en184

I am one of the mid range tourists. Typically, I will spend 3-4 weeks a year in thailand and spend up to 100,000 bhat during the period.

Many people benefit, girls, restaurants, taxis, motor cycle hire, shops, night clubs.

But, when the price of a flight rises to 50,000 bhat, from europe.. this kills the decision to travel.

I love riding a motorbike in Pattaya. Makes you feel so free.

One reason tourism is down, is that airline operators have cut flights and increased fares.

I tried to get a flight ot BKK at christmas, 2 months ago, and was told all airlines fully booked in economy.

If tourists can't get to thailand, they may head elshewhere. Brazil, South America, Vietnam, Philippines.. All good alternative destinations.

Plus, Bar girls are less friendly than before. The economy is doing well, and they don't seem to appreciate farangs any more.

This change in attitude of bar girls is the real reason sex tourists are not returning..

Bangkok is like London was in the 1960's.

no bust in site for at least 40 years.

Debt can either decrease or increase a shareholders equity. A prudent use of debt, can greatly increase return on equity.

Only when debt is unproductively used, does it decrease shareholder equity.

Why bother working in Thailand?

You can earn alot more in Europe as a network specialist. With the money you can buy a giant house in thailand for your wife and kids.

Plus, sure is nice to come down to thailand with a wad of Euros.

http://www.mywebcalls.com/

5 US cents/minute to Bangkok from anywhere in the world

12 US cnts to cellular.

EU credit card holders add VAT

Why not work on wallstreet, make a million bucks and retire early?

Or try trading for a living. I believe it can be done.

Before you decide to move to thailand, consider buying a property there.

This gives you a base and some security.

If you are so keen on your girlfriend, get married and settle down in norway or uk with her and get her a norweigan passport.

She will probably get alot in house wife benefits living in norway.

Hi,

Remember my friend, NO MONEY - NO HONEY.

If you earn 20k bhat / month in bangkok , you will be at the lvel of poverty.

Many people in BKK are very wealthy. If you don't believe me, visit the Bangkok International Motor Show and check out the prices. 2m bhat is not unnussual for a car.

I heard Norway pays well. And they are probably less strict on Visas than the UK. Why would the UK govt do you a favor, and provide your thai gf with a long term visa?

What sort of professional is your gf? I bet that she will jump ship pretty fast if you are only earning 20k.

When I lost my job in Singapore, (an IT /internet job) my thai gf promptly dumped me and found a new farang (victim) to pay her loads of money and even rent a luxury condo for her in sukhumvit.

Hi Paul,

To buy a condo in Bangkok, as a non thai, you normally need to pay cash.

But, certain companies will let you buy with a deposit, repaying the remainder of the amount over a 1-2 year period.

Try www.bestbuycondo.co.th for prices in bangkok.

You could also consider buying in pattaya.

WHY NOT BUY ?

Why not buy a condo?

At least then, nobody can kick you out of it and you have a permenant home in thailand..

Thai Brokers are very good indeed.

I reccomend Seamico.  They delivery daily stock research in english by email box.  The research is very high quality.

Plus, commissions in thailand are low.  You can see, the bid and the ask quotes, (similar to level 2).

I have never had a problem moving money in and out of thailand.  Dividends are nearly allways paid on time.  Execution is almost instant.

Customer Service is also pretty good.  

You could also consider Kim Eng Securities or Tisco.

To open the account, you will probably have to visit the offices in person or get some one to visit for you.  I am not sure if you can open by post or not.

Speculators richer than before

"In future if the situation becomes hotter we might have to increase the down payment," says Mr Tikhamporn.

PROPERTY: L.P.N. chief sees exploitation of gap between demand and supply of moderately priced condos

NINA SUEBSUKCHAROEN

Property speculators today are more financially sound than those seen in the pre-crisis days, says Tikhamporn Plengsrisuk, managing director of L.P.N. Development Plc.

