Pattaya Condos: History and Future

[Mark1969]

I just viewed another one today...

 

The place was a mess. Told agent to turn on the water. Kitchen faucet had no water flow at all 🤡. Bathroom sink faucet spurts out in two weak streams. Place was filthy.

 

Showing this trash is bad for an agencies reputation. They need to get this bunk fixed before places are shown. Answer, was it will be cleaned and fixed before move in. So view it a second time I guess when it's presentable??

 

Some bloke had left it vacant ages ago and returned to the Uk and just let juristic deal with it. This was also in one of the better buildings in town (not a cheap building). Lots of hogwash being shown by the agents in town currently.

 

I'm going to start taking pictures and posting them here if it's allowed.

[JensenZ]

1 hour ago, Mark1969 said:

I just viewed another one today...

 

The place was a mess. Told agent to turn on the water. Kitchen faucet had no water flow at all 🤡. Bathroom sink faucet spurts out in two weak streams. Place was filthy.

 

Showing this trash is bad for an agencies reputation. They need to get this bunk fixed before places are shown. Answer, was it will be cleaned and fixed before move in. So view it a second time I guess when it's presentable??

 

Some bloke had left it vacant ages ago and returned to the Uk and just let juristic deal with it. This was also in one of the better buildings in town (not a cheap building). Lots of hogwash being shown by the agents in town currently.

 

I'm going to start taking pictures and posting them here if it's allowed.

Just viewed another one today to rent, or buy? 

[Mark1969]

Does anyone know what the Juristic Office is getting out of repairing and managing condo's?

 

I have been to a couple units where they are not doing their duty but I have been told by either the agent or the owner that they were handling it?

 

Do they get paid by the owner (absentee in another country) and then just slack off or are they doing it for some other reason?

 

When I entered with the Thai agent they kept their shoes on. 🤣 The floor inside was dirtier then the hallway.

[Mark1969]

2 minutes ago, JensenZ said:

Just viewed another one today to rent, or buy? 

Rent

[JensenZ]

3 minutes ago, Mark1969 said:

Rent

In that case, don't even think about it. If they can't fix stuff before new tenants move in, you're in trouble if something needs to be repaired after you've signed the lease... and then you have to ask, what are the chances of getting your deposit back when you leave, with dodgy landlords or agents?

[newnative]

4 hours ago, JensenZ said:

My gf works for a major Condo development company. I'm not trying to sell anything, but the scale of some of these condo projects is massive. Take a look at Marina Golden Bay Pattaya, still under construction, just off Theprassit Road. They tap the Chinese market, not for tourists, but for investors.

Yes, both the scale and the number of projects.

[scubascuba3]

2 hours ago, Mark1969 said:

I just viewed another one today...

 

The place was a mess. Told agent to turn on the water. Kitchen faucet had no water flow at all 🤡. Bathroom sink faucet spurts out in two weak streams. Place was filthy.

 

Showing this trash is bad for an agencies reputation. They need to get this bunk fixed before places are shown. Answer, was it will be cleaned and fixed before move in. So view it a second time I guess when it's presentable??

 

Some bloke had left it vacant ages ago and returned to the Uk and just let juristic deal with it. This was also in one of the better buildings in town (not a cheap building). Lots of hogwash being shown by the agents in town currently.

 

I'm going to start taking pictures and posting them here if it's allowed.

You realise people are told to turn the water off when away? 

[Mark1969]

48 minutes ago, JensenZ said:

In that case, don't even think about it. If they can't fix stuff before new tenants move in, you're in trouble if something needs to be repaired after you've signed the lease... and then you have to ask, what are the chances of getting your deposit back when you leave, with dodgy landlords or agents?

Good point. If stuff is not fixed and it's dirty it most likely means they are running out of money, not that they are lazy. I was thinking it was just laziness. I'm always worried about deposit returns. It was actually a top agency in the area, not a sketchy agent.

