Looking to Buy a Pool Villa

[ChiFlyer]

15 hours ago, forcebwithu said:

Would you mind sharing a link to the Amazon listing for the linen. I might buy a set on my next trip back to the States.

Sure - btw they have gone "out of stock" on many colors for the size that I am interested in.

https://www.amazon.com/SGI-bedding-Emperor-Wyoming-Egyptian/dp/B09NWZZFH6/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=wyoming%2Bking%2Bbedding%2Bset&qid=1689695148&s=bedbath&sr=1-5&th=1

We put the sheets on the bed today and they fit like a charm. Very comfortable as well. We liked them so much that we decided to order a second set and eat the price. Could not do it due to the OOS issues on any colors that we liked. I tried the site for the manufacturer. I could get some there, but the price for the sheets were more than double. 🤪

The OOS issues that I mention may well be particular to my oversized needs. If you look at the link, you can see a lot of options and sizes. How deep the OOS problem goes I do not know.

Edited August 9, 2023 by ChiFlyer

[forcebwithu]

8 hours ago, ChiFlyer said:

Sure - btw they have gone "out of stock" on many colors for the size that I am interested in.

https://www.amazon.com/SGI-bedding-Emperor-Wyoming-Egyptian/dp/B09NWZZFH6/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=wyoming%2Bking%2Bbedding%2Bset&qid=1689695148&s=bedbath&sr=1-5&th=1

We put the sheets on the bed today and they fit like a charm. Very comfortable as well. We liked them so much that we decided to order a second set and eat the price. Could not do it due to the OOS issues on any colors that we liked. I tried the site for the manufacturer. I could get some there, but the price for the sheets were more than double. 🤪

The OOS issues that I mention may well be particular to my oversized needs. If you look at the link, you can see a lot of options and sizes. How deep the OOS problem goes I do not know.

Thanks for the link. I'm not particular about color as long as it's not bright.

Wonder who came up with all the names to describe the different bed sheet sizes. Kind of annoying the seller doesn't have a chart on their Amazon listing that translates the names into actual sizes. I know it would be easy enough to ask Mr. Google for the conversion, but it's not like it would cost the seller more to include the info on their web page. After all they did take the time to include info on what bedding is best for naked sleepers. Interesting it's the same TC you ordered. 

[Pumpuynarak]

23 hours ago, forcebwithu said:

After all they did take the time to include info on what bedding is best for naked sleepers

Funny lol

[ChiFlyer]

Living out here in the Burbs is different at times. We have a Mango Tree in front of our house. We (ok the Mrs) noticed that the leaves were getting chewed badly. We (ok she) did an inspection of the tree and noticed an infestation of some very ugly looking caterpillars.

 

I being a smart guy proceeded to the internet to research the problem. She being an effective Thai lady sprayed the buggers and killed many of them. I did tell her that leaving the sprayed corpses with some of our eating veg was not a good idea.

More later - hopefully.  

[ChiFlyer]

Mosquitos - small Citronella candles

This year is the rainiest that I have ever seen in Thailand. I have been here full time for the last 7 years and off and on for the last 20 years.

Out this way (Northeast of Nong Nooch) the rains have created additional swamp areas as there are a fair number of nature areas out this way. The mosquitos are loving it. They have started to get into the house.

When we bought the house earlier this year I bought a couple of boxes of small (about the size of a shot glass) Citronella candles for out by the pool. Those types of candles quickly proved to be useless for outdoor use. Additionally, with regularity someone would kick one over and I was scrapping up wax the next day. The remaining candles were boxed up and stored.

Today we started using the remaining small candles for indoor use. They are great for this purpose.

I went to Lazada to buy more. My earlier purchase item is no longer carried. The search item results on Lazada to find additional candidates were difficult to interpret as the Citronella factor was not at all isolated and the descriptions were often in Pasathai. Tried Shopee. More of the same. Tried basic Google searches. Lots of hits for Amazon and eBay. I would prefer not to pay the international shipping costs, especially as this is a product I may be buying with some regularity.

