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How does your usual day look?
Technology is rapidly changing the way we work. The main communication used in the office is email and phone calls but in recent years everyone uses some form of instant messaging on their phones. In Hong Kong’s case it’s WhatsApp. I am part of a good number of important “WhatsApp groups” where urgent matters, issues and announcements are made. A typical start of the day involves scrolling through these groups to look for any urgent matters requiring my attention, and usually results in a plan (or change in plans) for the day. Checking WhatsApp becomes a regular and must-do activity throughout the day as well. Aside from this, I am usually in meetings with department heads to check on the progress of projects and catching up with vendors in Australia to plan for upcoming promotions.
How did you start your career in real estate?
My father has a strong passion for real estate investment and I remember growing up we moved around a lot because he would use our primary residence as one of his “investments”. So for me, real estate is probably in my DNA but my career in real estate really began in the 2010s. After the GFC, the real estate market in the US was hit hard and my father and I ventured into the US property market looking for bargains. We stumbled upon Atlanta and you could get foreclosure homes there for around $US50K (below replacement value) and they generate double-digit yields. Not only did we put our money into this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but I also thought it was a good idea to bring these opportunities into Hong Kong. I was one of the first to do so at the time. Along the way, I met some people from the Ray White Group and was eventually introduced to Brian White. From there Ray White Hong Kong was born.
How do you work with our Australian arm of Ray White?
When we first launched Ray White in Hong Kong, it was clear from the beginning that we would only focus on promoting Australian properties in Hong Kong and not touch the local property market, unlike other offices in the group, which was (and probably still is) the uniqueness of the Hong Kong office. I was introduced to a number of project specialists within the group and we began by working closely with Andrew Salvo of the Ray White Southbank office. He had access to many developer contacts in Melbourne and also brings a wealth of experience selling in Asia. We learnt a lot from him and also made good traction in the Hong Kong territory. From there, we got our name out there and other Ray White offices, as well as developers, started contacting us to collaborate. We also refer our buyers to Ray White offices for property management, as most of our buyers are investors and need help with leasing and rent collection.
What are your go-to property marketing methods that you present to your clients?
Our main lead generation comes from weekly events and seminars. Events are so successful in drawing the crowd that we have our own dedicated venue in the same office building to hold our events. Our internal marketing team uses a combination of online marketing, social media and offline media to promote these events held on the weekends. I think one uniqueness of our business compared to other agents in the network is foreign currency. Because we are operating outside of Australia, the continued downward trend of the Aussie dollar has benefited us in pitching Australian properties to buyers in Hong Kong.
Tell me about a unique success story?
I think one of the good success stories is our partnership with Mirvac. Due to Mirvac’s reputation, their projects usually sell very well locally and didn’t need to sell overseas. They are also very selective with who they work with. Fortunately for us, we were introduced to their National Sales Director through a contact that we previously delivered good results in another project. From there we have an exclusive partnership in Hong Kong as well as a lot of fond memories working together.
What’s the one thing you know now, that you wish you knew when you first started out?
One thing I mentioned previously is foreign exchange. While the downward trend of the Australian dollar has benefited us in terms of pitching Australian real estate, it’s a double-edged sword as our entire revenue is denominated in Australian dollars while the company overheads are paid in HKD (which is pegged to the US dollar). So we have been almost constantly operating in a currency loss environment. Not only that, because foreign investors can only purchase off-the-plan, our business is built around project marketing which is paid on a 50/50 basis. So managing the currency exposure and cash flow are two of the biggest challenges we had to tackle in the initial years. One thing I wish I knew when we first started out was how to effectively hedge our currency exposure.
What is your outlook for the Hong Kong sector over the next 12 months?
There are a lot of uncertainties which lie ahead in Hong Kong. The COVID-19 situation is the obvious one. While Hong Kong seems to be walking out of this pandemic, we have yet to experience the true effects of what it did to the economy. Prior to the virus, Hong Kong’s economy was already hit hard by protests and there are signs of protests coming back now that people are beginning to feel “safe” to go outside again. I expect unemployment to be on the rise and that could have a domino effect on the economy. These are the negative effects, but the positive (and sad) side is that the wealthy are looking to move (or at least their capital) outside of Hong Kong amidst the political instability. We have yet to see how all these play out, and remain hopeful.
CONTACT
Email: james.li@raywhite.com
Phone / WhatsApp number: +852 6750 8590
