Author: REm Thailand

House asking prices in UK rise but are properties still affordable

REm Thailand

House asking prices in the UK have been rising steadily over the last few years but that growth appears to be slowing, something that is leading to questions being raised about housing affordability. Demand for property in the UK is as high as it has ever been so the laws economics tell you that prices should be rising. However, many analysts are predicting that the housing bubble may burst as incomes simply aren’t rising proportionally. The average asking price for a house in the UK, in July 2017 is £316,421,…

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5 Beautiful Places To Visit In Thailand

REm Thailand

  KOH LIPE Koh Lipe is a beautiful tropical island situated of the Andaman Sea in southwest Thailand, covered with shimmering white sands and bordered by clear waters that are home to abundant marine life. The Island is hugely popular for snorkeling, with 25% of the world’s tropical fish species found in the area. Translated into the local Chao Ley language, Koh Lipe literally means “Island Paper, or Paper Island.” It is still considered by many an undiscovered secret, one of the few remaining in Thailand. Koh Lipe is only…

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Is Pattaya a Shopper’s Paradise?

REm Thailand

  Layer upon layer of choices.   Look at any in-flight magazine or visit websites of tourist destinations and you will find a list of attributes and attractions for a given place. Invariably, all of them will list “shopping” as a highlight of any trip to their location. But, not all destinations are really a “shopper’s paradise”. And, in many ways it depends on where the visitor is from and what is readily available in their home city or country. Someone who visits from Singapore or Hong Kong surely has…

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Never Go Back by Dave Buckley

REm Thailand

Apart from being the title of a Jack Reacher film, Never go back is an adage I’ve tried to apply to my life – not always with complete success, it should be admitted. In the main I have tried to follow it in terms of employment. But on the two occasions I have broken my personal “rule” and each time I’m reasonably happy that the decision to return to a former employer has worked out. On the second occasion I had left a company as head of design and returned…

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Vulture Market, Somebody out there is buying

REm Thailand

  In Pattaya everyone is always talking about what “season” it is. For tourism its “high season”, “low season”, “Chinese season” and a long time ago we used to see “Russian season”. The property market is similarly affected by timing but usually over less predictable and longer chunks of time we refer to as “cycles” or “markets”.   We have “buyer’s markets”, “seller’s markets” and sometimes “panic markets”. Savvy real estate investors make money by reading the signals in these cycles and taking action.   These days in Pattaya, it…

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Nobody come’s back from the east side, life in Pattaya’s suburbs – Investment in East Pattaya Part III

REm Thailand

  This is the final installment in our three-part series about East Pattaya.   The first two chapters talked mostly about the explosion of infrastructure projects that surround and traverse the urban sprawl running down the seaboard on the east side of Sukhumvit Road.   To be sure, the future welcomes a plethora of planes, trains and automobiles transporting money, jobs and people to and through suburban Pattaya. We looked at projects underway, projects proposed and even some just getting to the drawing board.   East Pattaya’s future is ……

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All this Furniture and No place to Sit

REm Thailand

  Choosing, purchasing and placing loose furniture is most difficult for those of us who are spatially challenged.     Looking at a sofa in a magazine, or even in a furniture showroom just doesn’t give you a realistic idea of how it will fit and function in your house. Dining tables are especially deceptive.   Why is it that a rectangular table seats more people than a round one, but requires less floor space?   My number one rule when it comes to loose furniture is “people first”.  …

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I Get Around – Increasing mobility in fun city

REm Thailand

  I hate to drive. Yes, I know I could have my American passport revoked for such a blasphemous statement, but it’s true. Bangkok traffic jams are the traffic jams all other traffic jams are measured by. And there’s nowhere to park in Bangkok once you get where you are going anyway. Pattaya is worse. The traffic is moving, but in such a frenetic way I need to tranquilize myself before getting behind the wheel. And the road is full of people from somewhere else, driving cars they aren’t familiar…

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I Can’t Believe this is Pattaya III – Are you not entertained?

REm Thailand

  Early last year I got a call from an old friend who lives in Vancouver. His wife had been nagging him to take a “family” vacation to Thailand for the past few years and he finally succumbed to the pressure.   “Give me some guidance on where to go” he said “We’ve only got 8 days”. “If you’ve only got 8 days” I said. “Just come to Pattaya”. My friend fumbled with is reply. “Uh, um, uh, I don’t know man … I heard about that place. Are you…

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Smart Living

REm Thailand

  All of us enjoy the benefits of modern technology, even if we’re not sure how it all works but are you ready to turn your home into a ‘Smart Home’? Let’s be honest mobile phones, tablets, the internet we’ve all taken hold of the technology and can no longer live without it but do we really know how it works and does it make complete sense. Your home is no different with many appliances that make our everyday lives easier things from microwaves to dishwashers but now with new…

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