norrona

if you pick it up great but really don't do yourself in too much, in the UK there's a lot of people speaking very poor English(cue the jokes about the natives etc) but we still get the gist of it.... my experience in Thailand was you get a word slightly wrong and you might as well forget the rest of what you got right, the locals won't decipher it and get your gist....

This sort of thing happens in America as well....which is why the US government has been trying to create a system whereby everyone would have access to medical care/health insurance. But now the "other side" is trying to dismantle the new law. It's complicated, but in this Thai case, the OP deliberately fails to mention that Thai people on social media are pretty disgusted by what happened. But yet, he's still attacking Thai people. An axe to grind, OP?

yet again comments of disgust and outrage on something someone feels strongly about and you pipe up with the usual old waffle....

tolerated not wanted OP.....once you have come to terms with that then you will be alright....

if you are serious and really set on getting a property i,e not just getting a feel for the areas and maybe do something in 6 months then why isn't the agent assisting you on your viewings first then after that you can go back and look at the most favored locations?

I always took my clients on viewings, even helped move them in at times and made sure all was good and working....

Is it that much different these days?

I might be buying direct from developers if the completion of the construction is not far from now. In that sense, I don't think an agent can offer me a better price than the developers. I might be wrong.

Most importantly, I always feel obligated when an agent spends time chauffeuring me to different projects, and I would feel really bad if I didn't buy from him/her. So I would rather do my homework first.

I have heard of Pratumnak Hill and Wongamat, but I have never been there before. I want to be able to identify or at least visualize the surrounding when someone mentions "Art on the Hill" or "The Serenity" etc.

but surely an agent or even a few can take you and show you what they have to offer?

don't feel too bad if you don't purchase through them and go alone....it is after all a numbers game.

in my time I have missed sales where I didn't have the right thing to show them....on the other side of that I have had to show only 2 or 3 properties before the deal is done, on occasion just the 1 property.

For someone who is not familiar with Pattaya and the areas around it are you sure you want to buy a property and not lease something for 6 months to get a feel of the area? I know if I was doing it all over again I would....

unless of course its a pure investment choice and then if it was then are you sure you are going to get any decent return on it, after all without area knowledge you do not know the potential pit falls that lay ahead?

good luck

if you are serious and really set on getting a property i,e not just getting a feel for the areas and maybe do something in 6 months then why isn't the agent assisting you on your viewings first then after that you can go back and look at the most favored locations?

I always took my clients on viewings, even helped move them in at times and made sure all was good and working....

Is it that much different these days?

countless times I have caught 'them' talking about me from bar to office workers and have always let them have a barrage of verbal....

this thread is quite funny actually as all the non native thai speakers appear as if they are the top of the pile looking down.... I gave up speaking Thai to strangers as unlike the foreigners in the UK who speak English badly but we persist and get the gist of what they are saying you say 1 or 2 words to them that are not perfect and the blank look comes out, they will not admit they don't know on all counts and the conversations I have had and heard are mainly about... food, food, money, food, what someone hasn't got, what they have got and more food....this is in general and only my opinion and experience.

However those Thai people who are rich enough to study abroad or been abroad, they can talk a little about the places they have visited and lived in and then it gets back to food...or football I forgot that

for someone who has better things to do you certainly took time out to vent just then....

No vent involved, just information. All I did was take a minute to answer your question, out of politeness.

But you said you had better things to do than type............then typed a load of other stuff out???

Good day

You see people....those estate agents certainly do have their fair share of nut jobs to contend with, especially in Pattaya!!!

if dogs are going to get poisoned I suggest you not be around when it happens....

please tell us your experience where they have all lied and let you down by being incompetent and how you overcome it?

You really want to read a long list of occasions when I have asked an agent to find a particular sort of place, or get back to me with some particular information about something and they have failed to do so for whatever reason?

Well I'm sorry but I have better things to do that type all that out. But you can probably just ask anyone who has ever had any dealings with an estate agent in Pattaya as I'm sure most of them will have had similar experiences at some point.

As for how to overcome the tribulations of dealing with most agents here I think the answer is just not to bother with them and do it yourself.

