[Antzy]

Hi All,

Has anybody got experience buying old-fashioned house/flat in Hong Kong? What should we consider when buying this kind of flat?

thanks.

[KnowItAll]

You want to look at the valuations first of all and get some form of confirmation that a bank would be willing to lend you the money. Many banks will not lend or will lend for shorter periods if the building is older than 25 years.

I can think of dozens of other things, like wiring, plumbing, flooring, leaking ceilings / floors, fixtures etc ...

[freeier]

check past 20 years newpapers if anyone got killed in the block that you want to purchase, get a feng-shui guy to see if the building is haunted or bad for your future prosperity.. etcetc.

[Pekkerhead]

banks provide free valuations as KIA mentions, HSBC have a good online one for popular aprtment complexes, but for a village house you will most definitely need to go in in person and speak to one of their advisors.

[freeier]

Originally Posted by freeier

check past 20 years newpapers if anyone got killed in the block that you want to purchase, get a feng-shui guy to see if the building is haunted or bad for your future prosperity.. etcetc.

anyway, just in case you think this is a joke.
it sounded like one and i had intended it to be one but in actuality it is not.

many people in HK is quite supersticious.
houses with bad omen, bad past history, bad feng-shui, face north, etc.etc. are going to fetch much worse price than others in the same vincinity.

you might not believe in it and think you have strike a bargain buying something of good value, but when you are going to sell it your demand will also be much lesser as chinese avoid bidding for your unit.

so do as the locals do and spend abit of time researching into the various aspects of the house that you fancy. 8-)