which to sell...

Posted by Lily and Johnny (123 days ago)

in your opinion, which apartment (of the following two) would you sell in the current market situation...

an apartment in a brand new bldg
wanchai disctrict
15 mins walk to admiralty, 38th floor,
facing south east
good feng shui
able to see happy valley
BUT very small....i.e. 458 sq.ft

or
an apartment in a 16-year-old bldg
a big estate in ap lei chau (south horizons)
high floor (looking far enough to mountains and buildings miles away...)
THREE bedrooms...i.e. 7xx sq. ft...

market price is similar...

[any opinion is welcome :)]

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Posted by Cucaracha (123 days ago)

Interesting question. I would keep the apartment in WanChai and sell the one in South Horizons.

Posted by Lily and Johnny (123 days ago)

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Posted by Lily and Johnny (117 days ago)

hi cucaracha

thank you for your response. 50% of ppl around me told me to sell, while others do not.
Since i own neither of the properties, but i must take good care of the wanchai apartment (including making the best profit out of it), i am having a headache now.
The fact is that the price of the 7xx sq.ft property in south horizons is the same as the 458 sq.ft property in wanchai, which looks quite amazing to me.

I think my family might be selling south horizons cuz they just bought a bigger flat in the same area. In the meantime, i just informed a few property agents to sell the wanchai apartment. So far there is no response in the market :)

I might consider moving in that wanchai apartment since it is very near to my office, then wait and see how the market goes.... ha ha

have you been to south horizons before? is there any particular reason you opt for wanchai apartment not the south horizons? just curious :P

BTW, i bought a 814 sq.ft apartment in DB, but it is occupied by a tenant (notice could only be given to the tenant in May2008) i am currently living in a beautiful 45x sq.ft 28 yr-old apartment in wanchai, watching the sea everyday, paying a very reasonable rent , but under the risk of being kicked out with one-month's notice any time.... that makes it more complicated :)

Posted by Sellenger (116 days ago)

Sell Wan Chai and keep SH. When the Mtr opens in SH it'll really be a boom. Wan chai is a stink hole and will always be.
Andy

Posted by Cucaracha (116 days ago)

I speak without any expertise what-so-ever. I simply thought your question was thought provoking.

Yes, I have been to South Horizons a few times (just walking around) and Wanchai many more times over the span of 14 years. I actually like both areas very much and obviously they both have their merits. I suppose my unsolicited advice would be to keep both properties, but you asked your respondents to choose only one.

I chose selling the South Horizon apartment between the two based on the fact that the price at SH has already gone up on news of the proposed MTR line as well as the somewhat unexpectedly high sale price a piece of land fetched near-by a few months ago. Of course the SH price is going to go up a lot more once the MTR is actually there, but you want to choose one piece of property to sell now and SH would still be my choice.

Wanchai on the other hand is an old, established, very up-and-coming area that is changing by the minute. That entire area between Central and Causeway Bay is going through a major revitalization and for some reason, this property excites me more than SH. I wish I had had the foresight to have bought something in Wanchai a few years ago. It's not hard to see that this area will become a very up-scale extension of Central in a few years. Look how much it has already changed over the last few years.

At any rate, don't take anything I say very seriously. I am only a typical Hongkonger blah-blah-blahing about property.

Posted by Lily and Johnny (116 days ago)

Hey thank you Cucaracha and Andy, I would love to hear any points/ 'blah-blah-blahing' about property...that's why we are here on the net aren't we? :)

I begin to wonder if i should sell the apartment in DB now :P (sorry, kinda off-topic)
(DB apartment is 814 sq.ft with 87% efficiency, it costs only HK$3M, but 16yr bldg....was planned as my new home after wedding in 2yrs'time. I pay the mortgage for that DB property so i have full ownership of it)

The wanchai apartment's mkt price has come to >HK$11,000 per feet, which looks quite unreasonable at this stage. a similar flat 449sq.ft on the same floor was sold for 5.28M in FEB. It is now viewed as a 'commodity-to-trade' rather than a 'property-to-live'...
supply of rental of brand new studio / apartment in the area however is scarce... we are thinking may be it is possible to rent it out first and still put it into the market to sell...but we have not decided yet.

I am renting a beautiful 28yr-old apartment in wanchai, facing the sea everyday,
but my current landlord could kick me out anytime, with one-month's notice

i am considering to terminate my current lease and move in the new wanchai apartment mentioned above, while still putting the property open for lease/for sale.

