charles

when I read about people in ridiculously cheap places (under 10 or even 5K), I envision an infestation of such rodents.

Sorry to be contrary to your prejudices, but even most 5K a month places are not infested with roaches.

Perhaps you should look at a place's general cleaning and pest control measures (if any) rather than simply focusing on its price tag. Sounds like you were being had at your 40K pad.

I find it hard to believe that the Immigration Dept is anywhere near being one of the more "problematic" sections of the Police Force in terms of corruption, racketeering, extortion etc. Maybe they are an easy target. Personally I've never encountered even a sniff of impropriety off any of them anywhere. Down at Suan Phlu they're even in danger of delivering an efficient and friendly service.

Think the "Popular Condos" at MTT, i.e. the lower rise ones, are well filled up. Rents there are extremely cheap. However, think the high rises have much lower occupancy, even those that have been completely finished. As you say, IMPACT is a huge success.

Nevertheless, I'd still say that MTT is one of the most miserable parts of Thailand. Reminds very much of an inner city council estate in a big English city. Might be better than a slum of course, although it has to be said many slums do benefit from a rather good location - and I've no doubt there are many slum residents who'd rather stay where they are rather than move out to the middle of nowhere. The whole thing is pretty complex.

If you can't see it finished, then don't buy it. Think about it this way, how many unfinished buildings do you see all over Bangkok? Just my 1 baht's worth on the subject.

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Fair enough, although one might argue a bit of a simplification.

The unfinished buildings around Bangkok date from the 97 crisis. Although many people like to think history will repeat itself, at present there isn't any evidence of what happened then with property happening again in the near future. There really was a huge oversupply and ridiculuous speculation back in the mid 90s.

IMO, the chances of an established PLC type developer failing to complete a project or return your deposit (if it's cancelled) are fairly slim. The crucial point is to check out the developer. Any "one-off" developer or family firm who fancy diversifying into real estate should be avoided. In any case at least 70% of the price should only be paid upon transfer of the unit when the project is complete. And the deposit paid before completion would normally be in installments.

At the end of the day, buying off-plan is just a variation on the risk-and-reward principle. Buying off-plan early means you get to choose a better appointed unit at a (hopefully) lower price. But of course you have the worry that the development won't be completed or will fall short of its supposed specifications. Again, all the more reason to thoroughly check out the developer.

If you don't buy off-plan, if it is a good development, then by the time it is completed, at best only the less well-appointed units will be left (and often prices between well and not well appointed units are not that different - for example it gets more expensive the higher the floor but not by that much, while on a given floor all units might have the same per sq.m. price despite some having good views and others being blocked by other buildings). So if you want to get a better appointed unit but only when the building is ready for transfer, then you will need to buy out the contract of someone who has already booked such a unit. This can easily be done but of course you may have to pay a premium for it. Some people might consider that worthwhile in order to avoid the mentioned risks of booking off-plan.

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although those in old age that one sees struggling up the steps at immigration at Soi Suan Phlu may not all fall in that category

Nah, it's all done downstairs at Suan Phlu these days.

Yeah I guess living in a 70k per month 5 bed villa, retired at 30, maids, gardeners, etc.. 4k USD per month min outgoings..

makes me a poverty packer also ???

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Whoa. Making almost 3 million Baht a month AND still doing visa runs? There are plenty of Singaporean, Taiwanese here making less who have already have their PR... or more commonly, Thai citizenship.

Maybe there is a reason behind it but really don't see why you are always trying to denigrate people with this "visa runs" thing. Big deal! If you don't work and have plenty of cash, visa runs can be arranged to be a pretty enjoyable "break" anyway. Personally, I'm on yearly visa extensions, which are a walk in the park, although I find it difficult to see how this conveys any kind of superiority.

Same goes for PR and Thai citizenship. If you've already plenty of wealth in a developed country, there really isn't much value in them at all. I dare say for someone from Taiwan or China the chance to have a passport from another country would be much more valuable - even a passport that is more Division 3 than Premier League.

thinking of buying a condo here anyone have any input?

Thanks Sbacmater

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How old is Thonglor Tower?

