home in hong kong

Closed Thread
Page 2 of 3 FirstFirst 1 2 3 LastLast
  1. #11

    Join Date
    Jun 2007
    Location
    Ex Sai Kunger Sunny Qld for now
    Posts
    8,318
    Quote Originally Posted by neogeo:
    Ok, the answer to your questions:

    1. I live in Alexander Heights, Western Australia.

    2. Not sure of actual house size, but it is a 3x1 on a 700sqm block. When we spend 4 weeks in HK every year we stay in my father in laws govt apartment in Chai Wan, which is 36sqf. Si I am used to the size of homes in HK.

    3. I am on the road for my job daily, my car is my office. So therefore I have no real travel time to get to work.

    4. We don't really entertain at our house, we usually have family gatherings at my parents house. If we catch up with friends we usually go to a restaurant or have yum cha, frequently.

    5. Property budget is around the HK$2m mark. For that price I am expecting to live in the New Territories. We will be shifting 2 dogs over with us, one is a shi-tzu X jack russel, the other a very active mongrel. That is why we want a villa/house or whatever they are called. I don't have a lot of faith in the HK property market, so don't want a huge mortgage. In the price range I mentioned we would pay cash for a home and therefore have no mortgage.

    I know there is what I am looking for because we saw them in January when we were there. Just can't seem to find them online.

    Please help.
    Agents in Hong Kong are bound by territories as a general rule. Do you remember the names of the area's that you saw village houses during your January visit ?

    As it makes it much easier to match up an agent that handles the area that you're interested in. Also ringing an agent from Australia isnt going to stir much motivation out of the HK agent either lol. Unless you are standing face to face, you arent going to get far with an agent here.

    I could rattle off 15 area's of Hong kong that have many village houses in the 900K to 3 million price range from lung Kwu Tan to Clear water bay. Pretty big area to cover, but with agents that cater for their particular allocated area, you're going to need an area to start with, then the agent you like can work with other agents and share the commissions at sale time..

    From my experience buying property in Hong Kong, online websites are a useless tool, generally the industry advertises low ball prices on property that has already been sold or any number of excuses explaining why the online promoted house is no longer available for the price listed. The HK real estate industry is not regulated with crippling fines that will shut them down for false advertising, not like it is in Australia under ASIC's watchful eye.

    You need to get in front of an agent who will take you around to 20 or 30 or as many properties it takes until you find the one that you will be happiest living in. A place to call home as such...

    You need to work out how far away from the HK CBD you want to be, if you plan to renovate or just move in, if shopping centres are important to be located near where you plan to live, and if you plan to have a car in HK or not.

    Cheers .
    Last edited by Skyhook; 18-03-2008 at 09:22 PM.

  2. #12

    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Posts
    10

    Thanks for the reply. I know they won't take me seriously when enquiring from Australia. And I agree that the web seems to be a useless tool for looking. Either the sites are so slow or there re so many bogus listings you don't know what is for real or what is there to pull hapless people in.

    I just wanted to do research, to see photos and get a general idea of what is availabe, at what price and where.

    If you know any such websites please let me know, however I don't hold out much hope.

    Thanks again.


  3. #13

    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Posts
    14,414

    Really theres no substitute for booking yourself into a serviced apartment for a month or two then physically looking in HK to get a taste for the areas.

    Hmmmm $2m property budget, Its not a lot to be honest especially if you're after a village house, You might be able to get a floor which will be 700sq feet but not much more than that.

    I'm looking at buying a three level village house in the NT's and thats going to cost 5 million for the whole lot albeit its a new build.


  4. #14

    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Posts
    10

    I know my budget is at the lower end of the spectrum, but as I said I have no faith in property investments in HK. It's not like it is here in Australia. Therefore I would rather not get burnt and go spending too much. We have some time up our sleeves so there is no desperate rush....


  5. #15

    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Posts
    14,414

    If you have no faith in property investment in HK then you may as well just rent somewhere in the NT.

    I'll speak to my agent who is based in the Tai Po area and see what he says is around the 2 million mark, But it will be only one floor of a village house at that price and it'll probably be the third floor and a possible roof garden.


  6. #16

    Location, location, Location

    Quote Originally Posted by neogeo:
    My wife is from HK and I am from Australia, where we both live now, but my wife wants to move back to HK to live. We have 2 dogs and want to live in a house, not an apartment. Not sure if house is the right term for what we want, but they are 3 story places with generally a larger living area than an apartment and a rooftop area for pets and a garden maybe.

    I have been searching the net for listings of these type of properties but so far have found only for sale listings for apartments. Can someone please provide a link for listings of these houses for sale if they know of one.

    Thanks in advance
    HK has an area of 1068 sq kms and where you want to live depends on your budget. The clans who own village houses or private landlords do not read expat megazines and you therefore have to contact an agent who handles what we call in HK village houses. There are many housing colonies like Hong Lok Yuen in Tai Po. Fairview park in Fanling and more popular with expats Discovery Bay. The outlying districts like Lama, Mui wo, Pui O and other areas. In HK side Stanley and Shek O are more popular and Sai Kung is also quite popular.
    If you provide me a budget I can provide you with some contacts what can help.
    Regards,
    Tom de Sousa, Sydney

  7. #17

    Join Date
    Nov 2003
    Location
    Not friggin' Lamma no more!
    Posts
    2,181

    2 million wont get you much unfortunately- off the beaten track maybe.
    You could get a decent place on Lamma which is a great place if you have dogs and work in Central or thereabouts.


  8. #18

    Join Date
    Jun 2007
    Location
    Ex Sai Kunger Sunny Qld for now
    Posts
    8,318

    Area's that NEOGEO will be able to purchase a 2nd floor 700ft² village house with a balcony and a 3 bedroom 700ft² roof top garden area are:

    • So Kwun Wat ( Tuen Mun )
    • Lung Kwu Tan ( 20 minutes further up from the Gold Coast by car )
    • Lamma Island
    • Shek Kong, Kam Tin and Tai Po ~ (near the wishing tree )
    • Yuen Long
    • You might get lucky in Mui Wo Lantau
    • Tin Shui Wai
    • Pak Tam Country park near the reservoir
    • The outskirts of Mah On Shan near the elderly peoples ( Govt ) apartments are located.
    • Sheung Shui
    • Fringe area's of Clearwater bay, maybe a 1st floor or ground floor, near Hang Hau.

    And thats about all I can think of for the moment.

    Use Google Maps to have a look at where these area's are in relationship to where you'll be working.
    Last edited by Skyhook; 19-03-2008 at 06:47 PM.

  9. #19

    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Posts
    10

    That list is VERY helpful, thanks Skyhooks. We plan to stay in HK for a few years, maybe 7-10 and when we move back here we would try and rent it out. Not sure if there is a rental market for village houses. You have given me a great place to start my search. Thanks heaps.


  10. #20

    Join Date
    Jul 2006
    Posts
    394

    Why are you so afraid of a mortgage? It is tax deductalbe, up to 100K per year. So give you money to the goverment, or invest it in your house.

    2M will get you nothing, at best you will share a village house (1 floor only),