We are in the process of selling a property in England with a view to buying in Hong Kong. I am chilled to the bone regularly when I stand in front of estate agent windows at just how expensive property is in Hong Kong. Just to get a bit of perspective the photograph above is a six bedroom house in West Yorkshire, built from stone. It is over 100 years old and set in five acres with a stream running through the grounds. It is on for 750,000, pounds that is. A quick currency conversation tells me that it would be HK$12million near as damn it. Oh that M word is the part that chills me. Research tells me that HK$12M would get an apartment in PokFuLam of 1,650 square feet with three bedrooms. And the galling thing is that it will a breeze block box built with little imagination, have no character and if you had a cat you definitely couldn't swing it.
I am becoming more and more frustrated the more I view places to find that there appears to be no designers or architects with half a brain between them. Property in Hong Hong is terrible. Just what am I getting for my money? Breeze block walls encrusted with pink ceramic tiles on the outside, metal bars on every window, air conditioners which always include a dangling wire across the middle of a wall exactly at eye level, a room with a sink and a hot plate which appears to be described as a kitchen, a washing machine located on the balcony or on the roof and all bedrooms built exactly the same size as a bed with no space to walk. Don't talk to me about storeage! It's immoral.
I have seen Colin and Justin on the BBC redesigning houses and dressing them for viewing. This is to give potential purchasers an idea about the lifestyle they could buy into if they went ahead and put an offer in. Estate Agents in England seem to be on this game. Many photographs show perfect Good Housekeeping style rooms equipped with copious cushions and coordinating throws with the odd bowl of red peppers and a coriander plant in the kitchen. It's appealing to the eye, people yearn for it so, hopefully, buy it.
In Hong Kong this doesn't seem to have caught on and the fact that they get commission from the vendor AND the purchaser means that they should put in a tiny bit more effort. Have a look at the photographs which were sent to us of an apartment which has an asking price of HK$1.4M, its 700 square feet in the middle of a block of three flats.
Now call me old fashioned but if an estate agent was coming round to photograph my lounge I think I would have finished my mobile phone call and tidied up a bit, perhaps even made the bed and the kitchen...give me strength!
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