torrenova

I found that to generate the links in my Facebook when in LOS I simply went to the Etihad Thailand site and looked for a flight starting in Bangkok and then opened Facebook which, when clicked through, auto populated the previous dates into the Etihad flight chooser screen as opposed to their front page "to" and "from" entry boxes etc. Right now the link is back to e1s1 as per below: https://booking.etihad.com/SSW2010/EYEY/webqtrip.html?execution=e1s1&CID=dis:rmt:viz:mpu(cut and paste) https://booking.etihad.com/SSW2010/EYEY/webqtrip.html?execution=e1s1&CID=dis:rmt:viz:mpu

They don't use Jet on all 777 options and the ones they do are clearly stated. I flew back just over a week ago and it was a regular Etihad 777. I would avoid the Jet ones to be honest but intrinsically, the Jet equipment on 777 is not too shabby.

Just booked another business class on the A380 with Etihad for £1524 (LHR-BKK) after discount and when in LOS the other week I saw the same adverts on Facebook for 20% off but starting from Bangkok. Might be good for economy as well ? If you don't see the advert, you can use this link https://booking.etihad.com/SSW2010/EYEY/webqtrip.html?execution=e1s1&CID=dis:rmt:viz:mpu or (note change in e1s1 to e4s1) https://booking.etihad.com/SSW2010/EYEY/webqtrip.html?execution=e4s1&CID=dis:rmt:viz:mpu or (note change in e1s1 to e6s1) https://booking.etihad.com/SSW2010/EYEY/webqtrip.html?execution=e6s1&CID=dis:rmt:viz:mpu Original Facebook advert here: https://www.facebook.com/a.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.vizury.com%2Fbanners%2Fimages%2Fcommon%2Fclick_fb.php%3Freal_url%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.etihad.com%252Fen-in%252F%26cp%3DeyJkZXBEYXRlIjoiMTkvMDEvMjAxNiIsImFkdl9pZCI6MTAxOCwiaW50ZWxsaUJpZEV4cCI6IkEyNToxLTMiLCJ6b25lX2lkIjo0MDEyLCJzZWdtZW50SWQiOiIyMDg4MCIsInJldERhdGUiOiIxOC8wMi8yMDE2Iiwidml6X2lkIjoidml6XzU2NjczZDFiYzZiMzkiLCJjdXN0b21pemVQaWQiOiJsaHJfYmtrXzIwMTYtMDEtMTkiLCJleHB0SWQiOiJmYl9sYXN0X3NlZW4iLCJiYW5uZXJfaWQiOjc1MzM0OCwic3JjQ2l0eSI6IkxIUiIsImJpZFRpbWVzdGFtcCI6MS40NTIxMjc0MTg0OEU5LCJ1YSI6Ik1vemlsbGEvNS4wIChXaW5kb3dzIE5UIDEwLjA7IFdPVzY0KSBBcHBsZVdlYktpdC81MzcuMzYgKEtIVE1MLCBsaWtlIEdlY2tvKSBDaHJvbWUvNDcuMC4yNTI2LjEwNiBTYWZhcmkvNTM3LjM2IiwicHJvbW9Db2RlIjoiVko5MzJNOCIsImRlc3RDaXR5IjoiQktLIiwicmVzcG9uc2VfaWQiOiI3MjU0MjMzMDIyOTgyMDYwMzg0XzEwMTgifQ%253D%253D&__tn__=%2AB&xt=3.6236839770365479982.6026943520866.7.0.AQIuQQT0VV5qyqhM3HkYKmezSDUwflLNw9DbSUu40dvRcMyZZb2JQwojKaXgmyG-EE3yd0CocG2mD6EhtoAQ36s__stVBu4wg7gM47616BIMwWlUWdSgF_pSN53_PmW8F6dDpVNPpoIvnKGbCKvxm9AcA4sUxz9h_cwdQwykngGhg8HGJAEpO4Qnvt9bzh7R1ZTGzIbKp_RNo_bQkahEyltFTH0qxxjkMbMl2c8lCs_mFIO3MGjfI1gLdIz3Il8b1QaDgLbQCT3rd5w0AyO-GxS6Vo43w2VC5-BwbLLX_KKM_Vrb1iC62IrUg5Hz0_r76T0&mac=AQL-9LR3Va2D8U7d&sig=86206

Yeah, can't argue with that.

