There is absolutely no doubt about it – that property

About a property purchase, most of us would put money on something that can easily turn into cash during urgency. It is highly unlikely that we will buy into a neighborhood which will not hold its value until we’re ready to sell. Demographic information about a new neighborhood plays a pivotal role in the property’s value. Which neighborhoods are crème de la crème?

(Both photos were shot from the sixth floor of my apartment. Left: Squatters, Right: 2 Taoist temples)

The area I live in at this time is the place that could provide a journalist a comprehensive coverage of the stories of unsolved mysteries, unscrupulous deal, and counterfeiter.

We usually think of home as a haven for a family. However, sometimes this is not always the case. I have had a terrible experience with my first property for as long as I can recall; it started with my foul-mouthed neighbors.

There is a lot of shouting goes on near the doorstep, yelling “F” words, spitting in the public place, and the disturbances one probably would not find in a modern apartment amid the well-educated population in a hectic business centre.

Mystic rites and ceremonies often take place at the temples nearby, a popular meeting place for the religious devotees, some of whom are residents from the nearby villagers. In the midnight, despite a tranquil and quiet night, I am often disturbed by the noises came out of the temples when the ‘masters’ are performing rituals.

This is certainly not the place for one to call HOME. No amount of positive valuation and financial treatment can heal this protracted pain of losses over the past couple of years of investments on the property.

More to the point, there’s something about real estate that never ceases to distract me. I can say that with confidence because it is about my first property. The city that has bragged of increasing international perspective during the past decades is struggling to explain why the housing markets are slow and slump.

Still, the greedy, unscrupulous locals compounded by the ongoing political standoff are promoting 2nd property ownership. For those of us who are working to make the most out of a property investment, for education and retirement, are craving for some motivation from the housing market. Can we see lights at the end of the tunnel?

One day during an appointment with a buyer, a woman from the fourth floor was standing outside my apartment, staring creepily into my house. It was the expression of evil, every hair on my body went up. This was the woman who constantly gave me a prank call about the sale, repeatedly asked for the selling price, and made a pessimistic conclusion about the sale at the end of the call for the past few years.

When I put up ad to sell my apartment, I was slightly crept out when particular groups from the real estate business following me around the selling process, but is that actually a matter that stop me from selling the house? It did give me pause to reflect on the progress, despite the tremendous challenges of my brokers cum neighbors to whom I must face; because, it is the trend of the business world today.

Home is a place you grow up wanting to leave, and grow old wanting to get back to. – John Ed Pearce.

Wai Ping Lee/ June 2011