Peterw42

Take what agents say with a grain of salt, they are most often talking in terms of "if you use their service". Agent extensions, little to none of the seasoning rules apply. Some offices may not enforce the 400k minimum but technically its on the books.

I think you will find you are digging up sites that haven't been updated to include the 2019 changes.

Buy Buy Buy, its the fundamentals of the capitalist world will live in. BUY LOW SELL HIGH. These crackdowns are a good thing, at the moment Tencent has a monopoly on music copyright, DiDi Global pays the drivers low wages, Alibaba can do anything they like with customer data/privacy. The crackdowns are to control monopolies, force fair wages and conditions, protect customer data and privacy. No different to US antitrust laws. The only thing stopping me from buying at the moment is the hit I will take exchanging the south pacific peso ($AU) into HKD, CNY etc

I just did a marriage extension in Pattaya last week. there is certainly no option for agent involvement here.

Thai Gov: We realise you already buy heaps of cars , hardrives and shoes from us, and we dont buy anything from you, but can you help us out with some vaccines ? Aust Gov: Sure, we are on top of our vaccine situation, how many do you want ?

I have noted some imported things costing more, but to be expected as the baht is down, worldwide production and shipping is effected etc. For goods and services inside Thailand I have noticed the opposite, a reduction in many items. Living in Pattaya there is usually two separate economies, the local Thai economy and the 2 week millionaire economy. Given that the two week millionaire economy is gone, many things have reverted back to normal Thai prices for Thai goods and services. The shop selling a burger for 300 baht is gone, but the wet market selling meat, fish, vegetables, and the local Thai restaurant have normal and often discounted prices. Even taxi drivers now realise nobody is paying 100 baht for a 50 baht fare.

OP, the daily limits at your US bank can usually be changed, but otherwise an FET can be from multiple deposits. An FET (I think you will find its a letter nowadays) wont have a breakdown of separate deposits, the bank will ask what amount you want an FET for, usually add the condo details etc. Its just a confirmation that X amount of money has been changed to Baht. (it can literally be a combination of any foreign deposits over time) The money you actually hand over for the condo can be a different source of funds from a different account. I have used deposits from 2-3 years ago, even used my 800k retire funds to produce an FET. then paid with funds that I got from selling a car..

I don't get the irrational brand loyalty when it comes to air conditioners, there isn't much in an air conditioner, a compressor, a couple of fans, electronics, big capacitor etc. A lot of the components are identical inside different brands, the components come from the same suppliers and factories. They are all manufactured to a price point, cheaper usually means aluminium rather than copper, a cheaper compressor etc. If a unit is installed correctly, cleaned and serviced regularly, there is no reason to think similarly priced units will not have similar performance and longevity. I have had brand name units fail after 5 years and unbranded units still going strong after 15 years.

Check with your mobile phone network provider, they all have a webpage that shows codes and rates to a certain country. They have standard rates (full bandwidth cellular network) and special rates (using IP telephony/internet). Here is the DTAC page https://www.dtac.co.th/en/idd.html Hotels are unknown as they can add on top.

Branding doesn't mean much nowadays, a lot of the internal components will be the same. At a price point they will all be similar. Better of shopping for the specific features you want, lots of USB ports etc, and consider things like warranty, local service centre etc.

Possibly a new record, 20 minutes from parking to driving away. The usual "variations" on the standard documents, this year we dont want blue book but want 3 copies of bankbook etc. It would have been even quicker if not for a guy copying a novel at the copy machine. The covid situation does have some small bonuses.

It basically comes down to a fear of the LB having a bigger "bunch of skin" . I think for 90% of guys its not a fear of trans, a fear of being gay etc, its a fear he/she will be bigger than theirs

Its good to see local manufacture and uniquely thai etc, but resorts, hotels and condos are already using electric golf carts, and have been for years. My condo block in Jomtien has one downstairs, drops at the beach and mall. I'm not getting that this is a groundbreaking new form of transport. Its a little niche market thats already serviced with electric golf carts.

So let me get this right, Chinese cannot search google etc without the use of a VPN. So any search they do will present as an IP address from somewhere other than China. How are they identifying Chinese doing searches for property?

