newnative

If Thailand prohibited tourists from renting motorbikes accidents like this one could be prevented. No sympathy for the victim--he had no business being on a motorcycle, and certainly not without a helmet. Absolutely correct for the insurance company to deny coverage.

I was living in northern Virginia, in the 'new town' of Reston. Working at a community college library but also buying condos, fixing them up while living in them, and then selling them. By then I was probably on my 6th flip. In the next year I would retire but continue to work part-time at the same library, while also doing a few flips, for another 5 years and then move to Thailand in 2010 with my Thai partner, now spouse. Life has been good for us in Pattaya and it was a good decision to move here.

Absolutely. They can play Whac-A-Mole all they want but MFP will just keep coming back. And, every time stronger, whatever the new name.

I've been on it a couple times recently and it looks like the whole site has been revised--for the worse. Not only is the graph missing but you used to be able to search low price to high and vice versa. This feature was useful because lots of condos for sale are listed by more than one agency so the duplicates would all group together, easy to skip the ones you already looked at and also easy to check them all for different photos of a property you might be interested in. Now, it seems to be just a jumble with the listings. Also, you used to see name of the realtor with the listing on the main listing screen. Now, each listing just has a 'contact' box to click. I couldn't find the listing agent anywhere. Knowing the agency name was useful to check the property again on the agency website--perhaps there would be a video. It's a shame because the old site worked really well. If anybody know's if the old site is still available to access, or, as you say, different versions, I'd appreciate knowing. Or, if the features I mentioned are still on the new site but I am searching incorrectly. Thanks!

Once again, it needn't be an 'either or' deal. Nothing preventing someone from owning property and also having other investments. Many people, including myself, prefer to own the space they live in, rather than renting someone else's space and renting someone else's taste in furnishings, art, etc. Trite, perhaps, but true--you do only go around once in life. I will be living in and enjoying my own space, with all my own possessions, on my go around.

Could not agree more. Thank goodness my spouse and I bought condos in the US and then did the same thing when we came here. 8 in the US and even more than that here. Never lost a penny on any of them, here or in the US. Instead of living like semi-paupers on my small state pension and SS, we now have a comfortable lifestyle--all because of real estate investments. For the OP, forget the naysayers. I would say take your time looking and pick a place that's in a location you like and looks like a fun place to get away to for short visits. I think a lot of projects in the area you like will have some short-term renters--that's pretty much par for the course for the area and the price point. Since you, yourself, will be sort of a short-term resident from time to time, as well, it might not bother you as much as it would a full-time resident. My spouse and I live in a house on the Darkside. If we were buying a Pattaya condo to getaway to now and then, I think we would pick something like Riviera Jomtien--which has terrific amenities and it would feel like going to a nice resort every time we stayed there. The View Talays have very reasonable condo fees but not much in the way of amenities. We liked VT3 as it was not as big as the other projects. VT6, already mentioned, could possibly be another choice, along with Centric Sea. I think they have cracked down somewhat on short-term renters at Centric but likely will still have some. 3 pools, 3 gyms, 2 sky lounges and a good location to come into town for events like the annual fireworks. Markland might be another choice on Beach Road--an older project but holding its value well as there aren't many condos in that area offering seaviews. We always bought seaview condos so I don't know much about the lowrise Pattaya condos scattered around the area you are interested in. Hopefully, some other posters will be able to give you some recommendations for those projects. Good luck to you!

Cue the miraculous return to good health.

I'm an American and I think there was never a need for the EC, and certainly not now. I'm with you--count the votes and the person who gets the most, wins. Yes, as you say, it really is that simple! Losing by 7 million votes would certainly have prevented Trump from using his ridiculous Big Lie that the election was 'stolen' from him.

Yes, 'millions of people want him back in the White House' but, take heart. It's never been 50% of the voters in his two presidential runs. He lost by 2 million in 2016 and it got worse in 2020, losing by 7 million, even running as the incumbent president, a horrible, embarrassing showing. How must it feel to know that the other guy was picked over you by 7 million voters? You, in your mind, the best president ever? They soundly rejected, 'best president'. Loser in both races. The wild card, of course, is the cursed Electoral College, with the possibility of a relative handful of electors going against the will of the voters, as was done in 2016. I have no doubt that Biden will once again win the popular vote but a smart VP pick by Trump could possibly swing the cursed Electoral College once again his way. Scary any way you look at it and, as you say, sad, as well. And, if any more proof is needed regarding the perversity of the cursed EC, look no further than VP choices sometimes picked, not for their experience and ability to take over as president, but, rather, for their hoped for ability to carry a state and its electoral votes in the election.

