rick75

Midas in regards to our posts about you not finding an economist who thinks gold will drop....I was at a business function yesterday and one of the keynote speakers was an economist, I baled Him up and asked Him about the price of gold and where its going, the gents name is Kim Houghton and not only does he have doctorate in economics but His original calling was in geology so this guy is certainly qualified to give an opinion. He said that gold is certainly overpriced and should drop......but..... human nature is something that ways heavily and as such where gold should be and where it ends up are two very different things....but His feelings were it would drop.

So there you have it a genuine economist with an opinion on gold.

Really great film, made Me stop and think.

Thanks for sharing.

You should be able to watch the segment on the ABC online and make up your own mind, He backed up His argument with a couple of Stats.

My gut feeling and I have been watching the gold market on a daily basis for 20 years as its a big part of my business, is that the World is not going to come crashing down and that He is right, Gold is over valued and will slide over the next 6 months. If I am wrong I guess I am ok as I have a fair whack of gold in stock.

Marcus Padley and it was on ABC Inside Business, I have a mate who is big in investing in metals, His focus moved away from gold and has been on the white metals, Palladium, Platinum and Rhodium.

I was watching a show this morning in Australia and they had an economist on, His advice is gold is way over valued and not a great way to hold your investment let alone make money........I really don't know, trying to guess the gold price is a mugs game and this was told to me by a bullion dealer some 10 years ago.....I have my jewellery store on the market at the moment if anybody wants to buy gold, you can buy a shop full.

You guys don't get it there are plenty of people running around with large amounts of stuff like this, you don't walk in off the street and get an insurance policy to cover this sort of stuff but by prior negotiation you will get coverage for just about anything, you tell them what you want, how the goods are stored, how many days a year you are on the road, peak amount of goods carried as well as average goods carried...insurers come back with a price, you take the policy or you don't.

I don't know what His insurance covers or even if the guy has any insurance and neither does anyone else here, all this speculation is pointless.

The jewellery was not left overnight, he dropped into a cafe for breakfast and while in there his car was broken into.

Soupdragon exactly correct its not hard to spot a travelling Rep if you know what to look for, this type of thing happens all the time obviously it is not made public, for fear of copycat crimes.

Candyman I do this for a living I know with 100% certainty what I am talking about

Of course you can leave goods unattended in a car, as said above usually in the boot.....whats safer walking into a public restroom with a bag full of jewellery or locking it in the car and taking a piss?, if the dude is a sales rep what has happened here (apart from maybe leaving it in the passenger section of the car) is standard practice in the jewellery industry. Its does ot say where the jewellery was taken from they could have smashed the window to get into the car to trigger the boot release.

Who leaves 30mil in a car......lots of people they are called sales Reps, gem dealers etc, one poster was on the money though, the standard is for the ports to locked in the boot of the car, usually the boots are lined and ports are locked in place with either a cage or a simple chain and lock set up, there are plenty of insurance companies that cover for this type of thing you just need to ask. I would take a punt and say the value quoted is probably retail and not wholesale.

Any other questions?

Back on topic of where to buy a house, what does your partner think......if I was only in the country 50% of the time I would think its important for Her to be happy with the location...family or good friends around for when you are away.....happy wife happy life.

If I worked off shore I would be happy to spend my R & R in a nice seaside location thought about the eastern seaboard, a couple of hours from Bkk.

Actually just found 2010 figures for USA

1,777,000 Phillis vs 222,700 Thais

This tells us The Philli's are now going home and the Thai's are coming.

KerryK did you just pluck those figures from thin air I just googled it comes up with.

35,000 Thais in Australia 135,000 Phillipinos

146,000 Thais in the USA 2,100,000 Phillipinos

So in Australia its a ratio of 3.9 : 1 Philli : Thai

America 14.5 : 1 Philli : Thai

This tells Us Phillipinos love America, not that Thais don't travel well.

