newnative

Years ago my spouse and I saw a model at City Hall that showed two other underpasses besides the one that was built. One went under North Pattaya and a longer one went under South Pattaya and Thepprasit. All three should have been built; I don't know why the other two were not, or if they will ever get done, or overpasses, instead.

I see. Thank you.

I don't mean to be facetious but why is this illegal? The bank seems to have a whole process in place for this and it didn't seem like they were doing anythng special or unusual for us to have access to the other's account. We also have a joint savings account with SCB that has both of our names on the account's bank book, my Thai partner's in Thai and mine in English. With that account we actually have 3 bank books, the one I just mentioned and one each with only our individual names. Although I said 'spouse' in my first post we are a gay couple and only legally married in the US, if that makes any difference.

The condo clearly owns and has the responsibility to maintain the exterior walls, roof, balcony railings, etc. of a condo project. This includes painting the exterior of the building when needed. It becomes more of a gray area when the two side walls, floor, and ceiling of a condo's balcony are considered. If you look up at View Talay 3, for example, you will see that some owners have changed the ceilings of their balconies, from the standard white particleboard to brown stained wood. Some have added extra balcony ceiling lights. Over at Jomtien Complex, some owners have glassed in or screened in their balconies, using different kinds of enclosure styles, colors, and patterns. If you look at Metro condo, you will see balcony railings of 2 or 3 different colors--or at least that was the case last time I was there. When my spouse and I owned a condo at Northshore, as part of the renovation we added a custom balcony clothes dryer cabinet, and during the renovation process the 2 balcony side walls were painted white. It was only later, when we were driving on Beach Road and I looked up at the condo, that I realized that the other balcony walls were not white but the tan/mauve color of the building. Whether the owners were within their rights, or not, with the above examples, depends on the condo project's rules and regulations. In the case of the OP, I think he needs to check the condo's bylaws, which, if properly written, should clearly spell out what is allowed, and not allowed, in regard to a condo's balcony, windows, etc.

My spouse and I have several bank accounts that are in our individual names but we can each access the funds in the other's account should one of us die or be incapacitated. The banks have our signatures on file for these accounts.

As long as everything is torn up why not start doing the overpasses over the major intersections like they have been doing to the south on Sukhumvit. Keep going with the project working north.

Hugely embarrassing for the government for the court to step in--if the government was capable of embarrassment. Massive effort needs to be done, but likely won't. Blame will be placed on other countries but here on the Darkside of Pattaya almost every evening I smell smoke from local fires, not adjacent countries.

From the article, some fines for polluters and forming a committee to study the pollution problem. Great, another committee. Didn't see anything that would actually work towards reducing the pollution. Kick that can down the road . . .

Good . . . but not good that the sentence only got increased because of massive bad publicity--which is usually the case, unfortunately.

I'm all for getting rid of them. We have about 6 or more stray dogs near where we live on the Darkside. Thai spouse finally got the municipality on the horn and they agreed to come pick them up, give them shots, neuter them, etc. However, then they said they would return them to our soi! We said NO, we don't want them, nobody owns them, but here they all are back again.

Not only should all the fares be economical but the trains all need extra cars added. They are very over-crowded, sometimes even during non-rush hours. The whole object should be to make public transportation fast, comfortable and affordable. If one has to wait a long period for several trains in order to get onto an expensive, crowded, uncomfortable train, all three objectives have been lost.

Disgusting.

Nonsense--there are plenty of 'those around'. Every seaview condo has low floors--so even if you are facing directly west and are beachfront you will see some beach from the lower floors. Many of the condo projects with seaviews, such as the VTs, Lumpini Park Beach, Ananya, Lumpini Seaview, Copacabana, Northshore, The Edge, Jomtien Beach, Markland, Unixx, Wongamat Tower, The Base, etc., have the majority of the units looking south and north. No matter what floor you are on with these projects, you are not just looking at 'a thin piece of blue way off in the distance with nothing to see.' Instead, you are usually seeing not just the ocean but the beach, shoreline and buildings. There are 1800 units just in Lumpini Park Beach--one project--with many of the units having a seaview looking north or south. Think of all the units at VT3A & 3B, VT5C & 5D, VT7, and VT8. Thousands. Other projects such as Northpoint, Centric Sea, Zire, the Rivieras, Baan Plai Haad, The Palm, Reflection, Cetus, Peak, Aeras, Saranchol, and many others also have lower floor units facing west and other units facing north and south. Having owned 18 seaview condos in Pattaya and two in Rayong I can tell you that none had a 'thin piece of blue way off in the distance'. A few examples.

