fidelio

seen many people on internet showing off photos of polished rtac's F16s in their hangers..........

when it comes to war the siamese are the french of asia....

spot on....

That's a tough sell... Thailand was the only country in Asia never to be colonized, save Japan. n They haven't won everything, but they've some pretty impressive wins, too. Rama 5 had gotten the Thai empire pretty powerful, expanding the borders on al sides, even controlling parts of China. The Thais were also the only country in SE Asia to attack anyone outside of SE Asia (Sri Lanka) ... Although technically speaking they weren't Thai quite yet ... the Country currently known as Nakhon Sri Thammarat attacked Sri Lanka, but were shown the door when many of the Tamils they hired turned on them on the battlefield, so weakening the country that it accepted membership into Siam.

was not colonized not because it had a mighty army to thwart the western powers but it was mainly due due to the fact that siam had became very war weary after many centuries of wars with her neighbours and particularly after getting painful punishings by the burmese which to this day is fed into school children like their version of the jews holocaust.......

anyhow subsequent rulers realized that wars were to be avoided at almost any cost..........check out how much concessions they had to make to the brits and the french to save itself from being colonized...............

as for the japanese.......instead of standing up to the agressors...........they let the japs cross it's territory to attack allies forces and it's neighbours.............they even decleared war on the americans and the brits .............

Couldn't agree more. Historically Siam is usually the weaker country, especially relative to Burma. Cannot remember how many time the Burmese has invaded Siam, rob their subject, burned the cities kill the men and bring home Siamese cute girls. There are only a handful account whereby The Siamese managed to defense for themselves. Not even sure if they have even tried to invade Burma before.

I know that many Siamese will be angry at me. But that's a fact.

You don't have to apologize for simply telling the truth .

Eventually he will have to give up, though - too many enemies, too little progress (if any), and with every new problem blamed up to him, it's increasingly becoming a fight against the whole country.

Absolute rubbish. Just get out of Bangkok and you will understand that most Thais still love him .

And BTW I do not like him at all.

Thaksin has all the answers ("Anand"), I don't think Thaskin is going to remove himself from the political scene whilst his money is tied up, simple!

That's a very solid point.

Anand, btw, knows it very well, too ("I don't need to give him advise, he's a smart man").

Thaksin CAN make the problems go away, but he WON'T.

Eventually he will have to give up, though - too many enemies, too little progress (if any), and with every new problem blamed up to him, it's increasingly becoming a fight against the whole country.

I mean, his Hun Sen connection will be exploited to no end, and his phone calls on the eve of Oct 7 will always be remembered and brought up.

His dogs just confirmed their loyalties - they will fight to the end, and it's not too far away, time is not on their side.

Time is on Thaksin's side.

He is just waiting for the inevitable to happen .

Judging by amount af trolling and bullshit posted here, I'm absolutely convinced that royalty should be kept off limits.

"Respectful and thoughtful" is not how I would describe Thaivisa, or any other Thai related online community.

Without the possibility of criticism, there can be no real praise.

"In cruder words, just another proof, that the Thai propert market is deeply fuc_ked up"

At least your perspective of the market is. Both you and the OP believe that the developer has dropped the price of unold units by 50%, and that's not true. The developer simply stated that farangs have bought the most expensive units and the remaining units are substantially cheaper.

Liar Liar.

You know better than me that developers will sell a lower price to thais .

In most countries , the mere fact of having different prices for foreigners and locals would get the developer straight to jail.

It's called racial discrimination.

In cruder words, just another proof, that the Thai propert market is deeply fuc_ked up

The noose is tightening....

I'm a Real Estate Broker from America living in Pattaya for the past three years. Additionally I ran a Mortgage Brokerage Business. Coming from south Florida I witnessed the implosion of that market and I see many parallel's here

I swore I was not going to post here anymore more. But after this I had too.

WRONG, again. I am from Miami, and have owned many properties all over Broward County. For those who don't know this is where he is basing his experience on.

The following is why you WRONG, I could add many more, but I had too many beers.

A) All if not all, at least 95% of the condos bought here are bought with cash. Properties bought in SF were purchased 99.99% on mortgages. LARGE DIFFERENCE!

In Pattaya and Jomtien the condos are bought with cash by buyers that have NO concern about making money on them. They are retired and buying as vacation homes or come over here a few times a year. They have ALLREADY made their money. What happens else where is NO concern to them.

C) At least 50% of the properties bought in SF bought were purchased with VERY questionable mortgages with the sole purpose of making money.

D) There is no place in the world like Pattaya and the demand for properties will not decrease but only increase. Why do you think a city of 500,000 people is building 50,000 units? If they were NOT selling then they would NOT be building. The developers are not stopping building, but only INCREASING there rate of building.

Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome back the king of real estate bullshiter : billaaa77

I'm a Real Estate Broker from America living in Pattaya for the past three years. Additionally I ran a Mortgage Brokerage Business. Coming from south Florida I witnessed the implosion of that market and I see many parallel's here. Regarding valuation I have looked at a number of properties here in Pattaya and Jomtien and have yet to see a property that makes economic since. This is exactly what happened in Florida three years before the market crashed. The difference was all the financing options in America distorted the values even more than they are here but the fundamental valuation methods still apply.

Being an investor I use economic value to determine the price I will pay for a piece of real estate, because I'm interested in yield, what is its production value. Of course there are other methods to value real estate and things that affect the value of a particular piece of real estate but I like economic value as my preferred tool to analyze value.

As an example I looked at a very nice condo on the 17th floor of View Talay 2 recently, one bedroom about 85 2m. In tip top condition, top of the line everything, asking price 3.8 million baht. The Seller rents the property for $25,000 baht a month he says but it is currently vacant. My feeling is that he would not find a consistent income stream at that figure and 20,000 a more would be more realistic.

Using the Sellers figure $25,000 baht a month for 12 months the property produces a GOI (gross operating income) of 300,000 baht a year. If we use 20% expense ratio (which is modest in America I wouldn't be interested in anything that would not cover 40%) we have a NOI (net operating income) of 240,000 baht.

Currently I can yield 4% on a completely safe liquid investment. If I'm going to remove 3,800,000 baht from this safety and liquidity and risk that money in an illiquid investment I want to make at least 10%. I'm already making 4% on my money so the production from that condo has to yield me at least 14%. Divide 240,000 by 14% I would have to buy that condo for 1,714,285 baht and that's based on a floated rental figure that I probably cannot get. This is exactly the situation that occurred in the Florida real estate market before it collapsed.

I talk with many investors here that own a lot of real estate and there happy with their investments but most bought 3-5 years ago when numbers made more since. I have seen nothing that makes economic since for me here at current prices. I will say that I'm not working here and really have only been a passive shopper of real estate and that surely these deals can be found by someone that is aggressively prospecting the market. In Florida when the Market topped it took about 2 additional years for Sellers to realize that they had to reduce prices in order to sell their property.

R….

An interesting and educated post.

The conclusion being that properties in Pattaya are more than 50% overpriced....

And you're buying tiny little View Talay units ?

Yes I am. I make 750,000 per unit off a 2.2 million investment. I buy as many as I can. Thanks for asking, but since you have a better idea of where I should put my money, I am all ears.

Bullshiter of the century

I think low-rise (up to 7 stories) will be king and high-rises will struggle.

WRONG, could not be more incorrect even if you tried. The low rise buildings are terrible investments that appreciate slowly if all. And you can forget about trying to sell one, it is not going to happen, unless you have 10 years or so. Buyers like VIEWS of the ocean.

I therefore think that condos (allowing 49% freehold onwership by farangs) will gain in relative importance.

That trend started two years ago, where you been.

The days of stacking cheap bare boxes on top of each other (example: VT) are counted and the market will move towards more aspirational, life-style projects (examples: the Cove or Sunset Residence).

Dude don't you think when you post something here you ought to have a least a little clue what your talking about. The VT projects are great money makers with exceptional ROI. And as for them not selling VT5D sold approximately 64 units last month to go from 40% to 49% foreign ownership and have SOLD OUT. Once again, when it comes to the real estate market you can be guaranteed that 95% of the people that post have NO idea what they are talking about.

Couldn't agree more, estate agents in Pattaya and Jomtien have no idea in what the job involves, i made enquires to sell my property with over 10 different agents and they all just asked me how much i want to sell for with no advice or valuation of their own, i even asked them what i should sell for and none gave a straight answer and most didn't even come to inspect the property, they just took photos from my flash drive that i took for them!

I will answer one of these them I am done here.

Don't you know why none of them wanted to do business with you? I do. If you had a property they think they could sell, you think they would have just walked away? You are just one more person walking into their office with no idea what their property is really worth.

Marking your price way up, when there are another 20 properties just the same as yours priced way less. Why, would they spend time messing with you? They have MUCH better deals to offer their customers. Don't you realize agents have to spend time and money marketing your property? And if they have so MANY better deals than yours, then why would they?

Just one more at this site that does not have a clue that is going to blame an agent because they can't sell their property. Everything can be sold, but at what price. Just reading your post is SO sad and the fact that I am the only one that responded, might even be worse.

Your post just SCREAMS OUT, "I do not have a clue what I am talking about."

Well your post screams out : " I am the king of real estate bullshitter ".

