newnative

This is incorrect information--which you keep posting for a dozen good reasons, which you also always fail to mention. Arabs are actualy the biggest spenders, at around 80,000 baht each. USA/Europe is around 69,000-71,000 baht each. Chinese, around 49,000 baht each. Between 2015 and 2019, American tourists actually increased by around 34%, despite the long distance and the Prayuth administration. That year, Chinese tourists were almost 11 million, spending their 49,000 baht each. Americans were about 1.6 million, spending their roughly 71,000 baht. Both the Western and Asian markets are important for a diverse tourist demgraphic.

No doubt about it, the flights are long, especially in Economy, which is where my spouse and I always are. From the USA, we've done Dulles Tokyo Bangkok, several times, Dulles Qatar Bangkok, and Dulles Frankfort Bangkok. We liked the eastern route better. Going by way of Frankfort or Qatar broke the flights up a little better, we thought, than the western route but Frankfort airport was lousy, difficult to negotiate, and involved a very unpleasant bus ride between terminals. Going to the US, we've done BKK Tokyo Dulles several times and BKK Seoul Dulles. The Seoul flight was better--we got off from Bangkok and the flight to the US was the next gate over--hardly any walking at all. Next time we might try going the other direction with BKK Middle East Dulles. I think there are starting to be some flight deals. Two of my spouse's nieces are flying to LA next month. They found a round-trip deal for 32,000 baht each with Japan Airlines. It does involve a 12-hour layover in Osaka but they plan to go into the city and do some shopping. They like that JAL has 2-4-2 seating in Economy with their flights, so a little more room.

Matters not a bit to me. That's a fact. I don't care if an agent takes 5 minutes to find me a buyer, 5 hours, 5 days, or 5 months. I don't care if he finds me a buyer on the golf course or drinking a beer at a bar. Does. Not. Matter. As I said in my earlier post, what matters, for us, is getting a property sold. In our experience, which may be different from yours, that has mostly involved an agent, whether lazy or not, finding a buyer, although we also try to find one ourselves. Forgot to mention I have a slighly used clown suit if anybody needs one for marketing.

Makes sense--especially for the US. From 2015 to 2019, US visitors to Thailand were up 34%. So, numbers were increasing, pre-covid. Even with that increase, US visitors in 2019 were not much more than the visitors from the UK--just 1.6 million. With a population of 330 million, vs. UK's 67 million, that US tourist number can and should be higher.

I'm glad you were able to sell your house by word of mouth--so great when you can do that. We certainly try our best to sell every property ourselves each and every time but, with some exceptions, it's mostly been agents that have found us our buyers. That's the fact, plain and simple. If what had worked, instead, was me standing in the median on Sukhumvit in a clown suit with a sign board advertising our property, I would be passing that along as what worked. But, it wasn't that. What has worked for us during our 13 years here, with our multiple sales, has been listing with as many agencies as we possibly can, using email and sending good photos and a good description. That can be 30 or more agencies, not just 4 or 5--which is too limiting. What an agent does, or doesn't do, in finding a buyer is of no concern for us. Sooner or later, an agent shows up with a buyer and we get a property sold. Our experience. I've read the posts from you and others indicating agents are lazy, not worth the commission, etc. Some may well be, but not all, at least in our experience with our 13 years here using them. Bottom line--they find buyers for our properties, which allows us to move on to our next project. That is what counts for us. While using agencies has worked well for us, other strategies can certainly be used. If something else works, by all means use it.

And it doesn't explain Phuket and Pattaya at #14 and 15.

Surprising to see Pattaya at #15.

Thank you!

Nice hard face slap to Prayut.

What a useless article. These tiny 'airlines', if they even get off the ground, will likely have virtually no impact on airfares.

Lock him up for violating the law.

I have a question maybe someone can answer. I went out of the country two weeks ago. I am back in Thailand and my next 90 day report supposedly reset for 90 days from my re-entry to Thailand. Before I left the country, my 90 day report was due in January 2024. My question. Has anybody left the country and then been able to do a 90 day report on-line 90 days from when they re-entered the country? I've been doing my 90 days on-line--which I like a lot--but I'm worried going out of the country may have messed up the on-line reporting. I suppose I could try to do the regular 90 day report in January on-line and see if it works but appreciate any experiences others have had. Thanks!

