Thursday, November 7, 2019

Renting Retail Space / Shopfront in Hong Kong

Hong Kong is without a shadow of doubt the most expensive place on the planet for retail space and most landlords who own the space will never sell. The below is a picture of a shopfront on Peel Street, Central, Hong Kong back in 2004. A shop like that now, in 2019, will cost probably HK$150,000 to HK$ 250,000 a month in that very location and the size of the space is no more than 800sq ft. Hopefully this will give you a perspective of the craziness of the Hong Kong real estate situation.

Shop front on Peel Street, Central in 2004

For those who wish to rent a retail shop front, there are a couple of specialist who can help such as Professional Properties (http://www.pproperties.com.hk/eng/), OneDay (https://www.oneday.com.hk/en_US/retail/) and Friends Property Agency (http://www.fpahk.com/) in Wanchai.

On 6 November, 2019, there is a retail shop front that has just become available on Elgin Street.
https://www.oneday.com.hk/en_US/listings/elgin-street-wai-yuen-building/

It is a 400 sq ft retail shop front on Elgin Street which is in the heart of Soho and it costs HK$ 40,000/month in rental fees.
Elgin Street Shop space for Rent

For those who are interested - they can contact Warren Yeung +852 28401880.

There is another property at Gramercy on Caine Road which is around 3,000 sq ft and costs HK$ 240,000/month to rent.
https://www.oneday.com.hk/en_US/listings/caine-road-gramercy/

Shop for Rent on Caine Road


We will update you again when some new and interesting shop fronts come online.

Monday, November 4, 2019

What is it like living on Discovery Bay?



For those considering moving to Hong Kong and need to find somewhere to stay; if you're unfamiliar with Hong Kong I'm sure you will be overwhelmed by the number of choices for those who have the luxury of time I'm of course a site visit to all the various districts would be preferable but for those who have to rely on internet for their research then in this article I would like to offer as much information as possible about what it's like to live on Discovery Bay. 


First I'll start with a bit of history about Discovery Bay which is a part of Lantau Island which is the largest island of the coast of Hong Kong it was started in 1980s the vast majority of the land in Discovery Bay was owned by one single person called Sam of Boykins Investment who in 1970s propose to the government of creating the concept of Discovery Bay unfortunately he ran out of money and ended up selling this plot of land to a Consortium of people relating incorporated into a publicly listed company called HKRI.  Discovery Bay continues to be owned by HKRI who managed to maintain and develop on this special enclave within Lantau. The original thinking behind Discovery Bay was that it would be be a special residential zone with a skew towards healthy living and a great environment as such there are no petrol cars in the whole of Discovery Bay except for special vehicles like ambulances and police vehicles everything is electric.

As a place to place Discovery Bay definitely has its perks, you don't feel like you are in Hong Kong, the air is cleaner, fewer people and there is generally more trees and greenery. Dogs running around in a carefree manner. The price of the apartments are also more affordable than comparable ones on Hong Kong island. The main transport means to get to and from discovery bay is the ferry which is a 30 minute ride and takes one to Central, ferries run every 20minutes and pretty much 24 hours. The only time the ferry stops running is when typhoons signal 8 is hoisted but even during these times travellers will be given 2 hours notice before the typhoons signal is hoisted so that they will not be stranded.

There are many great restaurants at Discovery plaza - the area directly next to the ferry terminal and most of them enjoy a beautiful sea view such as 22 North (https://www.22north.com.hk/) run by Philip Moriau which offers great food at affordable prices. There are also many parks and open areas where dogs can run around and play with other dogs. Though I am told the fleas situation is Discovery Bay is quite serious so flea collars are a must for dog owners. Overall the environment is definitely suited to expats from Europe used to having more space and don't mind a 30 minute commute into town centre.

Headland Homes is a great and trustworthy estate agent on Discovery Bay (http://www.headlandhomes.hk/) and they help a lot of expats find homes. 

Here are some examples properties that are available for rental or sale. 

