newnative

Me, neither. As always, I doubt too many are 'outraged'. Just more blown up hype. With the photo I saw posted, there were only 133 comments on the guy's webpage. In a city of over 11 million, that's quite tiny. Tiny also is the 'outrage'.

Your post is the typical spiel that's spouted ad infinitum on the Forum--by lots of posters like you who don't even live in Pattaya--and likely have never visited any of the many nice, new Pattaya housing developments to see what is actually now being built and who is actually living in them. I live in a Pattaya villa project, and lived in two home projects before this one, have met some of my neighbors in all of them, and have met many more couples and families who came to view the 3 previous houses I sold, as well as more than a dozen condos. What I post is what I actually see and live, here in person. Of course, some foreigners do marry women they meet at a bar--true not just for Pattaya--but I'm not seeing older farang/younger Thai woman as a high percentage in the housing projects that I have lived in here in Pattaya. In my current housing development of 28 homes, maybe two or three that I know of have farang husbands with younger Thai wives. As I said in my previous post, it's a UN--with families from a variety of countries. The families I know of in the project sending their kids to international schools are from China, Russia, and Israel and both spouses are from those countries. One of the Chinese couples that I met told me that they moved to Thailand specifically to send their two children to an international school to get a better, more rounded education than they would get in China. In any case, whether it's a high or low percentage is neither here nor there and matters not a bit. And, it has no bearing whatsoever on the points I was making in my post. That also applies to your second post regarding mortgages--which repeats the same distorted perceptions as your first post. The reasons why buyers are paying cash for their homes is also beside the point. The big takeaway--which you ignored in both your posts--is the large number of diverse international buyers moving to Pattaya who have the means to pay cash for properties, whether condo or villa, costing 10MB and up--in some cases way up. That's the meat of the story and what you should have focused on. Obviously, if they have $300,000 or more in ready cash to purchase a home they could choose to live lots of places besides Pattaya. Yet, here they are, choosing Pattaya. Me, too. You, and any skeptical others, might educate yourselves a bit by viewing some of the many Youtube videos showing new housing projects and new house tours of the projects now being built in Pattaya. My spouse and I like to watch them when we are exercising to keep updated on what's new and we are continually amazed at both the number of new projects, the high-end design, and, in many cases, the quite high price points. Take a gander and you'll see what I am talking about.

There was little in the way of 'high culture' in the US town I lived in, either. But, it was relatively safe, there were movie theaters, restaurants, good health care, good shopping, good recreation, a fairly wide variety of housing, and there was a big city and an international airport not too far away. Ditto for Pattaya--except it's safer here, with better year-round weather, and an even better variety of housing--at more reasonable prices. Anybody who states, 'If there was no sex business, Pattaya would wither on the vine', clearly is clueless and needs to do some exploring. And, it's actually the opposite, by the way. If the sex business disappeared, Pattaya would be doing even better. You only need to look at all the new development that has been built and is still being built--it's not for sex tourists. The big, new water park I mentioned in my earlier post? It's geared mostly to Thais and other Asian visitors. Probably a dozen new car dealerships have opened since I arrived in Pattaya--sex tourists aren't keeping them open, or T21, Central Festival, all the big box stores, the resorts, water parks, etc., etc. If you venture from the small area you seem to frequent, you'll find there's a whole 'nother world out there--from dozens and dozens of very nice, new housing developments to, according to Google, eighteen international schools--including Regents and Rugby--with a new one, Highgate, scheduled to open in 2026. Spouse and I drove around Rugby for the first time a few days ago and we were super-impressed--even after some 14 years living here we are still discovering new stuff. While you're exploring and you need a cup of coffee and a pastry, check out the huge Nitan coffee shop/cafe on Sukhumvit. Here's a question for any deep thinkers out there. If, according to the consensus of Forum posters, Pattaya's population is 40% sex tourists, 40% sex workers, 10% gold chain snatchers, and 10% poorly-trained brutal bar bouncers, how in the world does Pattaya have enough students to fill 18 international schools--with another one on the way? Perhaps those Pattaya population figures need some adjustment and, in reality, there's lots and lots of families--most living apparently nowhere near where the Forum posters are. One of the international school buses picks up three or 4 kids in our project so I can vouch for there being actual international kids living in Pattaya. I have never heard of 'C1, C2, and DE' but, judging from your post, I could probably guess that they are references to maybe economic or educational levels--and I assume you think Pattaya expats are sorely lacking in one or the other--or both. Perhaps you should, once again, get out more and meet some actual expats living away from the non-tourist areas--that's where lots of them are. We have expat friends who worked, or are still working, at a wide variety of occupations. Doctors, lawyers, maybe even an Indian chief. Most run from middle class to wealthy. Several own multiple properties here. With mortgages hard to get for expats, most pay cash for their homes. The project where we live is fairly typical of new projects in Pattaya. It has 28 homes, most costing around 10 to 12MB. There are lots of new Pattaya projects in this price range, by the way, and a number of new projects with higher prices in the 20 to 30MB range--and, some higher than that. So, with no mortgages, the owners in the project we live at had at least around $300,000 in ready cash to make their house purchase--not exactly destitute. Not exactly living in a fan room--although that's the impression you might get from the Forum--that every expat in Pattaya is living a life of quiet desperation in a fan room--when they're not sitting on a bar stool at 9am drinking. The development we live at is a regular United Nations. We have multiple owners from the US, China, and Russia, and also owners from Israel, Dubai, India, Britain, Ireland, Holland, and Italy, that I know of. Likely other countries, as well. Most living ordinary, normal lives, doing ordinary, normal things. Probably not all that different from what their lives were like where they came from--I know mine isn't. But, likely in a nicer house and enjoying better year-round weather.