I am going to run over to HomePro tomorrow to see what they might carry.

Fishing for ideas.

 

[forcebwithu]

6 hours ago, ChiFlyer said:

Mosquitos - small Citronella candles

This year is the rainiest that I have ever seen in Thailand. I have been here full time for the last 7 years and off and on for the last 20 years.

Out this way (Northeast of Nong Nooch) the rains have created additional swamp areas as there are a fair number of nature areas out this way. The mosquitos are loving it. They have started to get into the house.

When we bought the house earlier this year I bought a couple of boxes of small (about the size of a shot glass) Citronella candles for out by the pool. Those types of candles quickly proved to be useless for outdoor use. Additionally, with regularity someone would kick one over and I was scrapping up wax the next day. The remaining candles were boxed up and stored.

Today we started using the remaining small candles for indoor use. They are great for this purpose.

I went to Lazada to buy more. My earlier purchase item is no longer carried. The search item results on Lazada to find additional candidates were difficult to interpret as the Citronella factor was not at all isolated and the descriptions were often in Pasathai. Tried Shopee. More of the same. Tried basic Google searches. Lots of hits for Amazon and eBay. I would prefer not to pay the international shipping costs, especially as this is a product I may be buying with some regularity.

I am going to run over to HomePro tomorrow to see what they might carry.

Fishing for ideas.

 

 

I had a look for the candles using Google's advance search with the restriction of searching only on Lazada's site. The search string ends up looking like below. I added the link so you don't have to type it in the search bar.
Citronella candle site:www.lazada.co.th

Perhaps one of the items listed is what you're looking for.

 

[ChiFlyer]

5 hours ago, forcebwithu said:

 

I had a look for the candles using Google's advance search with the restriction of searching only on Lazada's site. The search string ends up looking like below. I added the link so you don't have to type it in the search bar.
Citronella candle site:www.lazada.co.th

Perhaps one of the items listed is what you're looking for.

 

Thanks for your efforts. Looks like pretty much the same list that I was getting. Going over to HomePro in a bit.

[ChiFlyer]

On 11/12/2023 at 12:13 PM, ChiFlyer said:

Thanks for your efforts. Looks like pretty much the same list that I was getting. Going over to HomePro in a bit.

Nada at HomePro - Found some much larger Cintronella options at Lazada. I will probably buy 2 of those and put them outside by the doors. May help.

[tommy dee]

16 hours ago, ChiFlyer said:

Nada at HomePro - Found some much larger Cintronella options at Lazada. I will probably buy 2 of those and put them outside by the doors. May help.

TESCo, now lotus is where I bought 5 units last year, r=same area as the ac units o show

[ChiFlyer]

When we bought the shares of the company that owns our pool villa, I remember being told that we needed to pay some kind of property tax once a year. I have since fired the lawyer-accountant that we used for the actual purchase. He made a few mistakes and was not as responsive as I thought that he should be.

Our pool villa is legally in Huay Yai. Anyone have any thoughts on how I can proceed on this. I have a new lawyer for our other matters (wills etc.), but I am under the impression that the property tax is something that I could do myself. Also, I believe this is a small amount of money based on what I have been told.

Any comments?

Edited January 31 by ChiFlyer

[ChiFlyer]

@tommy dee Back when we purchased the company that owns the house we live in, I was looking to possibly re-tile the pool. Now that we are into the cooler weather (the water is uncomfortable for swimming at this point) I am thinking this would be a good time to do this.

I have tried contacting a couple of firms that do this type of work, but not gotten any responses. IIRC you had this type of project done at one of your places. Any company that you might be able to recommend for a getting started conversation?

[forcebwithu]

9 hours ago, ChiFlyer said:

@tommy dee Back when we purchased the company that owns the house we live in, I was looking to possibly re-tile the pool. Now that we are into the cooler weather (the water is uncomfortable for swimming at this point) I am thinking this would be a good time to do this.

