Airalee

42 minutes ago, aussieinphuket said:

please people just stay home, spend your money in your own countries where the economy's more then likely need money and wait until we see a vaccine to allow us all to be immune.

 

what if they allow tourists into phuket, will the rest of thailand allow those of us that live in phuket to travel to other parts of thailand or will this also affect us residents.  

Do you see the irony in your post?

Enjoy your “gilded cage”

37 minutes ago, smutcakes said:

I am aware of a small unit perhaps 100 sqm which rented out to an expat for around 170K per month, which is very high, so obviously a market for them, albeit i would say very limited market at that level.

Looking at hipflat, the smallest (120 sqm) unit, lowest price (78,000,000...if they actually can sell for that)...renting for 170k puts It at 458x monthly rent.  That’s one of the worst price/rent ratios I have seen for a condo here in BKK.

They do look nice however.

6 hours ago, Susco said:

I must have missed where in the article is mentioned that Tesco pays less than the official minimum wage, for more than the legal working hours.

 

Oh wait, you just made that up in your head, isn't it?

Exactly...and let’s not forget the hyperbolic statements of 1 hour per week employment.  It would be good to know what the details are.
 

I do wonder, however, if Thailand reports unemployment figures similar to the United States U3 and U6 figures where U3 is the generally reported number and U6 includes discouraged (no longer seeking employment) and underemployed workers (want full time work but have to settle for part time)

5 hours ago, 4MyEgo said:

Thank you, yes the wife has the app, but when speaking to someone at the hotel on the phone prior to me posting here for answers, the receptionist said, you put the money in the app and pay the hotel online, that was before I told my wife there isn't anywhere to pay online on the hotels website.

 

Wife now tells me that she should receive an email from the hotel in 3 days which will say the government has approved your 40% discount, and then she has to go to the app where the app will say this is your booking, this is the amount to have to pay the hotel, and then she puts that amount of money in the wallet and sends it to the hotel.

 

Enough to confuse me, did you say cluster f, yep sure is, so no need for your girlfriend to explain it as I have my own cluster f, so will leave it to the expert to sort...lol, I will just do the driving and cough up when required.  

Dunno where you’re planning on staying but man...I gotta tell you...the deal at DusitD2 in AoNang (Krabi) has been so freaking great that the original 5 night deal has turned into a 3 week stay.  I might as well just move in.  No affiliation with them whatsoever but WOW!  Once you’re finished with the travel together deal, they have special deals for we foreigners (with drivers license, work permit or ID card)

4 hours ago, edwardandtubs said:

I know what you mean but there are actually charities that welcome people who just want to do a few hours a week and certainly don't charge any money.

Never seen one but if it’s anything like teaching (where I wanted to teach part time) I was told that a minimum of 16 hours a week were needed for a visa.  So if the op thinks he’s gonna get a visa coming around for a few hours a week playing with dogs at a shelter or chatting in English with monks then he’s got another thing coming.  Might as well just get a paying job.

You download the government app.  Transfer money from your bank to the app.  Then, at the hotel, you pay with the app.  It’s the same with the 40% restaurant discounts too.  The hotel should be able to walk you through the process and let you know where to find the app.  If I try to get my girlfriend to explain it to me, and then me try to explain it here to you...it’ll be a cluster<deleted>.

..

I have bought my girlfriend gifts of gold a few times.  Once I gave her a Valcambi bar which was not met with as much enthusiasm as when I offered to take her to the gold shop and let her pick out a half baht piece of jewelry for herself.  I think that it is better to do it that way as my girlfriend scanned the different bracelets for one that she liked the design of vs me choosing one for her.  You can also make a day of it and tell your mother in law that you’d like to take her to lunch and then to the gold shop so she can pick something out.  
 

I would however recommend that you let her know how much you want to buy her before you go saying something like “hey...I was thinking we could all go to lunch and then to the gold shop so you can pick out a nice (insert quantity/weight here) gold bracelet or something”

Hua Seng Heng is the major dealer but you can also buy from many other trustworthy dealers such as Aurora Gold which is in most malls.

My father died yesterday and a Thai person I know kept it simple with “my condolences” which translates as 

ขอแสดงความเสียใจ

https://www.thai2english.com/?id=0W2k5LD7j

I’ve been in AoNang for the last two weeks and have to say that Much/most of it is closed.  There are a handful of restaurants open but with very very few customers.   I have looked into the RCA entertainment complex while walking by and a few bars appear to be open with a customer or two.  DusitD2 has some phenomenal deals right now starting at  ฿999/night for nice 4 star rooms.  There are a few more people walking around today than there were 2 weeks ago when I arrived.  It’s peaceful, albeit a bit depressing.  If you take a boat tour out to Hong Island (klook.com has them for just over ฿900 compared to the $2000-2400 that the kiosks are still asking) you’ll truly have a beach paradise almost to yourself.  I took this picture from my tour a week ago to show how deserted it is plus a couple pictures from the Sunday two weeks ago along the streets showing the lack of foot traffic.