I'll put you and bkk6060 down for: 2. Some posts indicating agents are lazy and don't do much to earn their commission. Not true for most legitimate agents and agencies but believe what you will. Henryford gets a pass because, judging from his quaint post, he might just be the Henry Ford.

Umm. 'Glossy brochures' ? Welcome to the 1980s--I remember my real estate agent sister doing glossy brochures way back then. Ahh, the good old days. Here in the 21st century, agencies will not only post properties on their websites, with descriptions and photos, but some are also producing videos. With our last property sale, at least four of the bigger agencies sent their videography team out to produce a video, hosted and narrated by one of the agents. This in addition to a number of them sending their phtographer for photos. If you think it's a breeze to do one of these videos and there's no work involved, think again. The process with some of the videos took several hours or more, usually with a walk-thru either the day before or earlier in the day before the video team arrived, to learn about the property and prepare the narration. In one case they came back a second time to do early evening lighting. After watching the process several times, my spouse and I both decided we would end up tongue-tied messes trying to smoothly move through the house while on camera while trying to remember everything to talk about and highlight. If a video looks easy and effortless, a lot of work was involved behind the scenes. A well-produced video, made available on the agency website and sometimes also on Youtube, can be a good selling tool for a property. It can also be helpful to give a buyer a better look at a property than just photos, before actually going to see it. If a property doesn't suit after watching the video, the agent and buyer can move on and not waste a trip. Also helpful to pre-screen potential properties to look at before a buyer arrives in town to save time--and appointments can be set up in advance. All work, and nothing lazy me wants to do. By the way, there's absolutely nothing wrong with an agency using a client's photos. Along with a detailed description, I always send good photos that show my property well and I am happy if an agency uses them. Some do, while others prefer to send their own photographer to do the photos--or, as I said, a video, as well.

Central Festival Pattaya has done it up nicely, with a big tree and other decorations. Very festive and there were large crowds yesterday when my spouse and I were there. The mall, itself, has been refreshed with new paint and decorative finishes in the public areas and redone bathrooms.

Exactly as you describe. We visited Koh Lipe some months ago. Fast speedboat ride to and from the island. Packed with passengers both trips. Seas were calm going to the island and it was a pleasant trip but coming back we had rain and rough, choppy waves. Constant, violent bumping up and down the entire trip as we smacked at high speed into wave after wave--with me looking at the floor and hoping the whole time that the old boat held together, which, luckily, it did.

We just had this topic on a recent thread. To recap and save us all some time: 1. Some posts saying 3% is normal and a number saying they would never pay more than 3% commission. 2. Some posts indicating agents are lazy and don't do much to earn their commission. 3. Some contrarian posts saying 5% is standard with established agencies but lower commissions can be negotiated. 4. A few contrarian posts indicating that legitimate agents work hard for their commissions. 5. Some posts saying they sold their properties without using an agent at all. 6. Some posts saying rent, don't buy. My take, speaking with a bit of experience, both here and in the US. With no MLS (Multiple Listing Service), my spouse and I list with as many agencies as we can, with 5% as the starting commission. With most agencies, there is no formal contract involved. The point is to get as much exposure as possible, have your property shown, rather than someone else's, and get it sold as quickly as possible, at a profit. If you're an agent with a client, are you going to take the buyer to see a condo with a 5% commission or a 3% commission? If I were an agent, God forbid, I'm heading for the 5% property. In one case when we wanted a fast sale and there were a number of similar condos on the market, not only did we pay 5% but we also sweetened the deal with an agent bonus, on top of the agency fee. Commissions are negotiable, of course. A seller has more leeway, I feel, with a 10 million baht unique property than with a 2 million baht nothing special condo in a project with a 1000 of them. Our last sale was a house in the 10 million baht range and the agency dropped from 5% to 3% to make the deal work. We have sold a number of properties in Thailand. Although we list on Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace, we have, so far, never sold a property using either. We'll keep trying because you never know--which is also why we list with as many agencies as we can. You never know who might walk into what agency looking for just what you have to sell. Occasionally, we get lucky and sell a property ourselves. This happened with the last condo we sold. My spouse noticed a couple looking at the listings in the lobby and he chatted them up, telling them we had a condo for sale. They came to look, liked it, and bought it. If they were only all that easy. . . The vast majority of our sales, however, have been through the hard work of real estate agencies and their agents. My spouse and I are not social butterflies. We do not have a vast network of people that we know here in Thailand that can spread the word to the right people that we have a property for sale. In other words, nobody's going to drum up buyers for us. We depend on the agences to find us those buyers--and, they do. This method has worked well for us--others may have a different way that works for them. I think I mentioned in the other thread that I am way too lazy to do all the hard work that a legitimate agent does--usually with no payoff. The 'usually with no payoff' part would drive me absolutely nuts. "I've done all this work for nothing!!!" Not for me. I've said many times I would not last a week as an agent and I suspect that most of the posters saying agents don't do much would not, either. Thank goodness for them, though.

