[Henningvoss]

Hi there,

After paying horrendous rents in HKG for a while I decided to buy my own place. Does anyone know about some good mortgage finance companies / lenders?

Cheers,

Henning

[KnowItAll]

Every bank will bend over backwards to lend to you, if you can come up with the downpayment, which is usually 30% on older flats. (Not sure if now is the right time to buy from an investment perspective)

Usual strategy is to get pre-approved by the bank that has your payroll / main banking accounts and then start hunting for a flat. Once you've found the flat, use the pre-approved mortgage to shop around for better rates / terms and condtions.

[KnowItAll]

I particularly like Standard's Chatered's package .. they do not charge you interest on your mortgage for the amount of money you have in the bank with them.

So, if you have $100,000 in your checking / savings account, you would not pay mortage interest for that amount.

[freeier]

its more expensive to borrow money than to rent.
the cost of funding is at 5~6% level, and the rental most ppl are paying are just like 4~5%...

go count it...

[jimbo]

Cheung kong is offering a 99.9% mortgage, read that in the scmp yesterday.

[nivantj]

Freeier,
Thats really an interesting point...

Agree with KIA on StanChart.. Besides StanChart has targeted its own niche in the second hand market and its more lenient on older properties than those biggies..

[Henningvoss]

Hey there,

Tks for the info!!

Cheers,

Henning

[Henningvoss]

Freeier, this is of course true but not for apartments that you rent out for >10%. I basically have the money for the apartment (older CN flat) but would need the mortgage mainly for decoration, legal fees etc.

[PSMaverick]

Originally Posted by KnowItAll

(Not sure if now is the right time to buy from an investment perspective)

.

Check the 'Monitor' column in todays SCMP, business section (last page) by Jake van der kamp, suggesting it is a good time to buy!

[freeier]

Originally Posted by Henningvoss

Freeier, this is of course true but not for apartments that you rent out for >10%. I basically have the money for the apartment (older CN flat) but would need the mortgage mainly for decoration, legal fees etc.

hi henningvoss,

agree. but those usually have a very limited lease period.
so u factor in the amortisation of the lease and u wld see if it makes sense. 8-)