[Mark1969]

43 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

You realise people are told to turn the water off when away? 

I asked for it to be turned back on to check water pressure. The problems surfaced after that. Always check water pressure! (or, in this case no pressure at all 🤣). It spurted in the bathroom and nothing in the kitchen so I know it had been turned on. In the bathroom sink it spurted out in two streams, but not enough to wash your hands easily. The agent said the whole faucet needed replacing.

 

Was pretty embarrassing (loss of face) for the agent and their company as well. They probably would have just rented it if I paid the deposit that day without checking it.

 

I also flushed the toilet and when I lifted the lid and looked in the bowl there was a large plastic bag in there of something which was strange. Someone had tied stuff in a plastic bag and left it in the toilet. 🤣

 

There were also strange fairly deep cracks in the walls in the main living area, which looked like earthquake damage. It was something to consider however as it was a very tall building, possible something going on with the structure of the walls or the drywall. I'm not an engineer so can't say for sure if it was superficial or not, but it was unsettling being that high up. If they call back reporting it fixed perfect I may go back to review and I will post some pictures here of the cracks in case someone knows here.

[newnative]

8 hours ago, KhunHeineken said:

You're still not getting it.

 

You want to portray a big segment of the buyers market are looking for a "2 bedroom 2 bath seaview condos in foreign quota with a price less than 8MB are for sale in Wongamat." when they simply are not. 

 

Your property for sale, whilst you would like members to believe will attract a lot of interest, is in competition with hundreds, yes hundreds, of other properties here.   

 

The next thing you will be saying you have the only "seaview" condo for sale on the market. 

     I was just using the 2 bedroom as an example, as I did with the car example using Honda CR-V and Toyota Camry.  I could just as easily have said a 1 bedroom in Cosy Beach, a Toyota Fortuner, and a Honda City. 

     In both cases, I was illustrating that when you are in the market for a specific item, as an EXAMPLE a 2 bedroom condo in a specific area or, as an EXAMPLE, a Honda CR-V of a certain model year range, studio condos or Toyota Camrys for sale don't figure in--they're not what you are looking for--so the numbers available reduce. 

    Once you put in other wants, such as foreign quota, and, yes, seaview, the number of Pattaya condos for sale that meet your criteria will continue to reduce.   I think you know all of this already--nobody's that obtuse.   I no longer own any Pattaya condos, by the way, seaview or otherwise.

[topt]

5 hours ago, newnative said:

    Again, a poor reader.  This is the first, and only, thread I have initiated in some 12 years as a Thai Visa/Asean Now member.  I have also listed many more benefits than just hanging my own art--you somehow missed all of those, too, with your poor reading skills.   In any case, why don't you just keep enjoying the benefits or renting and I'll just keep enjoying the benefits of owning and we'll both live happily ever after.

Just to let you know this poster enjoys your contributions to property threads that you post in. 

I am sure I remember you and KH "clashing" in a past thread but could be mistaken.

The continual twisting of the narrative is unfortunately a trait of certain posters.......

[newnative]

Just now, topt said:

Just to let you know this poster enjoys your contributions to property threads that you post in. 

I am sure I remember you and KH "clashing" in a past thread but could be mistaken.

The continual twisting of the narrative is unfortunately a trait of certain posters.......

Thanks, appreciate it.  I'm wondering if he might be the reincarnation of another poster I also used to spar with many moons ago called Leaver, who was similar in many ways. 

[KhunHeineken]

6 hours ago, aBigSmile said:

Darn, you must be a genius, because the meaning of your observation deeply, profoundly eludes me. Oh well...

Perhaps you can explain how foreign condo owners actually own the land their condo block sits on? 

[CallumWK]

7 minutes ago, newnative said:

I'm wondering if he might be the reincarnation of another poster I also used to spar with many moons ago called Leaver,

 

No he isn't, he's just a negative PITA in every thread he enters, and pretend to know everything better about everyone.

Scaremongering in the income tax and other threads in the financial forums is a trademark of him.