Blah, blah, blah.

Nice to see the new hotel across from Centre Point Space is being finished after construction was halted for some time.

True, the units are not technically 'sold'--that happens at the Land Office when the chanote is turned over to the buyer from the developer. But, everything Just Curious posted is absolutely correct. The 'booked' units, while not sold, are also not available for other buyers to buy from the developer. As Just Curious said, there's a big churn of these booked units during construction, due to some buyers not being able to obtain a loan, some buyers changing their minds, and other buyers booking the units expressly to be resold at, hopefully, a profit. My spouse and I picked up a bargain at The Base some years ago by buying one of these booked units shortly before The Base was finished. The buyer who had booked the unit needed some quick cash and we paid just 60,000 baht to the buyer to take over the contract. We knew the condo was a 35 sqm unit, with the bigger balcony, and it was on the top condo floor of the 'A' building. This floor was extra special because not only was it the top floor for condos, but it was also single corridor, with units on only one side and windows on the other side of the hall looking out to Pattaya to the north. This floor had only 2 one bedroom units and we didn't know if our unit was at the front of the bulding or the back when we took over the contract. We lucked out and it was at the front, with a much better seaview looking southwest. We rented it out for a year and then sold it at a nice profit. Did somewhat the same thing with Centric Sea, doing nicely there, as well, for a 'clueless expat'.

That's the only one I know of.

Just more useless talk. Do this, do that. Meanwhile, the government does nothing. But, can find 5 billion with a 'B' baht for TAT. Wonder how many electric city vehicles and electric motorcycle subsidies that could have bought.

Over 5 billion for TAT? Disgraceful. Should have been kept at its current level and the extra 2 billion given to the Education Dept.

I don't recall saying they were huge parks. I simply stated that Pattaya has more than just 1 park, as you have shown.

There's the park in Naklua. There's also a fairly new park in Jomtien. There are several 'park' areas around Lake Mabprachan park and bike/jogging trail.

That is not Pattaya's only park.

Nice Pattaya had a place that fit your friend's needs. I have found that I can find what I want, too, even when what I want has changed--that's one of the reasons I like living in Pattaya.

None of my addresses--and I have lived in at least a dozen places in Pattaya from south Jomtien to Pratamnuk to south Pattaya to north Pattaya to Wongamat to the Darkside, etc., have included the word 'Pattaya' as the city in the address. Didn't matter if I was right in the center part of Pattaya at Cenric Sea or at my house on the Darkside of Pattaya. Or, anywhere else in Pattaya. The addresses have all been something like: House or condo address/number, Moo ___, sometimes a street or soi name/number, then Nongprue, Banglamung, Chonburi 20150 Thailand. So, no actual 'Pattaya' in the address. Being a few miles out of the beach area of town means nothing--it's still considered to be Pattaya. I'm probably closer to north Pattaya than somone in south Jomtien. If you've been on the Darkside, I'm sure you've noticed the big 'Welcome to Pattaya' signs over several of the major roads on that side of Sukhumvit. Darkside Pattaya property is mostly bought and sold at the Chonburi Pattaya Land Office, not some other jurisdiction. Unfortunately, the outdated notion that 'Pattaya' refers to just a tiny part of the large city that Pattaya has become often unfairly colors the commentary on the Pattaya Forum. When one's thinking is along those lines, that "Pattaya' is just the bar areas around Walking Street/Soi Buakhao, etc., out comes dumb statements like, Pattaya has nothing on offer at all for families; Pattaya has nothing new and is still just for mongers; Family-friendly Pattaya, what a joke, etc. Out comes scathing incredulity when Pattaya pops up at #15 on a list of the 20 most visited cities in the World. No problem with Phuket at #14, but Pattaya at #15??? No way, Jose. Pattaya has nothing to warrant so many people visiting. Has to be a mistake. The reality is that Pattaya has changed, and is still changing. Pattaya has grown, and is still growing--and that includes more Pattaya development on the Darkside, where some tourist attractions such as the Dolphinarium and Ramayana Water Park have located and a big new amusement park is under construction. And, it's the Darkside where Pattaya's new 20,000 seat stadium is being built. All of this has nothing to do with real estate agents--got a chuckle out of that. It's just what it is. Someone asks me where I live, it's a simple answer, Pattaya.

I was responding to your question of 'Why are you all living in Pattaya?', not how much money is needed to live here.