Just two more low life drunks, living here on 20,000 a month mad at the world. Too bad, if you can't do it I can. If you have any money, which I know you don't, I will sell you a few units. Every time real estate is discussed on this site clowns like you come out posting on something you know nothing about. That's why I don't post to much any more because of people like you two!

Actually living on 20,000x25 a month.

You stupid cun_t

please remember that a property in Bangkok is like a bargirl, ages quickly and lacks real substance, that mantra should guide you thru these turbulent times

Yep, a deeply fuc_ked up property market.

There is big money to be made in the Pattaya real estate market, but you really need to know what you doing and what is moving at the present time. The buyers are going more upscale everyday.

All the doom and gloom talkers, as usual, don't have a clue. But they keep talking and posting their crap any way.

I have 5 units in one building that just hit the 49% foreign ownership yesterday. I have already sold 3 in and just re-bought other units. Now the people who want to buy units in the building can no longer go to the sales office and buy them. They have to come to me or people like me. For those of you that say the market is dead, I estimate this building sold 64 units last month to hit the 49%, that is a lot of units.

Pattaya is for the most part not like any other location in that the majority of the people buying here have all ready made their money and really don't care about the world wide economy. Sure, it would better if the economy was still strong, but you can still do well if you know what you're doing.

I have a friend of mine that has even done better than me. He bought 8 units in one building and he lives in 2. He sold the other 6 and then bought 6 more. He is going to make a killing this year.

Cut the fuc_king crap.

You are a liar , nothing else.

There isn't much disconnect between this market and others. The main difference is that the huge rise seen in the west with over borrowing driving it didn't really occur here to the same extent; so unless your name is Bingobongo then chances are you would not expect to see the same slump - a slump perhaps but different extent. Interesting article BTW.

Name another country where prospective sellers raise their price when the market dives ?????

Not every city in Asia is equal on a resume. Working a few years in Tokyo, Singapore, Hong Kong and now Shanghai or Beijing is a major plus for an international career. A post in Bangkok says you're laidback, not very focus on your professional career, maybe even a pervert.

Is it really what professionals think?

Il y a bien qu'un francais pour poser une question pareille...

so much for being accountable for one's own actions and thinking problems thru.......i guess it iss easier to blame fortune and the stars rather than ones own ineptness and general incompetence

Political Turmoil in Thailand Boosts Business for Astrologers

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1221445013...=googlenews_wsj

Gullible brainwashed morons

Hi folks, just returned from a nightmare trip to thailand (no 21 in 8 years),I read all the boards so I am not a total greenhorn.I purchased a house pattaya 2 years ago soley in my name via a company and was planning to go live there soon . Ive had long standing tgf who I allowed to live in the house, known her 5 years, supported her for 4 of them,she been holiday visa to uk about 8 times she just returned 1 week prior with 100 000 bht in her pocket same same each holiday trip before working little bit for me uk . We go out with a mate who works for me 2nd night of my latest holiday,get a bit drunk having a laugh in kareoke bar,she tries to take my keys and wallet off me I resist get my wallet back so she smashes a bottle on my head . I stay out that night after recieving tretment at hospial, on going home next day there is a battered rented pickup outside my house and all the items of furniture ie, sofa, washing machine ,fridge ,beds are being to be loaded into it, I say I am calling polce, bluff !! ,my phone battery is flat and I dont even know their number. the stuff is unloaded and they get off. I ask her the wherabouts of my motorbike (which I stupidly put in her name) and she states shes sold it , I take her bike which I bought for her and tell her she can have it back when mine returns . She goes and shocked ,I start to assess the damage looking round the house in the garden thres a pile of ash from which I recover a unburnt fragment of my passport , the tv and cabinet are missing,Ive forgotten the combo of the safe so when I find the pass key and manage to open it Its empty bar for the company stamp shes had my wallet all my atm cards bar one, £500 cash and all comany papers and chanote from inside the safe. This must be a bad dream....... not!! Last year I allowed her to put her name in the tabian barn / house book and went with her to near Banglamund police station where they copied my passport and I signed somthing written in thai which I could not understand Next day she says she wants to collect the rest of her stuff from the house and arrives alone I give her everythink 99%of which I purchased for her , micrwave, rice cookers kettle dvd remotes from when she rented a room .She says to me mabe I cannot live in my house anymore ,Is this a threat ) I speak to the accountant for my company immediatly, on her departure they have photocopies of my chanote, check my company papers saying to me that she cannot touch the house .I arrange to visit them and leavetheir office 16,000 bht lighter .They reccomend to register new minor shareholders ,their staff on the company, but I can not get a new chanote immediatly as this takes about one month toprocess Ten days later and two trips to the embassy in Bankok and I am in reciept of a new extra pages passport and my pocket is 10,000 baht lighter for the trouble Meanwhile back at the house ,I change locks, alarm and safe numbers have a stainless steel overdoor made and the wrought iron entrance gate made higher ,all the windows having been been grilled by me before . I go with my mates thai wife to Banglamund police station and she speaks good english and we make a statement so it is on record If anything happens to me or the house .I hear from some friends of hers in the uk that she has been to see a solicitor about making a play for the house.She has had acess to all the house papers in the safe for two years and I am scared that somehow without me knowing that she has managed toget her name on them . By me allowing her to put her name in the house book tabian barn haveI left myself open?