 

Think most long time members have him on ignore

[Mark1969]

Another problem with the unit was no mosquito door screens on the balcony.

 

What kind of moron would not build screens on large patio doors leading to an open living space in a hot tropical climate?

 

It's called "natural air conditioning". Otherwise known as cooler air at night for the rocket scientists out there.

 

Even if you were an a/c guy you would still want to flush out all the hot air in the evening before you turned on the a/c. That way you are not running it for hour forcing out hot air with nowhere for it to vent to every night.

[CallumWK]

3 minutes ago, Mark1969 said:

Another problem with the unit was no mosquito door screens on the balcony.

 

What kind of moron would not build screens on large patio doors leading to an open living space in a hot tropical climate?

 

It's called "natural air conditioning". Otherwise known as cooler air at night for the rocket scientists out there.

 

Even if you were an a/c guy you would still want to flush out all the hot air in the evening before you turned on the a/c. That way you are not running it for hour forcing out hot air with nowhere for it to vent to every night.

 

Curious what size and price range the condo's are which you've been looking at.

[Mark1969]

38 minutes ago, CallumWK said:

Curious what size and price range the condo's are which you've been looking at.

I'm kind of old school and tend to stay with what I paid years ago.

 

Maybe I need to start looking at higher priced condo's, like in the 25-30k range??

 

15-20k are the ones I'm targeting now.

40-90 square meters roughly.

[newnative]

9 hours ago, KhunHeineken said:

No, it's not meaningless, it's market forces.  Supply and demand.  An oversupply pushes prices down.  A high demand pushes prices up.  There is an oversupply here. 

 

I answered your Wongamat example in another post.

 

It's interesting that you are American.  Would you care to comment on the USA property market during 2008 and the following years? 

 

Of course, no "bubble" here in tourist areas of Thailand, right? 

  Correction, you answered my Wongamat example incorrectly in another post, while also showing no understanding of the point I was making.  Of course it is supply and demand, but supply and demand for the product you are interested in buying or selling.  An oversupply of X is meaningless if you are in the market for Y.  What's the supply, and demand of Y?  That's what is important if you are buying or selling Y.  And, once again, Y is NOT all condos for sale.

     I've commented on the America market 'bubble' on other threads, using my personal experience.  Where I was living it was madness, with prices going up, literally weekly.  A property would go on the market on a weekend, offers were to be submitted the following Wednesday, when the seller would select the best offer.  Properties were getting 6 or more offers--I know because my future spouse was trying to buy a condo at the time.  To have any chance of being the winning offer, you had to bid over the asking price but the tricky part was how much.  Some buyers included letters pleading to be selected.  So crazy--with totally unrealistic prices.

     I bought a condo in 2009 in the US in a foreclosure, after the bubble had burst, or, perhaps in hindsight was still bursting.  The previous owner had paid $300,000something for it--a small 1 bedroom condo!  I got it for $170,000 and thought I had bought a bargain.  Yaa me!  Instead, the value fell to $160,000. 

    I didn't want to sell at a loss so when I moved to Thailand in 2010 I rented it.  By 2012, the value had finally recovered enough that I could sell at a small profit, as I did not like being an absentee landlord.  The condo today has a value of about $275,000 according to Zillow. 

     What that shows is, like the stock market, real estate prices can go up and down.  But, over time, also like the stock market, the trend is upward.  In 2012, the year I sold my US condo, the average price of a property sale was $288,225.  Today, the average price is $369,147.   Before you once again post that you can make more money with other investments let me once again say that for me, it's not always about the money when it comes to my home. 

[CallumWK]

1 hour ago, Mark1969 said:

I'm kind of old school and tend to stay with what I paid years ago.

 

Maybe I need to start looking at higher priced condo's, like in the 25-30k range??

 

15-20k are the ones I'm targeting now.

40-90 square meters roughly.