Rearrange those deck chairs . . .

You still have 5 months???!!! It seems like you have been miserable here for at least a year already! You're way overdue to move to the next place to be miserable.

I don't think my suggestions suck--lots of restaurants in the 3 areas I mentioned and I doubt you have eaten at all of them. I think what sucks is your lack of interest in trying new areas and just actually trying to make each day an interesting and enjoyable one for yourself. Get out and do something different--for a change.

The longer you live here, the better it gets. As I said in an earlier post, I actually think it's a better place to live year-round than it is as a tourist destination--although that has been improving a lot with new hotels and attractions. Those posters who say they visited for a couple of days and weren't impressed probably were mostly in the tourist/bar areas and likely missed most of the things that make it a great place to live.

The problem is, as you say, you never venture beyond central Pattaya. So, yes, you are hitting some of the same restaurants--especially if you think 130 baht is expensive and mostly eat at cheaper places. There are loads of restaurants all over that you can try. You can eat at a new restaurant every day if you want. Why not hop a baht bus and try some of the restaurants in Jomtien for a change. Or, try north Pattaya or Naklua. Not far to go.

He got an answer from me.

I can only speak for myself, but I spend my time in Pattaya about the same as I did in the US. When I moved to Thailand I did not become a different person. Many of the things I enjoyed in the US, I also enjoy in Pattaya. That's also true for my spouse. We enjoy movies so we like that Pattaya has a choice of movie theaters that show movies in English. We both also like to travel so it's great that a big airport is nearby. We are just back from a China trip. In America, my spouse and I were involved with fixing up properties and selling them and we have been doing that here, as well. Since 2010, we have done twentysome of them, which keeps us busy. We really like the housing variety Pattaya has, and the different neighborhoods. I love to swim but didn't do it as much as I would have liked in the US, due to the weather. Here, I can swim year-round, in my own pool--which I likely couldn't afford in the US. We love to eat out--both here and in the US--and Pattaya has such a wide variety of restaurants to choose from--actually more than where we lived in the US. We have our favorites but we also like trying new restaurants--and there's always something new. We just found a new seafood restaurant near where we live on the Darkside. We didn't have a huge number of friends in the US, and it's the same here. Instead, we have a nice circle of friends that we socialize with and we value their company. We are fortunate that Pattaya has attracted some very nice expats--and we have met some of them and become friends. One new thing we have done here is snorkeling, which we didn't do in the US. We have done it a number of times--both in boat trips from Sattahip and when we have visited other places around Thailand--most recently on a trip to Koh Lipe. We enjoy shopping and antiquing and discovering interesting shops and Pattaya is big enough to have plenty in the way of shopping choices--everything from large malls to one-of-a-kind stores. Today, we did some shopping at a large OTOP store that had a lot of different Thai crafts and then went to another store we like that specializes in old and antique items from Japan--always an interesting stop for us. Found a really nice wall scroll that we'll use in a future project. So, as you can see, we are living ordinary, normal lives here in Pattaya. Doing ordinary, normal things. If we were living in Chiang Mai or Hua Hin it would not be much different. I think we are not alone in this.

Pattaya is a lot more than the bars and most expats do NOT spend all day and night sitting in a bar. Pattaya is rapidly growing because it checks so many of the boxes that expats, both working and those retired, want in a place to live. These include: good size--not too big or too small, good weather, good services, good health care choices, good recreation, good shopping, movie theaters in English, very good choice of housing both to buy or to rent, a nice selection of distinct neighborhoods to choose from, close proximity to a major city and a major airport, large and diverse expat community, coastal city with beach vibe and water activities, such as snorkeling, scuba, etc. It checks more of the boxes than anywhere else we have visited in Thailand--and obviously does for many others, as well. I actually find it to be a better place to live than a tourist attraction but it does have some nice resorts, such as Centara, Cape Dara, Centre Point Space, and others, as well as Nong Nooch Gardens and some nice water parks, with a new one under construction.