Let

RETIREES 

RE-ENTER

So that they can 

RENT

ROOMS

and

RELAX

Or, continue to hang the landlords, massage shops, restaurants, bars, taxi drivers etc out to dry.

Seeing that Phuket’s 4 day promotion in Bangkok only resulted in 1.3 million baht of bookings (with no quarantine required), I expect that this will flop too.

17 minutes ago, ThailandRyan said:

Sarcasm at its finest.  Tell me does the Seine River smell like a toilet like the Klongs of Bangkok do after a rain.  I know the answer, so no reason for you to tell me.  Just think about this statement "The river Seine is a curious pea-soup color, with tree trunks floating in some parts. The banks of the river are covered in dried mud and sand, which the city’s cleaning services are busy scrubbing off".  At least they try to spiff up the Seine through Paris for tourism, unlike Thailand.

I guess I need to hang out around the klongs in Thonglor then?

12 minutes ago, Pravda said:

 

And let's stop right here. 

 

Most of these comments come from insecure westerners who justify their existence in Thailand by proclaiming they only hang around with successful thais who hold good jobs and make 100,000++ a month. Yes, some do, but not many and as a matter of fact very few unless they have a side family business. 

 

Some real examples from the real world. Previous wife has been working for Siemens BTS project for 15 years. Salary just above 50k a month (plus some end of the year bonus/pension fund). 

 

Current Chinese very presentable wife is a top sales person for a Japanese company that supplies every car manufacturer in Thailand. Top as if they didn't have her they would have to pack their bags and fly to Japan. Salary with performance bonus averages 80,000 a month. No pension fund whatsoever. 

Exactly.  And also, to carry it just a bit further....have you ever noticed how “average” income is always used here and there is no source (that I know of at least) to gauge “median” income?  What would the average be If we removed the fat cat developers, factory owners and the rest of the “1%”.   I feel that “averages” are presented to paint a much rosier picture than the actuality and also make people feel that all their peers are far better off financially so that they go further into debt in order to keep up appearances and as we say...”keep up with the Jones’s”

The catch is....the Jones’s are up to their eyeballs in debt.  Who wins?  The debt peddling banks.

1 hour ago, newnative said:

    I've seen price drops for some condos but mostly they have been for condos I would not be interested in buying in the first place.  So far I am not seeing any price reductions for anything I would be interested in.  

Same here.  Of the 50,000 condos in my price range, there are about 5% that I would consider living in due to wonky floor plans, bad views etc.  I got lucky by buying a “contract” from someone who lived out of the country and worked in an industry that was decimated by the pandemic.  He was happy to get some of his deposit back vs walking away from all of it and relinquishing the condo back to the developer.

Glad I bailed on that HuaHin unit I was considering.

1 hour ago, onebir said:

This should be your thread ????

Pearls before swine

1 minute ago, david555 said:

The smart ones are those who take their losses ....as the stuborn ones will have more losses as times dont go improve .

Never underestimate the propensity for a seller to chase the market down.

“Hope dies last”

25 minutes ago, onebir said:

1> Currently??! Presumably this is just developer sales?

2> Doubt it... but I guess the prevalence of 'extras' is a good clue the market's weak...

Yes...developer sales.  Developers will always win when in competition with second hand resellers.  Especially here in Thailand where there aren’t any nice old homes for sale.  There aren’t any 1920s tudors or or Eichler mid-century moderns purchased in the 60s or 70s coming on the market where the owners can walk away with substantial profits.

The prevalence of extras is obviously a clue that the market is weak.  For real estate geeks such as myself, they are even more obvious.  Screamingly obvious. 

Other ways to hide the softening of prices is by keeping the sales price the same but offering all kinds of freebies.  
 

Currently, going beyond the usual free furniture and kitchen appliances, I have seen offers for up to 10 baht of gold,  free Porsche Caymans,  buy one get one free condos and buy a house and get a free condo.

You think the value of that gold, car or extra condo is subtracted from the sales price when these colorful charts are produced?

4 minutes ago, Leaver said:

Financial blood bath. 

 

Loan defaults will go through the roof.  Still no tourism industry.  Shrinking manufacturing industry, which was happening pre virus anyway.  Drought affecting the agriculture industry. These, just to name a few issues.    

 

A perfect storm is brewing for Thailand, but I am sure with such a competent government, they can keep Thailand sailing in such headwinds.  ????

I have a feeling they’ll go for the “extend and pretend” method to keep the loan default numbers looking better than they actually are.  The crazy financing already used such neg-am mortgages for condos and final balloon payments closing in on 50% of the original purchase price for cars (after 84 months of payments) show that they can be quite creative and have mastered the art of debt slavery.

9 minutes ago, Leaver said:

Towards the end of 2020, there will be carnage in Thailand.  

Should I load up on sardines and bottled water?  My King Oscars say they’re good until 2022.

5 minutes ago, Peter Denis said:

I watched all episodes of dr House, so am quite familiar with complex/confusing symptoms and their causes.  Presently saving for the equipment so that I can also do an MRI in my shed. ????

I’ll see your Dr. House and raise you one Trapper John.  That, combined with my selective google-foo and...checkmate.  ????