For one thing, he said, speculators now are completing down-payments and taking over the condominium units they booked. In the boom years it was common for people to transfer contracts for a profit before taking possession.

L.P.N. levies a 1% fee on the transfer of a purchase contract, which enables it to track how many buyers are speculating, but there did not appear to be many in the initial phase, he said. Some sell when the transfer of the unit draws near but even at that point there are not too many.

``Today's speculators are in a stronger financial position and are taking advantage of the gap between supply and demand,'' Mr Tikhamporn said.

L.P.N. is trying to discourage the practice by not allowing any one individual to book too many units. ``In future we might only allow one unit per person and increase the down payment.''

Booking an L.P.N. unit requires around 100,000 baht, which means that those buying for occupancy or for speculation have to have some cash in hand at the outset, he said.

``In future if the situation becomes hotter we might have to increase the down payment. If you ask whether we welcome speculators, we have to welcome them. This is business, they are akin to our salesmen.''

A clear sign of how hot the downtown condominium market has become was seen last month when people lined up to book units at L.P.N.'s Lumphini Suite Sukhumvit 41 from midnight even though the doors opened at 8:30 am.

All 159 units of the 485-million-baht development were sold in just four hours.

Among those waiting from midnight was a British fund manager who said he was used to queues back home.

``We feel uneasy about this. We are not happy because people started waiting from midnight. We should be able to sell without clients having to wait this long,'' Mr Tikhamporn said.

Bookings are transparent as they are displayed on a board for all to see. Senior L.P.N. staff wanted units but were not allowed to book in advance, with Mr Tikhamporn, who sent 15 of his employees to join the queue to book on their behalf.

``I told them to join the queue at 6 am but there were 19 people ahead of the workers. Others got the units our senior members wanted,'' he said.

Seeing this huge demand, L.P.N. is now seeking one or more new locations in the Sukhumvit area to develop. It earlier tried unsuccessfully to acquire a plot at President Park for development. It was to meet the demand of those waiting for the development at President Park that the company launched the Sukhumvit 41 project. However, SET-listed L.P.N. will not be moving out of the middle-market niche on which its business has thrived, as it thinks this segment is the best target with demand clearly apparent.

Mr Tikhamporn says that about one million people live in the 10 districts that make up the heart of the capital. At the same time, at least 600,000 people work in central Bangkok, occupying around two million square metres of office space. His objective is to draw only 1% of those 600,000 people to buy one of the company's condominiums each year.

``I don't want a lot, just around 1%, is that a lot? The population increases by around 2% each year and I only want 1% is that a lot?''

Those who think the property market is getting overheated should bear in mind that this year only around 24 to 25 condominium projects have been launched, bringing in an additional 4,500 units. Around 60-70% are for the upper market with very little for the middle and lower markets, he said.

``Mostly it is the high-end market with a little for the middle market but nothing in the lower end. However there is demand at the lower end too,'' Mr Tikhamporn said, pointing out that in densely populated suburban areas no one has launched any condo projects priced at around 600,000 to 700,000 baht a unit.

``Projects that have been launched since the beginning of this year are all in the centre of the city, mostly Sukhumvit,'' he said. L.P.N. is the only company with projects in other areas such as Rama III and Narathiwat Ratchanakarin.

Looking to the future, Mr Tikhamporn said the condo market would continue to bear watching. ``Next year will be even stronger than this year. This year is only the beginning. People who want to enter this market cannot do so right away, it takes time to design.''

He's not worried about selling units as he is sure sales will remain good for the remainder of this year and next.

``Whether a person is buying to live or speculate, it clearly shows there is a gap between supply and demand. So therefore next year there will be new developers but I think there is room for them to work.''

Hi,

I have been reading various books on realestate, and would like to know, if no money down real estate deals are available in bangkok from developers.  I know that they are for thai nationals, but are they available for farangs.  

If anybody is doing this already, please contact me by private message.  I am interested in flipping a couple of pieces of real estate in thai.

