newnative

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.

Certainly there are plenty of retirees in the places you have mentioned. But, there are also significant numbers in other places, including a variery of higher-end housing projects on the Darkside--with more being built, and in the more expensive condo projects that have been built in the past few years, with the trend for new condos decidely more upscale than the no-frills VTs of yesteryear. The Cove, Northpoint, Baan Plai Haad, Northshore, Aeras, Zire, The Palm, Arom Wongamat, Cetus, Andromeda, Reflection, and others come to mind. Copacabana, for example, has an average price of about 123,000 baht a sqm. Arom Wongamat is at 163,000 baht. VT5 goes for just 52.000 baht a sqm.

Of course there are lower priced properties, both condos and houses. As I have said many times, one of the great things about Pattaya is the wide variety of housing to buy or rent, at all price points--from less than a million baht to over 200 million baht. Whether someone has the means to pay 10MB for a property has nothing whatsoever to do with whether he or she is a drinker, smoker, takes drugs, has a happy disposition, flosses, etc. Totally irrelevant. Also totally irrelevant is whether or not you are meeting these people. Just because you are, apprently not, does not equate to these people not existing. I am also referring to Pattaya, not the boonies. You might find it strange that some expats are spending 10 million on condos or houses but that is the case in Pattaya, which, again, is what I was referring to. I might also correct you that I never said, as you say I do, that I think the 'average expat' is doing this. What I actually said was that there were 'significant numbers', and there are. Pattaya has lots of housing projects with some homes in them going for 10 million baht and up. And, there are a number of higher-end condo projects that also have condos in that price range. Usually, these condo projects have the foreign quota filled, so about half of the buyers for these condos were foreign buyers. If there were not buyers for properties at this higher price point, they would not be continuing to be built. A number of the new housing projects, as well as some newly announced and just-built condo projects, are also on the higher, rather than the lower, end. Again, referring to Pattaya. Finally, why people choose to live in Pattaya--in 2MB properties or 200MB properties or anything in-between--has been discussed a number of times on the Forum, with a thread just a few weeks ago, if I recall. For my spouse and me, Pattaya simply checks more of the boxes of the things we want in a place to live than anywhere else in Thailand. I suspect your location does the same for you.

All my friends in Pattaya are not American; most are not. I also know British, Swiss, German, Canadian, Irish, Dutch, Australian, and others from other countries and most are what would be considered well-off. It's a bit ridiculous to say only American expats in Thailand have any money. Not sure your house values statement holds water. UK house values seem to be appreciating nicely--which is often crowed about on Asean Now by some of our British expats. From an average of 150,000 pounds in 2005 they have risen to an average of 290,000 pounds in 2023. Expats buying property in Thailand generally do not get a mortgage, they pay cash. So, if they buy a condo for 7MB, they're plunking down around $200,000 in cash. A house for 10MB, about $285,000 in cash. Since they are likely not leaving themselves destitute with the purchases, they are in possession of a fair amount of funds. Of course, not everyone fits this description but there are significant numbers who do, from more countries than just the US..

Buh bye bye.

Yes, I agree.

Good to see.

Spouse and I love our pool. Having our own private pool was one of the reasons we moved from a condo to a house--that and more room for the money. We usually swim at least once and sometimes twice a day--and love that we can year-round.

Read that the next season of The White Lotus will be filmed in Thailand.

My Dad had a heart valve problem, too. Lived to 95, not in a hospital.