We're moving to a new place!

One of the things we've been busy about since returning from our honeymoon, was considering when to sell the flat that we're in. It's very nice, but there are several things prompting us to make this decision soon. We know that the house prices are rising, and during our honeymoon it did peak to about HK$2.8mil for a flat of our size. The prices then dropped, and was slowly rising again. We wanted to catch it on the uplift, before there's another implosion on the stock exchange, holding back prospective homeowners from releasing their money for the deposit.
Secondly, it looks like the old buildings right in front of our flat will be demolished very soon. The tower that will be built there will be over 100m high, which is enough to block our view of the open ex-airport area. We already had several viewers come up and immediately lose interest when the agent said there would be a new tower blocking the view. For sure, the view is not the only reason why you would buy Grand Waterfront... the expected value of the area would still increase, especially once the key infrastructure of the Kai Tak project is completed. However, we can't really wait that long for the third reason:
We put down the minimum 5% deposit for the flat, meaning that we are paying a huge proportion of our mortgage money per month just on interest. We wanted to save on this, by selling the flat off as early as possible. Yes renting also incurs a cost that is not recoverable, but at least the release of commitment to the mortgage allows us to engage into the final reason for selling:
The HK Mortgage Corporation (HKMC) stands absolute on its basic rule that one cannot have their total mortgage payments over any number of properties to exceed 50% of their household income. So, lets assume my salary is $30k/mth. That means my mortgage payments cannot exceed $15k/mth. And given that Grand Waterfront is costing me $14k itself, I cannot buy another property, even if I have 30% deposit available for the new flat.

So, having rationalised all of that, we put the flat onto the market, and hoped for the best. We decided on our original target price of HK$2.7mil, which would have given us around half mil gross profit. Not bad for a commitment since Sept 2006! Its funny how some agents said "Look, lets set the original price at $3mil...." to which Judy and I both said "Why do that and scare off prospective buyers? Lets just put it at $2.75mil." Then we started to realise why.... some idiot agents entered that into their systems, and told all their customers that we would be willing to haggle down to $2.45mil! Rediculous! Seems that everyone has gotten so used to this haggling that they wont buy unless they feel like they've made a massive saving of over $300k. We both disagreed with this antiqidated dance, and held fast to our target price.

It worked. A young couple came along twice to the flat, and still tried to haggle to the "nice sounding" number of $2.68mil. We stood firm, and then the young lady turned to the agent and said "Well, you know what to do." On hindsight, that could have meant that the agent gets the 1% commission from us, but a slightly cheaper rate from them. I dont know and cant confirm on that, but thats what my colleagues have suggested to me.

Anyway, thats the sale of the flat sorted. We finally vacate the flat on 17 July and hand over the keys at that point.

So where are we going to?

Funnily enough, we're moving just two blocks over to Tower 2, 39/F, flat H, Grand Waterfront!!!
We inititally decided to look for new properties in Tseung Kwan O area, as construction recently completed and landlords were expecting to start letting out to tenants. The rent turned out to be quite expensive. We talked to our neighbours over dinner about this, and they suggested "If you're paying that much, why not rent here?" And fortunately enough, we found a flat that was just going to be vacant at end of June, perfect for us. And because its the exact same layout and orientation has our flat, everything can slot in exactly as we like! Another agent tried to convince us that this was a mistake, and we should have went with their offering, a 585sq ft flat facing the sea. Yes, it would be bigger, but maybe noisier as I would expect it to lower down, and hence closer to the bus terminus downstairs. Furthermore, we might have to get all-new furniture, since the orientation of our sofa might not be right for the new living room. Anyway, its done and signed for, so we'll be happily renting a quiant 500sq ft flat just literally afew steps away from where we are now!

Perfect!