|
Last Updated 04/15/2006 23:33 Cost of Living in Hua Hin The information below is based on our personal experience when we were setting up our house June to August of 2005. Of course the only constant in the universe is change and Hua Hin is changing quickly. At the end of October 2005 a new mall (Index Living Mall) opened in town and all the items we found difficult to get in June (Dishes, Pots, Pans. and Curtains) are now are readily available. I will try to get one of my new neighbors to track their cost so we can provide you with more up to date numbers and experiences. One time expenses: House: Prices vary greatly but generally in developed areas, for a well constructed 2 bedroom - 2,500,000 baht, for a well constructed, 3 bedroom (single story) - 3,000,000 baht, 4,000,000 baht for a well constructed 2 story 3 bedroom, 5,000,000 - 10,000,000 baht and higher for more luxuriously houses with additional land. You can generally get houses at lower prices if you buy at the first offering of a new subdivision, but this may require taking a bit of a chance that the subdivision will build up and the facilities will be in place as promised. Upgrading and options will run up these prices, kitchens, bathtubs, air conditioners, hot water tanks, satellite dishes, window tinting, driveways, pools, etc are usually considered extras. If you want that price in your currency Click Here Landscaping: small flower bed with flowers and bushes 250 baht, large ornamental trees 800 baht. Pink bushes: 150 baht each, jasmine 20 baht, planting pots, 25 - 30 baht, landscaping grass 100 baht a square meter. Some nurseries will deliver and plant at no additional costs. Motorcycles: Although motorcycles can be rented quite cheaply in Hua Hin, for convenience sake many regular vacationers and home owners might prefer buying their own. For a new manual 110 cc Yamaha, expect to spend approximately 24,000 baht. For a top end Honda motorcycle, 125 cc with an automatic start and transmission - 35,000 baht. Cars: Honda City's basic package 485,000 baht.. Car: Honda Jazz Cool package deal, loaded: 700,000 baht but for 600,000 baht a less optioned car could still have been purchased. Furniture: 100,000 baht: Basic furniture, nice but not too fancy. Wardrobes, entertainment center etc are nice but not true wood. Fridge, is mid sized, water cooler, bed & with good mattress, queen size, couch, TV. 29", coffee table, decorative end tables, entertainment center, 2 wardrobes, 1 bookcase, computer desk, storage shelves, 1 kitchen table & 4 chairs, couple of accessories. We bought this furniture mainly between 3 shops. Winners in Pretchaburi (about 25 - 30 minutes out of town towards Bangkok), Big Kiang Electronics shop in town and accessories and smaller ends tables at Winners in town. Winners in Pretchaburi gave really good discounts just for the asking so we bought the majority of our furniture there. They delivered at no extra charge, on time and had competent workers for assembling the furniture. Unfortunately, we stopped by the store at a later date to buy some office furniture, and found the management had changed, good customer service and discounts were no longer to be had. Winners in town, since the opening of Index does seem more likely to give small discounts. Regardless they give good service and seem happy to deliver even small orders at no additional charge. The electronics shop (Big Kaing) if you bought many or larger items at a time, (fridge and t.v., water cooler) did discount 4% with free delivery. Once they recognize you, we continued to receive the discount without having to ask on subsequent visits even when buying smaller items. Appliances can now be readily found, at competitive prices in the new Home Pro, the Index Mall and smaller shops throughout town. We find a definite change in Hua Hin, from when we first moved here and bought most of our kitchen wares like, our dishes in Bangkok, Index, Tesco Lotus, and Home Pro now stock a selection of dishes and kitchen ware which make the shopping trips into Bangkok less frequent. If you like a bargain, shop at the supermarket along the canal road or at the provisioner shop further down the street. Sometimes inexpensive plain china dishes can be found here, and melamac is easy to buy at these shops. In between the Ford and Honda Dealerships, there is another small shop that sells china dishes. The dishes range in price and have small imperfections, but you can get dinner plates for about 25 baht each. Nicer and more expensive and complete sets are available at Index Mall. Index also stocks a pretty good selection of pots and pans. Good chance you can also find pots and pans at Home Pro and Tesco Lotus, although we have not really gone through these stores fully yet as they have only recently opened. The supermarket along the canal road also has Teflon pans in varying sizes from time to time. At the Supermarket downtown, you can often find stainless steel sets. Most common are woks for cooking on, and very few larger frying pans but there is a good variety of electric frying pans at Big Kiang Shop. Curtains & Rods: for 2-bedroom house, cost approximately 20 - 25,000 baht for pre-made curtains when we bought them at Home Pro in Bangkok, about 8 months ago. Of course, with the recent opening of the local Home Pro, Index and Tesco Lotus there is now no shortage of reasonably priced curtains or rods in Hua Hin. Other new shops have opened as well, such as Raja Curtains right on the main road through town. Although we don’t have any personal experience here, we have a good Chan Tha Village referral. They purchased some blinds for their home there and received good delivery and installation. We also had a pleasant experience when we recently had some custom curtains made through Wolf Furniture. The price was reasonable and we were impressed with the attention to detail and quality of the finished curtains, such as weights in the bottom hem so they hang properly. We also checked out a few other shops in town, but weren’t convinced to buy there. The shops didn't seem to have a good handle on the math for quoting the curtains and the prices changed from minute to minute. 