Buying to attract Chinese investment

Agreed but not all of them are Jack Ma

 

If you want to sell your property for $300,000, list it as $298,888 to attract the Chinese market (only joking). See the Property Chat article about feng shui. Buying a house where you can see the back door from the front door is a major issue in this regard. Being at the end of a cul-de-sac is bad mojo as well, do some research on major feng shui issues if you are targeting this market.

My partner is Chinese and knows a lot about this. When we were inspecting properties there were a few good deals we had to avoid due to major issues with the feng shui. Minor issues we could ignore/compromise over. Not all Chinese care about this however a lot do so it's something to be aware of and consider when looking for a property.

 

The things I have noticed that are in common when speaking about property with my Chinese friends: absolutely no swimming pool. None of them know how to swim, none wish to learn to swim. As such, a swimming pool is a burden due to the costs involved with chemicals and repairs/maintenance. Large kitchen: when they entertain they use up heaps of space making dozens of dishes for friends and family. Minimum four bedrooms: even the couples without kids yet buy four bedroom houses, why, easier to resell down the track plus when the parents visit they have somewhere to stay. Close to public transport: not all of my Chinese friends know how to drive and living within 20 mins walk from a bus stop is essential.

 

A former company called One.tel tried that and it worked wonders for them, this feng shui thing

 

Lots of generalisations in the above and I think it's important to note that not all chinese (born or background heritage) adopt the same "rules" when searching for property. We have bought for many clients of chinese heritage over the last 11 years, and, of course whilst some are strict about feng shui, others are certainly not. Henny's articles are sound and certainly provide useful guidelines to those who are ignorant about the "traditional" preferences and beliefs however and she would know, having bought for many clients across the years herself in chinese-favoured Sydney suburbs. *I know Henny very well and we are certainly very friendly colleagues

Our experience has been that many younger less traditional chinese buyers are taking less notice of their more conservative parents (though it can ultimately depend on who may also be funding the purchase ) in their choices, however there are certain factors that they would prefer not to compromise on. Main ones are numbers, house position and land size. We've also interestingly ended up subjecting offers upon client request with several lucky 8's (in some cases proved to be lucky- others not so )

BUT...Across the years we've bought several properties with the no. 4, 13 and 14 (which apparently is a huge no no as these are associated with death) lots including swimming pools, valley positions, backing onto reserves/creeks and plenty with open door front to back open ventilation. It also does depend on the particular suburb and their preference to live in a particular location.