Property on Parkland Drive:-

Properties at Positano:-

Properties at Chianti:-
https://www.oneday.com.hk/en_US/buildings/discovery-bay-phase-13-chianti-the-pavilion-block-1/

For those who wish to buy a property in Hong Kong, please be aware that the government has changed the stamp duty scheme payable for purchases recently; this page has more resource on the latest Stamp Duty rates:-
https://www.oneday.com.hk/en_US/news/hong-kong-stamp-duty-your-complete-guide-2019/


Thursday, October 10, 2019

Best Movers in Hong Kong 2019




Over the last 20 years in Hong Kong I must moved at least a dozen times; for my home and a also the office so it can be argued that I have moved twice as many times as my contemporaries. In 2000 I arrived in Hong Kong with a suitcase and now can probably fill a 20ft container with my personal belongings - this is, by the way, a very common Hong Kong story. So the act of moving has become increasingly involved with every passing year. During the first few years in Hong Kong (whilst I was still finding my feet) I used a number of different Movers from your local outfit like Yan Yan to your large International relocation service providers. The former were cheap but what you paid was what you got the latter were expensive and better and did get the job done with less hassle. It was only about six years into my expat life in Hong Kong that I found Tradewinds Transport who offered a better and more personalised service than the international relocation service providers but only a fraction more expensive than the local outfits. Tradewinds was more than just a mover they were a problem solver; sometimes if a wardrobe didn't fit through a door they would take the door down move the Wardrobe in and then put the door back. Most movers would probably just tell you to get another wardrobe or a house; leave the wardrobe in the middle of the living room and let deal with it. They also carried my piano up many flights of stairs with good cheer. All in all I have been extremely satisfied with every move that Tradewinds has helped us with and they really made the rigmarole of moving a breeze.



Over the years I got to know Steve Dressler the managing director of Tradewinds very well on a personal level. And often when we got together we would recount the many successful moves that they had done for both my home and for my office.

From my understanding Tradewinds offers a number of services including:-

- Local Moving
- Temporary Storage
- International Relocation
- Professional Packing Services
- Dumping of Unwanted Items
- Customs Clearance

 I went on Google and found that there many more other happy customers and the following are some of the testimonials from other customers:-

 JK
 We can nothing but recommend Steve and his team! Quality, price, speed  - i can rate 5 stars for everything, but most important to us was that feeling that we hired just the right people to move around all your personal stuff ( - when you might be a bit stressed by everything else surrounding the removal with family and lots of stuff)
Steve has amazing experience, his colleagues are very kind, thoughtful and worked for him up to 18 years (!) 
We were provided boxes beforehand when requesting, they brought a perfectly matching team for the task, when reassembling some items differently in the new flat, they helped very clever. All of that with a good laugh, in budget as proposed, on time as planned. 
Thank you Tradewinds.

Ammu
Moves are never fun and especially not when they are foisted upon you at the eleventh hour. But thanks to Steve and his fantastic team, they turned a daunting experience into a delightful one — accommodating my last-minute request, packing everything very carefully, and managing to move my things into storage as well as to my new apartment over a single day. Easily the best movers I have ever used anywhere.

Lutz
I have used Trade Winds four times, last this summer. I was always extremely satisfied. The arrangements were communicated promptly and clearly and the removals were done diligently, quickly and without the slightest problem. Thank you very much!

Emma Chung
Second time to call Trade Winds for help and this time was to move our office POD into a new office. Steve personally came to take on the challenge with his trusty, capable crew and knocked the ball out of the park. Fast, efficient, got the job done with no complaining! They came with the greatest optimism and that remained the whole entire time even though I know that it was ridiculously heavy. Came along with great banter which makes it the stress of moving way less! To Steve and Raju, you guys are amazing! Y'all are masters at putting Humpty Dumpty back together again!

For more reviews, you can visit:-

GOOGLE REVIEWS

Their Contact details are as follows:-

Tradewinds (since 1991)
"No Job too Small"

Website : https://tradewindstransport.com/
Enquiry Hotline : +852 28052561
Email : info@tradewindstransport.com
Whatsapp : https://api.whatsapp.com/send?phone=85294899979&text=Found%20you%20through%20www.oneday.com.hk
Faceboook : https://www.facebook.com/Trade-Winds-Transport-1547416725488337

Thursday, September 12, 2019

OneDay launches video support for showcasing properties

OneDay Hong Kong (https://www.oneday.com.hk) taps video technology to enrich property viewing experience for users and app technology to allow estate agents to easily upload video content using their mobile phones


Even in 2019 most online property listing portals' method of showcasing properties are still image centric. Images are still nonetheless a definite step up from the days of newspaper ads when advertisements were all text based. However, video content delivers an even more enhanced experience whereby the user can almost view the property vicariously through the eyes of the person capturing the video; offering a spatial perspective of the property which still images can never offer. Today, with the capturing of videos through mobile phones as easy as a press of a button why are there not more sites and apps showcasing properties using video content as the norm rather than as the exception. This is due to a multitude of reasons including the complexity of video manipulation, non standardised video format support across different devices, large storage capacity requirements for server administrators and difficulties in integration with legacy systems. Before the advent of smart phones the capturing and production of video content was a highly specialised industry requiring expensive video recorders and complex video editing software which only a few knew how to operate. With the popularisation of smart phone these barriers no longer exist and all the new apps that do not have to deal with legacy issues are all video-content friendly.

