Point being, thousands of foreigners are building houses in Thailand that have familes here. Their investment in a family home makes great sense, counter to your point of not investing here. Single, I would not invest (for profit), with a family, so many other factors are involved. Making a general statement of not to invest in Thailand is, at best, misguided advice.
You obviously don't know the property market on the islands then, and nothing of land sales. I'm retired, my wife is a part-time agent. Bought plots of land here a few years ago, subdivided and made millions in that short period. I'm not talking about condos in BKK. Smart investments are great...and if you have a family, and want to leave them with something when you pass, a property investment is a very, very, smart idea. You sound woefully uninformed.
Do you understand the property market here? My wife has bought and sold land here for the past three years and has made millions. Great investment opportunities here. And for my family, I spent 7M baht for land and house, equilvalent rental at least 70K/month (4 bedroom with pool). Over say 30 years, my rent alone would be 25M and myt familyt would have nothing. Instead, whenever I pass, my wife and kids have a free house for a couple decades (or rent the house out). At that point the land would likely be worth more than the house. Sorry, investing in property here makes much more sense if you have a family here. No brainer.
I live on Samui, and although rarely visit a hospital, there are 4-5 private hospitals here and a new one even opened last year (also have the typical government hospital). As far as the crowds/tourists, need to head south to get away from all that. The entire bottom half of Samui has dozens of quiet villages, coconut groves, mountain retreats, with few people and no traffic, yet "the action": is 20-30 minutes away. Fortunately, most people, and tourists, stay in the North and Northeast. Hope it stays that way for another couple decades.
Paul Lunney Yeah, that sucks. So many bad outcomes out there, both here and abroad. Although "not romantic", legal protection for these occurrences are a must.
Marriage anywhere is a gamble. My Thai wife has bought and sold plenty of land the last 3-4 years (I finance). Profits of 6M went to build our house, which I have a lease on for 30 years. Most unmarried foreigners where I live use the company establishment route that could be problematic one day. However, if OP is tying a legitimate business to the ownership of the property that seems like a more legally sound solution. Houses will always sell in popular locations, at the right price.
