newnative

I don't know or care what percentage shopped at 7-11. My point remains that many also dined at restaurants and many also stayed at the hotels. Where to for Pattaya in the future? Likely the same for any large tourist city that needs both international and domestic visitors--waiting for borders to re-open and large numbers to start traveling again.

I believe they would. My partner and I bought one condo with a mortgage and a bank representative was there at the transfer. My Thai partner handled things but once the mortgage was paid off the transfer went through.

Absolutely. You only get one chance to make a first impression--maybe trite but true. A buyer will often decide in the first few minutes. If you have a normal property for sale (not an empty shell or renovation project), it should be ready to be shown with an hour's notice, or less. That means beds made with good linens, kitchen and baths both clean and tidy, good towels in the bath. Windows spotless. Anything needing repair should be repaired--no leaky faucets, torn drapes or wallpaper, flaking paint, loose or broken floor tiles, etc. Take a hard look at everything with the eye of a buyer. All clutter should be put away. All personal photos, bowling trophies, etc., should be stored out of sight; you want the buyer to see himself in your property, not you; focus on the property and not your 300 game. When in doubt, less is more. Toilet seats down and all lights on when the buyer tours. If you are there, greet the buyer, make yourself scarce, give the buyer plenty of time without you hovering, and, if you are on site and not away, be available at the end of the viewing to answer any questions. As for the OP, as many have said, anything will sell at the right price. And, any price garnered, however low, will likely be higher than the fees owed. I know of a case where the owner was in Europe and owed I think around 100,000 baht in late fees. A lawyer was able to handle all the paperwork, including power of attorney, pay the fees as part of the condo price, do the transfer at the Land Office, and send the remaining money netted to the seller in Europe. Although it was a bit complicated with various signatures and notarizations needed, she did not even need to be here. I would start with the management office at the condo project.

You don't need a lawyer but I think it's worth it to have one to check over the sales contract and make sure everything is spelled out in detail, you are covered on everything, and there are no ambiguities. The lawyer should be with you at the Land Office to make sure everything is done correctly and to handle anything that might come up--and things sometime do come up.

As always, a limited view, with, as always, a pessimistic slant. According to you, the massive crowds only shopped at 7-11 or food carts and then sat on the beach for free. Hardly the 'high end tourism' Pattaya is seeking, you say. The reality, of course, was much different. Yes, likely many did shop at 7-11 and food carts--all to the good, by the way, for those types of enterprises. But, lots of visitors also filled the restaurants and also the hotels, something you made no mention of. And, not just the big hotels but many of the smaller ones, as well. It was nice to look out from my balcony and see so many lights on at all the hotels in view, after so many lockdown evenings of few lights. Just one example. Across from my condo is a small, boutique hotel. Some months ago the owner created 'Virgin Pattaya' on the rooftop of his hotel. It's a very nice two-level restaurant with a water feature and some fun areas for taking selfies. I admired him for making the investment at the height of covid. Business was so-so and then completely collapsed with the lockdown. Last weekend, while some visitors were sitting on the beach for free, the hotel owner across the street had customers for his hotel and a full house each evening for Virgin Pattaya. Again, nice to see. I suspect it was the same for a number of other businesses such as his. A-01, a much bigger hotel, also had busy roof deck fireworks festivities. Dusit, also, with its open areas by the shore. And, yes, no need to remind me that special events and weekend visitors will not be enough to sustain Pattaya. We all know that. But, domestic visitors starting to return for stays in Pattaya after the lockdown is still a positive, in a time with too few of them.