I have tried contacting a couple of firms that do this type of work, but not gotten any responses. IIRC you had this type of project done at one of your places. Any company that you might be able to recommend for a getting started conversation?

@Proffesor has posted about remodels he's done. Perhaps he could recommend someone for the pool retile work.

[ChiFlyer]

Rats

The guy who had long term rented the large quadruple house property across the street moved out. Rumor has it that he fled because his gambling operation was drawing scrutiny. His property was taken over by the neighborhood soi cats. The cats were making an unholy racket with their sex screams. The association moved the cats out.

This provided an opportunity for rodents to get a foot hold. The Mrs noticed some signs of rat activity out near our pool. We were going to put out rat poison, but did not want to kill a bunch or birds etc. Plus poisoned rats will likely sneak off somewhere to die in hiding. The smell could get quite nasty.

We went to HomePro today and purchased some sticky pads. The rats get their feet stuck on the pad and then you can bop one in the head to kill them. She nailed 5 of the buggers on night 1. She is an Isan farm girl and has been combating vermin all of her life. Actually up North her brother traps the buggers and keeps them in a pen feeding them table scraps. Every so often he boxes then up and takes then into town for sale. He gets 250 per rat. Rat, particularly rat meat sausages, are a popular food source in some areas of Isan. 

Here is a pic of her first condemned prisoner.

 

Maybe we should bring the pervert cats back. 🙂

Edited February 16 by ChiFlyer

[ChiFlyer]

Well we finally located a crew to do the Swimming Pool work that I have been going on about for over a year. Actually, the Mrs found the crew through our regular pool maintenance guy, who is quite good for the 3 x a week cleanups and minor repairs. We had talked to him about what we wanted to do, but he said that was not a job he could take on with his equipment and resources. He became aware of the crew that we have engaged and gave their number to the Mrs.

We had the company owner/manager out to describe what we wanted to do. He came back with an offer for the work at 50,000 taking one week. Basically, we are not replacing the tile, but rather getting everything cleaned up and re-grouted. The main item is the cleanup of the tile on the reflection wall. 

If this works out well, I will post contact information for the crew that does this. One would need a Thai speaker to communicate with them. I have a live in translator.

As far as effort goes I will give them an A+ so far. They showed up at 8 AM and worked straight through to about 4 PM. The owner/manager stopped in several times to see that things were going as they should. Hard work.

Here is a pic for the beginning of Day 2. Day 1 was mostly getting the pool water emptied.

Edited March 16 by ChiFlyer

[ChiFlyer]

I have to say that it has been a somewhat expensive month to be a homeowner out our way.

The association has had some water supply problems that they are blaming on PWA. We have had to buy 1500 THB of water to keep out tanks operational.

At the same time both the pool and house water pumps went out. Cause and effect? Maybe and maybe not. The house is over 10 years old and these pumps have never been replaced before. 12000 THB.

We had some light maintenance done with regard to some electric work. 8000 THB.

Due to changing our internet service (had to do) we had to replace two of our CCTV cameras. 4000 THB.

Like I already said the pool work is 50,000 THB.

Annual accounting costs for home ownership with Thai government 12,000.

Annual association fees 18,000.

That's over 100,000 of unplanned to some extent expenses. The message is -> if one wants to become a house owner, be prepared to cover a buffer.

The upside is that most of these fees should not be recurring, except the annual ones.

A downside is that the estimated cost for a pool heater unit is 200,000. Not sure if I am going to do that and would not need until after Loy Krahthong. Also need to start thinking about a new car (probably about 2M).

Other people are worried about getting food on their family table and I am bitching about my budgeting problems. Shame on me.

[Freee!!]

3 hours ago, ChiFlyer said:

[...]

Other people are worried about getting food on their family table and I am bitching about my budgeting problems. Shame on me.

