Life in the Village - 99 - Buying Land

[Andrew Hicks]

Know it dosn`t apply here and is slightly off topic but this tale brings a smile to my face.
Several years ago a French lawyer offerd to pay an old dear x amount of Francs per annum in return for her property when her time was up. Nothing altuistic about his motives.
She lived till the ripe old age of 120 ,bless her,lawyer paid 4 times what the property was worth.

That's a common arrangement in France... the difference is the guy actually pays!

That was a great post, OP... very funny and familiar.

There are two plots of land next to our house in our Surin village and I'd like to buy them to secure our surroundings. Of course Cat (my 'Thai girl') would like to too... with knobs on.

I tell her to open negotiations as they must accept as they're all very poor. They could buy a better piece of land elsewhere with the big over-price I'm sure to pay.

But no, Cat won't approach them. It's a waste of time.

I think the reason is that it's a family issue that involves everyone and they'd never reach agreement. Mamapapa selling up deprives the adult kids of their inheritance and it's just not negotiable without their consent.

The mention of France is interesting as it's the same there. While England had the principle of primogeniture where the eldest son took all the land thus maintaining large estates, the French system post-revolution required it to be shared equally. There is even a French law that means that you cannot freely will your land out of the family. A reserve heriditaire has to go to your children.

France now has many tiny peasant farms while England's agriculture is more industrualised.

Will Thailand now see an agricultural revolution as small farms become even more unviable and labour continues to migrate to the cities?

[Spin]

The mention of France is interesting as it's the same there. While England had the principle of primogeniture where the eldest son took all the land thus maintaining large estates, the French system post-revolution required it to be shared equally. There is even a French law that means that you cannot freely will your land out of the family. A reserve heriditaire has to go to your children.

I heard a story that on the Islands around Thailand the sons were given the valuable inland jungle that was good for harvesting coconuts and the like. The daughters were given beachland which was worth a lot less and not desirable. Of course with the advent of tourism it alledgedy turned out that some of the wealthiest people on places like Koh Samui are females.

[keda]

I could never agree with the unfair practice of primogeniture, though a major plus is that it does its bit to perpetuate powerful families through the empire building process. The downside, if the eldest son turns out profligate, is that dynasties created by generations of accumulated wealth and influence can vanish in a matter of years.

Spin: Not sure about Koh Samui but I heard similar tales about the Thai islands in general.

It would be interesting to know how others intend or expect to pass on their estate with more than one successor.

A friend in the old days had extremely wealthy parents. He was highly educated and streetsmart, a lying and cheating lazy good for nowt bum, but in his favour was charisma, which made him well received. His elder brother was a lawyer, happily married to some medical specialist and aiming for the sky as their limit. His younger sister was also happily married and independently wealthy...The parents (apparently) left sixty percent of their estate to him, and 20% each to their other children, on account of him being useless and more likely to need the money than the others.

So far we have primogenture, equal split, and distribution according to expected needs. Missing from the list is favouritism, with parents handing the lot over to one child and nothing to the others, not by virtue of birth but because they like him more than they do the others, or in the case of my own ancestors, because he worked in the family factory while his elder brothers were conscripted.

[jedsez]

Life in the Village - 99 - Buying Land



Conversation went something like this, me in the hammock, ma chopping away at some chicken, and Kim in the middle relaying both ways.

No, they don’t want to sell.

How do you know?

Nobody sells land.

But we bought land a few months ago.

That was different, they wanted to sell.

<sigh> Can you ask her anyway?

No, she won’t sell...

...

No.

So how do you know?

I know.

Did you ask her?

No, she doesn’t talk to me. She doesn’t talk to anyone.


...

She doesn’t want to sell, see, I told you!

Did you tell her about our offer that they can stay there free and for life?

No.

Why not?

She won’t believe.

i thought i was the only one who dealt with this kind of communication log jam.

me: can you ask if ... (it could be anything. the other day it was in a neighboring village trying to locate a tractor for rent. she was VERY reluctant to ask anyone in the village if they knew of a tractor. ended up, 'see i told you' and twisting my ears for being so stupid)

her: blank stare

me: did you ask?

her: blank stare

me: (getting ever more edgy) did you ask? will you ask? why won't you ask?

her: blank stare.