Enter the foreigner, who hasn't been here at all and that can't be helped, and who buys the house (cash) opposite and it's over-priced. He's 64 and married to a tinglish speaking Thai woman of 60 who believes her English is perfect and continually tries to talk to everyone she sees all the time whilst refusing to realise that many people want to be left alone most of the time, leads him around like a puppy-dog, he's not allowed to complain (or even speak most of the time), he has no car and gets taken around by his wife's niece who seems to be continually stealing money off him through her aunt (for example stripped him when they gave him the price for sorting out the garden). It seems to be all about controlling him and limiting his exposure to anything unless escorted and in a controlled environment.
He invites himself round to my gaff on his wife's orders, as she has one of those buzzsaw voices that carries and makes windows shake, after they had a two day (no shit) argument about him complaining that she had emptied his bank account to refurbish her nieces house so that her sister could live there.
So he comes round and starts talking so I give him a few facts about being here and that he should watch it with the extended family if they helping themselves to you bank account. He sat there and took it all in, drank a beer, when home and they argued a bit more, his wife freaked out and banned him from going to talk to me, then his niece came round and would leave because she had taken a dislike to me for some reason.
I mean, WTF is wrong with some folk? I did mention that he had invited himself round my house on the directions of his crocodile wife without an invitation and I get the label of the boogie-man for telling him the truth.
I don't like to see foreigners getting stripped in such an environment, if it was a bar or down Sukhumvit then fine as it goes with the territory, but in front of my face in such an organised manner is a bit tight.
However, up to him, not my business but you can't help but have an opinion on it when you see it in the neighbours.
It's complete farce, maybe I should put up a sign outside my house saying "No salesmen, uninvited guests or lunatics".
I know we hear the horror stories but I spoke to my Mrs about it and she said it's really bad that the family are conspiring to suck everything out of him and that it's good example of where some of the many bad stories about Thailand come from.
There are definitely some lost causes and unfortunately it's got to the situation where within 4 weeks of them moving in it's already a case of everyone 86ing everyone else. Not that I really care as I moved in this place to get away from the hustle & bustle and to be left alone for a quieter life nearer to where I work. Fortunately for me, they only spend a month or two here at a time and then go back to New Zealand for 4 months or something....so fairly lucky on that front, I guess.
It seems to me that any foreigner that wants to "own" a house rather than rent is going to be held hostage to some extent, hopefully not as much as the OP's example. Whether spoken out loud or not, both husband and wife know who owns the house and who will be out if things turn bad. Even the most stable relationships have that hanging over the heads a little bit. Alot of leverage is given away unless the foreigner has enough $ to be able to walk away from a house and relationship if things go south.
