jbaldwin

Depending on the age, number of floors and total area of the condo - you might have a legal requirement to have an annual safety inspection.

The Condo that I am a Committee member of has had to do this for the last two years. An approved independent inspection company carry out the inspection and their report plus your proposals on any point raised must be submitted to Pattaya City Hall by 31 December each year. This inspection will include a check of the fire alarm system. Our condo uses a firm of Thepasit Road. I can find the name and contact details if that would be helpful. Even if you are not required to have a insepction carried out, one of the companies that carried out this work would be a good starting point.

I hope the falang who has become the JPM know that this is considered "work" and a work perimt is required.

1) 144 units

2) 300 baht/sqm per year - 10% discount if fees paid by 31st December of the previous year

3) Money very well spent

I often wonder how A&W and KFC can afford the rental in the prime locations at Central. they never look busy (too many other choices) and the quality at any A&W in Thailand is substandard (they should have their franchise licence provoked). So does the "corporation" of Central also own these franchises which entitles them to prime locations?

Central Plaza Hotel has theThai master fanchise for KFC, Pizza Hut, Mister Donut, Baskin Robins, Auntie Anne's pretzels and Segafredo.

I think that there is no reason to look at specialist condo software. Globally there are two small business software packages - Quickbooks and Sage. I suggest you consider one of these.

We have two condominiums each with about 150 units and a Village with about 40 houses managed from a single office. We use Quickbooks - I think the licence cost around 15,000 baht. We have one member of accounting staff. However, each of the committees has a member with accounting knowledge who carries out a final review of the monthly accounts.

Please PM if you would like more details.

People got exactly what they bought - lifetime membership - but California WOW is now dead - and yet people still complain

This is nothing, wait until ASEAN happens. The Filipinos are going to OWN every service job in Thailand they are allowed to work.

Won't be surprised if Thailand backs out of ASEAN down the road after so many Thais lose their jobs to the other Asians who are going to pour in here. Thai nationalism and xenophobia is too great to allow all their neighbors to steal their jobs.

The ASEAN agreement is that "skilled workers" will be allow to work in other member countries from 2015. I suspect that when the 10 member countries have agreed a definition of skilled this will be very little impact.

Surely the final plan is not to have it lined from one end to the other with "pie in the sky" Condos or shop houses?

Or is it? There cannot be many more ex Soviet Block people left who can or even want to buy a 34 sq Mtr room here.

There are acres of land for an opportunistic, wealthy Thai to build all manner of things necessary for modern life.

Supermarket (Tesco / Big C size), Private School, Petrol stations, Hospital, modern Re-cycling plant and incinerator to produce electricity for increased demand (imagine if they burnt all the crap how clean the place would be).

The property developers seem to think that there is still a lot of steam left in the Russian condo-buying machine. We shall see.

Either way, as you say there is no shortage of space in Jomtien for a decent supermarket; the Ocean1 site would seem an obvious contender, or the plot by Chateau Dale which as far as I know was earmarked for a commercial centre years ago. Not to mention the umpteen empty hectares opposite on the Jomtien side of Pattaya Park.

They seem to have started to build something on the plot next to Chateau Dale/Royal Hill. Anyone know what it will be ?

The land has been sold to the developers of Atlantis. Hundred's of 35 sqm condos will go on sale very soon.

From your comment it sound like this is a newly completely building. Has it been registered is a condo with the land office yet? If is it not yet a condo then none of the provisions of the condo act apply. A developer can charge whatever you agree to paid for whatever services he chooses to provide.

If it has been regististered as a condo then all units most be charged the same amount per square meter of common fee.

Is a committee is place. Raise yout concerns with committee members.

Because some Western Government have made an absurd overreaction to a very small risk - you are expecting the same thing to happen in Thailand. Why?

Siam Commerical Bank currently has a 555 day deposit paying 5.55% (that is an annual rate of 3.65%)

The Chateaudale/Thabali low-rise condo does not (yet) have Russian owners.

Located behind Bruno's Restaurant an oasis with great pool and garden.

I know some co-owners who do rent out some..

Contact me by p.m. if you'r interested

I live in Thabali. I have been told that the first transfer to a Russian owner took place last month.

These shares are being issued by Tesco-Lotus so that the property they own (i.e. the supermarkets and smaller store formats) can be shifted off their balance sheet. Tesco-Lotus will then pay rent to the new company.

Any investor needs to ask himself what would happen if Tesco-Lotus decides it's time for a cut in the rental rate?

These shares are high risk given the dependence upon the continued good will of the parent company.

This is not entirely correct. The shares will be issued by a newly formed property investment fund, which is managed by Krung Thai Asset Management. This fund has a contract to buy property from Tesco Lotus.