Some very good points there but location, location, location has always been and will always be the key. Renting for a decade or more is lunacy unless you just don't care and don't bother with the buy or rent argument. There won't be any more Bt70 to the £1 in my lifetime. More like Bt40 to £1. There will be a bit of a flip when UK interest rates rise of course but the USD is still the main player in THB FX rates and USD/GBP is only going the way of the USA medium term IMHO. It was almost better to buy (relative) crap central then pure luxury in the burbs but not with the tiny sizes in some new builds. Anything in the 24/28 sqm range is down there with "Stalag" Nirun Condo and has limited resale value and is too small for anything but the shortest stay. That said, put 6 of them in a business plan and you have a mini short term rental business. Owning houses is a legalistic issue for many with the non Thai problems of corporate ownership but I'm lucky in that regard as I don't need dodgy nominee directors. However, as Jacko has said, this system has been in place for so long and has so many properties in motion that it is somewhat inconceivable that it should be turned on its head any time soon. Plus, the space in a house is just ideal. Buyer of last resort I am also when motivated. Cash anywhere in the world on completion but too many saps who bought in at high prices holding out for unrealistic returns makes sales slow. Still, I'm in for the long game. Any Greek owners wanting drachmas ?

So some bloke from down the local beer bar says he wants to buy it but he's struggling to come up with the barfine and decent long time cash for one of the working girls so you extrapolate that he'll find it a tad difficult to come up with another 9 million plus baht. Anyone thinking of paying 9m for that should be taken away by the men in white coats.

As said, Bangkok Bank good for 25 notes, Kasikorn and Siam Commercial good for 20 and there was / is one other who will do 30. If the Bt1000s have dried up, you might only get 20 x Bt500 = Bt10,000. Some cards have daily limits of Bt20k but can go up to Bt200k as also mentioned. Draw money inside the bank and they'll want your ID usually. Order new notes in advance.

Decent agent would simply honour existing bookings at the quoted rate and negotiate in private with the landlords to cover this on a split basis probably. Going forward, simply raise rates to accommodate. Pissing people off for a maximum of 7% is plain stupid.

Strange how blokes with some bias or interest are always very defensive and extolling their superiority in having bought into such a fantastic investment (or simply knowing someone who did) at the same time as trawling the sex tourist web forums trying to bid up some interest to rent these always booked out condos ! Also interesting that those with more common sense know that you can rent today for the same prices you paid 10 or 12 years ago with the exception of certain new options. Go look at the Ruskie resales depressing prices . Thousands and thousands of them but still vendors want daft prices. Privately though deals go through at much lower numbers. I should just add to the figures quoted for that studio at some daft Bt70k plus is that I had an offer from the Marriott on 2nd road for 30 days with breakfast at a similar price recently. Regularly you can pick up a month for less than a hundred grand.

What the Thais should do but likely won't is to allow offset of some property taxes against income taxes. As westerners mostly pay no taxes, they will have nothing to offset and the government will collect in full but it would allow tax paying expats and the Thais to have some threshold before they start paying these taxes.

But that is what is coming along with straightforward property taxes on valuation.

Very true Gary as they are shitting themselves about in Phuket what with the spill over from the recent legal cases. However, two tectonic plates keep the equilibrium somewhat: Thais are never going to allow Mr Westerner to come buy any piece of land he chooses, legally, in his name, else it will be a bun fight ending with a few billionaires, thousands of dead people and millions of permanently poor. There are simply too many houses set up in dodgy companies with even dodgier nominee directors worth tens of billions of dollars to let it all collapse like the fraudulent house of cards it really is. So what does the future bring ? possibly some form of legalised lease up to 30 years but anything that does not really reach out to around 100 years is going to make selling on with say 15 years left almost impossible. Hence, though it may be a bad situation, the current situation may persist for some time to come. What is definitely on the cards though is a push to tax the income from rentals, especially to foreigners. We hear rumblings on this from multiple sources and it does make you think carefully about exposure and returns, as dropping say 30% to the tax man would crucify many.

A mate of mine has someone in his villa paying Bt160k a month but it was empty for quite a while beforehand and likely empty for a while when they leave. Beautiful place but he can't get out of it if he wanted anywhere near his inward Bt17m and once valued at Bt25m to Bt30m. On the other hand, you can shift decent condos all day long to tourists.

