To KL and FB-thank you both for your replies. I am aware of the land ownership laws even though I believe that one can still own the house. Condos on the coast can be had titled but I do not want to live in a unit/apartment except for holidays. I am very sure that my lady friend is not after any cash or property. I will have to burn some bridges -ie house share but the money would be saved to put towards a house back here if the LOS relationship turned sour. After 2 reasonably lengthy relationships I think I can now recognise what not to look for. If I did buy a house in Isaan it would only be after careful thought as we already have the cottage in her village to live in in the interim whilst we really tried full time living together rather than what we did before. Anyway, guys, what I am saying is that I am aware of the pitfalls but I am looking for some info from those expats who have been happy with their move to Thailand. Luckily I do have financial resources if things fall apart but at this stage and after having had 3 live-in experiences I can only compare that to this. I suffer from acute boredom and have done so all my life and here I am bored ****less most of the time. I do not want to settle into the waste your life type of retirement but having lived OS before abd having found a (I am sure) genuine lady/friend/lover elsewhere I feel that I can no longer take second best here. Sorry for the ramblings. I have seen on previous post retirement trips in say, Pattaya, Phuket the old man/lady Thai thing and they mostly look doomed even to a casual observer. My lady is 41, divorced for a long time with a grown up uni educated daughter but has done it reasonably tough for the last 10 years until I showed up. We clicked pretty well straight away and now it is to the stage where she knows my foibles and I hers. So- any more input would be really appreciated.