You stated Festival wasn't doing well because you saw some closed stores. I used the Tysons example to explain to you that even an extremely successful mall will sometimes have closed stores. It's normal. That was the relevance--as you well knew. Yes, chain stores may have closed at Festival. Once again, see Tysons example above--absolutely normal, all over the World. You failed to mention that at the same time a few Festival chains might have been closing, other Festival chains like Uniqlo and H&M, as well as a number of the restaurant chains, opened second stores just down the street at T21. Some businesses work, some don't. Again, normal. Aquatique is not a mall. So, your remarks regarding 'three malls' aren't relevant. It won't really be direct competition for either Festival or T21 but, rather, will bring in many more customers for both, and also other area businesses. It will have a number of things the other two don't have, including a convention center, Legoland, a wellness and health center, an amusement park, an aquarium, residences, etc. You ask what happens to the 'other zoo'. I was unaware there is another zoo on Beach Road. I stand by my remarks on The Base and Edge. Your comments regarding infrastructure hold no relevance and obviously the state of the infrastructure has not deterred construction of either Edge or the new hotel going up across from Festival. Or, any of the other numerous new builds around town, a number still going on. You say, 'Don't you see all the extra condos being built around your own condo as competing for buyers?' What 'extra condos'? I no longer own there but in that area you have The Base, Edge, and View Talay 6 and that's about it for highrises offering seaviews. So, what 'extra condos' are being built there that would be seen as 'competing for buyers'? It's the same in north Pattaya. Centric Sea, Northshore, and Markland are about it for highrise seaview condos in that area. The only new highrise residences on the horizon seem to be those proposed for Aquatique, likely some years away. And, likely to be super expensive. The rest of your remarks, frankly. aren't worth the time to respond to. Muddled comments on protecting investors. Not my purview, by the way. Inaccuracies regarding the tourist demographics and far too many 'what ifs'. What if this, what if that. What if this giant thing was built. What if that happens. 'Dina World'? I'd rather stick to discussing something that's actually been proposed. And, I remain of the opinion that it will be a positive for Pattaya if it gets built.

Yes, one of the joys of living in Thailand is the wonderful service industry. I cringed in America any time I had to hire a plumber or electrician. My partner and I have been doing a house renovation and we had beautiful, custom drapes installed, at such a reasonable price. Same with the wallpapering, painting, carpentry, landscaping, etc. I used granite just 2 times on renovated condos in the US--way too expensive for my budget. Here, I use it all the time as it's so affordable, both the granite, itself, and the labor.

Always, always, it comes back to 'filling the gogos'. Time to get over it. That ship has sailed. Wave goodbye. Filling the gogos, or not filling them, is no longer the only gauge, if it ever was, of whether Pattaya is a popular tourist destination. Don't get me wrong, that type of entertainment will likely remain an important component of Pattaya and it will likely always attract important numbers of visitors but it is no longer the main component, and hasn't been for some time. The shift has been to large numbers of regular tourists, primarily Asian--the ones who made things like Terminal 21 and all the nice, new large hotels viable. And, new attractions like the two large water parks and D'Luck Theater. What has also shifted is the area of new development--it's mostly all from Central Festival north to Dolphin Circle--not close to Walking Street. Being next to Walking Street is not seen as a plus for the new tourists being catered to. Do domestic visitors to Pattaya contribute much to the economy, you ask? Yes. Duh. Just like anywhere else in the World. Pattaya would most definitely be in much worse shape right now without them. As for the attractions, Google is your friend. You'll find a number of sites, listing anywhere from '12 best' to '55 places to visit in Pattaya'. In any case, more than 3.

Yes, but why in the World should you even have to be doing this? Just make it easy to read in the first place. And, as I noted earlier, when I clicked to get a new one they just got harder to read, not easier. The same thing with the passwords generated. Why make them so difficult? Meanwhile, my latest attempt to register got me a 403 message saying that I am forbidden and don't have permission to access the site.

I guess we will see. Pattaya has many more attractions than the 3 you mentioned, by the way, and the beach is no longer 'so bad it's irrelevant'. It's been widened and is being kept clean. Yes, parts of it erode in heavy rains--but the city is out the next day and it's back in order quickly. Jomtien Beach is now being widened and it is looking very good at the southern end where they have started. My partner and I were very impressed the other day when we saw it as that area had very little beach left. Improvements continue around town, including the massive new parking garage, a partnership between the city and Terminal 21, that is about to open. I know your narrative has been that, except for the nightlife, Pattaya is not worth visiting but, pre-covid, it was in Mastercard's top 20 cities visited in the World. People were choosing Pattaya in large numbers. And, yes, Chinese and other Asian visitors were staying at the nice hotels. They will likely be the majority visitors at Aquatique, as well. My main point remains that every nice, new attraction that is built contributes to the synergy of the city and each one makes Pattaya a more desirable place to visit. And, not just for international tourists but domestic visitors, as well. They were and still are coming in significant numbers on weekends and holidays.

