Journalist in Samui Threatened with Violence Over Luxury Villa Report

[wwest5829]

6 hours ago, JimHuaHin said:

Maybe peanuts for you, but not for many, if not most, retired expats in Thailand.

So.I am told. Personally I am retired as an Expat here because it allows me an earned working middle class American retirement unavailable to me in the USA.

[spidermike007]

Any sort of investigative journalism here is very rare and uncommon, and should be encouraged and praised. It is greatly needed and appreciated. Nitwits like this developer need to be ignored, scorned, humiliated, and called out. There's an awful lot of people here with very deep pockets who are morally bankrupt, and their God is the golden calf.

 

Whetever is done to call them out and make their lives difficult is a wonderful thing, and a great sign of progress. 

[Olav Seglem]

Its not a good sign for a country when investigative jounalism are being trethened.

Maybe idea for police to fine the developer for this (as well) 🙂

 

[newnative]

6 hours ago, JimHuaHin said:

Maybe peanuts for you, but not for many, if not most, retired expats in Thailand.

    Plenty of retired expats in Thailand with money.  Pattaya has lots of housing projects with starting prices of 10MB or more.  Many houses at the Siam Royal View project are over 20MB, with some over 100MB.  One is listed for 200MB on Hipflat.

[jaideedave]

6 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

 

I am sure there are good reasons why investigative journalism seems to almost not exist in Thailand.

Journalists want to stay healthy.

And what's the point of reporting crimes when the authorities are often directly involved in this.

TiT

Correct 100%. Most land offices are crooked like a dogs hind leg. Special mention for Samui.Those permits have to be signed off by the same people that are supposed to be enforcing the reguations.What a laff.  

[n00dle]

1 hour ago, Zack61 said:

This needs to be sorted. A friend of mine bought 2 condos/villas at a resort development on Koh Samet some years ago. ( Resort name Pandora I think)

It was later determined, among other things, that half of the resort was built on National Park land and has left the investors out on a limb. There are now lots of lawyers making sh!tloads of money from the fight against the developers to get compensation. I see the same thing happening in this case. 

 

I don't understand why people buy these things from developers.

 

I have a property on one of the islands. I found the land, and built the house. I know everything is legal and well built AND  I have a few rai for privacy.  living in an obviously sketchy development someone else built is my idea of hell.

[ChipButty]

2 hours ago, Sig said:

Do they still seriously sell those there? I remember when they sold those on the street on Khao San! And if I remember correctly, it was only a few hundred baht! lol

I dont know I've not been down there for years, I used to find it funny you could get anything at one time

[ChipButty]

2 hours ago, ronster said:

They started on the lower hill face down from all the original ones you can see from the road and then absolutely destroyed the hill over the back of them near the school .

Looks like a slum in Rio now ! 

That good? what about the height of them? no more than 80 meters above sea level, 

[Baba Naba]

9 hours ago, watchcat said:

 

Inflation

He was saying it was inexpensive, not expensive...  DUH? 🙄

[ChipButty]

I live in the south of Phuket and you don't get much for 10 million Baht, maybe an old Thai style house with a bit of land

[RichardColeman]

Sorry but you could not pay me to live there, constructed by thais - probably with poured cement on sand - on a hill and part of the house is on pillars. Absolute disaster pending on rainy season. RIP in advance to those that may die

[ChipButty]

8 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

 

I am sure there are good reasons why investigative journalism seems to almost not exist in Thailand.

Journalists want to stay healthy.

And what's the point of reporting crimes when the authorities are often directly involved in this.

TiT

The journalist knows exactly who is involved as we all do, maybe he values his life, 

[watchcat]

1 hour ago, n00dle said:

I don't understand why people buy these things from

Anyonene

[damen]

8 hours ago, JimHuaHin said:

Maybe peanuts for you, but not for many, if not most, retired expats in Thailand.

I'd say that getting a villa with a sea view for 10 million baht isn't too dear.

During the Covid period, I bought an older house and land in Phuket for 4 million baht (100 talangwah). I then renovated it for another 2 million baht. Just last month, I sold it to an expat for 12 million baht – and that's without a desirable view like the sea! That just shows the state of the market these days.

I reckon it's a good idea to buy property when the Thai economy seems a bit gloomy. I certainly didn't expect prices to be this high now.

[damen]

  

10 hours ago, ChipButty said:

Luxury villas for 10 million? thats peanuts these days, 

Right you are! Especially considering the sea view that comes with the villa. I must say, the prices in Koh Samui sound rather good at the moment. A touch of envy creeps in, I confess.