OneDay (https://www.oneday.com.hk) is arguably Hong Kong's No 1 real estate platform and they have recently launched video content support for all property listings. Estate agents and landlords can now easily upload videos to showcase their properties through our mobile App or website dashboard. Videos and images can be uploaded together en masse and the system will automatically process and sort through the different media types. The option to utilise video content to engage end users vastly deepens the connection with the target audience. Furthermore, these videos can be shared through social media and other video platforms which will tap a readership unbeknownst to image and text content.

“Using video as a supplement for interacting with the target audience creates a unique 3 dimensional experience that dramatically enhances the level of end user engagement” said Jason Cheng, CEO of OneDay. “We’re excited about integrating the video capabilities into the OneDay platform, further strengthening OneDay as the de facto property platform that people use in searching for real estate turn to. We’re constantly innovating our platform so estate agents and landlords can better connect, interact, and share with the end user.”

OneDay App links:-

iOS:-
https://apps.apple.com/hk/app/%E6%90%B5%E5%9C%B0-oneday/id1445966708

Android:-
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=user.hk.com.oneday&hl=en

OneDay's different property sectors:-

Hong Kong Residential Properties (English)
Hong Kong Residential Properties (Chinese)
Hong Kong Commercial Properties (English)
Hong Kong Commercial Properties (Chinese)
Hong Kong Industrial Properties (English)
Hong Kong Industrial Properties (Chinese)

Tuesday, April 23, 2019

4 New Features on OneDay (搵地)

OneDay has just launched 4 new great features to help estate agents in Hong Kong.

Monday, March 25, 2019

Asia Contemporary Art Show (30 March to 1 April, 2019)

Meet more than 250+ artists including Eleanor McColl at the Asia Contemporary Art Show (Mar 30 – Apr 1) to understand what goes into creating art. RSVP https://www.visit.asiacontemporaryart.com/vip_oneday and see you at the Show! OneDay is collaborating with the Asia Contemporary Art Show 2019 and this is one not to be missed!

Wednesday, March 20, 2019

What is OneDay (搵地) property platform?

What is OneDay(搵地)?

OneDay(搵地) is a property platform that aims to connect estate agents with clients, buyers with sellers and tenants with landlords. The platform was started by Jason Cheng.

Why is OneDay(搵地) useful? 

  • For Agents: Estate Agents and Landlords can post up listings for Residential, Commercial, Industrial, Car park and Retail properties in Hong Kong through the OneDay website or through mobile Apps (iOS version or Android version). The portal aims to purvey up-to-date resource and a wealth of information to all users.
  • For Searchers: The OneDay platform is powered by a robust property search engine and it allows users to search and find properties against specific criteria and needs very quickly. The platform offers estate agents an environment to generate and convert leads into sales; with features such as shortlist units with the agents' branding.
  • Find useful building information: Search for buildings to find out more about it: age, street number, number of stories, ownership, what the transport links are like near that building, where the nearest schools, supermarkets, and hospitals are, agents in the area, similar buildings etc
  • For DevelopersOneDay(搵地) has compiled a buildings database for Hong Kong manually over the last 6 years and all of the information is Traditional Chinese and English, along with transport links, building photographs, Google Map and Baidu Map codes. For developers and/or tech startups wishing to integrate the OneDay(搵地) building information into their applications, you can find the OneDay (搵地) Buildings API system for Hong Kong can be found here:- https://www.oneday.com.hk/en_US/developer/transport/

Helpful OneDay(搵地) links (English)

Helpful OneDay(搵地) links (Traditional Chinese)

Tuesday, March 19, 2019

Hong Kong Buildings Database (Most Accurate and Most Complete) with API



Hong Kong is a city with one of the highest population densities in the world; it is so built up that the only way to go is vertical and this is why virtually everyone lives in a high rise building. The more recent the building the higher it is.

For technology companies wanting to build an App that allows users to quickly search for buildings in Hong Kong with Geo-code, English and Chinese support there are very few options. The Lands Department produces a book in PDF format with this information which is reasonably comprehensive but virtually useless to tech companies because the information is not searchable and does not contain any information about the co-ordinates of the building. So for tech start up wishing to integrate this information into their applications it would be impossible.

OneDay (搵地) has compiled a buildings database for Hong Kong manually over the last 6 years and all of the information is Traditional Chinese and English, along with transport links, building photographs, Google Map and Baidu Map codes.

The OneDay (搵地) Buildings API system for Hong Kong can be found here:-
https://www.oneday.com.hk/en_US/developer/transport/