Oost Pattaya

Buyers should look carefully at the individual property, the land, road access, drainage, utilities, construction quality and the surrounding neighbourhood.

A home inside a gated community is not necessarily much safer than a stand-alone property. Thailand is generally a safe place to live.

The real advantages of a managed community can be more practical. Owners may share the same gardener, pool cleaner, handyman or even maid, making the property easier to maintain.

There is also another important consideration: homes inside well-maintained gated communities often seem more attractive to future buyers. In my experience, they can therefore be easier to resell and may achieve a better return than similar stand-alone properties in less organised surroundings.

East Pattaya offers tremendous variety, but buyers should never assume that two houses only a few kilometres apart are comparable. Location, community, maintenance and overall quality still make all the difference.

That is one of the first questions I would ask before deciding against East Pattaya.

If your daily life revolves around work, school, family, shopping and leisure rather than walking to the beach, paying a premium to live west of Sukhumvit may not make much practical sense. In East Pattaya, lower land prices generally mean more space, larger homes and better value.

Once people are settled at home in East Pattaya, many hardly feel the need to visit busy Central Pattaya again. Most everyday needs are already available on the eastern side.

The next choice is often between a stand-alone home and a property inside a gated community. A gated estate is not necessarily much safer, Thailand is generally a safe place to live, but shared gardeners, pool cleaners, handymen or even maids can make ownership easier. Well-maintained gated communities also tend to remain popular on the resale market.

So the real question is not whether East Pattaya is too far from the beach. It is whether the beach is actually important to the way you live.

Connectivity is generally excellent.

What many people do not realise is that travelling vertically through Pattaya can actually take longer than travelling horizontally. Driving from North Pattaya down to Jomtien, for example, can easily take longer than travelling from East Pattaya into Central Pattaya.

East Pattaya also has very good access to Sukhumvit Road, Highway 7 and the wider Eastern Seaboard.

Interestingly, I know many people who hardly bother going back into busy Central Pattaya once they are home in East Pattaya. There is simply less reason to. Supermarkets, restaurants, international schools, sports facilities, markets, hospitals and everyday services are all readily available on the eastern side.

Yes, particularly when it comes to good-quality rental homes.

For some reason, genuinely good rental houses remain in relatively short supply. A well-located and well-maintained home can therefore perform very well, especially if it appeals to families and long-term expatriate residents.

Depending on the property and purchase price, a good rental home can realistically achieve around 6% net return.

As always, the quality of the house, exact location, access, surroundings and overall presentation are far more important than simply buying something because it looks cheap.

East Pattaya is especially attractive to families, long-term residents and people who prefer a proper home with space, a garden and perhaps a private swimming pool rather than condominium living.

What I personally like about East Pattaya is the social mix. It is a very tolerant melting pot of Thai and foreign residents living side by side. I am not sure there are many other destinations in Thailand where that mix is quite as dense.

You will find Thai families, Europeans, Scandinavians, British, Australians and many other nationalities all living in the same communities, sending their children to the same schools and using the same shops, restaurants and local services.

East Pattaya has long been nicknamed the “Dark Side”, but not because of bad street lighting.

The name really reflects the fact that this is where many of Pattaya’s true residents live. Families with children going to school, people with 9-to-5 jobs, business owners and long-term residents. People simply tend to sleep earlier because they have to get up again in the morning.

Sukhumvit Road is the clear dividing line. West of Sukhumvit you have the more commercial side of Pattaya, dominated by hotels, shops, restaurants, nightlife and the coastline. Cross Sukhumvit to the east and the atmosphere changes quickly into a much more residential environment.

Land prices are also considerably lower than along the coast and in central Pattaya, which means buyers can generally get much more space for their money.