Good decision--and really the only decision. Now, lock him up already.

They lost my respect when they stopped the recount and handed the 2000 election to Bush. Mostly downhill since then except for gay marriage.

Good. Keep at it.

Now that there's bad publicity maybe the police will be forced to do their job. But, sad and maddening that too many times it takes bad publicity for this to happen.

Actually, UTCC, not TAT.

No matter how many times you explain that the counting system has not changed--and I have posted the fact a number of times--it doesn't sink in. Or, perhaps, they just don't want to hear anything they don't want to hear. They don't want to hear any facts that go against their narrative. As dear old Dad used to say, in one ear and out the other. If they don't hear it, they can continue to spout their nonsense about none of the tourist numbers from the last half dozen years or so being believable. If they don't hear it, they can continue to lament that Thailand's supposed catering to the Asian market devastated the western tourist market, with the western tourist numbers down drastically, even in the years before covid. In reality, no western country's tourist numbers were down in the years from 2015 to 2019 except Australia's, which were down only very slightly. And some, such as America, had healthy increases.

It's not the arrival it's the departure that's the problem--starting with check-in. The last time my spouse and I flew we were on a budget carrier. BKK has several of the budget airlines in just one check-in area. The line to check in went almost half the length of the terminal. We walked up to the aisle check-in letter--I forget which letter--not realizing we were walking past the check-in line--and not realizing a line could possibly be that long. This was before you even got to the zig zag part. We had to turn around and walk back to the end of the line. Meanwhile, other check-in aisles had hardly any check-ins. Why not spread out the airlines that are attracting the most passengers to make check-in easier? The whole departure process took about 3 hours, nearly as long as the flight, itself.

I would wait. You never know if your plans might change. Selling a condo in foreign quota is usually much easier than selling one in Thai name.

Agree. And, he can always skip the tip. If the barber asks about it he can say he thought the tip was included in the new pricing for customer convenience.

Can't stand the guy but another good example of why Section 112 needs to be amended.

'Impervious to knowledge'. What a wonderfully accurate description. Love it!

Agree. They are all taking way too long. Get him tried, convicted, and locked up.

Democracy! That's rich. Trump says he wants to be a dictator. How does democracy fare under a dictatorship? Yes, I know he said he only wants to be a dictator for a day but given his countless lies . . . I agree with Biden, Trump's a nightmare. As Tug says, lock him up already!

Chonburi's turn for blah blah blah. Next up, Chiang Mai, followed by Bangkok.

Not sure there is a 'typical' buyer, of any nationality. We sold a studio condo for 3.25MB to a single Chinese man in his late 20s. We also sold a 2-bedroom condo for 10.5MB to a Chinese married couple in their late 30s. We had another 2 bedroom condo on the market for 7MB, and had a different Chinese man look at it. He liked it but wanted something bigger and had a budget of 10-12MB. At one of the projects where we lived, we had a retired Chinese couple buy the unit next to us--it would have been in the 12MB range. Several years ago we bought at a new Bangkok condo project, which had a separate sales staff with it own area just for Chinese buyers at the sales office. That project was priced from the low 2MB to I think around 6MB and it did attract a number of Chinese buyers. I suspect the Chinese sales in 2023 would be something like the above examples, with buyers at most of the price points.

No matter how many times you read it, the initial, very poorly written sentence said she died. She plunged almost 20 meters to her death, says the sentence. 'Almost' doesn't really figure much in the sentence as written, except to indicate that the fall was not quite 20 meters. Take it out and it reads '...she plunged 20 meters to her death...'. Still dead. If you had just this sentence to go on, your take would be she died, and her heirs received no payout from her insurance. The initial sentence: An insurance company left a Scottish woman hanging after they refused to pay out after she plunged almost 20 metres to her death off a cliff on Ko Lanta island in West Thailand.