newnative

gimme gimme gimme some

Agree. This year my partner and I have sold two properties, one a house next to Lake Mabprachan and, last week, a seaview condo on Beach Road in north Pattaya. Both were sold at a profit and might serve as examples of what can work in regard to buying property in Pattaya. The house sold very quickly; the condo took over a year to find the right buyer. Sometimes patience is needed. You can make money in real estate here but it does take some work. The formula isn't rocket science--buy low, sell higher. While the formula is simple, the difficult part is choosing what to try to buy low in the first place and what to avoid. If you look at our two property sales, both were in excellent locations. Lake Mabprachan has become a super-desirable area on the Darkside. Good, gated projects right next to the lake are very limited. The house we bought was in one of these few good projects. The house itself had been vacant for many years and was in poor shape. One of the first houses in the project, it looked so bad we think it was bringing down the values of the other homes. But, it had one of the best and biggest lots in the project and we liked the house layout and placement on the lot. The potential was there. We got it at a good price but it was a financial gamble because we didn't know what we would find when we 'looked under hood'. There were extensive porch and roof repairs, doors and windows, electrical, bath work, and a new kitchen was needed, among other things. We doubled the size of the pool--the big lot helped with that. The one-car carport was small and difficult to negotiate so we re-purposed it for ping pong and built a new 2-car garage--again, the lot had the space to do that. New drapes, wallpaper, lighting, furniture, and a lot of custom work inside. Sold in a couple of months and there were at least two showings each week. Interestingly, we had Chinese buyers--some viewing through video calls, other foreign buyers, and a number of Thai buyers--a fairly wide mix. The buyer was Thai. The condo took longer because it went on the market with covid raging and some buyers--including us--were shifting to houses. Also not helpful--it was not in foreign quota. We broke our rule about always buying in foreign quota because the project was in a prime location and we got the condo--with a very nice seaview--at a good price. Foreign quota was full but we thought it was a good investment so we bought anyway. Early on with the sale we got a low-ball offer--we would have broken even--but we rejected it as we weren't in a hurry to sell as we were still renovating the house. Like Mabprachan, the north Pattaya Beach location has become very desirable. But, the number of seaview condo projects are few. (We always buy seaview.) And, nice projects even fewer. Compare that to the number of projects in Jomtien, Pratamnak, and Cosy Beach. We renovated the condo and made it one of the nicest ones in the project and it eventually found a buyer. One last example, our project before these two. This was a large 3 bedroom/3 bath beachfront condo in Wong Amat. The condo was owned by a Bangkok company that was no longer using it much. It was quite rundown and we got it at a good price. Renovated everything. Large, nice 3 bedroom/3 bath beachfront condos are few and far between in Pattaya and we easily found a buyer. It's often said on TV/AN that there are thousands and thousands of unsold condos in Pattaya. That doesn't faze us. There may be thousands of condos up for sale but not, for example, thousands of nice, beachfront 3 bedroom/3 bath condos in Wong Amat. If we've managed to buy well in the first place, we're usually only competing with a handful of condos, not thousands. And, we just need one buyer each time, not thousands. With some experience now, as property shoppers we put three things, among others, foremost--price, location, and supply/demand.

Meanwhile, family of 4 randomly shot in a park in Iowa. 3 die, 1 survives. I'll take a 'normal day' in Pattaya over what is, sadly, happening daily in America these days.

And, I don't see anyone clamoring for it, either.

Sentence him to the max.

Didn't they already announce a marketing plan a few days ago? Thank goodness the 4Fs and the 5Ms were retained!!! So important in encouraging people to choose Thailand!!! Come for the 4Fs! Stay for the 5Ms! Umm, what were they again? And, weren't there a couple of Qs?

Gonna be a super-thick document.

Meanwhile, all I'm seeing are Indian and Middle Eastern tourists. So much for all the slogans and the rest of the 'marketing' nonsense.

On the bright side the beach looks nice.

Tourists should be banned from renting motorcycles.

What comes next? Nothing. Just like what's come before.

Total non-starter.

I think they were all on Beach Road--or at least it seemed that way with the early evening gridlock.

The only living Republican I can think of that I like.

Rents are certainly cheap and many prefer to rent rather than own here. For some it can be the best option. But, there are also some who like to own their own space, to do with it what they will, to have their own furnishings, to not have a landlord, etc. Count me in that camp; I've always hated when I rented. I love owning and making changes and improvements. I would buy even with the possibility of perhaps losing some money. Life is short. Your friend has put a roof over his head that he owns for less that $29,000. Not bad. I think it's unlikely it will appreciate much in value. But, it's also unlikely to lose much in value, either. I think condos in that project have been going for around 1MB for a number of years. Sort of like VT1 and VT2--not a lot of appreciation or depreciation. For many of the condos here that's not a bad outcome.

I doubt you are living cheaper if your housing, fuel, and domestic bills are higher there. Those three expenses likely cost more than your savings on water, beer, wine, and meat. (Is water really that much cheaper there?)

Always an idiotic 'catch'.

The companion story today is about a proposal to waive visa fees for foreign travelers. So, maybe the 'optimism' is actually not so high. And, perhaps it shouldn't be. Only 2 million foreign tourists the first 6 months leaves a long way to go to reach the predicted figures of 9 to 10 million for the year.

Here's an idea. Instead of starting new projects why not finish all the old ones first.

Well, kudos to the hoteliers for tactfully saying this is the dumbest idea to come down the pike.

That has to be one of the slowest projects in the World and at such an important intersection. The other day we drove by and there seemed to be just one worker there--sitting under a green umbrella. Month after month after month.

Agree. The US is one of the wealthier countries so how are things there? The average US Social Security payment is a little over $1600 a month, $19,000 and change a year. 64% of Americans say they have less than $10,000 in their retirement accounts so they are going to have to hustle to close the gap to bring their annual retirement income up to $80,000. For those that are retired, the average median retirement for US retirees 65 and older is $47,357 a year, well under the supposedly 'just getting by' 80k.

Totally, shockingly, clueless. Not that it will ever happen but he has obviously not given a thought to all the tourist businesses that cater to non-premium tourists.

Preparing us for tomorrow's announcement that, no, there won't be 10 million tourists this year, as previously predicted just the other day.

Thank you. I did not know this site.