Totally agree--and I doubt the poster has even gotten to the boundaries that you mentioned. From the clueless postings we get, he isn't alone.

Pattaya has more than just one beach. The huge Centara Resort, geared to families, is on Wongamat Beach--about as far from Walking Street as you can get. Ditto for the enormous Centre Point 3 Resort now under construction. Many of the large, new condo developments, such as Copacabana and three of the Riviera brand mega projects, are on Jomtien Beach. There's also Cosy Beach, and Dongtan Beach, with the Jomtien Park water park. Just as an aside, my Bangkok relatives have visited many times and they have never actually sat on any of the Pattaya beaches--although we have hired boats a number of times and gone snorkeling.

You must not live in Pattaya. It already is 'an attractive resort town for Bangkok residents and some foreign tourists.' And, I would add, lots of year-round expats living here. Including me. Pattaya is filled with Bangkokians on weekends and long holidays. If you lived here you would know it is very easy to avoid the adult entertainment areas. You would also know that a very large percentage of the new development is being built away from those areas. T21 and Centre Point Space just two examples of many--as far from Walking Street as you can get and still be near Pattaya Beach. The newest, big water park is on the Darkside. The newest go-cart attraction is in Jomtien. The first huge highrise projects built by the large Bangkok developers who came to Pattaya were originally built as weekend getaway condos for Bangkokians and other Thais. I'm referring to Lumpini Park Beach Jomtien and the two projects in Wongamat and Naklua by Lumpini, The Base and Baan Plai Haad by Sansiri, Centric Sea by SC Asset, and Unixx by Raimon Land. The Base's sales brochure was titled "It's the Weekend" and featured yuppy Bangkokians frolicking--with not a single farang pictured in the whole brochure. Fun fact: Sansiri actually built a sales office for The Base in Pattaya but they needn't have bothered. By the time the sales office opened The Base was mostly booked already--by Bangkokians who had booked in Bangkok.

Rubbish. Every day is not a catastrophe. Hold the ridiculous hype. (On the plus side, there might be a job waiting for you at AN.)

Duh.

I doubt farang tourist behavior has changed much. What has changed is social media reporting every incident, with the media then picking up on it and breathlessly blowing it up into something major, when it is, of course, not major at all. Just the other day Pattaya was reported to be, yet again, in 'chaos' over something very minor--an escalator not working.

Agree, regarding the 60 months. Is he supposed to drop dead at the end of month 60? Don't agree regarding 70 being maybe too old to buy. Spouse and I have built two houses since I turned 70 and renovated a third one. Sold two of them with the third now on the market. We are about to buy another house to live in while we build what might be our last house build in Thailand. And, our last move. Or, not. You never know. This next house we are buying will become a rental once the other house is done in maybe 9 or 10 months. Age is just a number, don't let it limit your thinking--or doing.