I have been looking for an English Language version of the prospectus. What is very important is to understand the terms of the lease on the property. It is possible that the lease is structured on the basis that Tesco Lotus pays a fixed rate until it decides it's time for a cut in the rental rate.....but I doubt it.

Aslo worth noting at Tesco Lotus only accounts for about 40% of total rents from these malls - Homepro, MK and KFC being the next largest tennents.

I also tried the all you can eat offer yesterday. Whilst in general the menu seems a little expensive, 220++ for 6 tacos and a slice of apple pie seemed good value. Not an expert of Mexican food but a was happy with the quality of food.

So is the delivery service online yet? If so, what's the phone number, service area, and charge for delivery, if any? Is delivered food charged plus plus or just plus? With delivery at least you can wait for the food in comfort. I agree 30 - 45 minutes is too long to wait for Mexican food service at the table.

BTW, a few days ago the owner mentioned some technical problems in the kitchen design that they were working on fixing that was making it very hard for them to keep the food warm. Thus, some people here have mentioned getting served cold food. Can people commenting on their experiences from now mention if they think that is fixed yet, or not?

and definately unacceptable to add 10% to the bill for service of that standard

Don't they have that already? The Ambassador City Hotel. Mindyou it must be twenty years old by now.

I was told by some Real Estate agent, it was going to be West of Alangkarn and to the North of the Ambassador City Hotel. Somewhere off Na Jomtien - Soi 6. Mind you this was about 5 years ago when all these grandiose 'pie in the sky' developments were being announced, such as the Disneyland development, "The Beaches", and the "World's Largest Water Park in Asia".

I've learned since then that the agents/developers in the area were no better than snake oil salesmen! Don't believe a word they say!

Hmmm.... I wonder what happened with the water park? Wasn't it supposed to open about now? At one point there were comments on TV that construction was in progress.

Yes, come to think of it the Ambassador City Hotel was probably one of the world's largest hotels in it's day. What is it, about 4,000 - 5,000 rooms?

The Venetian in macau is the largest hotel in the world

The Ventian in Macau has 3,000 rooms. Ambassador City 4,210.

I am planning to go to Cebu.

SEAir current have an offer of 1,700 baht on the Bangkok to Clark service

Flight in due to arrive at 19.55.

There is a Cebu Pacific flight to Cebu at 20.45

I cannot ckeck baggage on so I need to clear immigration and check in again.

Is this possible.

There has been talk of a future increase in minimum wage - likely from 1 April 2012. This is the reason why the suggestion that it should be 300 per day nationwide has been resisted by business leaders. In many cases it would represent a very large increase in total costs.

I went last week. I completely agree that the absence of lamb makes a big difference to whether the high price is justified.

Ok. The capital required to set up to Federal Reserve was provided by private shareholders. In exchange they get a fixed dividend of 6% pa. All profits in excess of this are retained within the Federal Reserve. In 2010 around $70 billion of surplus profits were transferred to the US Treasury. The Governers of the Fed are appointed by the president.

The Bank of England was Nationalisd in 1946. 100% of shares are owned by HM Treasury.

I went to Bali Breeze in Jomtien last night. When I got the bill there was 10% added. I was told it was to cover additional cost due to flooding. Absolutely no notice of this until I got the bill. I will not go back.

My local family mart has everything,..

The supply chain is severely hit, trucks cant get around but as far as basic essentials are concerned, we shouldn't worry too much in Pattaya... The local Thai markets will always have everything..

It's just the trucks with TESCO, Family Mart and BIG C written on them are having trouble making their delivery rounds because of the centralised nature of their operations..

Tesco's logistics are done by Linfox which is an Australian company, I would have thought they have it better arranged.

Why, does Moses work for them?

BigC logistics is carried out by TNT. All four BigC distrubution centres have been closed due to flooding. They are temporarily using other TNT sites and trying to get suppliers to deliver directly to stores. Given the extent of their problems I was surprised how little was missing from the shielves.

SCB are not offering a 11 month fixed account paying 7%. What is on offer is an account which pays:

2% in months 1-4

3% in months 5-8

7% in months 9-11

The average rate over the 11 month period is 3.73%.

This is still fairly good but not quite 7%.

You might find it much cheaper to take a domestic flight from Hat Yai, which is only a short bus trip from Penang.

Launch now expected in October.

SEAir are also about to start a Clark to Bangkok service.

"Message me for more detailed information."

Why can't you just post it here? Or is the scheme so full of holes it doesn't bear public examination?

.....and the view that they are a good options.

Do you think this is the view of someone currently buying this type of investment or someone who is trying to sell them to others.