mauiguy90

Nick,

You can try SK Tower, which is close to the BTS at Thonglo. They charge extra for monthly rentals but its a cheap although not so pretty room. Just remember that the owners are Chinese, so anything you ask for including a tv, refrigerator, blankets, etc are not free. A tenant that my wife is helping find a new place complained that the area is dusty because of the nearby construction as well as the noise. I don't know firsthand but you can't ask for a more convenient location.

Premier Inn is also an option although its pretty old. However, lots of expats like living there and its very convenient for a short term stay. Its kind of funny but they charge extra for a room with a window. However, everything is included for that price: cable, room cleaning, new sheets(twice a week), electricity and water(tap). They also have internet which I think has an extra charge, as well as a charge for premium cable channels.

Honey Hotel also has rooms. There are rooms at Suk 22 at another place called Honey ____. Both places are not great but convenient.

Good luck!

Nasty Landlord--Sex with Teen in Tenant's Room

In our experience as real estate agents, we've had lots of fascinating experiences and great people--however, some have been tragically disgusting! Last week one of our tenants walked into his room at condo(close to BTS Udomsuk) and found a naked girl lying in his room. He said he thought it was his birthday! Two seconds later, the owner, who is a doctor at several major hospitals(one close to Central World), walked out of the bathroom half dressed with his pants unzipped. The doctor apparently had come into our customer's room and had sex with his college "gik" when our friend Joshua was working. The doctor, who is also a surgeon, then promptly pushed Joshua out of his own room and left him standing in the hallway. Needless to say, our friend Joshua was confused.

Joshua was quite sure that the doctor has been using his room to have sex since his electric bill was up even though the previous month he went out of the country. It made no sense to Joshua since the doctor has another studio in the building which is empty and available for rent. Shockingly, even though the doctor knew he was 200% wrong, he offered Joshua only half his deposit back. Eventually the doctor gave Joshua a full deposit, but only because there was a police officer standing outside the manager's office(in addition to Joshua's warning that he would wipe the good doctor's smug look off his face!).

By the way, there is (or was) security video tape of the good doctor entering Joshua's place. However, since the building mgmt has since decided to help the good doctor rent out his now empty unit, the tape may have mysteriously disappeared! At least one other agent (who posts on craigslist) we know has chosen to assist helping the "unfortunate" doctor find new tenants.

The doctor now has two studios available for rent in the building (and a 1 bed unit already rented out.) They are both available cheap!(Studio 8K; One bed was 10K). Out of 4 tenants, Joshua is the only one who ever received any deposit back (according to the mgr and association head). The landlord also kept Joshua's friend's advance deposit after the good doctor decided not to rent out the 2nd studio (we paid the guy back). Any one interested?

The room is quite nicely furnished and even has a 32" LCD tv. It also has a great view on a very high floor. The only " catch" is that you will never see your deposit again and that you will have to change your sheets when you come back home everyday(and buy lots of toothbrushes). Hurry! Supplies are limited!

We have a studio at Thonglo close by to the BTS station there. It rents for 13K baht and is available for a 3 month rental. Call Randy at 086-733-1495 if you are interested.

Best of luck!

We have a 3 story townhouse for 15K baht, close by to the new BTS station at Punwithi, which is around Sukhumvit 101/1. There is also another one in the Central Rama III area. Both of them allow pets.

We also have modern 1 & 2 bedroom condos at Bangna for 16-17K baht.

Call Randy at 086-733-1495 when you have time.

Wonder why I cannot find this location listed in Villa's store locator. Just curious as I know where Paradise Park is.

The Paradise Shopping Center is a new upscale hi-so complex on Srinakarin Road, which you can access by driving up Sukhumvit 103 (Udomsuk). If you are from central Sukhumvit, you have never heard of any of these places. If you live in the area, its quite convenient, however, Srinakarin Road is undergoing renovation which has been going on forever, so getting there from Sukhumvit itself is quite challenging and time consuming. I love the shopping center but I hate the drive there. FYI the parking structure is very convoluted there (in short, it sucks!)

Can you share the serviced apartment if it is any better?

Prefer not to, though I have already found a nice place near a BTS, they're doing a 2 and a bit contract for me, and it's cheap too, my contact in BKK is going to go get the details etc, and if all good pay the deposit as well... see how we go, should have an answer by this week.

Customer of mine found a place on Sukhumvit 39 which apparently does some short term rentals in your price range. Send me a PM for details. Otherwise good luck in your new place!

Suggest you post in the pets section to get a better response. Have read previously that there is a large park that allows dogs. May have been at the King's Park but its better if you use the search function to re-check. Good luck!

When all else fails, try Sunbelt Visa. Heard that Greg, who also owns the Sunrise Tacos place by Suk 12 sometimes is willing to talk business. They have a walk in shop just across from Sunrise Tacos shop by the Times Square complex.

Deposit should be payed as a cashier check, cost 20-30 baht. Ask her to email correct name in english (according to her ID card). Bring a copy of check and she signs on copy she has recieved it. If deal is off, cashier check can be refunded to the person buying it in the bank

Sorry but I don't agree that the above statement is correct. A cashier's check is basically the same thing as cash. It guarantees that the receiver will get their money. It does not guarantee that the sender will get their money back.

