newnative

It's been my experience that if you have to explain why something is funny, the person will likely still not get it. Good example here.

Hope he tells the PM the drawbacks of his new tax proposal and the poorly thought out 10,000 baht giveaway.

Which he still won't get. Very funny, by the way.

What a total boondoggle. And, what has been built looks like it could have been done in a few months, not years and years. Did get a chuckle with the '820 days'. Do they think that sounds shorter???!!!

All completely true--and completely normal. One of the most successful projects in Pattaya was The Base. Sansiri probably could have just skipped opening the sales office that they built with model condo samples--by the time it opened a lot of the project had already been booked by Bangkok and other buyers--I know because my partner and I visited when it first opened and there wasn't a lot left that hadn't been booked that we would have been interested in--mostly less desirable units were still available. Note, as you say, booked. Not sold. Some of the booked units were taken by people with no intention of actually buying--they planned to sell the booking and make a small profit on the sale. We actually obtained our unit that way--and got a great top floor unit in the front on one of the few single-corridor floors with condos on just one side. When the project was finished, as you say, a number of the units that were booked came back on the market, due to buyers who, for whatever reason, could not close the deal. I think the Sansiri sales office had around 200 or 300 units that came back up for sale. Normal--even in successful projects.

Thanks!

Condo maintenance fees are usually referred to as baht per square meter. If the annual fee you mentioned is 45,000 baht, the monthly fee would be 3,750 baht. If the unit size is your mentioned 70 sqm, then the condo fee would be 53.57 baht per square meter--3,750 divided by 70. Condo fees for newer projects tend to be in the 50 baht a sqm range so your condo fee at Riviera Wongamat was about average for a newer project. In two earlier posts, we had one person mention that maintenance fees can be too high and another poster complain that after 5 years, condos start to look bad due to lack of maintenance. My partner and I have lived in about a dozen different projects around Pattaya, plus two in Bangkok, and we have not seen deterioration to be the case--and we have lived in several projects over 10 years old and one that was around 30 years old. It's hard to say how a new project will be maintained but you can look with your eyes and see if an older project is being maintained before buying or renting. I think there is less of a problem with newer projects because, in many cases, they are starting out with a more realistic condo fee. I think when there is deterioration and lack of maintenance--and some projects do have it--in many cases it can be traced to a condo fee that is simply too small and the majority of the owners vote year after year to not increase the fee. With a too-small fee, often the same fee from years ago--only the very basic things can be maintained and the project suffers. At the last condo we owned at, the maintenance fee was ether 40 or 45 baht a sqm, I can't remember which. Nice older project, well maintained. But, the set condo fee, 40 or 45 baht, from years ago, did not cover keeping the project well-maintained. Rather than try to raise the fee, every year we were there, there was a special assessment to make up that year's difference. When the special assessment was figured in, the condo fee came to around 60 baht a sqm, which was about right for a smaller project with less than 200 units. (Larger projects do get economies of scale--1,000 owners paying for the guard at the front gate, for example, rather than 200 owners.) We were happy to pay the special assessment because the condo was a big investment for us and we wanted to see the project maintained nicely and the condo maintain or increase its value--which it did.

+2

Wrong--but don't I wish.

Yes, my reason, too, for having it currently deposited in my USA bank.

Biggest lying, swindling, sleezy, multiple law-breaking grifter in the world. You wonder how much more it will take before his followers will see the light. Incomprehensible to me that he remains the front runner for the Republican nomination for President.

If push comes to shove, as an American I will probably switch the direct deposit of my social security to my Thai bank, rather than my American bank, where it goes now. It seems pretty clear that with the government tax agreement in place between the US and Thailand, social security should be safe from being taxed twice. (I know, 'should' is the iffy word in that sentence.) At a rate of 36 baht to the dollar, that would get me about 61,000 baht each month. Maybe not quite enough for my partner and I to live on but fairly close and we would not have to take too much out of the Thai savings we already have here to make up the difference. Some months it might be enough since I pay some of our bills with an American debit card. In an earlier post on one of these threads, I mentioned that all my foreign income goes into my American bank account and I wondered how Thailand would know that this dollar I send to Thailand is from already taxed social security and not from capital gains or dividend income (which is also already taxed but, apparently, fair game). If the onus is on me to prove the money source, at least I can show a deposit coming in directly from the social security administration.

If push comes to shove, as an American I will probably switch the direct deposit of my social security to my Thai bank, rather than my American bank, where it goes now. It seems pretty clear that with the government tax agreement in place between the US and Thailand, social security should be safe from being taxed twice. (I know, 'should' is the iffy word in that sentence.) At a rate of 36 baht to the dollar, that would get me about 61,000 baht each month. Maybe not quite enough for my partner and I to live on but fairly close and we would not have to take too much out of the Thai savings we already have here to make up the difference. Some months it might be enough since I pay some of our bills with an American debit card. In an earlier post on one of these threads, I mentioned that all my foreign income goes into my American bank account and I wondered how Thailand would know that this dollar I send to Thailand is from already taxed social security and not from capital gains or dividend income (which is also already taxed but, apparently, fair game). If the onus is on me to prove the money source, at least I can show a deposit coming in directly from the social security administration.

I certainly don't for a minute believe Phuket is number 1 and even more ridiculous is Pattaya at number 2. Very flawed methodology.

Better he's doing that than coming up with bad taxing schemes . . .

Totally agree it's a crime with Pattaya Beach how so many valuable and useful shade trees were removed, unnecessary and ugly parking was added, and seating removed. But, those are separate issues from beach replenishment, making sure that there is still a beach for people to enjoy. I used to live in south Jomtien and parts of the beach there were very narrow, especially when the tide was in.

Terrible, shameless ruling.

I'm confused as to how Thailand would, (a.) know what my capital gains/dividend income for the year was and, (b.) know that any of that income was sent to Thailand. I get income from a USA state pension, social security, and capital gains/dividend money. When I send, say, $3,000 to Thailand, how is Thailand going to know if that $3,000 is from already taxed pension/social security or from dividends/capital gains? It all goes into my USA bank account and I wouldn't even know myself if this or that dollar was a dividend dollar or a pension dollar.

Darn! I was hoping they would be breathtakingly stupid once again!

We should probably clarify that 'mostly empty' does not mean the project is lacking in sales. It has been a successful project with most of the units sold. The Palm is sold out.

There are several large Riviera projects in Jomtien, including Riviera Jomtien, Ocean Drive, and Monaco. They also have Riviera Wong Amat and The Palm in Wong Amat and they're starting a new project, Riviera Malibu, in Pratamnak. They all feature quite interesting, dare I say exuberant, interior and exterior design and terrific amenities--the developer definitely raised the bar there. The majority of the units at Riviera projects tend to be on the small size--true for many new projects. But, some larger units are available. Ocean Drive, for example, has some 2 bedrooms in the 80 to 90 sqm range.

Yeah, I was just going to ask how he can afford 5 houses on a cop's salary.

Beach replenishment is nothing new--and not unique to Thailand. Years ago I watched Ocean City, Maryland in the USA replenish its beach after a big storm washed a lot of it away. A beach resort's biggest attraction is the beach. It makes perfect sense to preserve it.

Good. Think big. Start laying the groundwork now.

Offers to surrender now that the charge has expired. That's rich.