newnative

I just had my brother-in-law in the US send me my new USA bank debit card, after several tries to send it by the bank to my address in Thailand--I have no idea why they never arrived but no attempts were made to use them. In previous years the cards arrived without a problem. Brother-in-law took the card and the information sheet out of the bank envelope and used a regular, plain hand-addressed envelope. Sent the letter registered mail with the post office--cost $21-- and it arrived after a few weeks. It could be tracked and it seemed to take the scenic route, though. Going from Virginia to San Francisco and then I believe to LA before finally flying to Thailand, aftr a wait in LA. My bank has been issuing cards that expire in a year and I asked them, since getting the card this time has been a long, frustrating process that started in March, if they couldn't give me a longer expiration date. They complied and my new card expires in 2026. I wonder if your sister could maybe also use DHL or FedEx and put the letter in one of their mailing packets that can be tracked.

Just classic CYA. Get someone else in place in advance to blame. Something bad happens, it's the bar's fault.

Bangkok has been bad today, too.

Stating that 51% of a condo project 'must be owned by Thai nationals' is incorrect. Also, there is no 'Thai quota". Thai nationals can own any percentage of a condo project. 49% of a condo project can be purchased by foreign buyers, under foreign quota. There is no Thailand law that I know of that sets a realtor's fee at 'legally 3%'. Commissions usually range from 3 to 5%. On condo sales, which my partner and I have done a number of, we've always initially set 5% as the realtor's fee. In a few cases, to make a deal work, a realtor has taken less than 5% but we always use that as a starting point to be taken seriously. You can certainly say you will only pay 3%, and that can work in some cases with higher-priced properties and unique properties. It's less successful if you're trying to sell a condo where there are lots of other similar condos for sale in the same project. I remember, years ago, having a VT5D 48 sqm studio condo on the market for sale. A realtor, with an office in the building, brought us a buyer. When we were negotiating the sale, we asked the agent if he could come down on the 5% commission. Answer: No. Agent's reason: There are lots of same-size condos for sale in the building. (True, by the way, with this large project.) Count yourself lucky that I brought the buyer to your condo and not to any of the other studio condos for sale. Which makes sense when you think about it. The buyer is likely to just buy 1 property. So, show him those with 5% commission and earn more on the sale than a listing paying only 3%. From the OP's post, it seems she is looking for a quick sale, if possible. If that is the case, in her shoes I would be definitely offering 5% commission, plus perhaps an agent's bonus on top of that, to get her property on the front burner, standing out from the rest, if I was listing the condo with realtors.

I would not rely on an AN forum survey to 'confirm' anything whatsoever. With many threads, you see the same two or three dozen forum members commenting, with a few others thrown in. With such a small number contributing regularly, you can and do get an unfair take on things. A good example is real estate, which is almost completely negative on the forum regarding buying vs. renting. I, and a few others, sometimes try to show the positive side to owning in Thailand but our posts are usually met with derision. I remember some years ago posting that my partner and I had never lost any money selling properties in Thailand. The comments were scathing, with some accusing me of lying. Who needs that? I do still comment because I think it's important to see more than just one, negative side all the time when the topic comes up. Recently, I had to pipe up when a member posted that condo projects all go falling down at 5 years. People with a negative experience with something, such as real estate, are far more likely to post on a topic but that can, and does, leave a false impression of a topic. Another good example is Pattaya, itself. The comments, again often from a relatively small number of regular posters, are far more negative than positive on the forum, which can also leave a false impression. Not long ago, we had a forum member post that Pattaya was responsible for 90% of the crime in Thailand. When I called him on it and asked him to provide statistics, he responded that this was his impression, having been reading Asean Now. I don't know what the average income is for expats in Thailand, but I do know an Asean Now survey likely won't know the correct answer, either.

Yes, of course, the bars closed. Some touristy areas were largely deserted during the worst parts of the pandemic. The city as a whole, though, did not 'all basically shut down'--that's the 'nonsense comment'.

Huh?

Me

Realtor fees can vary, with the standard being 5%. There is a website called Hipflat that lists condo projects by name, with listings of condos for sale. I woud check this website, with your condo project's name, to give you some idea of what similar-size condos in your project are being listed for sale for. You will also see the realtors associated with each listing. Rather than walking away with nothing, I would price your condo very agressively and see if a buyer can be found. I would see if your lawyer here in Thailand is willing to to take on handling the sale, with a percentage of the sale price going to him and any realtors involved with the sale. Another option might be checking with one of the big, established realtors here to see if they would be interested in handling the sale for you.

I don't think this is actually the case. As the year goes on, and they have more information on tourist numbers, the forecasts are naturally adjusted--sometimes up, sometimes down. It's a moving target, and always will be as the year progresses.

I think many countries attracting tourists would, naturally, draw their largest numbers of vsitors from regional nations. France, for example, the number 1 tourist destination. The top 7 slots for visitors by country to France in 2018 were nearby nations, GB, Germany, Belgium, Italy, etc. You have to go down to #8 before you hit a longer-distance country, the USA. The top 2 countries sending visitors to the USA are Canada and Mexico. I didn't bother to check but I suspect other European countries, such as Italy or Germany, would look fairly similar to France. So, it's not an anomaly that Thailand is now attracting more regional visitors than long-distance visitors. It's just taken awhile for citizens of regional countries to finally have the money to travel internationally--and, many have been taking their first trips regionally. From 2015 to 2019, western visitors to Thailand did not decrease, although that is the impression a number of AN posters have. That impression likely stems from the numbers increasing signigficantly during that period from regional countries, especially China and India, with western visitors getting somewhat lost in the much bigger crowds of Asians.

