newnative

Good. Keep at it.

Boo hoo

Sadly, for America, the latter.

I totally love it. I think the artist did an excellent job. So refreshing to see a portrait done differently from the usual run-of-the-mill. Great that it is sparking comment--good art will do that.

Not 'Bangkok chaos'. Please, hold the hype already. There were no injuries because nobody was in the pickup truck. Woman driver's statement makes no sense when you see the video. Truck was parked and her car pushed it over the edge. Last sentence was cringe-worthy.

Yikes. First Yellowtail and now his clone.

'...swallowed whole...' Gimme a break.

No.

Encouraging to see in a recent poll that 52% of Americans now believe Trump is guilty in the hush money trial and 49% approve of the trial, up from 43% in April.

Mixed bag. Better in some ways, worse in others.

You would think from reading TV/AN that noisy neighbors are a huge problem for a large number of posters. Yet, from your survey, the vast majority report no problems at all and most of the remaining had some problems but they were resolved. Only a small handful felt they needed to move. Although your survey isn't scientific, I suspect it pretty fairly reflects reality--and certainly does in my experience here.

And kicking.

That reminds me of one of the condos I owned in the US. It was on the 13th floor and I had never lived higher than the 3rd floor anywhere. I remember the first time my sister--also my realtor--and I went on the balcony when we were viewing the condo before I bought it. Neither one of us would get close to the railing--we stayed far back by the balcony slider. We were both petrified as it seemed so high up. But, I eventually got used to the height and got comfortable with spending a lot of time on the balcony. The first condo my spouse and I bought in Pattaya was also on the 13th floor. But, we later had condos as high as the 29th floor and our Bangkok condo is on floor 37--which is still a bit scary when I go to the railing and look down.

Spouse and I owned condos at Centric Sea and The Base. Both had rooftop pools and they both had normal depth for condo pools--probably around 120 or 130 cm. Certainly they were deep enough to swim in. The large pool at our Bangkok condo is also 120 cm deep--I think a lot of newer condo pools are around that depth unless they have some feature that requires more depth--such as the rock climbing wall at the Unixx pool.

Selling has not been hard in Pattaya--if it had been we would have stopped long ago. But, in any case, you've missed the point of my posts--and you're focused solely on the economics of owning, while disregarding everything else. And, that 'everything else' far outweighs the economics, for me. Note, for me. Maybe not for that guy over there behind the tree. As I have said, owning is a lifestyle choice, a quality of life choice for me, and, I suspect, many others. Whether I am 42 or 72, that doesn't change. And, also like many, I have more money at 72 than I had at 42, so why wouldn't I want to own a nice place to live, if that is what suits me? It really comes down to what floats your boat, I think. For some, it literally is a boat--even though they know owning a boat will be a money pit from Day 1. For others, it's owning a luxury car, even though they know the luxury car will likely lose more than half its value after 5 years. Some lose 70% or more. Yet, people still buy boats and luxury cars, knowing they will lose money on the deal. They want what they want--and nothing wrong with that if they can afford it. For me, I'd rather own property than a boat or a luxury car--that floats my boat.

There you go. That was easy.

I have to disagree. For me, it's always 'worth it' to own my space--and, even more so in my later years. I've owned, for reasons I stated in my earlier post, in my 30s, 40s, and 50s. Why would that change when I hit 60 or 70? Or 80, if I live that long? If I can afford to own a nice place, to do with it what I want, and have the things I have collected over a life time, why not--at any age. I'm 72 and my spouse and I are about half-way through building our next house here in Pattaya on the Darkside. As always, it's been fun, interesting, and challenging. Age is just a number.

Spouse and I have owned a number of condos in Pattaya, at a number of different projects. We never lost money on any of them. We always bought seaview, and almost always in foreign name, which I would highly recommend. To answer your question, buying was always a good decision for us, even with a couple of the projects that became over-run with illegal daily renters when airbnb became popular. I would steer clear of these types of projects, unless that isn't a concern for you. We would still buy--here or anywhere else--even if we thought we might lose some money or only break even on a property. We are owners, not renters. We had to rent a few times when condos we were buying were being finished and we hated renting. Not for us living in someone else's property, tip-toeing around hoping we don't accidently break or spill something on a piece of likely lousy furnture, and likely not in our taste. Not for us looking at art we didn't select and watching Netflix on probably a way too small tv. Not for us throwing the rent money out the window every month, paying someone else, rather than ourselves. Not for us not being able to make major changes and improvements in a place when we feel like it. Not for us always knowing, this is not your place, it's someone else's. The older I get the more I realize that life is short. I have no intention of spending my remaining wonder years in someone else's space. No thanks. I know from comments on threads like this that some are perfectly happy being renters--although I think everyone we know in Pattaya also owns. Nothing wrong with renting, if that's your thing. Just not for us. Someone will likely be along, if they haven't already, to tell you how much money you can make if you rent instead of owning and invest in stocks or whatever instead of property. But, nothing stopping a condo owner from also making other investments--which we do. For us, though, owning is a lifestyle choice, a quality of life choice, more than anything else.

'National outrage'? Hardly. A couple thousand reactions, and a few hundred comments, not all negative, out of a population of 70 million. Hold the almost always excessive hype already, it's getting so tiresome.

Lock him up already! He's nothing special--far from it.

That's rich, coming from someone who used the Nazi 'Big Lie' propaganda strategy to falsely, and ridiculously, lie big and claim the 2020 election was 'stolen' from him.

Agree. Last time I flew to the US I flew Korean Air and the change of planes in Korea was a breeze--the flight to the US was in a nearby gate just steps away. Could not have been much easier.

Again, rein in the hype. I doubt a few ed visa tourists are going to 'revive Thailand tourism'--which seems to be doing fine anyway.

No need for the word 'infamously' in the first sentence. I'm amused by all the wacko theories--especially the maid doing it--this after serving her for many, many years. Why murder her when she was dying?

The only thing Trump does intensely is lie.