kinyara

100% Leaver, only realised it reading this thread, all his old chestnuts in one place. For whatever reason I remember newnative's enjoyment and success with his property development hobby and ownership here used to really trigger him. Trying to call the future of the Pattaya direction of the property market is probably well nigh impossible given the sheer geographic and demographic diversity of the customers it attracts. Put simply, there is no typical buyer in my view. I haven't heard of any of the recent major developments struggling to sell out even though the prices are way above what I'd consider good value. So there still seems to be a demand from somewhere as far as I can see. Still no 1 year visa in Vietnam yet Leaver 😂

Indeed, I just had a look at the period I am talking about and KhunHeineken's Australian $ rental budget has declined by 35% when he has converted his " risk free " 5% bank interest to Thai baht. If his 5% bank interest afforded him a 20,000 baht a month rental condo in 2005, it would only get him a 13,000 baht a month unit in 2025. Strange how people never mention one of the single biggest factors involved in an overseas economic decision when it works against them

I'm being selfish I know but I consider further condo development as a bad thing for the liveability of the city. I don't know about KhunHeinekin's Australian dollar but I know my UK pound has decreased from 70 to 43 from the time I bought in Pattaya, so a 5% return on money in the bank at home wouldn't have come near compensating for the effective increase in rental cost due to home country currency decline should I have chosen to rent. I personally wouldn't buy now due to the currency level alone.

Letting people off with a fine is no deterrent for anti-social behaviour. A month or longer in jail depending on the seriousness plus deportation and blacklist has to start becoming the norm. A major change is needed or the place is going to sink further and further into the abyss and put more regular tourists off coming.

I understand from what you have posted before you enjoy the process of property flipping but do you ever stay long enough in one property to get that homely feeling. 14 moves so far is an unbelievably high rate.

Don't forget he's got to get permission to leave the country due to an outstanding case against him, and his last recent attempt to go overseas was refused

My situation was a little bit like Fulhamster. When I got a new passport nothing was said about a new TM30 when I transferred the stamps, however when I did my next retirement extension they asked me to do a new TM30. I'd say nothing is certain with Jomtien so I'd just progress one step at a time as you say and see if they bring it up. It's not a big deal filing a new TM30.

Why would you even contemplate using one when you have the pre-determined pricing model of Grab and Bolt at your fingertips Just another irrelevant whinge from a perennial moaner. Is this the nearest thread you can find to work in your daily policing whine ?

Utter garbage, a total fallacy. The Southern provinces bordering Malaysia are hugely dependent on their neighbours for tourism, why would tourists fly there when it's more convenient and cheaper to cross by land. Same applies to other neighbouring crossing points, after all if it's good enough for Westerners travelling around SE Asia why wouldn't Asians from those countries do the same coming to Thailand for a holiday. Yeah let's count every Cambodian and Burmese worker coming into Thailand and earning a pittance as a tourist so we can show a huge increase in our tourism revenue. Seriously ? Aside from the fact the length of stay figures by those countries, which they publish, don't support your theory, they would be shooting themselves in the foot by lowering overall average spend per tourist - a figure they want to show increasing.

I haven't seen what you describe happening in Jomtien yet, I'd say the Indians stay in south/central Pattaya. For as long as I remember the beach side of Pattaya beach road has always been a blight of open solicitation and down and out local drunks, druggies and vagrants. The fact the authorities didn't clean it up years ago answers your question - nothing WILL be done about it. Avoiding it and obvious areas where what you dislike happens is your only solution.

I tend to agree with you having seen a notable increase of anti-social behaviour and criminal behaviour in Pattaya in the last year. I don't know whether it's down to the entry relaxation, legalisation of marijuana, extension of late night drinking hours or a combination of all 3, but something has changed it for the worse. I don't think the volume approach is working in Thailand's favour, it's lowering the attractiveness and quality of the main tourist areas with debatable legitimate revenue benefits. Unfortunately the country is so corrupt that I can't see the powers that be ever being capable of improving the product offering to attract a better standard of tourism. They cater to predominantly cheap mass tourism which they need to absorb a vast unskilled labour force.

They are not in line to smash 40 million tourists this year and it will never happen while the Chinese are staying at home. No other market can generate sufficient numbers to compensate for their shortfall.

I personally can't see the attraction of Thailand for the Chinese package tour bus loads that are staying at home. Being bussed around to crappy man made " attractions " and in some cases pressured to buy absolute tat would be my idea of the holiday from hell. They may go once but I'd have thought they'd be unlikely to be repeat visitors. Can't help feeling Thailand is a bit past its sell by date as an attractive destination for numerous reasons that you read about in the news on a daily basis. A lack of public infrastructure investment, corruption, poor transport and other safety, policing that's more about fining tourists for minor traffic offences than providing a safe environment to enjoy a holiday, violence and very average service standards compared to the competition. Would anyone say that Phuket, Pattaya or Samui are more attractive value for money places to holiday now than say 10 years ago ?

I don't know who is buying in there but given the sheer scale I suspect it would be reasonable to assume this could be another AirBNB job used more as a hotel than a permanent residence. That is just going to increase the traffic scenario above.

Given the traffic levels around the lights at the Pratumnak intersection if the crane had toppled in that direction it could have been carnage. I'm presuming there has been zero thought by the powers that be to the absolute traffic gridlock that is going to result when that condo is finished. I can see a scenario in peak season where traffic is backed up half way down the hill. Crazy they allowed something that big to be built with the infrastructure limitations.