People ask me this question all the time and when reflecting back on the 10 years I owned that condo in Pattaya, it wasn't worth all the hassle.  

For starters, you've probably realized it's very cheap and you have no shortage of places to buy in the $30-40k range.  That's towards the lower end of the market.  You spend closer to 100 grand and you can easily find a baller pad with a rooftop swimming pool.  In my hometown you would spend that much on RENT in a few years, and it's closer to a million dollars to actually buy something nice.  Keep in mind though I'm from Vancouver which is one of the most unaffordable places on the planet.  There's a reason why I moved out will never go back.

But when it comes to cheap condos, you get what you pay for.  Foreigners CAN legitimately own freehold property in Thailand in their name (they can't own land).  The only thing is you're tied to the management which you can expect to have really terrible service when you pay so little for a condo.  If you do buy, make sure to research the management and even stay there first as a rental.  For example if I was to buy a place in M Residence in Phnom Penh I would have much more confidence based on how I saw the place run there.

Things did improve towards the end with the management at my Pattaya condo but the sheer volume of staff turnover and the unbelievable amount of horror stories I can tell would make your head spin.  There were also shady agents who brokered many shady deals, often working on the inside with the juristic office and various sub-agents.  At one point, the agent helped recommend someone else who sold me a second condo unit off plan.  The developer abandoned the project and ran off with the money.  That happened to me many years ago and I lost about $7k on payments.  I also spent another $2k on lawyer fees trying to get to the bottom of all this.  If there's one thing you should never do is buy off plan

In my case, I was left trying to figure everything out by myself in the end.  It took me years to learn the ins and outs of what paperwork is needed, how to pay tax, set up electricity meters, open Thai bank accounts, visit the land office, and all sorts of other things.  The rules are also constantly changing.  

Take a step back a bit and all this could be alleviated somewhat if you were in Thailand long term which brings me to my main point:  the only way to really manage the condo and make it worthwhile is to live in it.  If your approach is to treat it like an investment, you are much better off putting the money in the stock market.  In my case I was mistakenly treating the condo as an investment and a potential cash cow.  The idea was to come to Pattaya once or twice a year maybe 3-5 days at a time and stay there while renting it out the remaining time remotely.  Not a smart strategy at all.  As I learned, if you're not in Thailand, it is brutal to try and manage things or coordinate with people in the country on your behalf.  In short, you can't trust anyone to manage anything if you're not on their ass and checking their every move.  

The conclusion is pretty simple actually:  just rent a condo if you're in town.   For this market, there are an absolute glut of places, even during high season.   Since you have a bike of course you're not going to target all the main places near the beach and waste your money and time sitting in that bullshit traffic.  Instead, you'll be going off the beaten track.  It would not be hard at all to find something baller for less than $500 a month, even during peak season.

On a more philosophical level there is nothing to be gained by chasing the prestige and status that comes from owning a house.  People said I was a "landlord" earlier but when they found out it was a cheap condo in Pattaya my status dropped.  So it's no longer enough to own a house, you have to own one in a prestigious city.  Buy one in almighty Bangkok and you might get more status.  But then they'll ask why you don't have a house in Hong Kong or Vancouver.  And then they'll ask why you don't have an expensive car when there's not even a need for it.  And then they'll ask why you don't have two houses.  The point is it never ends and when you play this stupid status game that the alpha males do then you're a loser.