In search of another mocking piece on property development, I head off to see two sites which are taking a very different approach to sales.
The first is a condo to be built by A.D. who have thrown up cheap and cheerful blocks all over the place. They take a similar approach to sales, with a couple of tables and some chairs under an awning by the side of the road.
I enquire about availability. Of the 31 floors, there are a few at the bottom and a few at the top (where the price is much higher); otherwise sold out. Thais from Bangkok are the buyers, looking to ensure a bolthole when the floods return. Good business for A.D. and proof that if you have the right product, there is no need for a fancy sales office.
Talking of fancy sales offices, just down the road is a recently constructed edifice in support of the Atlantis development.
I drive past regularly and the car park is always busy, and so it is today. Inside is crammed with potential buyers.This is not the deadbeat project I was expecting to write about. They are building a resort complex with one thousand units. The units are small but with separate bedrooms; big enough for a holiday, a weekend away or for single person living at a pinch. For the money you get a fully finished unit with all the fittings and furniture, right down to the bed sheets.
Again, for a nervous Bangkokian, I can see the attraction. Purchase one of these and just turn up when the waters arrive at your front door in Bangkok. The salesman told me they were selling more than 30 a day, mainly to Thais, and that more than 600 were already sold.
Both A.D. and Atlantis are being developed by Thai companies who understand that their countrymen, and others, are looking for compact condo units at a reasonable price. They will sell them and they will build them; unlike the many developments fronted by shady Easter European thugs, offering over-sized and overpriced crap which they have no intention of building.
I know where I would put my money.