Scam. You did the ight thing.

In my opinion, everyone in the world, not just USA citizens, should be 'fearful of the bad orange man'. If, god forbid, he is elected, he will have 4 years to wreak havoc, with no re-election restraints to rein in his worst actions. Scary.

Well, it used to be, according to a poster on the Forum, that Thai buildings would go crashing to the ground at 30 years of age. Then, another poster said, no, wrong, they only last 20 years. Now, here you are, giving just 5 years before they will be, in you words, 'falling down'. Utter rubbish, from all three of you. Spouse and I have lived in condo projects over 30 years old, nearly 20 years old, and the rest all over 5 years old by now and they are all doing fine.

Lock him up already.

Sad

Yes, one of the reasons we like Pattaya is its easy drive to Bangkok and the airport vs. Hua Hin--we have a Bangkok condo and visit about once a month, and we like to travel using the airport. We started in Pratumnak in 2010 but found there were other areas of Pattaya that we liked better and were more convenient for us--another one of the nice thngs about Pattaya is its variety of different neighborhoods to choose from.

Yes. It happened to my Dad years ago. He was driving in the evening and a man jumped in front of his car. My Dad was an excellent driver but he could not stop in time. The police found a suicide note on the man who died and apparently he was known to have mental issues. Although my Dad was not at fault he said that what happened affected him for a long time.

Thanks for the information!

Good luck taking on 7-11. They have really been stepping it up the past few years, shutting small shops with little or no parking and opening bigger stores with convenient parking in front. In my area of the Darkside, we have at least 3 new, bigger ones nearby. Our only complaint is they sometimes run out of popular items that we like. They need to restock more often--an empty shelf is producing no revenue.

We were at the motor show yesterday--extremely crowded--and my spouse inquired about any discount for the Honda CR-V. The sales clerk couldn't tell him immediately but took his number and said she would get back to him with the information. Haven't heard anythng yet. The new Chinese models from BYD and Changan were so mobbed we could not get close enough to sit in any of the new models being introduced. We were disappointed that the Seal U suv was not on display, just the Seal sedan. Also disappointed that there was, once again, no Nissan X-Trail. Nissan has a huge gap in their product lineup here. The Terra is way too big for many buyers, including us, and the Kicks is too small. They really need the X-Trail to fill the gap. Nice to see Kia and Hyundai introducing some new models.

Yes, some of the tourist entertainment areas, such as Walking Street, etc., a small part of greater Pattaya, are based on sex tourism, but to say the whole city's economy is 'entirely based on prostitution' is utter nonsense. If that were the case, the entire city would have shut down during the years of covid. It didn't. Of course, many of the sex-based tourist businesses shuttered during that period, as well as other mainstream tourist businesses, such as D'Luck Theater, but the city, as a whole, did not. The malls stayed open. Most of the big, major hotels catering to a diverse tourist demographic, including Thai weekend visitors, managed to open, after some initial closures. The hospitals stayed open. All the big box retail stayed open, including Index, Home Pro, and Boonthavorn. New construction continued at a brisk pace, with new, big condo developments started and new, big hotels, such as Centre Point Space, catering to families, beginning construction. Car dealers remained open, and a number of new brands set up shop. Not too many sex tourists take a new car home in their suitcase. I moved to the Darkside during covid, moving from the beach area of north Pattaya, and what struck me the most was how this part of Pattaya was not affected as much by covid. All the 7-11s remained open and were doing a brisk business, unlike the area I moved from. The whole area was bustling, people going about their normal business. I was surprised that, on the Darkside, even during covid, my spouse and I would have to sometimes wait for a table at our favorite restaurant. New housing projects being planned and under construction. Obviously, this area of town is not really dependent on the sex trade to keep businesses open. Pattaya has grown into a large city, with an economy driven by much more than just sex tourism.

Yes, I saw your earlier complaints regarding the sidewalks and the traffic jam after the fireworks. Neither would be very high on my list of wants in a place to live in retirement. I've walked sidewalks in many places in Thailand, some better, some worse than Pattaya. Most probably about the same. I've learned to look where I am walking--whether I am in Bangkok, Pattaya, or anywhere else. Traffic jam after a huge event drawing thousands of people? What a surprise. In normal times, I find the traffic no worse than other areas I have visited. It takes my spouse and me about 15 to 30 minutes to get to most of the places we want to go to in Pattaya from our home on the Darkside. We can live with that. Compared to Bangkok, it's a breeze. Yes, City Hall is, as you say, a 'hole'. But, I can't remember the last time I had to go there so, again, not something that would be high on my retirement list--which is the subject of the thread. In choosing a place to live, you do need to weigh the good with the bad. No place is going to be perfect. For us, the good far outweighs the bad in regard to what Pattaya has to offer vs. other places so it's an easy choice for us to live here. I do find myself curious as to why you are living in Pattaya if, as you say, there are so many other better places to live in Thailand. By the way, try the nice bike path around Mabprachan Lake sometime if you like to bike.

I think yours is the 'silly statement'. Many of us living in Pattaya have been to plenty of other places in Thailand and we still choose Pattaya as the place that checks the most of our 'wants list' in a retirement destination. My Thai spouse and I could live anywhere in Thailand--and we have a Bangkok getaway condo--but Pattaya just suits us best.

Move on. Nothing to see here--just the usual. Likely a few unlucky, bottom of the totem pole officers reassigned to inactive posts.