Real Estate in China

[imitation]

I'm living and playing poker in china for the next couple of years, this poker gig is doing ok and I hope to have 100k saved or so in a year. What are the pro's and con's of purchasing real estate in china, with consideration of further currency fluctuations and the difficulties involved with foreigners owning property hear and getting money out of the country.

[Dan Mezick]

I dont know much about Chinese real estate. But, I notice your animated, friendly looking avatar image is female and Asian.

Maybe Chinese real estate will experience a bounce. Or two.

[KaneKungFu123]

how often are you doing visa runs? is your wife working there or something?

what are china's rules about foriegn owned real estate? alot of countries will only let you buy a condo.

i think it'd be a major f--ing headache.

[ QUOTE ]
I'm living and playing poker in china for the next couple of years, this poker gig is doing ok and I hope to have 100k saved or so in a year. What are the pro's and con's of purchasing real estate in china, with consideration of further currency fluctuations and the difficulties involved with foreigners owning property hear and getting money out of the country.

[/ QUOTE ]

[imitation]

Heh i'm from australia it's very easy to get a 6mth visa, costs about 75$ and is easy to renew and I get free entry into HK to renew the visa when I want.

[AceHigh]

Don't buy real estate that you can't drive to see.

[Lawrence Ng]

Do you even known anyone in China? And what city are you looking to buy real estate in?

Your best bet is to talk a few mortgage brokers on foreign real investment and take it from there.

Are one or both of your parents from China/HK? If so, you may be able to access some form of citizenship and thus make purchasing any real estate an easier endeavour.

Lawrence

[imported_bingobazza]

There are no foreign bars to holding real estate in china, hence the meteoric rise in prices in the last 8 years, but the country does have strict currency controls, and capital gains tax if you 'flip' off plan properties within the first 2 years (introduced by the government recently to cool the market, and what the chinese governemnt wants, it generally gets). Think very carefully about this, as the market here (I arrived in Beijing 10 days ago and am playing poker F/T) looks shaky. Property has gone up a lot, and the government has ordered the banks to put a credit squeeze on developers. Many apartments are empty, and prices are high and long term rents are very low as a function of RMB/m2. You could wait a long time for wages to catch up, my guess is that prices will fall first, but that didnt happen in japan or Hong Kong for a LONG time...so prices here could defy gravity for years....too many owners chasing too few tenants. But the building just keep on going, as Im sure you can see...now Chinese stocks on the other hand, thats a different matter, as is Japanese property...much more appealing. Both have been battered for years, the stocks are highly specualtive though, japanese property is a lock IMO.

There might be other things you need to know about being here...so feel free to PM me. Be careful about how you get your poker winnings into China for one thing.

Bingo