newnative

If they ever even find anyone guilty--very doubtful--likely, they will just be assigned to 'inactive posts'. This ridiculous 'inactive post' business should be the first thing eliminated.

Having an ear pierced so he can wear an earring and look even more young and hip.

The first thing my partner and I did when we arrived in 2010 was buy a condo. Some 20 property sales later, we have found, like you, that buying property here has proved to be profitable and we also now live a comfortable lifestyle.

We seem to always get statements like this when the subject is non-Western tourists. China tourist spending in Thailand is always ridiculed and discounted. Now India. I'll use the same argument I use with the Chinese, who, incidentally, dropped over 531 billion baht in Thailand in 2019, the most, by far, of any country. Middle Eastern tourists spent the most in 2019, around 72,000 baht each. Google tells me that Indian tourists that same year spent about 40,800 baht, on average, each. Yes, individually, they don't spend as much. But, there were just under 2 million tourists from India in 2019. From the Middle East, less than 100,000. So, once again, my same question, as with the Chinese. Would you rather have 100,000 checks for 72,000 baht each sent to you or would you prefer 2 million checks for 40,800 baht each? Easy to see why the new PM will be soon trekking off to India in search of tourists. Of course, tourists from all economic strata are important, from budget to high rollers, to match the wide range of tourist accommodations.

Trying to justify the enormous--and unwarranted--budget increase TAT is asking for.

You and JT should do lunch.

Another answer might be that some people, including me, like a diversified investment portfolio, which might include cash, real estate, stocks, bonds, mutual funds, etc. You are right that there is lots of development going on all over Pattaya, including the Darkside. Projects continue to be built because buyers, so far, can be found for the product. My partner and I own a house by Lake Mabprachan and this area is booming. Just down the street from us, a small enclave of 5 homes is being built--starting price is 35 million baht, or around 1 million dollars. Contrary to what some AN posters would like you to believe, there are a number of people with money in Pattaya. We often hear, anybody with money would not be living in Pattaya, or Thailand, for that matter. Also not necessarily true. Fortunately, there are lots of new projects being built at more reasonable price points. We are buying a new home at one of the new projects being built in this area. Prices range from around 6MB to 10MB, in the first 2 phases. We bought in the initial phase of 5 houses. You asked who is buying. In our first phase, there are: A Russian buyer. An Irish buyer with Thai partner. 2 American buyers with Thai partners, and a Chinese buyer. So, buyers from Europe, America, and Asia in the first phase. With the first phase about done and the houses sold, the developer has started the second phase of around 20 homes.

He'll be back.

Those 1,700 Generals should be able to handle any border skirmishes. 555

Pretty much sums it up. Thank you.

Looks good.

Nothing new. Been that way for sometime. In 2019, visitors from Asian countries made up over 29 million of the 39 million tourists that year. The 'Americas' and Europe, just 8.3 million, although Russians that year were almost 1.5 million.

I certainly like the idea of reducing the Army's size to 600. Sounds just about right to have 600 troops for a country never at war with anyone. Unfortunately, I imagine they were actually talking about reducing the number of Generals to 600, from the current 1,700. 600 Generals still seems way too many. 1,700 of them is positively ridiculous.

Yes, it's the places you frequent.

Or, even worse case, possibly the worst, you could have the Supreme Court step in and decide that counting every vote isn't really that important and, instead, 5 Supremes will award the presidency to one candidate over another one. God forbid that would ever happen. Oh, wait.

555 Or, did you mean 'posterior'?

Well, so much for all the news reports stating it was 'destroyed' by fire, 'devastated' by fire, 'severely damaged' by fire, etc.