FWP 😉

[forcebwithu]

@ChiFlyer, weren't you at one time thinking of going solar for a pool water heater? I would hazard a guess at this latitude it would be a lot more cost effective than an electric or gas pool heater.

[ChiFlyer]

1 hour ago, forcebwithu said:

@ChiFlyer, weren't you at one time thinking of going solar for a pool water heater? I would hazard a guess at this latitude it would be a lot more cost effective than an electric or gas pool heater.

That is a possibility. I will get back to looking at this in the fall. I really do not need a pool heater until Loy Krathong or so and it is only needed through Chinese New Year of so.

[ChiFlyer]

Early Day 3 for the Pool Work

Well they certainly came with enough manpower. They actually tried to come out yesterday (Sunday), but Security would not allow them access to the overall property. Evidently there is a no work on Sunday rule that I was unaware of.

[forcebwithu]

14 minutes ago, ChiFlyer said:

Early Day 3 for the Pool Work

Well they certainly came with enough manpower. They actually tried to come out yesterday (Sunday), but Security would not allow them access to the overall property. Evidently there is a no work on Sunday rule that I was unaware of.

When the pool is full have you ever tried the quick access method to the pool from that window? 

[ChiFlyer]

34 minutes ago, forcebwithu said:

When the pool is full have you ever tried the quick access method to the pool from that window? 

I am going to give you a solid NO to that q. I would probably break a leg just trying to get out through the window, not to mention where things would likely go from there. 🙂 

[Toy Boy]

I've been living here for 20 years and swimming almost every day, and I'd never bother with a pool heater. For the few weeks of the year when the water might be a bit chilly for our tastes - and this 'Winter' there wasn't a single day in that category as far as I'm concerned - it's much more economical to just buy a wet suit.

Or just take the philosophical view and embrace the joys of cold water swimming, it's been proven to have many health benefits...

...including improving your libido, so the missus will be happy, lol.

[KhunDon]

19 hours ago, ChiFlyer said:

 

Annual accounting costs for home ownership with Thai government 12,000.

Annual association fees 18,000.

 

Could you possibly breakdown the Thai government fees of 12,000 and  tell me what they are for. Never heard of that one before. 

Are the association fees for upkeep of roads common areas like gardens etc Within the gated community?

Cheers. 🤗

[ChiFlyer]

4 hours ago, KhunDon said:

Could you possibly breakdown the Thai government fees of 12,000 and  tell me what they are for. Never heard of that one before. 

Are the association fees for upkeep of roads common areas like gardens etc Within the gated community?

Cheers. 🤗

The Thai government fees (I could have said this better to start with) are the bill for the annual Accounting work related to the company that owns the house we live in. You probably know this already, but a Farang can not own a house or property directly. The way around this is to form an LLC that owns the house and we in turn own shares of the LLC with myself appointed as the only shareholder with voting rights. A Thai LLC must file annual accounting reports with the government. 

I considered putting the house in the Mrs name, but in the unlikely event that I outlive her I might end up living in a cardboard box under the overpass where Thappraya meets Second Road and Phratamnak. The druggie who has been living there for years might not send over the welcome wagon. 🙂 

The association fees cover everything you mentioned as well as Garbage service, very good security teams, a fitness club, a very large common area pool with lots of kids stuff, and some other things I am probably forgetting at the moment. I just looked up the Association Payment and it was actually 18,900 for the entire year. They give one the option to pay monthly but that ends up costing about 2000 more, so I just pay it for the year.

Edited March 18 by ChiFlyer

[ChiFlyer]

11 hours ago, Toy Boy said:

I've been living here for 20 years and swimming almost every day, and I'd never bother with a pool heater. For the few weeks of the year when the water might be a bit chilly for our tastes - and this 'Winter' there wasn't a single day in that category as far as I'm concerned - it's much more economical to just buy a wet suit.

Or just take the philosophical view and embrace the joys of cold water swimming, it's been proven to have many health benefits...

...including improving your libido, so the missus will be happy, lol.

Noted and disagreed with. 🙂