Buy a property to live in Isaan and rent spare rooms?

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Hi, The idea is ok but rental rates in Thailand areas very low, to generate a livable income from one house with rooms only i don't think this would work. I have lived in Thailand 16 years I was here for 5 years before I received a UK pension. I lived in Hua Hin and bought condos to flip and rent out it was great for about 4 years then the baht started stronger at that time it was 76 to the £, now 40 so a massive drop. I also used to sell stuff on eBay for extra income all this when by the wayside because of the strong baht and made Thailand not such a cheap place to live.
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I will not flower up anything and give you a straight overview of Thailand now.
Denis

I am not living in Thailand, but I do invest in property, but usually where my tenants pay for my mortgage. I also have a house in Indonesia where I split it and rent the main house to a family, another part of the house to a company and have some rooms upstairs that I rent out to ordinary locals such as those who work in shops, students etc. Splitting it up this way enables me to get double what I would normally get from renting the whole place to a family.

But as per above, I would be thinking about making money in other ways so that your total income increases and does not depend purely on rental of rooms. I won't give you ideas, but having half a dozen or so sources of smaller income will make a big difference.

Well, seems like my landing in Thailand will have to wait until I have a new plan.
It is not that I am looking for a fancy life, actually quite the opposite yet cannot afford not to have a regular income.
Thanks for the comments guys.

To make an income from property and have a place to live you would need 7 mil baht £175,000. With this you could buy 5 condos, which you can own in your own name in Thailand as land ( houses ) you cannot. Property prices are dropping in Thailand some by 50%.
Vietnam and Cambodia are becoming popular places for expats leaving Thailand because of the strong baht and the visa rules they are more relaxed and encourage expats. 

Denis

Hi Denis,
Thanks a lot for the info, it is very valuable for me.
I have been twice in Thailand but never before in Cambodia or Vietnam yet I bet I may like there as well.
The maximum investment I could make is for around £ 135.000 and that is all I have, so it has to be a smart move.
Globalpropertyguide website say property prices in Cambodia are falling but somehow Vietnam looks more livable.
You reckon I have any chance to live in any of these countries? What would you do in my place?

I would like to comment that i would like to recommend to you to go to Vietnam
It is in my opinion a much better place to live and also has an economy that is growing much faster than Thailand. I have been there twice for a few weeks and i beleive you will be able to better survive there.
Good luck
Barry
Prachin Buri
Thailand

Vietnam has been in my view as well so I will take a closer look.

Thx

Vietnam has been in my view as well so I will take a closer look.

Thx

The healthcare system is very poor in Vietnam compared to Thailand. I have a good friend in the US that is Vietnamese and would like to return to his country to retire but he is concerned about the health services.  Patrick

I'll have a look around later this year. Thanks

Hi pabs
Firstly the people all all very clever and mention a lot of irrelevant matters
If you have 135  K pounds you can buy a house in the rural areas for less than one million Baht and here are many for sale  at that price
I have seen houses for sale at 500k THB
The legal part of it is also easy to overcome legally
To think you can rent out rooms will never work in Thailand.
Rooms in a condo in the rural areas are rented out for 1500 THB if you are lucky in a house maybe a thousand Baht and I can assure you that you will not like to have Thais as renters. Their culture is just to differant
My wife has a typical Thai house she  is renting out at 700 Baht a month and it is a large house
You can come and live here and renovate the house at about 80 K THB and then rent it with the renovations deducted from your rent.
Secondly here is a   view of Thai Mutual funds http://www.thaifundstoday.com/
Here are many funds which will give you a good income
Many companies like Phillip, HSBC, Standard Charter and all the banks can invest for you at no cost to
you
Thirdly I see you write a good English. Many people are presenting English classes online to China Vietnam, Laos etc
You can do that once you have done a Tefel course at the average cost of about 250 to 300 USD
By working 4 hours a day you will have an income of 60 USD per day or even more
Five days a week is about 1200 USD per month and is a good enough income to not   use your investment.
My daughter is doing this from South Africa as are many other people right through the world
To think that you will be able to live like that in Pattaya  Bkk etc is not possible.
Electricity and water should be between 2000 THB  to 4000 THB depends how many aircons you have on
Just do some research and read all you can of Thailand
VN is basically the same I just like it more and do not concern you too much about medical.It is average right through SEA

It's not a good idea, to buy a house and try and rent rooms room rental is far to cheap in rural Thailand to make a living. Someone wrote  to me not 2 months ago with the same questions. I advised him against this.  I said that there are ways to relocate to Thailand with under £200,000, todays rate just over 8nil baht. Buy a bar with accommodation so many for sale, the reason is hard to make money if you carter for Farang, Thai bars make money but not great return. Teach English some times you with need a BA or at least a tefl, some private schools do hire without and any of these. Teach English on line my son dose this to Chinese students about 14$ per 30 min lesson, but you need to get though the interview and have BA or tefl. Buy a gust house there are some for sale at under 8mil baht, but eggs in one basket, is never a good idea. The other way is buy low end priced condos below 1mil if they need ungraded it's cheap to do, the return should be about 7 to 12%  5 of these will give you just enough to live on, 32k per month. If proactive you will make more short time rental you will get a higher rental longtime is secure but but low return, a mix of the two is ok. I know of Condos for sale at the moment for 350,000 to 600,000 that are very rentable. The worst scenario is buy at 500,000 x 10% return for 75% letting period 37,500 = 3,750 per month, but in reality should be double or more. There are complex charges to take into account.  I done this for my first 5 years in Thailand in 2005. I had 5 condos 4 in same complex in Hua Hin and one in Pattaya. At that time i paid 1.4 mil and 1.7mil  for them I upgraded them and let them out the 1.4 ones at minimum 14,000 pm the others 17,000 pm all holiday rentals. I sold the two 1.4 ones with 10 months booking for 2.2 each. But you have to consider this is hard work and was in a vibrate time. I now live in Buriram Isaan have a nice house and sell and advise on property to make a little extra over my pension.  Todays market is a buyers maker there are many good deals around everywhere, we are all waiting for it to pick up again maybe it will I think so.
The main thing is don't give money away, there is no such thing as a lending money to anyone it's called giving here. The girls and there families will welcome you with open arms.   
Good luck.