Edited July 19 by damen

[damen]

26 minutes ago, ChipButty said:

I live in the south of Phuket and you don't get much for 10 million Baht, maybe an old Thai style house with a bit of land

You're absolutely right, the market's gone mad! In hindsight, I should've snapped up more property during Covid.

[ronster]

33 minutes ago, ChipButty said:

That good? what about the height of them? no more than 80 meters above sea level, 

All have crazy steep roads and basically can touch the property next door .Some of the ones you can see from the main road are mind blowing the height of pillars under them. The ones in the slum have also been on news and getting looked into. PM was actually there looking at them with police etc on clip I seen.

Only restriction I know if building is it can't be more than 6 storey or something . They tried to build a hotel near golf course before and I'm sure it was halted due to them building 2 storeys too much .

[damen]

3 hours ago, Jackbenimble said:

why was the name of the owner withheld in this article? Was it written to expose the journo to further threats? 

A quick Google search for the company's owner's name should do the trick. They're likely a foreigner (farang) with Thai Partner. 

 

Edited July 19 by damen

[n00dle]

9 minutes ago, damen said:

I'd say that getting a villa with a sea view for 10 million baht isn't too dear.

During the Covid period, I bought an older house and land in Phuket for 4 million baht (100 talangwah). I then renovated it for another 2 million baht. Just last month, I sold it to an expat for 12 million baht – and that's without a desirable view like the sea! That just shows the state of the market these days.

I reckon it's a good idea to buy property when the Thai economy seems a bit gloomy. I certainly didn't expect prices to be this high now.

 

10 to 15 million seems to be the sweet spot and has been for a number of years. Iys pretty hard to flog a property that goes into the 20's unless it beyond spectacluar 

[damen]

3 minutes ago, n00dle said:

10 to 15 million seems to be the sweet spot and has been for a number of years. Iys pretty hard to flog a property that goes into the 20's unless it beyond spectacluar 

I think before COVID, ten to fifteen million baht would have been enough to find a property with a sea view in Pa Klok area, if you were persistent in your search. 

[BritScot]

So many billionaires on this site. Quite surprised they have the time to post here. It must be so stressful navigating their luxury estates. Reading about riff raff and their 10 million baht sheds.... I built my detached bungalow of 110 m2, for 750,000baht and I  am very happy with our 3 bedroom home of my design (built in 2010). Land was free as family land. I had plans for a 1.2 million baht house but we felt it was far to big and would stand out in the village. I project managed and purchased everything to ensure it was best quality. Teak doors and windows and quality building material.

[off road pat]

10 hours ago, ChipButty said:

Luxury villas for 10 million? thats peanuts these days, 

Hm,.. 10 million Baht?for something that doesn't really belongs to you !!?? there's one born every minute ! Comes to mind.

 

[OneMoreFarang]

30 minutes ago, ChipButty said:

The journalist knows exactly who is involved as we all do, maybe he values his life, 

 

I don't know who is involved.

And I am pretty sure there is not just one person. Many must know what is going on. And many must have actively looked the other way - probably for years.

 

[pavlo]

3 hours ago, Tubulat said:

Indeed, can remember on Phuket more than 20 years ago, villas were built at a price of 25 million thb.

20 years ago you got 55 thb with one euro, we lived like kings

[John Drake]

11 hours ago, webfact said:

The target market for these luxury villas is foreigners residing in Thailand

 

aka "the bagholders"

[Snackbar]

2 trees and a hammock for two

[Shetraveler]

4 hours ago, smew said:

Typical Thai behavior… anger lies and violence…

Yet here you are.  If you hate Thailand and the Thais so much, why are you here?

[harryviking]

13 hours ago, ChipButty said:

Luxury villas for 10 million? thats peanuts these days, 

LOL! Koh Samui is mafia country! Be aware! Never do business there.

[terryofcrete]

7 hours ago, ronster said:

seen the news report on channel 5 the other day about this place and the ISOC people were struggling to even walk up the main road it was that steep .

Look on the bright side... if it snows there's a readymade ski slope ! 

[NorthernRyland]

7 hours ago, Zack61 said:

It was later determined, among other things, that half of the resort was built on National Park land

Imagine the levels of corruption present for this to happen. Doing a simple perimeter check to ensure the structure is within the bounds of the property is the absolute minimum a local government could do to regulate things. Surely the developers just built on the national forest, paid off the local officials and left the problem to the unsuspecting purchaser.