In general, any advance deposit is made with the understanding that once payment is made, it is not refundable unless the room is not available. The advance deposit is a guarantee that the landlord will save the specific dates for the renter. The landlord holds the room for the renter and in turn is guaranteed of payment for the specific period. An advance deposit is used to pay for the room whether the renter shows or does not show.

Very few landlords will refund your money if you show up and decide you don't like the room unless there is some type of special guarantee of satisfaction. To simplify things, just remember that a rental is very similar to a hotel room. Once you pay for it, very few hotels will refund your money if you don't like the room. A good hotel will try to adjust the accomodations, however, very few will refund your money (unless there are heavy penalties).

To answer your original question, there are no guarantees. My wife is an agent and she recently had a landlord who received an advance deposit for a room thru an ATM transfer. The owner later decided he didn't want to rent the room out and didn't return the deposit. Since it appeared that he was a vindictive type and had a lot of money(a surgeon), she decided that it wasn't worthwhile to pursue the matter with the police. Since I'm the one who pays for the bills, I ended up returning the money to the prospective tenant. I doubt most agencies would do the same.

Proceed with caution when dealing over the internet. I would only do rental transactions face to face with the owner as well as the agent. Don't leave the table without proper documentation including ID and signatures, receipts and contracts. Best of luck!

My wife is an agent who helps owners sell their condos at Bangna. Several are at the 1 million baht price range near the Bangna BTS to be opened within a couple months. PM me if you're interested. Otherwise check out the Bangna or Ladprao areas (or beyond). There are condos in this price range, however, they will not be right next to the station. Generally those next to the station start from 2 million baht and up, if you are lucky.

Most decent short term rentals, condo or apartments would run in the 15-20K range. There are exceptions however, they take a lot of walking and talking to find. Most condo owners are not interested in short term rentals. There is a very nice serviced apartment in the Victory Monument area called Starryplace. They have a website by the same name. They have one bedrooms in the 16-18K range plus utilities. There's another one in the same soi (Rangnam) called VP Towers. Its a bit older but has a pool and a good expat group. Premier Inn is an older place in Suk 20 which rents by the month for 15K and up. Its not beautiful but its very convenient. All of these places will clean your room, change your linens and towels and generally have some type of food service. Good luck!

Very very difficult to find a pet friend condo near or far from the BTS/MRT. 99% if not more of condo complexes do not allow pets, although some will choose to ignore small pets. Some apartments will allow pets and you can check 9apartment to see which ones are close to the BTS/MRT. If you are not familiar with the terminology, apartments are rooms in a building owned solely by one landlord. Rooms in condos are owned by individually. Recommend that you post in the thaivisa pet forum if you want results. Bangkok is generally not pet friendly.

Craigslist and Bahtsold are two good sources. Craigslist is free, however, can be problematic since the volume of listings is huge. To be effective, you need to update the listings every week or sooner. Bahtsold has a good following however not as well known as thaivisa . Mrroomfinder is okay but its hard to find your listing among the huge numbers of condos and apartments.

If you're looking for flexibility, you can consider joining the Clark Hatch gyms. Pretty sure they cost about 15K per year and should provide you with a number of locations around Bangkok and possibly around the world. They have an outlet in Silom in the Thaniya Road area and also at the Windsor Hotel at Sukhumvit 20, as well as at some of the Amari Hotels around town. If you are looking for even less expensive, the Windsor will let you join for 8000-9000 baht (without the Clark Hatch membership). My friend Herb goes there and they give him that rate. They really want members, so press them to get the best rate.

I've also heard that the JW Marriot and the Sheraton Grande have very nice clubs. Fitness First at the Landmark is great as well. Most of these hotel memberships, allow swimming privileges as well, which is great. All are higher priced, however, not as congested as the more commercial clubs.

For that length of time, you can find a decent studio in most areas in Sukhumvit. A friend of mine stays at the Trendy in Sukhumvit 13. There's also the Omni in Sukhumvit 4(loads of expats). Frankly speaking, there's a number of places you can stay at if you are willing to sign a 6 month contract. You can even stay at the Premier Inn, which I think may have lowered their prices to 15K per month for their cheapest rentals (old building but lots of expats to hang out with).

If you are looking for something nicer, my wife is an agent who can find something for you. Just PM me. If you are willing to live further down Sukhumvit in the new extension area, she has 8000-8500 baht rentals in a pretty new condo with a pool and fitness room, right next to the BTS station. Otherwise, there are loads of places you can check out on craigslist or thaivisa.com which can meet your needs.

What's all the clatter about? I guess some folks just never learned how to read properly. The OP said specifically said "dosent need to be just korean but all you can eat is allways nice for a low price.." Let's not get picky about the type of BBQ since the OP apparently is open to either thai or Korean BBQ's.

However just want to note that the Korean BBQ across from JUSCO is not there anymore. I also picked up a condo brochure which describes a similar location to where Family BBQ is (or used to be). It may be gone as well. As noted, these thai BBQ places make great locations for new condos.

