Making life in America livable

[khwaidee1 196]

We have a Thai friend here in a Dallas suburb. She basically tore up the entire backyard and turned it into a farm. It's pretty funny. She even has chickens back there.

We had to take out a couple of Sego palms and she used most of the available space too. We have some big queen palms in the back as well. She doesn't understand why I would plant such trees that don't give us cocos. She thinks it's odd to plant tress that don't bear fruit. The chickens also came up but I told her in our city we can't have them so she seemed ok with that (oh my neighbors would just love me if we had chickens!) When her Thai friends come over that's the first thing they want to see, after seeing what we are serving!

[ToddT 1]

I've considered buying house just for that reason. We live in an apartment now and she's always trying to grow stuff on the patio with mixed results. I don't really want invest in a house at this point because I want to go back to Thailand permanently in ~5 years. I just tell her to stick it out for now.

I don't know if you've considered how low the interest rates are but right now you can start building equity in about 3 years with a 15 year mortgage. Plus, the 15 year mortgage payments workout to be very close to the same payments as the 30 year mortgage payments.

You could also section 8 your home when you were ready to go to Thailand and let the county handle keeping it occupied. That would cover your payments and bring in a little cash too. Unless something changes, we'll section 8 ours when we move back and use the monthly check as an income supplement.

[Karee 4,189]

I don't know if you've considered how low the interest rates are but right now you can start building equity in about 3 years with a 15 year mortgage. Plus, the 15 year mortgage payments workout to be very close to the same payments as the 30 year mortgage payments.

You could also section 8 your home when you were ready to go to Thailand and let the county handle keeping it occupied. That would cover your payments and bring in a little cash too. Unless something changes, we'll section 8 ours when we move back and use the monthly check as an income supplement.

How do you do the section 8 thing? I live in Texas. Not sure if they have that here?

[khwaidee1 196]

I don't know if you've considered how low the interest rates are but right now you can start building equity in about 3 years with a 15 year mortgage. Plus, the 15 year mortgage payments workout to be very close to the same payments as the 30 year mortgage payments.

You could also section 8 your home when you were ready to go to Thailand and let the county handle keeping it occupied. That would cover your payments and bring in a little cash too. Unless something changes, we'll section 8 ours when we move back and use the monthly check as an income supplement.

We're just going to hire a management company to rent the house and look after it. Depending the level of service they charge 3-10% of the monthly rent. I still have a few years on the mortgage and ton of equity so the rent wil cover the monthly mortgage and give us about 45K baht a month to live on which should help.

[ToddT 1]

How do you do the section 8 thing? I live in Texas. Not sure if they have that here?

I'm in Arlington and they have it in Texas... The counties each have an office that manages section 8. Basically, they'll inspect your home and if it qualifies, they'll keep it occupied and pay you. They also attend to the general upkeep.

[Karee 4,189]

I'm in Arlington and they have it in Texas... The counties each have an office that manages section 8. Basically, they'll inspect your home and if it qualifies, they'll keep it occupied and pay you. They also attend to the general upkeep.

Interesting. I'll have to look into that. I'm in Carrollton by the way. I've been to that Thai temple in Arlington before. My wife's boss had some thing going on there.

[Andy and Pui 16]

We live in a townhouse and last year Pui had stuff growing in pots and pretty much everything was growing and it looked like a jungle. Last year when she went to the asian grocery store she bought mint and grad pao(sp?) basil leaves that still had a little root left in them and she put that in a pot and it started to grow and I never thought the mint and grad pao basil would grow but they did. This year she has some stuff but does not want as much as she had last year. I still need to buy the kaffir lime tree.

[KhunKazuri 10]

One more thing. Not sure what state you are in, but I have all the written driving test questions and answers for Texas in English and Thai. I also have the 100 citizenship questions in English and Thai, but you're a ways off from dealing with that.

Do you have the Texas written driving questions and answers in English/Thai as an electronic file that I could get from you?

Thanks,

morMoreBah

[Karee 4,189]

Do you have the Texas written driving questions and answers in English/Thai as an electronic file that I could get from you?

Thanks,

morMoreBah

Sent you a PM.

[KhunKazuri 10]

Slowlyman,

I've had good experiences with GroceryThai.com and ImportFood.com, especially the latter.

Best regards,

morMoreBah

[Juan & Nan 12]

I'm running XP, Win 7, Win 8

As far as I know there is no Temple within practical driving distance.

We have three asian groceries.

The area has a population of Philippians, and muang. No other Thai's I have been able to locate.

I have been using MuangThai phone card. They have the best rates I could find.

I recommend Skype, as Andy mentioned. for 13.99 you get unlimitted calling to Thailand cells or land lines.

[Darnell 8,478]

Interesting. I'll have to look into that. I'm in Carrollton by the way. I've been to that Thai temple in Arlington before. My wife's boss had some thing going on there.

Is nice smaller thai temple in Irving, also. I go at least once a week, burn some joss.

[Karee 4,189]

Is nice smaller thai temple in Irving, also. I go at least once a week, burn some joss.

Is it Thai? Where is it? I've never heard of that one.

[Karee 4,189]

Is nice smaller thai temple in Irving, also. I go at least once a week, burn some joss.

I found it on Google. Weird I've never heard about it before, and we used to live in Irving.

[Darnell 8,478]

ya, it's about a 2 km bike ride from my organic micro-farm.