Cheers

KerryK you have to be joking Philippine women, now there is a breed that are nothing but trouble, if by flourishing you mean marry, send crazy and then divorce there husbands in a 5 year time frame....well yes then they do flourish....you know nothing of Thai's outside of Thailand, In Australia I see many that are happy contended partners that go on to spend many many happy years together.... maybe its our climate we are warm like Thailand in most areas as opposed to say Europe with its harsh climate.....dude you need to follow your own advice....offer information only on subjects you have experience with.

I think it's been a great topic too, there has been a few trying to derail it, but I am glad to see they have not prevailed.

Masterbiker a lot of Us have great wives, but who wants to hear about it, the horror stories are much more interesting then marital bliss.

NewlyMintedThai, could you give Us all a brief run down on the property you sold? area, number of bedrooms, m2. I for one would greatly appreciate that insight.

Also in regards to Thai's vs Falang and prices, It has been my experience that condo's that are part of the foreign ownership quota will have a higher buy price.....At least in Baan Sathorn that was the case.

We stayed at Unico Sandara last Songkran, its on the beach Road as well, they have a roof top pool as well as a pool out the back, have a large kids room with games etc, the breakfast was not fantastic but its a nice newly refurbished hotel.

Of course its true, Thailand is a source for Steroids, Pseudoephedrine and other pre-cursors, Thailand would be like a supermarket to bikies.

xybadog, it never ceases to amaze me that people will go into the same location with the same type of business over and over again thinking they can make a go of it, yeh in some instances the cards are stacked against the owner and for one reason or another the business dies, but what you have said in regards to location etc is utter nonsense....I have seen it plenty of times.

Randysavage is it not just a little cliched to be be an expat buying a struggling bar thinking you can make a difference and add to the pot you have never owned a bar....seriously give yourself an uppercut.

The ones on here giving you negative responses are the people you should be listening too....why would you want to put yourself through the misery of owning a bar in Thailand.

rgs2001uk, in regards to the lease I don't have reservations I just added that so we didn't have to listen to your mad if you trust your wife type conversations.

If we were looking at condos we would be looking at the cheap Thai owned ones also, She has a friend Here in Australia that owns 3 condo's in Bkk, the rental returns are ok

but for 2 million baht price tag return is only 20k a month per condo.

I was just throwing the idea out there, we are both only young and will be working here in Australia for quit a few years to come, but for something down the track

What about rental accommodation, could be as basic as say convert two 4 story shop houses into small Thai rooms 4 floors 2 rooms per floor per building @1500 - 2000bht/month, through to something a little larger purpose built 2 story 30 rooms...any guys had experience with this type of thing I have seen a couple for sale on the Thai sites, the numbers seem to stack up ok......obviously wife owns it I lease it etc etc

We are talking in the cities or larger centres focused on working Thais or students, this is not luxury accommodation, its cheap.

Any thoughts?

Use a scalpel to remove as much as you can then use plain old petrol, not sure what effect it will have on other things like the paint on your fridge etc, but it will dissolve the silicon.

(and five free beers at the Londoner for whoever started this thread, and I mean it)..

Agreed this thread has been very useful. Thanks to those that have been making reports, If and when I begin seeing water I will report it as well but right now my area around Big C on Ratchada soi Nathong is dry.

I seem to remember that when this thread was started it included a link to a crowd sourced Google map, or was that another thread? I still have the link to the map but it hasn't been updated in a while. Has it been given up on?

Thanks.

Here is the link to the google map you are talking about

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=213316271188739590317.0004b016cc08a39456d14&msa=0&ll=13.73605,100.591164&spn=0.178424,0.338173

Just thought I would add a little advice, I am in the Lockyer Valley in Australia and we went through some large flooding earlier in the year, when putting stuff up high away from the water think about what you are putting it onto, is it a solid structure or something that will float, it may seem crazy but a lot of people out here put valuables up high on things like fridges and they float and the items fall off. The best place is up in the roof cavity its solid and so long as the flooding does not engulf your whole house your gear will be ok. I know its not much but it may help someone.