Any way, none of that makes any difference to the fact that I prefer to give and receive my information in writing rather than waste my time on the phone. And I will continue to do so. Other people can do as they wish, of course.

for someone who has better things to do you certainly took time out to vent just then....

by the way I used to work as an estate agent in Pattaya for 8 years and have clients that were so happy with how I treated them they are now friends...

perhaps you come across as a know it all type or a time waster/tyre kicker when being qualified or maybe a really tricky customer who is going to be hard to please....

or perhaps you have visited the wrong agent and just tar them all with the same brush....bit like someone whose been ripped off by a Thai lady and considers them all as bad....

You are "farang" to them, that is, an object, rather than a human being. This is also why many Thais have very difficult to deal with the fact, that a white skin, a "farang", so totally different from a normal human being, can speak Thai.

In order for us to make ourself a little more human, less objectified, we should try to avoid calling ourselves "farang" all the time.

Does this apply the same way when farangs call say asians in their farang countries?

Asian is an ethnicity and the correct term....

Farang literally means 'foreigner' and other way round if I was referring to someone of Asian descent as a foreigner in the UK....well that is not accepted and you know that!

Also note that neither Turkleton nor his wife appear to have used email to find a house either.

I thought that this thread and the comments in it were to do with using agents, not to do with avoiding the agent by doing the rounds oneself.

Either way, my comments were entirely related to how clients should deal with agents and how agents should deal with their clients. And as I mentioned I would want everything in writing when dealing with these agents. They are too dishonest and/or incompetent for anything else.

Even if I was finding a place for myself without an agent I would still want all the details written down in English (by me) before handing any money over.

nothing like a broad sweeping generalization....

please tell us your experience where they have all lied and let you down by being incompetent and how you overcome it? A problem shared and all that.....

In England

Estate Agents & Double glazing sales people

All come from "eggs" out of the same nest....

Most would find it difficult to "hold down" an intelligent useful job...

But the English estate agent does have a much higher standard of dress than some people working in some of the agencies here.....

Here there appear to be a lot of "chancers" who need work permits to stay here, and think "I know, I will become an estate agent".....

you can put a monkey in a hugo boss suit but it's still a monkey!

I fail to see what relevance peoples dress code is to this thread and whether or not they can actually do the job or not just because they aren't dressed to your standards?

work permits cost money and require the individual to pay taxes....if they have no ability then whats the point of having a work permit or pay the taxes... chancers.....well that does sum up many individuals who spend long periods in Pattaya in my experience and certainly not just confined to estate agents...

Excuse me if I don't get into a discussion with you......we are obviously different people

you are excused

In England

Estate Agents & Double glazing sales people

All come from "eggs" out of the same nest....

Most would find it difficult to "hold down" an intelligent useful job...

But the English estate agent does have a much higher standard of dress than some people working in some of the agencies here.....

Here there appear to be a lot of "chancers" who need work permits to stay here, and think "I know, I will become an estate agent".....

you can put a monkey in a hugo boss suit but it's still a monkey!

I fail to see what relevance peoples dress code is to this thread and whether or not they can actually do the job or not just because they aren't dressed to your standards?

work permits cost money and require the individual to pay taxes....if they have no ability then whats the point of having a work permit or pay the taxes... chancers.....well that does sum up many individuals who spend long periods in Pattaya in my experience and certainly not just confined to estate agents...

In Pattaya my old companies slogan was 'we find you a property free of charge'

"we find you a property free of charge" OH REALLY?! maybe you forgot to mention the 1000 or 2000 bahts from the rent that goes to the agency each month!!!

oh dear

Really you should try dealing with estate agents in UK....they don't even do assisted viewings....

They dont attempt to charge 5% commission either.

I expect that most people here know that the main reason agents in Thailand like to accompany buyers on viewings is to ensure that a deal isn't done behind their backs.

correct on the latter yes.....

but as a purchaser or renter you will not be charged, you will get a price agree on it and off you go.... it's entirely up to you if you want to do it, nobody holding a gun to your head...

if you feel aggrieved as a seller or renter then simply do it yourself.... after all it's really easy isn't it.

by the way the OP is interested in properties but doesn't state their budget, what they are looking for or anything on a forum where there are many owners possibly looking to rent and maybe contact him direct.... it goes back to the old saying 'you can't help anyone when they don't want to help themselves'

Cheers

Long-term rental of a small European-style independent house with garden, budget is 20k max. Anywhere from Pattaya, East-Pattaya (would like to avoid busy Soi Khao Noi if possible), Jomtien, East-Jomtien (Soi Chaiyapruk is good) to Na-Jomtien and even farther...