Only looking from the outside, but it looks pretty old and like it has seen better days. Possibly the lowest grade place on Thonglor? Would have guessed it probably wouldn't be worth more than 30K per sq.m. Good location/very nice area though (having said that the actual soi Thonglor Tower on doesn't seem too pleasant).

Wouldn't bank on any rise in property value as far as the Trendy is concerned.

Personally, I think this is a project to be avoided:

- Over 60K per sq.m. (I think) for a non Grade A project is seriously overpriced. It's not even "new" as such either.

- Views will be poor - especially compared to its price - seems to be pretty closed in on all sides, one side will be blocked off by the Regent and will have the pleasure of being next to a building site for 2 years (not a pleasant experience).

Basic units also seem to be of the long and narrow type which isn't a great design.

- Location is good for mass transit but bad for living in unless you want to confront massage parlour and timeshare salesman every time you pop out the door, not to mention having to wade through tourist markets to get to the BTS plus avoid freelance hookers/ladyboys after 9 p.m. at night.

- The name "Trendy Condominium" is downright embarressing and could even put off some potential renters. If the developers can't choose a passable name for a condo marketed at foreigners can they be trusted witht the other aspects of the project?

- To get a satisfactory rental return, although location is quite favorable, I'd worry you might find yourself between two stools. You would want more than the 6-10,000 that the English teacher and "local" expat (sexpat in that part of town?) might be looking to pay while potential renters with much more money to spend are going to expect (and will easily be able to find) somewhere much better than the Trendy. Not to mention that there will be plenty of competition for tenants from other units in the Trendy itself.

Just my opinion!

But I am told that it is 20mins from the city.. I am quoted about US20k for a studio apt, worth buying?

not familiar with the pricing on this condo project, but it should be rather cheap because of its location...did you know that it is very far from Bangkok city center? (located on Srinakrin Road) or did you know that and want to be closer to the new international airport for some reason?

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20 mins by what, helicopter? Or perhaps if you were lucky on the expressway in the early hours of Sunday morning.

As said, I'd think about it very carefully unless you specifically want to be in that area. You can get studios much nearer the city center in that sort of price range. For example, check out LPN's projects. They have one (being built now) within 10-15 mins WALK of Onnut skytrain station where a well-designed studio (including kitchen) goes for about 25K USD. Also many of the big projects around Rachada, i.e. pretty central and close to the subway, are in this price range.

Right so that's at least 15-20 km from Sukhumvit or Silom and a fair traffic-jammed drive to any BTS/MRT station.

Although it is quite near the airport, well at least for the next 9 months

If (as in my case) you've been here for years without reporting but then leave/re-enter the country, getting a new TM card, (as I did earlier this month) does that mean you are now "clean" and won't get fined as long as you report within 90 days of the latest entry?

Don't be too sure that Thaksin isn't applauding her, deep within himself. ...

And sensible businessman always want corruption reduced, to zero if possible. It limits their possibilities of being really, really sucessful businessmen, because it is a 'wild card' that they can't allow for in their planning.

Sorry but I think this is wildly unrealistic and inaccurate in the case of Thailand, and Thaksin in particular. You've only got to look at how his extraordinarily rapid rise to billionaire status came about to realize which corner he's in.

On the contrary to being a "wild card", I'd say that for many successful "businessmen" in Thailand, corruption has in fact been seen as something that provides relative certainty in planning. Look at that bloke investing a huge amount of money in the huge brothel opposite the school in Rachada, would he really have invested all that cash without feeling the certainty that he could buy the relevant people off?

Of course the fact that the original (corrupt) police decision to grant him a license has been reversed is reason for optimism for the future. And it has quite clearly been a huge shock to the "businessman" concerned.

I think the juristic person (i.e. the condo management) would take out insurance to cover such as the building burning down rather than the unit owners on an individual basis. Whether all places actually do this is another question although the "reputable" places certainly do, for example if you buy a condo off LPN there is a seperate clause in the purchase contract on requiring all unit holders to each pay a small amount toward the building insurance (on top of their regular maintenance fees).

