although, I would need insurance of course for a visa.

I will probably post something about health insurance at a later date. 🙏