From what I have already visited, I have reasonable expectations but still have preferences for large non-barred windows, bright colors, modern style.

Anyone with a house that'd match please feel free to send me pictures!

Did some of my reasons as to why it is this way satisfy you?

Really you should try dealing with estate agents in UK....they don't even do assisted viewings....

Agents in New York....well you pay them to find you a property...

In Pattaya my old companies slogan was 'we find you a property free of charge'

I am sure it's not much different now!

I used to work in that business in Pattaya many moons ago.....

what the OP describes is true to a certain extent but here's a few reasons....

1, why would anyone rent an office, hire staff and then be transparent about where all their listings are, especially when there is no sole agency and someone could recognize where that property is and go do a deal direct with the owner? or make it easy for the other agents in knowing where their listing is!

2, yes there always was the bungalow/studio in the window cheap and most viewers expected that to be slap bang in the middle of central Pattaya...this was an example and got people through the door, talking-interacting and then getting real about what they can get for their money...

3, the amount of tyre kickers a holiday place has is enormous....In my 8 years working there I see the same old faces year after year who would browse and expect you to take them out....many of them were slippery and were just using the agents for a free ride and always vague about what they wanted to spend, when they were looking to move in etc

I can go on but am sure you get the message.....

by the way the OP is interested in properties but doesn't state their budget, what they are looking for or anything on a forum where there are many owners possibly looking to rent and maybe contact him direct.... it goes back to the old saying 'you can't help anyone when they don't want to help themselves'

Cheers

kidnap her....take her to a disused building, tie her arms behind her back and pull out a plastic bag and tell her if she doesn't tell you where the money is.....only kidding!!!

if not a troll then I suspect that this employee thinks that she should have been put in charge of collecting the rents and got a pay rise or something....you've been there a week and this has happened but never happened before?

you sure your father in law likes you and isn't in on it?

good luck

so the moral of the story is as correct as the title of the OP..... trust no one in Thailand...or anywhere else for that matter!

sad sad world isn't it

oh yes, draw up contracts for people the family have known for generations....as bizarre and insulting it is perceived to be for face etc it saves a lot of hurt

you are prolific on here to the point that as soon as someone says something negative about the locals you jump on it like some guardian angel of the thai people....

end of the day thailand, spain, greece or wherever us white people go and try to settle and have a life on the whole the locals of that particular location get plenty of satisfaction making it difficult for us and would be happier(I use that word loosely as most of them are miserable) if we just cleared off....you included!

the OP has put faith in his extended family friend of 40 years and made a mistake....you were all over him like a cheap suit and you make a habit of this kind of thing on here....

pick the bones out of that

That's quite an exaggeration, norrono, and you know it. I only get annoyed when someone paints all Thais as being a certain way because of the actions of one or a few Thais. Wouldn't you agree that that's despicable behavior? Perhaps not. You seem to have your own issues with the Thais. So when someone bashes on the locals, you love nothing but to jump on the bandwagon. Something you're proud of?

You'll find in my posting history that if I attack anyone, they sure as heck deserved it. I'm no guardian angel, just someone who gets tired of the same BS posted on these forums day after day. But there are some cool people on these forums. They know who they are.

Try taking a break from it all then is the only thing I can say to that....but you do seem to make it priority, are you the voice of the local people?

no exaggerations my end but I stand by the fact that people who move to other countries will vent about the locals, whether they've been stitched up or not, deal with it....

nothing new about the OP's comments.... I have been in certain places in my single man days in Thailand and witnessed the ladies of soi yodsak on the phone to Herman or Dave telling them they love them whilst they are 'on the job'

It's not healthy to keep hearing and seeing these kind of things as it just clouds your views on all women really....whether Thai or whatever....

Not just bar girls either.... keep that in mind all those with a 'good girl'

other way round would they forgive you?

or just chop off your hampton

disgusted at the posters on here saying it's what she might like to look like etc.

young and impressionable people is what they are, innocent and should be protected from the scum.....not wrapped up in cotton wool but certainly not put out there with it all literally in their faces.

I can well imagine the schools where this is happening will do much, seems like zero control out there with the teenagers in school...I know of one teacher who told me about weed-yabba-guns and blades being the norm they are carrying to school, this is a private one as well.