@giddyup Having owned a chain of computer shops back in Australia, I think I can offer an explanation as the the price for repair of "just the power button". See the picture below where you can see the power button is incorporated into a keyboard assembly (a sealed unit), the button itself is not replaceable. (and often not the fault) To get to the underside of the keyboard, to correctly diagnose that the keyboard assembly is faulty, (short 2 pins on the ribbon cable connection between keyboard and motherboard) usually requires a 80-90% dismantling the laptop, remove motherboard etc. This takes time/labor. When you press a power button it usually sends a voltage to a 6-8 pin mosfet (19v) on the motherboard, which turns on a voltage that then turns on another mosfet (5v) etc etc. Usually a complete diagnosis would test all the mosfet/power ccts. Most of the time it is just the keyboard assembly but a proper diagnosis would also test all the individual mosfet power circuits (find and inject the various voltages to the gates of the mosfets and measure output). this takes time. So, what appears to be "just a power switch" ends up being a lot of labor dismantling and testing, (often chasing up scematic/pin outs for that laptop) a faulty keyboard that has to be ordered, delivered and paid for, re assembly etc.

It could come down to your local DLT requirements, I changed PP number in Pattaya with just the new passport, took 5 minutes. Maybe check local DLT as many are running on reduced services at the moment.

OP, most of the places adding money on top of an elec bill are short term rentals, apartments or condos trying to be hotels etc, a couple of weeks/months. Places where you dont sign a lease. And places where there would be no option to fit your own AC unit. 99% of long term rentals, where you sign a lease, the power bill (the internet bill, the cable bill) comes straight to you in the letterbox.

I think you will find the SMS you receive will be a link to a website, a password etc. (dear user, please go to website xyz.com to download pdf). Which will actually suit your needs better, it will just be a file in downloads, then you can share it, print it etc

OP, is it an option to receive the PDF attached to an email, messaging app, cloud storage etc. An SMS is text only, if a message has an attachment its an MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service). An MMS has size limits and network restrictions, extra costs (especially if from another country). Often if someone sends you an MMS, you often receive a link to go and download the file. If a file is too big, it simply wont be sent. Nowadays, there are 100s of ways of sending a PDF file, MMS being probably the worst choice, I would be surprised if a company is electing to send files via only SMS.

You paint a very negative picture of renting out property. Yes, there can be risks etc but there are certain things you can do to mitigate the risk. Its a business like any other, so take care of your customers (your tenants). If you cater to the bottom end of the market, offering cheap badly maintained properties that are barely livable, that's the tenants you will get. Offer a decent property that's well maintained, do upgrades and repairs in a timely manner, you usually get good loyal tenants. And higher rent Most maintenance and repairs are a tax deductions against your rental income, and usually add to the capital value For a couple of dollars a month you can get landlord insurance that covers bad tenants, damage, legal action and bills if they arise etc. If my tenants call at 2 am with a broken pipe, I will gladly respond and repair at 2am, they are my customers, its not a liability, its customer service. I will have happy customers who will take care of the property, pay the rent etc.

OP, buy some university accommodations, a small block of 8-10 apartments close to a university. I know some guys who own similar in Bangsaen close to the uni. They have been fantastic investments, always have tenants, 8-10% return, even after employing an old Thai lady to clean and collect the rent.

Are you aware of "foreigner Joe" YouTube channel, he has been posting videos following his new build in that area.

"Damage to some wood" is a bit of a throw away comment. It could be minor or it could be a major repair. A scratch in a wooden floor may need to be buffed out or a rare hardwood bench may need to be sanded back and resurfaced. 4 Months of rent could be as low as 20k, or 200k Not being clear on what's damaged and how much to repair, its a bit hard to offer advice.

Why not ask your questions to sophom directly ? Its not like anyone on Thaivisa can answer your question, why a channel is gone, is it coming back It may be a fault, it may be that the channels have moved, box needs to re-scan etc. If people ask, maybe they will put the channels back on.

OP, as others have said, its no use asking which bank what documents etc. As it is subject to change and subject to who you talk to at the bank on the day. Do the following and there is a 99% chance you will have an account by the end of the day. 1) as others have said, dress appropriately 2) literally start early and go bank to bank, branch to branch, avoid the smaller shopping mall branches. Start at immigration and go to the banks that are close. 3) take along a Thai person who is an existing account holder at the bank. (some banks will see this as an introduction/recommendation). If they have a local blue book even better, you dont need to be in the book just say thats where you live. 4) enquire about insurance products (500 baht a year accident insurance), the staff get commission but the insurance is only for account holders (an account magically gets opened if there is a commission to be had). 5) approach the bank saying you are about to transfer 10 million baht, pull out a wad of cash and say you want to deposit it etc. 6) if all else fails, go to one of the many agents who specialise in opening accounts for foreigners, I think the current fee is around 3,000 baht. you will have an account in an hour