digbeth

18 minutes ago, newnative said:

     Yes, of course, if foreign quota is still available a condo held in Thai name can be purchased in foreign quota.  I think you will find, though, that in places like Pattaya with high concentrations of foreigners, a number of the most desirable condo projects popular with foreigners no longer have foreign quota available.   So, the 'scenario' comes into play fairly often here.

     The situation can be different in other areas, including Bangkok.  When my spouse and I bought our Bangkok condo it was in a very desirable center city project steps away from an MRT station.  But, its location and quality also appealed to plenty of Thai buyers, as well, and when we bought the re-sale in 2019 there was lots of foreign quota still available.  Since the project opened in 2013 and there was still FQ available in abundance in 2019, this project will likely not run out of FQ anytime soon.

For most new builds in Bangkok 3-7 years back Thais would be queueing to buy off-plan on launch day and could even flip the deposit for profit 

could it be that because it's hotter here and it takes more time to cure? 

1 hour ago, PJ71 said:

Unless it's changed since December then this is totally incorrect.

 

Have you seen how many people drive throughout Thailand? Have you not noticed than since 1985?

The system's working since January, to renew road tax means all outstanding tickets is brought up to be paid 

only reason to want foreign quota is to sell later on, you'd have more opportunity and price if the condo is still in foreigner quota

but are there anyway for a Thai to hold on to foreign quota? I don't think so, short of using her foreign identity to but the condo with associated paperwork like FET 

if the occupancy is not filled up it may be still possible to transfer to foreigner while the 49% is not met, but this can't be guaranteed won't be filled by the time you want to sell. 

9 hours ago, FarangFB said:

 

I believe Jomtien immigration has a particular approach to this one, read about it many times and they do demand it.

How would they know if you've been 'out'

you have to activate online or at atm to set a daily limit for online shopping, but in my experience they rarely work,

I think they only work with payment gateway that support Visa/Mastercards 3D payment where they send you an OTP, which in western world is rare

even contactless for Bangkok Bank's MasterCard Debit cards don't work in shops most of the time

Some hotels won't let you check in with just Thai driver license now, 'policy is for passport' 

What exactly is required of them in order to report T.M. 30? the passport number on driving license might not be current is understandable

for hotels that is this strict about reporting I doubt pink ID card would be acceptable too, it's not like they can put you down as a Thai person checking in

On 4/5/2024 at 2:37 PM, scorecard said:

 

Always surprises me when I read negative reports / comments about bum gun / sprays. 

So easy, so quick, achieves good level of cleanliness, no paper to dispose of. 

 

Years back my oil refining employer at Map Ta phut brought in 20 specialised western engineers, all on 2 - 3 year contract, all provides with close to new 3 - 4 western bedroom style houses all with several bathrooms.

 

All new engineers arrived within about 2 days, taken straight to their houses then taken to Foodland in Pattaya for a big shop up all paid for by the company.

 

All bought several giant packs of toilet rolls.

 

Within 48 hrs a big deputation of wives of the new engineers arrived at the company HO at Map TA phut. Their demand was that all the disgusting spray contraptions be immediately removed and taken away.

 

All attempts by the longer-term western staff to explain that the bum sprays weren't disgusting and were in fact very practical, easy to use and produced very clean bottoms totally not accepted by the new wives protest group.

 

A Thai English speaking engineer joined the discussion and mentioned that 99% of the houses, condos, apartments owned / occupied by Thai people across all of Thailand had these bum sprays and Thai people saw them as useful and produced good cleanliness. His comments not accepted.

 

Another Thai employee then suggested that the company quickly create a team of people to very quickly replace all the sprays with new, also not accepted.

 

Thai manager then mentioned that the company didn't own the houses involved and the rental contracts mentioned that house occupants / the company paying the rents were prohibited from making any type of alterations to plumbing or anything else.