Asking prices versus actual sales prices have probably never been wider and with the internet, every Ivan, Vladimir or Olga thinks they are real estate agents and they continually post utter shite all over the net and Facebook. Today, you could put together a small portfolio of around Bt20m, split into single units of about Bt1m to Bt1.5m value and return over 15% gross and hope to get around 12% to 13% return with some upward shift in capital appreciation and little downside risk. Move into higher priced units and you have more potential for capital growth but you will get hit on returns, which will fall below 10%. Move into the luxury end at Bt10m plus and you might get lucky but the downside is huge and you are virtually illiquid with high competition for whatever rental you can get. Later in this video http://bcove.me/vmvgzwr8 a scheme where Scandinavian folk bought their own land and set up their community in a way which suited them. Drop down a level and you see EU governments considering exporting the older generation to warm climates as a cost saving measure. In the UK market, people come for short holidays but in the EU, going for a month is not uncommon, which is where the sweet spot is in rentals, neither too short to have lots of void days and not too long to have to give up too much of a long term discount. However, buying and renting properties in LOS is not for the weak of mind or heart, nor for the poor, who would be reliant upon the income for all their needs. It does however, give some people another option as it is cash positive at the lower end and not wholly reliant upon capital growth. Of course, many eventually want their own pool and their own house. Some prefer to rent and you can find options but may rentals are simply sales that have no buyer and some day in the future, you will be out on your ear.

Back in '05 or '06 when they firs came up with this daft idea, they had a girl upstairs at a temporary counter in what was then Carrefour and scribbling your details onto a photocopied A4 sheet. Like the inbound TM cards at the airport, these were of course collated and processed and not just binned as the whole idea was a great con to benefit the people actually printing the paper !

A long time ago I advised that people wanting to live in a house but protect themselves from rising prices could go some way to achieving this by buying condos in their own name and renting them out, using those funds to rent the house they wanted or if able or in partnership with a Thai, to buy a house on finance, treating the mortgage repayments akin to rents. I do not doubt that the technically illegal company nominee ownership will outlive me as the only true alternative is foreign ownership (which is / was allowed up to 1 rai and if you put up Bt40m) and that is never going to come for the masses as it would be a free for all on a scale hitherto unimaginable.

Been registered with DTAC for over a decade. Lose a phone, don't lose a number.

They had this back around 2005 and nothing happened. Just a total non event. Will this be any different ?

Hunt around for the Diana Group. They have changed their website and not as informative now but here it is http://www.dianapattaya.co.th/en/Diana-Garden-Resort/2823/Hotel/Details/14

Totally surprises me as well that they are still alive. I understand the inability to successfully sue or prosecute but not that difficult to get someone bumped off in LOS.

Cheap, for both.

The issue with continual extensions (based on any qualification) is that you are grandfathered into the system at your original criteria. Now say you had a 3m investment visa, which was withdrawn in October 2006 I believe, then if you missed a signing on, you would lose that qualification and you could no longer get one because there is no 3m investment visa anymore. They did introduce a 10m one a couple of years later which I understand is still in force. I also understand that there are still people on retirement extensions on an annual 100/200k or something because that is what it was way back when. If they missed, then they would have to find 800k. Same today with 800k, if they change it to 2m or 150k a month (I know they will likely not do so but .... TIT) then you are forced to comply with the new regulations. There is also no guarantee that Hull will keep churning out multiple entry non immigrant visas, year after year. Like MM says, I cannot think of an easier visa than retirement if you have 800k and like purchasing a condo or house, you lock into the rate now and are not forced to play the game at any new market rates. To let it lapse would seem foolish, if you are intent on staying even most of the year in Thailand.

Last beds I bought came from Homeworks and were around 25k down from around 40k and that was about 30k for the mattress and 10k for the bed with the faux leather headboard chucked in. In essence, you are paying for the mattress and that is where the majority of the quality is.

I had to read that this wasn't a thread dug up from 5 or more years ago as every man, woman and dog knows that you are likely to get screwed when ordering direct and using one of the big couriers, as the shipper is likely to put the real value and description on the package to avoid getting done themselves. This very subject was covered at some length not so long ago in a thread started by MM asking about importing things into LOS.

From a walk around looking at a change of hotels on my last visit to Phuket last year, I noticed quite a few which publicly refused to allow guests unless registered or wanted to charge a hefty fee even if they did allow them. I stayed at the Yorkshire Inn for a night but it was crap and overpriced for what I wanted. With hindsight, they let me down on a couple of things which pissed me off quite a bit but the in lobby free internet was useful. However, they try to stick you with a 10% "optional" service charge and were pretty pissed off when I wouldn't pay it, even though it is advertised as optional on their website. In the end, I went back to an old but reliable old timer of mine The Aloha Villa http://www.phuket-aloha.com/ Right on Bangla, easy for shopping and easy to beat the rates advertised. Around Bt1200 or so a night. Cannot really find a fault at the price they charge especially as they have upgraded the TV channels last year.