[pin]

Originally Posted by Skyhook

Thanks for the compliment pin, really appreciate it.

How's your house hunting going ? You making progress ?

ha ha, is that an invite round then (joke!!)

house hunting is now turned into buying for investment!

[Skyhook]

Originally Posted by pin

ha ha, is that an invite round then (joke!!)

house hunting is now turned into buying for investment!

You never know your luck in a big city Pin lol

Good to hear that you are going to take the investment plunge, a good move considering landlords are hiking rents to as high as they can at the moment. Nice to have some stability, and if the market continues to rise like it has been over the last 2 years, you should be sitting pretty in another 2 or 3.

[pin]

Originally Posted by Skyhook

You never know your luck in a big city Pin lol

Good to hear that you are going to take the investment plunge, a good move considering landlords are hiking rents to as high as they can at the moment. Nice to have some stability, and if the market continues to rise like it has been over the last 2 years, you should be sitting pretty in another 2 or 3.

well, i'll still hold our for the invite :-p

signed the provisional s&p today and handed over my 5%!!!!

[BettyInToronto]

I never thought about getting a top floor apartment with a roof top terrace. But wouldn't the price be HUGE compared to the village house?

Also, we are not looking for investment per se, but thought it would be better to own than rent. And then if we get too old to climb those 2 sets of stairs; we could move into a "nursing'type" home. But if we had a flat in a high-rse there'd be an elevator, right? Could stay until we die.

Do you mind telling what floor you are on and the price range? The flats we are looking for in the villages behind Mui Wo on Lantau Island are around the $2HK million.

[Skyhook]

Pin, that's excellent, scarey and exciting, all at the same time once you make that first step. . You will be o.k long term, you made a wise choice.


Thank you Betty,

We looked at village houses early on, infact the top floor house we were considering buying, is still for sale @ $1.8million and needs atleast $300K worth of immediate renovations. Banks were a pain in regard to that village house, their attitude toward it sucked, judging by the transaction record of said property, it became more and more clear, that village houses, even those with fantastic sea views, are a dud idea on a capital gain point of view. In direct comparrison, our apartment was a dream to deal with the bank, with no issues what so ever.

Since we purchased our roof top apartment in May of this year, after excercising a complete renovation ( a fair bit by me ) from front to back, replacing everything, our place has has appreciated 800K over the same time frame, possibly more.

I am not a big fan of wall type apartment complexes, or anything above 18 floors, low density, we wanted privacy, so the residential area had to be seperate from any commercial/ retail zones ( keeps the crowds noise and traffic away, logically). We accomplished everything that we set upon achieving and wouldnt consider any other location in HK, for the exception of Shek O, which is similar in feel to the way our residential pocket is oriented...

We are on the 15th floor, which is a pleasant height, and of course lifts are provided, as was a car space included under the apartments title.

Price range in our area for a sea view top floor apartment of 3 bedrooms, 836 - 919ft2 interior + 500-700FT2 rooftop, are between $2.1 million - $4.4 million depending on overall condition. On average, expect to pay about 2.5 million and add between 200K - 500K for renovations. Renovations cost 50% less if you do a fair amount of work yourself, and do your own interior design, like you would have done in Canada.

Renovations shouldnt be feared either, it only took us 7 weeks to fully renovate our place, starting the day we took possession, timing the settlement of our old place with about 5 days spare.