If you want houses or land in Chiang Mai, read on.........When we decided to retire in Chiang Mai we started to look for houses or somewhere to live so we tried to find an Estate Agent to help us.Now, in Thailand, only Thai nationals are allowed to own land and we quickly found that the only property we could actually own outright was an apartment in one of the many condominiums around the city. 
The problem was, we didn't want an apartment so, to cut a long story short, we fired up the Internet and almost immediately discovered an excellent company called Jasmine Homes run by an Englishman, Steve Malone and his wife Nitaya. We wanted to buy a smallish bungalow and they had one for sale, a little too small for us, but worth considering. Even better, they pointed out that we could legally lease this land and bungalow on a renewable 30 year lease. They also told us that if we wished, they could build us a house to our own design, on land opposite. Needless to say, we were delighted with this service, because it removed all the obstacles to our settling here. a.) We didn't have to find a property (They had one for us) b.) We didn't have any language problems c.) The issue of land ownership was solved d.) They would design and build a house to our specifications e.) The cost was a fraction of the cost in England f.) We didn't have to have a mortgage We went ahead, bought the bungalow and then sat through the summer of 2004 watching them build our dream house with swimming pool, on land opposite. We then sold our original bungalow on the Internet and moved in to our new home. We also quickly discovered that there are very few planning restrictions in Thailand. Of course, this can work for you or against you, but at present we are surrounded by rice fields and have a wonderful view of the mountains. Inexpensive living in Chiang MaiAlso, there are no rates to pay, garbage is collected regularly and the local Thais are friendly and helpful. And if you're a gardener you can buy mature trees and shrubs from a large choice of nurseries here. Just pick what you want and they do the rest. We have high speed Internet, a daily postal service and petrol is at present about 34 baht per litre. We run a small car and the cost of licensing that is about 2,000 baht p.a. We have been living in our dream house for 6 years now and have no plans to return to the U.K., or anywhere else. We're happy here. Why don't you try it? Hotel
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