I have lived in SH for >12 years. personally I do not like the neighbourhood for the last few years. many new faces (i see more and more tenants as habitants) and some ppl are really with bad personality. We ourselves had a very bad tenant last year. (a chinese couple who are highly educated but gave us a very bad time).

Someone died in SH (suicide) on some particular floors/some blocks during the past 12 years. I wonder if the property agents do tell the potential buyers.

If I were rich enough, would go to Bel-Air without any doubt. Bel-Air is comparatively new in my view.

The other day I saw an agent introducing the new buildings to a 'new-to-town' chinese (probably came from the States). I was sitting behind them in a mini van and almost wanted to interrupt them. Why? The potential buyer wants SPACE for value, the agent kept introducing him to new bldgs i.e. the Morrison...if anyone knows the new properties in wanchai ....would know why i was mad. the Morrison is not good for investment value, at its present price, nor is it good 'space-wise'. I once checked the transaction of sale of the Morrison, and found that the developer sell the property to companies related to themselves... The agents were lying about the 'transaction' record, i.e. 'that floor was sold at $x.x M...., so good in market....etc..'

Anyway..here is my pointless posting...hope it does not irritate anyone else :P as it is quite off topic

Posted by walkup (115 days ago)

...well why not stay in the lovely apartment while you put up both the DB and Wanchai apartments for sale? ..then trade up to something more 'special'.....interesting what you say about the Morrison but location-wise it is so central and convenient for Causeway Bay and Times Square and would be happy to do my daily shopping either in the Bowrington Road market or the old Wanchai market. (love to be near wet markets)...(BTW what are the prices being asked for the Morrison apartments? not the fish...)

Posted by Lily and Johnny (106 days ago)

Hi Walkup thank you for your response.

For the Morrison department, the happy valley view is more expensive than the street-view. I have to admit the higher floor is more comfortable ( i had been there once, invited by an Midland agent) . Just that HKD7.xxM for such a 6xx flat looks amazing to me, considering the flat is not in 'high efficency') Today i received a flyer from my mailbox, a few property agents are offering a co-joint flat (sorry donno the term) in the Morrison, i.e. 1,302 feet . some says open to offer, some says 1.2xx million. But i wonder which floor and which view.

My bf and I visited the Morrison together. We watched the bldg being built up, as my bf had been living in the area for > 30 years. He said, if we consider to buy the flat, we must not consider the low floor, even it is facing happy valley. Why? because of the 'chimney' of the restaurant/shops nearby. We were standing at the balcony. I told him that I did not see any restaurant. He told me that many restaurants had opened and closed in the past xx years, including a famous local fast food restaurant (i.e. Corxx ). No one knows if any more restaurant would be opening in the next 30years.

And if anyone is looking for a flat, it is not good feng shui to face the roof of a nearby building (i.e. eyelevel or a little bit under eyelevel). But of course, it all depends on the potential buyer's budget. you get what you pay for.

I can't help but wish that the other day, that property agent had told the new-in-town clearly, more about what-you-could-get-in-hong-kong.... being a local born person i feel that one is obliged to inform the new-in-town about everything he/she knows... things about lower/ higher floor, efficiency, feng shui (becuz we are in a chinese community, feng shui affects the market value), the weather in hongkong, (i.e. monsoon) (what is the difference between a flat facing SE and a flat facing NW)....

I love Wet market in Wanchai too. I agree that you almost get everything in Wanchai. I also agree with Andy that some part here stinks. (which parts in hk does not? ha ha, those part that i cannot afford even to pay the rent ...) the weird part that , even some parts in wanchai stinks, i still love it:P It is just too convenient. well, at least for now..donno about later as i see more developments are going on... i hope that the old shops would not be closing... wanchai is halfway between causewaybay and central, and if i want to go to quarry bay or tai koo, i could take a bus 720 or 722( correct me if i am wrong) from the wanchai ferry / main bus stop. I would arrive destination in 15 mins thanks to the eastern harbour crossing.

Oh, i blah too much, got carried away again. sorry.

I had decided to leave aside the matter of selling/renting out the houses at least for now. May be i would think again when i am totally relaxed and have a clear mind.

Would appreciate any comments / opinions on any property (i..e market value 3M to 9 M) in this thread. Thank you :)

Posted by Lily and Johnny (106 days ago)

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