The SM Grande has very nice studios all utilities included for 20K baht per month. They are located in Soi 4, probably about 500 meters on the left hand side of the road just a block or so before the Ibis Hotel. They have a small gym and pool. Its a nice place although they might be strict about guests staying over night. Their number is 026969000. If you google them, I'm pretty sure they have a website.

There are several serviced apartments in the Pratunam/Victory Monument area. VP Tower, Starry Place and Rachaprop Mansion(?) are among the ones I know about offhand. I can recommend the first two but have not seen Rachaprop Mansion myself.

You can also take a look at the Premier Inn on Soi 22. Its a bit run down but I have friends that like living there. They have a good expat crowd there and a number of long stay customers. They cost between 15-17K per month, depending on whether you bargain or not(all utilities included plus linen regular linen changes and room cleaning).

Trials will continue ad hoc with full trials from 16 June to opening date.

Last week, the Bangkok Post announced that during the testing period from June 16th, the BTS extension will open for passengers free of charge.

Actually, the trials won't be open to anybody, as I understand it. They are testing the trains and tracks ready for opening on August 12th. The service from Bearing to On Nut will run free of charge from August 12th until January 1st, meaning going from Bearing to the middle of Bangkok will only cost me 40 baht, saving me a taxi to On Nut and then hopping on the BTS. Can't wait!

Really the main thing is that the darn thing opens soon. If you live anywhere close to the extension, you know that the stations were starting to show wear and tear since they actually were finished a long time ago. Most thai people I've talked to say the delay is all about money changing hands. Thai people see it everyday and take it in stride. If there's another delay, then its likely the same thing is happening all over again.

There's one called Family BBQ. It costs either 99 baht or 119 baht(haven't been there recently). Its just off the MRT station at Petchburi. They have a good assortment of pre-cooked food as well as food that you barbeque yourself.

There's also another one at the far end of Sukhumvit 39 where it meets with Petchburi Road. The prices are similar to Family Barbeque. Both places have an extra charge for everything you get including the barbeque grill itself, ice, cold napkins, etc.

Most of these barbeque or "muu gaa ta" places are ridiculously cheap. In the past, they were several on Sukhumvit. However, since these barbeque places are fairly large and have had street front locations, they are slowly disappearing and being replaced by----condos. Enjoy these barbeque places while they last...

Trials will continue ad hoc with full trials from 16 June to opening date.

Last week, the Bangkok Post announced that during the testing period from June 16th, the BTS extension will open for passengers free of charge.

Shocking to hear that Seve died. The golfing world has lost a great champion. Feels like we've lost a friend...

In mid-Sukhumvit around soi 22, most places will charge 300-400 baht. May Massage next to the Queen's Park Hotel does traditional massage, although many other locations give less than traditional massages. Of course, those places that have no private stalls are the safest (although the most motivated masseurs seem to manage). If you want cheap along Sukhumvit, go to Suk 77/1, which is close by to the Onnut BTS station. In this little subsoi, there must be at least 8 shop houses that have massages for 100 baht an hour. You do have to shop around to find a really good place but there are several there. Pratunam also has a few cheap and decent massage places.

Long as you stay away from Nana and the high end tourist areas, prices are fairly reasonable. (I am not in any way suggesting that Nana is a high end tourist area.)

MG

I know of great new 50 sqm condos in the Udomsuk area with its own gym, swimming pool and close by to Top's Supermarket. With the skytrain extension opening in June, these condos are really cheap renting for 11K baht and up. However, the OP said that he will be working in the Saphan Kwai area. There are also a lot of apartments in the Soi Intamara area that are not expensive, although you have to do a bit of exploration. Further in the soi, there are lots of apartments and some condos in the Huay Kwang area, which is connected to Saphan Kwai thru Soi Intamara. If you're adventurous, jump on a bus into the soi and get off when you see something you like. Its a thai thai area but most places that fit your with 11K budget are very thai.

Or just check out soi Sailom, which is also called Phahonyotin Soi 2, which you can get to from the ARi BTS station by walking down a small soi directly across from Soi Ari. It gets very thai in just a few meters, but the area is safe and you can find a 5000-7000 baht place easily there. Two of the better ones are in Soi Sailom next door to each other. Take the one that costs a bit more--they are friendlier and the apts are a bit nicer.

Agreed that Chatuchak has a great assortment of beautiful dishes. If you get lost, run through the subway exit of Kamphaeng Phet. The dishes area is about a block from there, towards the JJ Shopping Plaza and the bus terminal.

If you don't have the appetite or time to wander around Chatujak, run over to Home Pro at Ploenchit BTS.. Surprisingly, this week they have an assortment of dishes for 35 baht apiece and 3 for 100 baht. They won't have everything you need but they will enough good quality stuff to get you started. If you like tumblers of different colors, Index has a bunch of them for about 30 baht apiece. They look nice but since they are plastic, they don't last that long.

If you are looking for cheap good cotton towels, they sometimes sell them at Suk 41 in the little shopping complex next to Top's. I got some really large ones which were selling by the kilo, for about 40-50 baht apiece. When they have them, its a great deal.