Patong2

Crashes? Crashes? Remember the almost weekly bus and truck crashes? Even put the concrete barrier at the last corner into Patong to catch the buses. Heavy vehicle drivers who didn't understand changing down gears to brake and then riding the brakes all the way down the hill till they faded. Been much better over the last few years but that could be just lack of tourists.

Not sure I agree A lot of success (unless you are very lucky or inherit) has got to do with spending habits. It's not what you earn but what you save and utilise those savings to the best effect. I am amazed, all my tenants had bigger TV's and newer cars than I had until a couple of years ago. I don't think many young people have the discipline required.

Greed? but on whose part? When I bought my 1st rental property in NZ the upper tax rate was 66%. The govt let me keep 34c in every dollar I earned. Out of that 34c I had to pay 12.5% GST on all my food, local taxes, everything. Yes greed it was but by incompetent bureaucrats let loose by even more incompetent politicians. As to the "motel" situation in NZ now, it is corruption and so often in NZ people are blind to it. So widespread that the NZ Herald reported 5 separate prosecutions in one week recently. But any "Kiwi" will tell you there is no corruption in NZ. Many heads in that "Long White Cloud"

Thanks for the interesting report KhunLA Interesting reading what a new owner discovers about driving and consumption of a model. Like to see you follow up on this thread further down the track as you get more and more accustomed to the vehicle. Anyone else taking delivery of a new EV or Hybrid?

GammaGlobulin Was it an issue of National Geographic on Cambodia and the Khmer temples? The topless Khmer lady was stunning and I have loved topless ladies ever since.

Just had a bit of a downpour in Patong and Sai Kor 3 rd (middle broken road behind Jungceylon) is flooded again. Quite deep at the edges. This is at 2pm Friday Not a good look for tourists sadly

I have a pretty simple attitude to investing. As an example I bought a 2 bedroom brick and tile unit in a good suburb for $200k in Sep 1997 Peak of the market and I paid too much. Have rented it out since. But the value?? It is still only worth what a 2 bedroom brick and tile unit in a good suburb sells for, no more. Valuation today - $820 - $1m showing in market survey but say $700k for a fire sale. In effect though, you have not had an increase in your asset value because you can only afford the same value property, a 2 bedroom unit in a good suburb, you can't now afford the 5 bedroom sea view property in a prime suburb. Sure, you use the rent to cover mortgage etc and you pay the mortgage down ASAP but that is your choice in spending what unencumbered money you have.

Its a pretty normal part of the cycle and yes some properties sell but usually they are by vendors who have pressing reasons to sell such as divorce, death, financing a business, going overseas etc, Seen this before and will probably sell a house in Auckland early next year at whatever the market dictates. Fed up with being unable to evict tenants that frighten neighbours, too many restrictions on good and competent long term landlords. People have an expectation of what their house is worth, Joe's house down the road sold for $1.2m so ours must be worth $1.4m. They put it on the market but only get offers of $1m so they decide to stay, pull the house off the market, add on a basement and pool and over capitalise the place. Eventually they get too old, have to go into a retirement home and sell at the real market price which will have gone up on the upwards side of the cycle.

Isn't that great? My home in New Zealand, at 8am, used to take 3/4 of an hour to drive 6.9km and that was with all access routes available. And I had no where to park unless I paid B220. I just love living in Patong.

I asked the question re going from Patong to BK Hospital on Friday morning? Left Patong at 8am arrived at 8.45am going through Karon & Chalong. Really surprised, yes traffic heavier but all moving well. Heavy traffic going back to Patong and had to do the same trip later in the day but although heavy, the traffic was flowing. Police doing a reasonable job on Chalong roundabout flowing the traffic around in bursts. It is sad to see all the cleaning up having to be done. Business owners here have had and are having a real hard time. It must be heartbreaking to see the rain clouds rolling in and destroying your customer base for the day/night.

I for one, thoroughly enjoyed many of the contributions on the "Patong is dead" thread and I am disappointed it was closed. Xylophone especially made some really insightful and balanced comments with very interesting detail. Having visited Patong for increasing lengths of time over 20 years I can say with confidence that the old Patong as we knew it is definitely dead and the new Patong seems to need some life blown into it. This is the lowest numbers of tourists we have ever seen here at this time of the year. What were your favourite sights in the old Patong? We really miss the pain in the ass (literally for some) of Soi Crocodile. It was always flamboyant and vibrant, many times annoying, but the dancers were always an interesting focal point for tourists new and old.