5% is usually standard but can sometimes be negotiated to get a deal to work or, perhaps, with higher-priced properties--not something I'm too familiar with. Since late 2010, my partner and I have sold 22 properties in Thailand, so close to 2 properties a year. Likely #23 before this year is done. Some we sold ourselves, but most were sold with the assistance of an agent. Selling that many in that time period meant they did not sit on the market for years and years, waiting for a buyer. I, for one, am quite thankful for all the help we have received from agents over the years--some of our properties might still be sitting for sale without their help. I've responded a number of times when posters have asked--or, in some cases, accused me of being an agent. My ready answer is I am much too lazy--not to mention too impatient--to ever consider being an agent. Do I want to do all the work to maintain a real estate website? No. Do I want to drive out to some property, using my gas, in the blistering heat, to take photos and get all the information on a property for sale? No. Do I want to then drive back to the office and spend my valuable time putting the property on the website, choosing photos and composing good, descriptive copy to help sell the property? No. Do I want to do advertising, send out emails, do monthly newsletters, and other marketing to help find buyers for my property listings? No. More work. No, thank you. Do I want to make numerous calls trying to reach people to arrange a time convenient for all the parties involved, including the buyer and sometimes tenants, to show their property? No. Do I want to then drive the buyers around, again for free, for hours in the blistering heat, showing them properties they may or, more likely, may not buy? No. A thousand times no on that one! I could go on--with all the work involved with handling deposits, contracts, explaining procedures to the client, the closing at the land office, etc., but you get the picture. The bottom line, it's a lot of work--and certainly not for lazy, impatient me. Something to remember. With those 22 property sales I mentioned, lots of good agents did lots of work--for free--but only one, or in some cases two agents, earned any money from all the work they did on each property.

You're welcome.

I say the same thing about Pattaya, like you, 'as a resident and not a tourist'. It's great for year-round living. I do like CM, too--my partner and I have visited 4 times and likely will go again sometime--but we like living by the ocean and Pattaya's close proximity to Bangkok.

Good!

The project you mentioned originally had the Legend name, I believe before construction was started. At some point the name was changed to Amari and the project was reconfigured to have a hotel component on the lower floors and condos on the upper floors. Both components would share the pool and gym, if I remember correctly. My partner and I toured the project when it first opened and it seemed nice, although we thought the pool was too small for the number of units. The hotel may not have done that well, with covid making things worse, and I believe they are now selling the hotel rooms as condos, with the third name to reflect the change. We haven't been back so I have no idea of how the project is being managed. It may have seemed quiet--a good thing in my book as long as things are being maintained--due to the hotel being closed and those units perhaps not sold in numbers yet. For views of Pattaya Bay from that part of town, I think your 3 best bets in your price range would be Sky Residence, The Cliff, or Unixx. If Sky seemed to quiet, I don't think Unixx or The Cliff would be. The best views of Pattaya Bay from The Cliff would be the 2 bedroom/2 bath corner units that look towards the bay. I see a few listed on Hipflat for around 30,000 baht--your upper limit. Unixx has 53 sqm 2 bedroom/2 bath units looking north to Pattaya Bay for around 20-25,000 a month. The nice thing about these units is every window faces north--good view and no hot sun. You might be able to get into a larger 62 sqm 2 bedroom corner unit that faces west and north for 30,000 baht or less. There also may be some 35 sqm 1 bedrooms that face north to the bay. You can get some idea of views from different units using Hipflat. Unixx has 2 pools and a gym. There's a shuttle bus that runs during the day to Central Festival and maybe some other stops. Here's the north view from one of the bedrooms of the corner unit my partner and I owned at Unixx. Good luck with your search.

If the China deal fails, maybe they can try to return it to 7-11.

'Not about the price'. It's all about the price--likely 100 baht or less. Which makes the OP's rant so ridiculous. He wants his measly 100 baht for his incorrect purchase, come what may. 'You would exchange them for the correct size...'. Err, no I wouldn't--the thought wouldn't even enter my head. I know because I bought the incorrect size for one of our small trash cans a few weeks ago. They're trash bags. If they're larger than the bin size, you can still use them in the trash can--which I am doing with the ones I bought. If they're too small, use them for other trash and then put them in the trash can. They're trash bags. Lots of uses.

That used to be the case but I wonder for how much longer US stores can follow a policy like that. My brother-in-law manages a drug store in the US. The local police have told him to not call for thefts under $150--they will not respond or investigate. People stealing less than $150 worth of merchandise and then returning the next day, without a receipt, and expecting a full refund--how long can a store tolerate that and remain in business? I might add that his store is in one of the wealthiest counties in the US--Fairfax County, Virginia, a suburb of DC. Even in the face of the 'woke' mentality in the US, several CEOs of major retailers, including Home Depot, have felt the pressing need to speak out and let the public know what has become an increasingly major problem for them--stealing by their customers. Wal-Mart has left some markets altogether, unable to make a profit, largely due to this problem. Walgreens has had to redesign some of its stores in some locations to put almost all the merchandise out of reach of the customers--I imagine there will be more of this in the future for some retailers in the US.