What would you do - remit funds to your own bank first and do all the leg work or remit funds to the developer's bank and let them do all the leg work?

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What is "all the legwork"? You would need to get a Foreign Exchange Transaction Certificate from your bank (which should be fairly straightforward). Then you can buy a draft or whatever to pay the developer upon transfer of the unit.

According to their homepage we still get ZERO while others get 0.75% on their savings account. Mr. Happy must be lucky that his account is listed as a Thai national I guess.

I will check out Ayudhya Bank and Asia Bank. Cheers!

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I also am with Bangkok Bank and my passbook shows INT in June and December and I am not a Thai national.

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Same here. Have an account at Emporium branch where the interest rate board on the wall clearly states 0% for "non-residents" but passbook updates show interest paid. TIT!

UK passport for a child is a breeze. Get the photos done at the local Kodak shop. Full in the form (which is pretty brief really) and hand in with British birth certificate at the Embassy. Pick up a week later, rarely any queue in Consular Section, so one minute in and out each time. If you don't yet have Birth Certificate then you can apply for BC/passport at the same time, you don't need any extra documents for the passport on top of what you need for the BC. Again if you've prepared the doc's as they ask for (as described on the Embassy website)you'll be out in two minutes.

Only complication of any kind is needing someone as "counter signature" for the passport, but if you don't know anyone who is both British and respectable (and not a relative!) then any properly employed Thai person will be fine.

For the Thai passport you don't actually have to fill in any forms or get any photos done yourself - it is all done for you at the passport office. Sounds good in theory but the practice will need a bit of time... Actually the worst aspect for me was picking up the passport - it is understandable that the new hi-tech application system might have a few teething problems and it wasn't that bad really - but the way they were so disorganized for people picking up passports (a lot of people picking up at the main office) was quite amazing!

I've just had the pleasure of applying for a new e-passport for my (baby) son.

Went on Tuesday and returned today to pick up the passport.

I would say that it is complete chaos. Sure there are a lot of people for them to deal with but their failure to put in place even the most basic systems to manage things is unbelievable. At the area for picking up new passports today it was a complete free-for-all. Behind the counters you could see people running around like headless chickens with baskets of passports and papers all over the place, nothing done in order, all completely disorganized. I was obliged to stand over the counter and stare at the women who'd left my slip on the top or her computer monitor for 45 minutes until it pissed her off so much she decided it was best to get the passport just to get rid of me. The whole thing is a perfect case study in complete incompetence...

Having said that, I suppose there is always going to be a problem putting 21st century techonology in the hands of people who have one foot, if not two, still firmly planted in the 14th century.

Good for you and hope this case concludes to your satisfaction!

Just like to add that although Thailand is reputed to be a country with a great deal of corruption, don't believe people (like your former manager) who give you the impression there is a need for lots of "under the counter" payments with lower government officials.

In most govt. depts. (certainly in immigration and labor office) if you are doing things by the book then they will be too. The book might involve lots of annoying archaic bureaucracy etc. but that's another matter! Receipts are always provided. In my experience with both immigration and the labor (work permit) office, I have never encountered even a hint of the need for extra payments.

The real corruption in Thailand is towards the top end with all the collusion on contracts, concessions etc. But the vast majority of lower government officials like we deal with are actually doing an honest and generally satisfactory job.

Having lived in a few cheap apartments myself (and I would categorise 9k at Victory Monument pretty cheap) personally I would say:

- don't bother with writing a letter (unlikely to get you anywhere) or even paying much attention to your tenancy agreement (how are you going to enforce it and even if you could, would it be worth your while to do so).

- failing to pay the rent in full - even with good reason - will just see them clamp the room, throw you out etc. and you will have no recourse. In any case if you piss them off it will likely make it harder to get your deposit back in the future.

- if speaking to them nicely hasn't worked I'd try asking them nicely if you can move rooms if this would help. You might have to pay a small fee for this.