 

I'm not someone interested in condo's, but I see listings appearing on my FB page daily, and I think you may find a 40sqm condo for 15K in an older building, but I doubt you find that size at that price in a newer building.

Forget about 90 sqm for 20K.

If older buildings, then of course you will get what you have experienced so far, because everyone goes for the newer buildings, and they will have been empty for ages already.

Why you don't consider a town house, as I'm sure you will find a nice +100sqm house in a decent secure village for 20K or less

[Mark1969]

46 minutes ago, CallumWK said:

 

I'm not someone interested in condo's, but I see listings appearing on my FB page daily, and I think you may find a 40sqm condo for 15K in an older building, but I doubt you find that size at that price in a newer building.

Forget about 90 sqm for 20K.

If older buildings, then of course you will get what you have experienced so far, because everyone goes for the newer buildings, and they will have been empty for ages already.

Why you don't consider a town house, as I'm sure you will find a nice +100sqm house in a decent secure village for 20K or less

Probably because I don't really want to be in Thailand. For years I have lived in major Thai cities that are not really my cup of tea, trying to save money to return to the Usa and buy a retirement home there. I never seem to have enough to make the return comfortably, so I kind of live in "cheapish" condo's in cities with major airports, expecting to move out of thailand any day now and never making much of an effort to settle in. Years have gone by and I'm still here.

[kinyara]

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.

[CallumWK]

3 minutes ago, Mark1969 said:

Probably because I don't really want to be in Thailand. For years I have lived in major Thai cities that are not really my cup of tea, trying to save money to return to the Usa and buy a retirement home there. I never seem to have enough to make the return comfortably, so I kind of live in "cheapish" condo's, expecting to move out if thailand any day now and never making much of an effort to settle in. Years have gone buy and I'm still here.

 

I'm European and live in Thailand for more than 30 years. Never lived in big cities, not here or anywhere in Europe, because I don't like big cities.

I own my property, because I don't like renting, but I understand why people prefer renting.

In those 30 years I have quite a few times considered moving back to Europe because I got fed up for one reason or another, specifically Portugal or Spain, as I have lived in Portugal before I moved here.

That dream got a cold shower when I started exploring the current prices in Europe, not only for properties, but also living costs like communal taxes and utility costs.

I'm sure it will be similar in the US.

When I see that @newnative post that the average price of a property now is 369.000 USD, and that is excluding your yearly taxes etc, then I know what you can do in Thailand with that kind of money.

So, unless you have specific reasons to move back there, I don't think Thailand is that bad

[CallumWK]

9 minutes ago, kinyara said:

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.

 

You could easily look up the performance of the AU$, and find out that Khunheineken is just a wind up, and is talking out of his rectum.

[jacko45k]

21 hours ago, henryford1958 said:

 

I doubt you could rent a 5 million baht condo for 10,000 a month. My condo is about that and it would be 30,000 a month.

I struggle to keep up with which is rising faster, rents or condo prices. 

[jacko45k]

19 hours ago, KhunHeineken said:

Money is invested in my home country, Australia, which is currently paying around 5% per annum.  I managed fund returns even more. 

 

I never suggested the money was in a Thai bank.  I don't even "donate" the 800k to a Thai bank for the extension here.  The return on the 800k in Australia more than covers the cost of the agent, and no need to queue or worry about how many photocopies I have.  I'm most likely on a gold course at extension time, and not in an immigration office.  Of course, your extension only costs 1,900 baht, right?  You don't factor in the losses in interest on the donation of 800k to a Thai bank  But this is for another thread.   

Well I hope that arrangement is still working for you. Some people are having issues wrt not having the 800k on deposit in Thailand. 

[kinyara]

6 hours ago, CallumWK said:

 

You could easily look up the performance of the AU$, and find out that Khunheineken is just a wind up, and is talking out of his rectum.

 

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 

[KhunHeineken]

3 hours ago, jacko45k said:

Well I hope that arrangement is still working for you. Some people are having issues wrt not having the 800k on deposit in Thailand. 

