Cost of living in either Buriram, Prakhon chai, or Non charden Ban Kruat.

[vincent]

Hello my name is Vincent and I live with my thai wife of 3 years along with her
8 year old daughter.

I would like to move and live in either buriram, prakonchai or noncharden ( her
village )

I would like to know approx cost of either buying or building a 3 bed 1 bath house
in these 3 towns.

Also approx cost of living in all 3 towns   exsample food, power, petrol, telephone
internet and any other cost that you can think of.

I would like to know approx cost
of living for a month.

We dont drink or smoke.

Thank you, Vincent.

[Prakhonchai Nick]

Would it be fair to assume that you are not currently living in Thailand?

[Admin]

I've talked with the guy on the phone today and he would like to hear your opinion here.
Guys, that a real question from an Australian guy want to make a decision to move Thailand/Buriram area with limited budget and need to know the costs.

I told him it would be good idea to post it here as have here many experienced foreigners.
Please advice. 

[Admin]

I would say around 30K baht/month minimum to live in Buriram.
With this budget you can't spend largely but can afford the basics with little bit of struggeling  when need to buy some new things for the house.
That's of course include health insurance and all the BASIC things around.

What do you think guys?
I would like to know from your own experience what's the minimum monthly budget a farang need to live on in Buriram area?

 

[buriramboy]

30,000 baht is not enough if its all you have. you always have to keep some reserved and be careful not to be swept by "good ideas" of the wife/gf or her family trying to convince you to spend your last pennis in a belief you'll make more money on farming rather than keep the money in low risk finincial investment in a FOREIGN BANK. (NOT THAI BANK), if you do hae 30,000 baht income from your country 100% and have some money on the side just for any case. so you should CONSIDER only this move.
reading between the lines can understand you don't know very well the area,people,lifestyle in buriram.
good luck with it.

[Prakhonchai Nick]

Probably the most important thing to consider is schooling for your 8 year old daughter. Thai village schools are best avoided, whilst there are reasonable state schools in the towns. I live in prakhonchai and my kids go to a private school here, which is excellent and costs around 10,000bt a year all inclusive with lunches and uniforms etc -per child .Also has a swimming pool.

If you have been married to your wife for 3 years I would imagine you have some knowledge of the local area. Before making a decision to buy or build a house, I would recommend you spend some time in each of the areas you have in mind to see how you like them. You can easily rent somewhere for 3/4000bt a month or even less.

As for costs, my basic monthly expenditure on food and household items (soap, wash powder etc) averages 10,000bt and we eat well. All other expenses will depend on how much use you make of them, but are generally considrably less than in farang countries.

Health insurance is a must especially for you and will cost from 17000bt annually depending on the level of cover you require. (Pm me on this if interested -With a local expat we operate a finanacial services operation out of Prakhonchai)

I will leave it to others to provide more feedback

[Khun Tony]

Hi Vincent alreay some people have provided you with some sound advice. I agree with the idea of keeping your capital in your home land.  The returns are a lot safer. 

Someone mentioned you need at least 30,000 baht and that is probably close to the mark given you do not drink.  Prakhonchai Nick has provided some figures and puting aside the rent, based on Nicks figures alone you require at least 13000 baht a month for food, schooling and insurance.

You need someone to advise you on water costs per month, electicity with air and without air and other incidental running costs such as motor bikes etc.

In respect to building houses, depending on your budget Alan the Builder builds a nice home, however if your budget doesn't stretch that far you could get a local buider to do the job.  But I would recommend you are there during the construction phase.  I made the mistake of building with a local builder and not being present, I left it in the hands of my wifes family.  The house is good (4 bedroom 2 bathroom - cost 750,000 baht some years ago) but there were things done, that had I been present I would have done differently. 

You haven't mentioned your age or how you are going to support yourself.  If per chance you are entitled to a pension then that is ok, however if you are just short of the pension age,you need to be very careful.   For instance,  if you live in Thailand for a year or so and then return to Australia they may classify you as a "non resident" and make you wait two years whilst living in Australia before you become entitled to the pension.  Once you are entitled to the pension, you can live permanently in Thailand (subject to visa conditions) and still receive the pension albeit reduced.  If however you spent less than 183 days in Thailand each year until pension age, then subject to other criteria you would still be classified as a resident and entitled to the pension on attaining the pension age.

The other factor you must take into account is whether ATO classify you as a resident or not.  You maybe able to live in Thailand for a year or so and argue you are a resident of Australia for tax purposes, but eventually, they will classify you as a non resident for tax purposes meaning every dollar earnt in Australia will be at non resident rates with no tax free threshold.

Anyway best of luck with your plans to live in the LOS

[torrenova]

I don't suppose the OP is coming back to see the answers to his questions but here goes.

You need a vehicle and I don't mean a bike. Buying a new truck, running it with everything considered, including depreciation, will cost around Bt10,000 to Bt15,000 a month over 3 to 5 years (you would have enough saved from the 15k to buy a new one at that time). Your initial purchase costs are in the Bt1,000,000 range.

School fees are necessary and I suppose you go for the best you can afford. You will have to think about further and higher education and whether you want to provide for overseas university education. Current UK university fees and living expenses come to around £50,000 a year or Bt3,000,000. Over a 4 year course, that is Bt12m in today's money ! As your daughter is now 8, you have 10 years. From income, to reach 12m over the period 10 to 13 years time, at 5% compounded, you would need to save just under Bt900,000 per year.

As for general living expenses, it could be as low as Bt40,000 or as high as Bt100,000 or more but the retirement figure of Bt65,000 to include the vehicle costs would see you ok, not well off, but ok. If schooling costs were high and you wanted top class medical insurance and wanted the overseas education factored in, you'd need around Bt200,000 a month.

[den Buut]

Must be around 45000 Bt a month, Torrenova did not understand the question I guess.

[Grixxor]

Hello 'Prakhonchai Nick'
I'm going to be a teacher assistant in Prakhon chai in August for one year. Do you know the school: 'Prakonchaipittayakom School'? If yes, could you tell me about it? I don't know anything yet:(
Greets, grixxor

[Admin]

Hello 'Prakhonchai Nick'
I'm going to be a teacher assistant in Prakhon chai in August for one year. Do you know the school: 'Prakonchaipittayakom School'? If yes, could you tell me about it? I don't know anything yet:(
Greets, grixxor

Here is a start: 
'Prakonchaipittayakom School' website:
http://www.pkc.ac.th/techno/home/

Address + Phone numbers :
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