You can come as a tourist see if you like it then apply from another country in the area.

I am lucky enough to have a Thai bank account but I only use it for paying rent, phone, internet and electric bills. Those who have lived here long term without a bank account, what do you do to pay such bills?

Us an ED visa. It is also a good visa for a one year stay.

I prepared my printed bank statement a few days ahead. This was fine but they did ask that I log into online banking and show them the current balance in person.

I had a good experience using the ED visa. If you want to stay for a year then learning some Thai language is useful. The school gave plenty of help with visa, renewals and reminder about 90 reports. They provided paperwork which let me open a bank account with no problems. Even if you want to travel around online classes were an option. You need to pay for re-entry permits but this is not too expensive.

I saw one video where a lawyer suggested that owning and renting multiple condos could be a problem. You might then be considered to be working as a property manager even if you own the properties. One is OK for sure.

ED Visa can be a good choice if you want to do Thai language classes.

Photocopy of stamp in passport and a receipt from the front desk of the hotel.

I used a paper reciept from the hotel front desk.

You can also show an address in your home country as your permanant address. This might appear on your bank statement for example.