Ko Samui Properties January 2012 Blog -- A New Year and New Office

Well as we enter 2012 may I wish you all a very Happy and Prosperous New Year. Another milestone for Ko Samui Properties – at the end of January, the ten year lease on our office comes to an end. Hard to believe we have been here that long and it would be easy to dwell on all the ups and downs we have experienced over that time, but better to move on and not relive the past. The present market conditions do not justify us staying where we are as we no longer need this amount of space. At the moment I am finalising the negotiations on a lease of a property in Bangrak from 1st February and will send out further details of the new location when these are complete. Whilst we have enjoyed our main road position it has become clear that such a prominent location is not necessary as the vast majority of people we do business with are in contact with us before they come to Samui. We rarely do business with people who walk through the door having found us by chance.

What do I see for 2012? Much of the same I suppose, but if you are considering buying this would be the time to move forward. Whilst this may not be the happiest time for sellers it certainly is for buyers and there are some excellent deals around and remember most prices are still negotiable. Last month saw average price reductions of 22% which indicates more and more sellers are adjusting to the realities of the market and presenting great opportunities for new buyers. Real Estate remains a solid asset and should rarely be looked on as a short term investment. We are of course subject to the world economy and certainly this has played a part in the availability of spare funds for second homes. However, there are people who have profited in one way or another during the present crisis and these people are here and looking for deals. Correctly priced properties will sell and we have seen more evidence of that over recent months in all price ranges.

A word of warning – and I really should have known better myself – do not give interviews to local Newspapers. I was asked to do that a few weeks ago and the first point I made was that I would wish to see the draft copy before publication to check for factual errors. This was agreed. The draft was subsequently sent to me and contained numerous errors requiring correction, which I made and returned the amended document. They then printed the original without amendment. I plagiarise their articles all the time, but you have to wonder just how accurate their reports really are. Whilst they are back on line, be aware that many of the reports they are publishing are 3-4 years out of date!

Ko Samui Properties December 2011 Blog - Face and its consequences

(Better late  than never)

There is a distinct lack of news this month to be trawled from the local and national papers. Neither The Nation or Bangkok Post had any relevant stories about Koh Samui during November and the Samui Express web site is still in the throes of re-inventing itself and re-hashing old, old stories with nothing new. Samui Gazette is up and running but, bless their hearts, they do make it difficult for me to plagiarise so here is the direct link to their web site.

http://issuu.com/discoversamui/docs/edition-35-nov-16-29-2011/11

Something I have been thinking about recently is the Eastern concept of “face”. I had always assumed that to lose “Face” was a consequence of doing something wrong in the eyes of other people, or being humiliated in front of other people. It is a concept that comes up time and again when discussing eastern culture. Wikipedia has a long discussion on “Face as a sociological concept” and it is clearly not easy to define in all its facets. Respect; reputation; prestige, honour all figure in definitions but these obviously vary between the eastern concept and that as we see it in the west. Then we have “losing face” and “saving face”.

The reason I have been thinking about this is the very real issue of “why did no-one lose face over the re-surfacing of the road by Bandon Hospital?” They spent good money improving the drains, putting in new kerbs and then re-surfacing – albeit straight onto the concrete – but within weeks the road is giving way and holes are appearing and major patch work has been put in place. Now surely someone must feel responsible for this shoddy workmanship and I would have thought “lost face”. Is it the Contractor who did the work, the Civil Engineer who wrote the specification, the Project Manager who over saw the work? Or have I got this whole concept wrong? Were all the parties involved able to “gain face” with their contempories by getting away with and getting paid for shoddy work? The same has to go for the construction of the promenade around Chaweng Lake. Looked good to start with but started falling to bits within months. The street lights through part of Bangrak – promoted as a “Walking Street” they then proceeded to place the light posts in the middle of the footpath so you had to step into the road. Then they were rarely switched on, if they were half did not work and most of the fittings are missing . Has no-one “lost face” over that fiasco?

As I see it “face” is a concept used and abused according to circumstances and an individual’s inability to provide a good answer to something that they are responsible for but have screwed up. To some extent this runs parallel with the Thai concept of Kreng jai which is being aware of other people’s feelings and showing politeness, respect and consideration towards them. It is also tied in with the Thai concept of not wanting to lose face; displaying kreng jai is one way in which one person can help another save face. Do nothing that will embarrass the other person. Let them get away with shoddy workmanship because to tell them it is shoddy would make them feel bad. Basically, criticism is bad manners. I have learned to live with it and deal with it over the years and if you are going to live here in Thailand and be happy then you must too. As frustrating as it can be sometimes, I still love living here and it could be worse. I could be living in England.

The market continues to be erratic, but at least that is better than dead. Enquiries ebb and flow and there is no consistency in the range of demand. Certainly more long term rental enquiries recently but also requests for details on properties for sale has increased, although not as much as the demand from new sellers to market their properties. We have seen and heard of a number of sales being completed but without exception at heavily discounted prices and the trend remains an average 30% fall over the last 2-3 years.

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