I am back in the uk now and stewing till my next trip in 3 months .Anyone any thoughts? Sorry for the bad spellings and lack of proper punctuation but its been a while since I was at school and I USED TO LIKE IT BEST WHEN IT WAS SHUT

I advise all farangs prior to coming to Thailand , to watch the movie Casino and remember what De Niro tells Sharon Stone : " Once a hooker , always a <deleted> hooker".

Need your feed back.

Today after shower I mistakenly chose a black shirt instead the usual Monday yellow one.

Well, I did not to change before to go outside and I went in the streets shamefully with my black shirt (farang + non yellow dressed = too much).

What are you afraid of ?

Thai people won't lynch you for not wearing a yellow shirt on Mondays.

So has anyone got an idea of how this increasingly insane situation will end bearing in mind that both sides have tacit support across the country numbering in the millions? This support cannot just be turned off.

Persoanlly, I cant see past some form of national unity government for set period to resolve all issues although it looks unlikely. Guess we just await something very bad to happen although exactly what we dont know.

Bloodshed : small or large is the only question .

For the rest, it's all same same as 1992 ...

But will that really resolve things this time?

No it won't , just like it didn't in 1992.

So has anyone got an idea of how this increasingly insane situation will end bearing in mind that both sides have tacit support across the country numbering in the millions? This support cannot just be turned off.

Persoanlly, I cant see past some form of national unity government for set period to resolve all issues although it looks unlikely. Guess we just await something very bad to happen although exactly what we dont know.

Bloodshed : small or large is the only question .

For the rest, it's all same same as 1992 ...

As stated in an earlier post, the people of Issarn don't really produce much to benefit the countries economy except a cheap source of labour. The main industry is agriculture on mainly marginal soils and therefore incomes are quite low even by Thai standards. So basically we have one third of the countries population caught in a trap of debt and poverty. The wealthy ruling class would like to keep it this way but as democratically elected governments have to offer some incentives to voters in order to get into power, the people of Issarn are slowly gaining a better deal under a democratic system. Such is the reason PAD wants to exclude them from their right to vote in future elections.

Oh really ?

Who then toils away at rice paddies that have enabled Thailand to become the 1st exporter of rice in the world ?

Doesn't sounfd like a man submitting his resigination today to me. There is a real wild card out there now, the DADD I think is the name anyway pro goverment protestors. The don't have to answer to the public.

"Samak lambasts security officials of Phuket airport

Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej Sunday lambasted security officials of the Phuket International Airport for failing to prevent protesters from shutting down the airport.

Spekaing during his live talk programme on NBT, Samak said the protesters were unarmed so the security officials, who have been trained to cope with terrorists, should have removed them from the airport.

He said the protest at the airport damaged Thailand's reputation as the most favourite tourist destination.

He said the protesters also affected the economy of their own province.

The Nation"

For maybe the first time since he became PM, I agree with Samak.

Well the high-flying chickens of the Thai real estate bubble are starting to come home to roost Did you really think the Thai market would be different than the rest of the world (US, UK, Spain, Singapore, Japan, etc.)!

The Thai developer of the Boathouse "villas" housing development in Cha-am has decided to downshift from B 13M villas to B 4-5M TOWNHOUSES on 35-50 TW plots of land I guess Thai and farang suckers for 13 million "villas" in hick-towns like C-A are harder to come by these days

Oh really, what a shcok...

Lats time I read the Nation it was buoyant...

The difference being that in France the army is under the control of the president and answers to no one else.

I'm not sure this is different - the Thai army ultimately answers to the Thai head of state (which is the King, not the Prime Minister).

As does the British Army.

Let me ask you 2 questions : who decided to send british troops to Irak : Blair or the Queen ?

If the Queen had been against it, could she/would she have been able to stop him ?

Now you should see the big deiiference

No idea what the outcome would have been if Tony B. Liar and old Lizzie had disagreed about grabbing Iraq's oil. I guess they both figured it was a bit of a goldmine to throw their lot in with GWB at the time. Ultimately though, the old girl would technically have the final say if push came to shove.

Technically maybe, but practically no.

Has she ever overuled one major policy decision from one of the many prime ministers who have served her ?