As I keep saying, it's not a mall. It's 5 hotels, a convention center, Legoland, an amusement park, an aquarium, a wellness and health center, and likely several other things I've forgotten.

The latest failure message I got was similar except at the end it said 'service unavailable' instead of your 'gateway timeout'.

Yes, you can do that, which I did, and I noticed they got more and more difficult each time I tried to get a new one--letters and numbers on top of other letters and numbers and also some smaller letters and numbers and parts of letters and numbers in the background. Yikes. But, it didn't matter because it wasn't working anyway so a complete waste of time. Back to the drawing board.

I just tried to register several times. Entered my correct data and then typed in the characters given. I then hit 'apply' and I get the question do you want to register? I hit 'confirm', and then an error message comes up: 'Failed to Save Data'. Anybody having this same problem?

And, in this case, it's much more than a shopping mall.

The land was supposed to be developed a few years ago as, if I remember correctly, a 2 building high rise project. I can't remember if it was going to be a hotel, condos, or both. My best guess was a hotel. I think a bit of land work was started but then it all stopped. Welcome corrections if my memory is faulty.

Regarding your quite accurate Central Festival pre-covid comments, tell them to poster Leaver, who recently scoffed at a comment I made on a different thread that Festival was busy pre-covid. Replying, he made the ridiculous statement that, and I quote, '...there was very little pedestrian traffic in Central, pre-covid'. According to him, you should have easily gotten a table at any time of the day because he remembers people only at the 'banks', 'telcoms', and using the mall as a 'shortcut to Beach Road'.

So, all this endless paperwork they are requiring and they have no idea where these people are?

Yes, that's the mall closest to our condo and it always seems busy--a growing area with lots of new condo projects.

To answer your previous post and this one, '...why in THAT location'...? One word. Synergy. Every nice, new project that is built in that area makes that area more desirable. Which makes other nice, new projects want to be there, too. Which, in turn, makes it even more desirable. Rinse and repeat. The most desirable part of Pattaya runs from Central Festival in the south to Grand Centre Point 2 going up in the north. Aquatique will sit in a prime spot about smack dab in the middle. Right where they want to be and not out somewhere in the boonies--especially with the convention center component.

Everybody I know is still here. Nobody has left or is even thinking about leaving, including me.

Sounds very reasonable--just limit it to foreigners. Now put a halt to the endless discussion that has gone on for years and just do it.

It might be helpful if we all at least understand what we are talking about. Aquatique is not just another, in your words, '...Huge Monsterous new mall...'. It is proposed as a mixed-use development that will include: Marriott Marquis Hotel JW Marriott Hotel Autograph Collection Hotel Kimpton Boutique Hotel Vignette Collection Hotel (redone and rebranded Grand Sole Hotel) Legoland Aquarium Large convention center Residential Amusement park Wellness and health center Shopping center As you can see from the list, there is a shopping component but also a lot more than that. The developer is Asset World Corporation, the property component of Chang Beverage, so likely well-financed. It looks like four different tracts of land are involved, two on the beach side of Second Road, the Grand Sole tract, and a tract of land just to the north of Grand Sole. Various components of the project probably will be done in phases over a number of years and could be changed along the way.

Keep tilting at those windmills. Meanwhile, I think most of us here, and most visitors, appreciate the new things that have been built--the malls, the restaurants, the hotels, the hospitals, the many housing choices, the beach expansion, the recreation, including golf courses, bike trails, and several new water parks, the new attractions, and so on.

Tourism might be 20% of the economy but brothel tourism certainly is not--despite some posters here believing it is such. Despite the bewilderment of some posters here that Pattaya could, pre-covid, support not one but two major malls, and lots of other nice, new development, from plenty of non-brothel visitors.