- if the above doesn't help/appeal, you might just cut your losses and move out. Presumably you would lose your deposit and hopefully this is not more than 2 months rent. This could understandably hurt your pride a bit and seem unjust but at the end of the day in Western money it is hardly going to ruin you for life. It's also possible that if the management is dodgy that even when you've completed a year there that you'll have problems getting your deposit back in full anyway.

In my experience, with cheap apartments you just have to take the rough with the smooth and hope for the best. If you're not happy then just move on and find another place. Some cheap apartments do actually respond to tenant requests to fix things, return deposits, give honest elecy bills etc. But for those places that don't it is just not worth your while to push things. Just think of yourself as being above these piddling little people, forget 'em and move on.

If you want to go quickly, you need to consider the possibility of interviews too. I think waiting time for both settlement and visitors visa interviews is into November now. Not sure which kind of visa, if any, is "less likely" to require an interview. I'm guessing a visitors visa IF your documentation is in good order and you are married, have kids etc, although I could very well be wrong.

The scary thing is that you have to wonder who is advising him. Probably a bunch of the most sycophantic bunch of %%£" brown-nosers ever.

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Exactly. Reminds me of the scheme where everyone in the 3 southern provinces had to register their mobile phones to stop bombs being detonated. Anyone not registering within xxx would have their signal shut down.

Then literally weeks after the registrations were begun, it quietly transpires that it is not possible to shut down the signals for just the 3 southernmost provinces, in fact you would have to shut down as far north as Chumphon too. i.e. the scheme was a non-starter, but of course the Minister (Chaisaeng) who thought it up had no idea on the technical side of it. What gets me is how for weeks apparently NOBODY piped up to say "well I'm afraid Mr Minister...."

There must be plenty of people close to Thaksin fully aware of how clueless what he is doing really is, but they simply don't dare (or don't think it's worth their while) to tell him...

What the real estate folks probably won't tell you is that the new Japanese embassy (located near Lumpini park) will open in a few years.  When that happens, and the Japanese relocate to be closer to  "home", what's going to happen to the prices along Soi 24.  Hmmm...

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I find it quite bizarre that the Japanese would relocate from their Promphong - Thonglor base full of Japanese clubs, restaurants, shops and other amenities just to be close to their embassy! Is it some kind of social club? In any case I thought the Japanese embassy was in the Asoke/Petchaburi area.

As for Wittayu Complex, I'm often amazed at the prices asked for units advertized in Bangkok Post - like about 50-60k per sq.m. Presumably no units are actually ever sold at those prices. I'm not sure but I thought it was a condo that was stalled in the '97 crisis and then eventually got finished but has always been likely to stuggle. Agree with ExpatinAsia that it is a miserable location, next to slums, experessway and lots of traffic, and a fair hike to the nearest Skytrain station. Just because a place has a "central" location it might not be a good one.

Just one thing about the British Embassy, weren't they planning to sell some or all of its grounds? Don't know if it's still happening but if so, people can expect a view of office buildings (preceded of course by a construction site) there in the future.

The test kit, once fully functional, is expected to provide an alternative to imported products, which cost at least three times as much and are less specific to the subtype of the HIV virus common in Thailand,

That seems to imply to the lay reader that current tests used in Thailand may NOT detect the HIV subtype most common in Thailand! Surely not?

Suspect it could be sloppy journalism/editing, perhaps relating to "specific" v. "sensitive" in this context, easy to cause reader confusion.

Can anyone out there share what exchange rate they get when they pull out cash with a Nationwide ATM card in Thailand?

I am assuming it would be the standard 2.5% off the interbank exchange rate. Would like to proven wrong on this one!

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I think it is the interbank exchange rate with nothing skimmed off.

I've been using this card for years, here's one recent example:

4 July Nationwide rate (withdrawal from Bangkok ATM) 73.152

Bangkok bank exchange rates on that day: Cash 71.75 TC 72.48 TT 72.66000

This is in line with what I generally find - a slightly better rate than the prevailing Travellers cheque/telegraphic transfer rates at Thai banks (which are very good rates). Not an exact science as the day you withdraw and the day you are charged are usually different, and not sure what day's rate they use. But you can certainly see that they are giving a great rate - and one that is probably the interbank rate at that particular time.