The Pattaya condo has been a headache ever since I bought off plan in 2012 and started the payment plans.  Compounding the frustration is that there have been just enough positive and epic experiences with that condo sprinkled in to make me want to have a selective memory.  So it becomes hard to let go, even though that's what must be done.

The condo saga all began with financial advisors in Shanghai who also sold me on the 'insurance as an investment' scam.  They said they knew agents in various parts of Thailand to broker a sale, and of course Pattaya was one of them.  This included an Australian who ran 'Pattaya Sales and Rentals'.  Interestingly, a bike ride just now confirmed with a web search showed this business no longer exists. 

At the time, foolishly, I bought two condos off plan, and it was brokered through that agent.  The first one  (Novana Residence) finished construction in 2015, and I stayed there for a month to inaugurate the place with a broken collarbone.  The idea was to later arrange rental income when I was away, but that failed big time.  The second condo was never built because the developer ran away with the money.  I even met the Turkish guy in person on a previous trip.  His snide remark should have been the giveaway clue that he was a scam artist, "It's like we're selling mobile phones here."

Through the Australian agent and various other players, including the juristic staff, the rental profits were all pocketed and people stayed in the condo without my knowledge or consent.  But there were also times when they stayed properly, things were legit, and I got income so it was never a 100% scam the whole time.  This is what made it so frustrating.

I also tried the whole Airbnb thing and gave it up.  There was a little money made here and there, but the cleaning was a major headache.  Not long after this little experiment, Thailand banned the short term rental practice and rentals needed to be 30 days or more.  So that was the end of that.

Other methods were tried also:  finding local friends to help keep the keys and arrange visits for prospective renters or buyers.  One guy was very good recently, but for whatever reason I must have pissed him off this trip.  Maybe it was those bars on Saturday night.  He changed his tone and doesn't want to keep doing this.  Fair enough.  He was helpful last summer in showing me the ropes with the tax form and valuation.

Overlaying all this is the constant hassle of paying common fees, electric and water bills, and other general management.  For all this you need a Thai bank account.  It was one hell of an ordeal to open such an account last trip.   Bottom line:  it is really hard to manage the condo if you're not in Thailand.  Not only is there all the hassle above, they also want you to attend owner meetings, including those that kept going throughout covid.

This is all maybe less than 10% of what I could get into.  While last trip I was waffling on whether to sell the place or not, given my emotional attachment to it, this trip is different:  it's time to go all out.  Put it simply, I'm going to make every effort possible this trip to do so. 

With all this said, a teacher friend in Bangkok told me to keep focused and he said, "Don't worry if you find people loopy, a lot of people are fucked up these days.  Stay the course man, don't stop.  Get done what you need to do."  His reference to people's mental state was basically post-covid.  Still, his little motivational speech was more or less a carbon copy of what the inspirational Saudi guy at the coffee shop said a few days ago.

It's hard to say what's worse, covid or the recovery from it.  That discussion will wait until later.  For now, it's time to switch gears and move towards a decisive sell of the condo.