The very low approval rating shows the worst president in US history has only gotten worse. I'm surprised that 44% of the Kool-Aid drinkers still approve of his wrecking of America.

Lots of other places besides Jomtien in Greater Pattaya. Spouse and I are now enjoying the Darkside. I agree it is good to keep busy in retirement.

'Chaos' again. Calm here on the Darkside. Let's rein in the hype, please.

I don't want to hazard a guess. I'd chat directly with the BOI.

66,000 baht will not rent you a 'mansion'--not in Pattaya, anyway. It will get you a 3 or 4-bedroom pool villa, give or take and depending on age, condition, and furnishings. There's a 6-bedroom, 10 bath villa for rent at Siam Royal View--not sure if that reaches 'mansion' status but it's 500,000 baht a month. You'll also not be going too 'upscale' for 33K a month in Pattaya, unless you're ok with livin' small. 33K will get you a small 1-bedroom at Northpoint or The Palm.

Agree. Plenty of land available, often right off the main road and sometimes right on it--note the huge tract of empty land with the green fence in front of it on North Pattaya. While the parking garages are being built, temporary parking lots could be built on empty land that is either bought or leased from the owners.

Buy the 9MB condo you mentioned in foreign quota, with your name on the Chanote.

The next time you drive Thepprasit going west, keep your eye on the U-Turn spots. You'll see a solid yellow line steering the two lanes of traffic to the left around the cars making a U-Turn. For this maneuver to work, however, the parking lane in the U-Turn area needs to become a thru lane. If you look at the parking lane in the U-Turn area, the city has painted white forward arrows on the parking lane, indicating that this section is NOT parking but, instead, a traffic lane. So far so good--not as good as eliminating parking completely on the road but better than nothing. The city, however, has so far neglected to paint the curb red and white in these areas, so cars continue to park in the designated traffic lane, totally defeating the whole plan of smooth traffic flow around the U-Turn. So, instead, you get to a U-Turn and the traffic gets all jumbled up as you have two lanes reduced to one as the right lane is blocked by cars making a U-Turn and the parking lane that is suppose to be a thru lane is blocked with parked cars. A good idea not working due to the city's poor execution. There are so many examples of incompetence like this--and so many little things that could be done in many areas to improve traffic flow all over the city.

Bangkok, I think. Looks like it might be New Phetchaburi Road. The tallest close-up building in the photo with the inward slanting top looks like it could be Circle Condominium.

I guess I am an outlier; I'm 73 and still shop at IKEA. In fact, I just placed an order for picture frames and a rug pad. There's a lot at IKEA that I've outgrown but I still find IKEA a good source for a number of things, especially here in Thailand. They have a great selection of rugs--I've used the Lohals sisal rug in at least a half dozen condo and house projects. Well-priced, timeless, durable, and it comes in a number of sizes. Ditto for a great selection of housewares, kitchen stuff, lighting, and the already mentioned picture frames. I give most of the furniture a pass but I like their good selection of big ottomans, most with handy storage. They're great when used as a coffee table with a big decorative tray on top. Hard to find similar here in Thailand. They also do a bed chair that I like--we will likely be ordering one for the exercise room of a new house we are doing. Although we usually use a credit card, I don't think it's a good idea to eliminate cash as an option.

I'm terrible with languages, to start with. I greatly admire those who have learned Thai. My Thai spouse speaks excellent English and most Thais I encounter also have some English so I haven't really felt the need to learn Thai. I must say my attempts to speak a bit of Thai are usually not welcomed much by Thais. For example, I'll say something to a waiter in Thai and they'll usually turn to my Thai partner with raised eyebrows--what's he want? So, not much incentive.

I don't know what the big deal is. I have no problem being called a farang. I use the term myself with my spouse and friends. We'll be driving around and we'll notice some farang doing something stupid and I'll say, "Look at that crazy farang doing _________________." Don't sweat the little stuff. And, most stuff is little.

Thanks.

Yes, very much so.

To review, so far we have substandard rebar and the elevator walls reduced in thickness. I suspect more will be found in this perfect storm of greed, corruption, incompetence, and mismanagement.