2 of the shops are owned by the same family a mother and son. If you stop at the son's shop first we are told he will discount 10 - 20%. However we went to the mother's shop first and were quoted a price on which she wouldn't move. Later when the 2nd shop found out we had been to the first shop, the son would no longer discount and the price went up to match his mothers. Both shops appear to have the same materials available. The translator who works for both shops is the same lady. If you like blinds, they should be a lower cost option. With the curtains, the rods appear to be the bulk of the price, on which neither of the shops would discount. Satellite Dish: 15,000 baht. There appear to be a couple of preferred satellite dishes. One is a big dish, that has about 230 free channels and no subscription fees. Of the 230 channels about 30 have (some) English content. For a news buff you're covered, BBC, Bloomberg, Channel News Asia etc. but no English movie channels, instead movies are in India and Thai.. There are also 3 fashion channels. If you already know Thai, you might want to consider this dish. The other dish is smaller, UBC and mounts on your house. You must pay for subscription but for 2,000 baht a month you will get all the channels they have available. You can start with a basic service for 750 baht a month. Some channels include, HBO, Cinemax, History Channel, Discovery, National Geography, and lots of news channels. The installer may need to be given some attention about where to place the dish. The service worker originally wanted to install it on the eaves, in a spot where it was unsupported. Air-conditioners: range from 16,000 - 35,000 baht depending on brand and BTU capability. Pool: 7 x 4 with spa: 700,000 baht, 3 x 6 with a spa 550,000 baht, prices are approximate and vary in cost depending on depth and finish. Yearly Expenses: Personal taxes for a retirement visa. You must have an income from a foreign source of 60,000 baht per month of which you pay tax of 4,000 baht and 1,500 baht per month for an insurance fee. It is paid twice a year in January and July. This is for retirement visas. If you have a company actively doing business in Thailand the personal requirement is the same but the money is paid to you in Thailand by your company. If you apply for a work permit, you will be expected to have 2 - 4 Thai staff. The minimum pay for the Thai staff is 3,500 baht each and then a tax of 175 baht and an insurance of 175 baht per month which is paid half by staff and half by employer. Accounting Fees to maintain your company: For a company being formed to hold a house only, you can expect to pay a fee of 15 - 30,000 baht depending on who your accountant is. If the company is active you could expect fees to run from 24 - 40,000 baht per year, again depending on who your accountant is. Car insurance: Replacement value for new Honda Jazz 20,000 baht. House insurance: 5,000 baht (full replacement value of home and contents, but contents coverage for theft was limited to 50,000 baht) BUPA Health Coverage: Varies greatly 40,000 - 100,000 baht per year, per person. Maintenance Fees: Vary but often includes garbage pickup, grass cutting, mail pick up, house checks. 15,000 baht per year. Monthly Expenses: Telephone: 10,000 baht for installation including 1 year prepaid basic service ADSL Broadband Internet: 10,332 baht for installation including 1 year prepaid basic service from TT&T Visit to the Doctor at International Clinic for example examination for work permit: 80 baht Weekly Expenses: Gasoline: 24 baht a liter. Groceries: Wet Market for 2 people per day approximately 160 baht Sample List: 2 chicken breasts, small side of pork ribs, vegetables, fruit, bundle of orchids. Supermarket trip: Approximately 800 - 1,000 baht. Sample prices: Flat of soft drinks, (flat of 24) - 250 baht, 2 litres milk - 62 baht, butter 22 gram - 65 baht, small bottle olive oil 500ml - 205 baht, Penne noodles 500 grams - 57 baht, oyster sauce - 25 baht, chilli sauce - 35 baht, garlic salt - 92 baht, cornflakes 150 grams - 49 baht, twinnings Earl Grey tea 50 grams - 125 baht, coffee Nescafe 200 grams - 108 baht loaf of bread - 26 baht, toilet paper 6 pack of Scotts - 75 baht, Chang Beer 24 cans - 425 baht, mee goreng noodles - 12 baht, big bag chips - 19 baht. (Prices taken Aug 01,2005 at Supermarket along canal road.) Bottled Water Delivered: 5 gallon jugs 30 baht a bottle without deposit, deposit is 100 baht per bottle. Laundry Services: for 2 with clothing, towels, etc. average 1 -2 days worth 160 baht Optional Expenses: Cable: 2,000 baht a month for premier service or 750 baht for basic. Eating out: Average Meal for 2 at traditional Thai outdoor restaurant example chicken rice for 2 with standard water/pop and 2 ice creams bars for the road under 120 baht. Average Meal for 2 at good outdoor buffet (Similar to Korean BQ): 200 baht Average Meal for 2 at Pizza Co. for medium sized Hawaiian Pizza and soft drinks: 290 baht. Average Meal for 2 at low end Western restaurant with good food 450 baht Average Meal for 2 at high end Western restaurant with food & wine 900 baht Deli Trip: Packet of beef 250 grams, 1 packet of ham 250 grams, 2 chocolate squares approximately 200 baht. Alcohol: 750 ml bottle of Chianti Wine 550 baht , Mandarin Absolute 682 baht for 650 ml bottle. Many less expensive choices also available. Golf Costs: Green Fees 500 - 2,200 baht, caddies 100 - 200 baht for 9 - 18 holes. Always keep your receipts to verify against large purchases if you made them on your visa. We have already noted one instance of double billing with the price varying slightly. This happened in Bangkok. Overview: The government assesses most expats when they set up their retirement or work visas as needing an income of 60,000 baht per month. From what I have experienced once the large one time purchases are made, 2 people seem able to live very comfortably on 60,000 baht a month. Of course everyone's spending habits are different, so you are the best judge of whether this number will work for you. You won't pay for medical coverage in this 60,000 baht per month formula and if you are planning on a lot of travel outside of the country you must of course take that into consideration. You don't necessarily have to keep funds for international traveling inside Thailand. Feel free to send me emails with your questions, comments and concerns and we will answer your emails as best we can. |