Nice idea. But I suggest tossing it and going back NOW. If you stay in LOS for more than a year or two, you are doing serious damage to your career. I know from personal experience that generally companies in the US look on your experience in Thailand (specifically Thailand) as wasted time. Doesn't much matter what you did or for whom. This is for the IT field but applies in many others, I've found. At your age you need solid experience that you can sell later.

I would agree with this.  I spent a year in asia.  Although the work was valuable and at a high level, I got a cold reception back in Europe.  

I suspect line managers where jealous of my achievements and happy to put me down.

Also management style is different.  while you might be able to tell a thai worker to come in at 10PM to fix a problem, you risk getting fired if you try that in Europe or US.

Looks like most IT jobs are heading to India these days.

Check out a couple of big software companies.  You will see this is the trend.

Kanbay is hiring  - In India

http://www.kanbay.com/car_joblist.asp

Temenos is hiring - In india

http://www.temenos.com/content.asp?id=jobv...cies&regionid=2

Siebel - in US

http://www.siebel.com/about/careers/listjobs.shtm

Looks like you might have to move to India?

Hi,

I find Seamico.com offer a great service.  In addition, they have very good research and offer a daily research email of thier latest research every day into your email box.  They also have an analyst Kuhn P, or Eddie, who is really good and often right on when he makes his predictions.  I have been personally astounded by the accuracy.

For me, Seamico is of a higher standard than many brokerages in the west although speed of execution is not as good as interactivebrokers.  

Thaistocks does not like them, because in the snake pit, some people, (PR claims not too) slag off thaistocks, providing PR with free advertising.

Its about time thailand initiated a thai-British treaty of Amity too..

Would be a good start..

These girls move within thailand abd abroad to hong kong, singapore, japan and even europe.

Many, many girls travel both within and outside of europe.

A good trick, to track a girl, aside from getting very close to one and living in the region, is to use the email.

Using an IP address locater, you can find out from where emails are being sent.

This assumes that your girlfriend really sent the email.  Often, if they are out of the country, they will ask / pay thier best friend to answer thier emails.

Most of these girls have atleast 4 boyfriends on the go at any one time and that excludes one night stands.

Money is what drives them, and they will do any thing for it.

They have little in savings, and when going to visit thier houses up country, you see that not alot of money ends up back home.

Mobile phone bills of 10,000 bhat/month or more are not unussual amoung the high income girls.  Other expenses include, buying drinks for thier friends, make up, expensive perfume, rent (about 5000 bhat / month), taxis, airfares, clothes.

Alot of these girls enjoy what they do, and love the glamour of travelling and staying in high class hotels.

I even knew one girl who sometimes travelled business class on her foreign business travels.  A true business women.

This thread is really getting of the point.  

The thai PM will not change the rules on condo ownership, and even if he does, I don't suppose existing owners would be affected.

So, no problems.  Buy you condo now, to avoid problems.

When countries use the world bank, it is similar to you taking out a mortgage on your house.

When you take out a 25 year mortgage, you take out a covenent with society to work for 25 years to repay the loan.  If you chose to repay interest only, or you keep on borrowing more, the interest part will stay the same or rise.  

If countries decide to have wars, and destroy thier houses, which have a mortgage attached, and take out a credit card loan to pay for tanks and luxury goods, which are later worthless, offcourse the country will go bankrupt.

This is under the business and investing in thailand heading.

I doubt business owners and investors are broke.

According to the millionaire next door, most millionaires are small business owners.

The only real risks, butterfly, is tha i don't make as much money on a commission based system as having a regular job.

And, it would cost me money in accomodation and flights.  

I thought about it.  To make alot of money, you gotta be good every month and make the sales.  During the first few months, you might not make any sales.

SO, you got lost earnings and you gotta support yourself.  And, I would not be ble to live cheaply in Bangkok.;  There is too much temptation.