 

Thai engineer then suggested the company buy a large quantity of black plastic bags the right size and put each hose and spray into a black bag and tie it to the existing wall plumbing fittings so as to as much as possible put the black bags out of sight.

 

This was agreed. But it was discovered later that some of the farang wives had demanded that their husbands remove the hose and spray, and they did. 

What's the objection? they don't have to use it if it's there, or are they afraid they'll be enjoying themselves with it? 

I know in malls and such that don't have them is that some thais spray it on the floor to clean their feet or whatever and it's a big mess with people walking out with wet shoes 

Yes, there is no such thing as 'Thai Quota' but if you're advertising a room for sale, would you put down 'not in foreigner quota' or 'thai ownership only' in your description? 

When 'foreigner quota' is an already understood concept, 'Thai Quota' while inaccurate if you're being pedantic is an easy shorthand 

50 minutes ago, GroveHillWanderer said:

Actually, although Legionnaire's can theoretically be transmitted via air conditioning, it wouldn't normally be found in your typical home or even hotel air conditioning. 

 

It requires firstly a contaminated water source and then the inhalation of aerosolized water droplets from this contaminated source. 

 

That's not a scenario typically found in most air conditioning systems.

 

As the article below puts it:

 

CAN AIR CONDITIONING CAUSE LEGIONNAIRES’ DISEASE?

 

 

I think what fuels the idea that air conditioning is a danger for contacting this disease is that the first diagnosed mass outbreak of Legionnaire's came via centralised air conditioning vents in a system that used a big water tank on the roof of the building, with cooling towers that then sent chilled air (still containing aerosolized water droplets) throughout the building.

 

As I say, that's not a typical configuration for most AC systems.

While they're not in homes, water chiller tower are used in malls in Thailand, but even then the chilled water are never aerosolized indoors, they pass through the cold split unit in sealed pipes

having grown up in CoE, I find evangelicals at ECB fits the description you are looking for better than proper Anglican church 

the american-styled service takes a bit to get used to the pomp of Anglican church though 

those who know wouldn't tell you, 

if you're an outsider how much can you 'research' like sit on the beach and observe the power dynamics of the beach vendor on who pays whom and talk to who appears to be the big boss? 

or start hustling and see who shows up and offer to 'clear' things for you

even if you approach someone who say they can sort it for you, how will you not be scammed? 

most time of the year it doesn't work in Thailand, on the few days that humidity is low enough it'll be cold 'winter' that you won't need them

you can keep putting ice in the water box and it'll actually lower the temperature

outdoors or really well ventilated room is the only place they can be tolerated 

even if the whole building collapse for some reason like fire or earthquake and after clearing away the rubble, the land is sold to a new developer, you get a cut of that sale, that's a lot more than what you'd get if you try to own lands through other means in Thailand 

On 3/29/2024 at 10:50 AM, newnative said:

      Just a clarification.  I've seen 'Thai quota' mentioned several times.   There is no 'Thai quota'.  Thais can have 100% ownership in a condo project.  There is ownership in Thai name, ownership in company name, and ownership in foreign quota, which is 49%.  As others have mentioned, it's best to check with the juristic to see how much of the foreign quota of a project is still available, and if that percentage available is enough to cover the size of the condo you are interested in.  

   

What do you call a room that's selling in a condo that's had the foreign quota all filled up? for conventions and ease of communication, 'thai quota' is reasonable description 

Unusually ran away from finance or book used as collateral with loan
you get a photocopy of the blue book you can use to pay for the annual road tax, as long as you used it away from the domicile of the seller where the repo guys would come looking, worse is it's reported stolen to the police and any roadside stop means you kiss whatever you paid goodbye

If you use it as farm vehicle and such it's probably fine

you (the seller) can report the blue book stolen to get replacement if it's not registered with a finance company, but then that's another charge of perjury if ever found out.