Should they ever seriously crackdown and stop the use of agents in this manner, I'll make a decision on my future in Pattaya / Thailand. 

 

I have always said, Vietnam is my Plan B for anything that may happen in Thailand.  This came to the forefront when the 180 days and remitted funds policy hit the media. 

 

I decided if they went hard at it, it was 179 days in Thailand, 179 days in Vietnam, and the few days short would be in Singapore, for the Formula 1 race, which I go to anyway. 

 

Once again, renting gives this flexibility and freedom of movement, with no capital tied up in a Thai property.  It's one thing to own a condo here, it's another thing to have a visa to live in it all year round, and free from remittance tax.  

[KhunHeineken]

2 hours ago, kinyara said:

 

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 

No argument from me that most western currencies have lost value to the Thai Baht over recent years, including Australia's.

 

I'm not that old to have retired here in 2005.  For an Aussie to have reached retirement age in 2005, which is 65 years of age for that generation, they would now be 85 years of age.  I only knew one Aussie guy here who was mid 80's and he passed away earlier this year.  He lived here for years, and rented the whole time.  Living so long, it would have been financially beneficial for him to buy, and when I asked him some time ago why he didn't, his reply was he was happily single and had no children.  Upon some visits, I noted he would have some part time "company" which I assumed was "pay as you go."  How many 85 year olds do you know here?

 

I retired here a few years ago.  I posted I have a diversified manged fund, cash at bank, and investment properties in Australia.  Do you have any idea what the housing crisis has done to house prices and rents back in Australia?  Do you think it's at all possible the rising rents in Australia has covered the drop in the AUD to the Thai Baht for me????

 

So, has the AUD dropped to the Thai Baht, yes, like many other currencies.  Has it had a big impact on me living in Thailand, not really, as my rental income from Australia has increased significantly in recent years.

 

Also, the owner of my condo is British.  I suspect he got done over by a bar girl in the past, but I can't confirm that.  When news of the remittance tax broke, I contacted him and we arranged I pay GBP's into his Wise account, thus bypassing remittance and the Thai Baht.  At that stage, I didn't care about the AUD to GBP exchange rate because all I wanted to do was minimize my remittances to Thailand.  It worked for both of us. 

[KhunHeineken]

17 hours ago, Mark1969 said:

I just viewed another one today...

 

The place was a mess. Told agent to turn on the water. Kitchen faucet had no water flow at all 🤡. Bathroom sink faucet spurts out in two weak streams. Place was filthy.

 

Showing this trash is bad for an agencies reputation. They need to get this bunk fixed before places are shown. Answer, was it will be cleaned and fixed before move in. So view it a second time I guess when it's presentable??

 

Some bloke had left it vacant ages ago and returned to the Uk and just let juristic deal with it. This was also in one of the better buildings in town (not a cheap building). Lots of hogwash being shown by the agents in town currently.

 

I'm going to start taking pictures and posting them here if it's allowed.

Sounds like a solid "investment." 

[KhunHeineken]

15 hours ago, Mark1969 said:

Does anyone know what the Juristic Office is getting out of repairing and managing condo's?

 

I have been to a couple units where they are not doing their duty but I have been told by either the agent or the owner that they were handling it?

 

Do they get paid by the owner (absentee in another country) and then just slack off or are they doing it for some other reason?

 

When I entered with the Thai agent they kept their shoes on. 🤣 The floor inside was dirtier then the hallway.

It's becomes interesting when you buy a condo in a block with poor management.  Broken gym equipment that's never repaired.  Pool out of order for months.  Broken elevators.  Common property not maintained.  Money be siphoned off, or derelict owners.

 

Or, they just throw the condo block to Chinese daily renters and your condo block turns into a hotel. 

 

As an owner, experience the above, and it's not a pleasant retirement living experience.  Some may say, due diligence was not performed, but things change here, and once you have bought in, you are financially committed to the property.