\If these sellers can't afford to make the monthly payments to the bank, they're unlikely to be enterprising enough to scam you further, but for certain motorcycles it used to be that after you've paid and receive the อำ้รแสำ they'd tip the repo guy or the police to come pick up the vehicle from you, rinse and repeat with other unsuspecting victims 

GPX Drone - seen many around Bangkok years back when they first came out, lots of food riders use them too - but then they start disappearing, bad service/warranty and no parts issue?

unless you know what you're doing, have a garage you can take to - better stick with the well known brands like Honda and Yamaha 

1 hour ago, ftpjtm said:

I can envision a time when one must pay for the privilege of using cash. Where does one get cash? At ATM's or branch offices, both of which cost banks money to maintain. 

 

There could come a time where there is a 5% fee in order the receive cash from an ATM or branch office. 

 

I know someone in the US running a business that generates a lot of cash, and his bank charges "excess cash deposit" fees on business account due to the extra expense of handling large quantities of cash.

 

I wonder how many advocates of cash usage will continue to resist cashless payments if paying via cash costs more.

There's already service in Thailand where you can go to a 'Banking Agent' to withdraw money for 5% fee instead of the ATM, currently it's 7-11s and some Supermarkets

Banks like SCB has removed lots of their ATMs now

3 minutes ago, ABCDBKK said:

Here is the flip side to your case. Although payment apps like True Money, LINE Pay and the few others in Thailand waste a lot extra unnecessary time, smartphone digital wallets are a huge time saver and are faster than paying in cash. 

 

With my phone's wallet, I can pay and be gone faster than you can get the cash out of your wallet. Like you, I often get annoyed when someone is going through their wallet pulling out bills or counting coins trying to pay the exact amount in cash. 

 

I started using my phone's digital wallet since the appearance of Covid as a way to stop touching all the filthy bank notes that everyone passes around, which are also considered to be a possible spreader of viruses and bacteria. 

 

Now I have all my debit and credit cards loaded in my phone and all I need to do is move my phone close to any contactless credit/debit card reader to pay for things. So I can just pay contactless at all 7-11, hypermarts, supermarkets, department stores, restaurants, etc. No cash, no apps, no QR code scanning, no online banking apps, none of that. 

 

I can also go anywhere without a physical wallet now. So no cash and no wallet needed when I go outside, just my phone. Hygienic, fast, less stuff to carry around, and I have a record and payment evidence of all the money I spent, where and when, and whenever I might need it. 

 

When you go to Europe, and even countries like Japan, where people now mainly pay contactlessly using their phone's digital wallet, you notice the difference in speed. Payment transactions move much faster than in Thailand because they don't use cash, apps or QR codes. Such a time saver.
 

I wish everyone would do the same already. The problem in Thailand though is that none of the bank debit cards, and only BBL and KTC credit cards, can be added to smartphone digital wallets. So it really limits the Thai population from moving away from those cr*appy payment apps and moving over to using the fast, contactless payment wallets when they want to pay without using cash. So until Thailand moves forward on this technology, you will continue to see people in Thailand fumbling with apps that don't load and waiting for QR payment codes to be generated.
 

Some businesses in Thailand also don't want to pay fees when someone uses a debit card to pay. So you have all this scanning of QR codes into online banking apps to make instant cash payments like a debit card, but without any transaction fees. Another slow and antiquated payment method which hopefully goes away one day too. 

I don't think QR Promptpay as a home grown solution without Visa and Mastercard taking the cut is going away, they even make it inteoperable with other banks in the region from Singapore to Korea now

There are no cheap way to 'receive' QR contactless cards yet whereas the cost for mom and pop stalls to receive QR payment is practically zero

There's a street off Ram Inthra in Min Buri you can drive up in the morning to get day laborers 

24 minutes ago, foreverlomsak said:

 Very interested as I wouldn't mind doing so.

Have you actually succeeded in doing so, or is it pure theory.

Last I did it it was EUR-> GBP, then I paid for that with Thai credit card