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SINGAPORE PROPERTY WEEKLY Issue 353
What I admire most is his honesty and Disillusioned after the Cultural Revolution, he
bravery to speak his mind. He dares to admit joined a large property firm as an intern. Two
that property prices are too high, criticize the years later in 1978, he used HK$5,000
Hong Kong and China government, and (S$640) of his savings to set up Centaline
expose the truths and problems of society. Property Agency with a partner.
Shih is famous for deriving his management “You may be forced to shrink your operation.
style from his favorite philosophy of Lao But the industry is fair to all the players. You
Tze (老子) – which is “doing nothing” by can still do better than competitors in a soft
delegating power to all the branch managers market.”
In the past, no developer would outsource Lesson #3 – Having a good project is more
marketing of their projects to property important than having buyers
agencies. Property agents could only sell
“Most of the time, having a property project is
resale properties. It was only when the
more important. We don‟t have to worry about
market turned bad that developers started
no takers if you have a good project or a good
seeking help from agencies.
unit on hand.”
This continued when the market picked up
However, during the period of 1998 and 2003,
again because: 1) Developers had a pleasant
it was difficult to find buyers in the market. So
experience working with agencies. 2)
property agents had no choice but to focus on
Developers became dependent on agencies
leasing instead of selling.
and even closed their in-house sales
department. Lesson #4 – Don’t bother marketing
foreign properties
“If someone else has a well-trained army
ready to serve you, why do you still need to Shih believed that properties must serve the
keep a fighting force of your own? The same purpose of fulfilling the housing needs of the
applies to small landlords who used to save locals.
“Never take properties from one country to from real estate brokerage is just peanuts.
sell in another country. Also, don‟t use They are eyeing at businesses from the
manpower in your country to market whole ecosystem such as asset management
properties of another country. How many and financing. They develop Big Data to offer
foreign properties can you sell in your local developers solutions on cost, pricing, project
market?” designs and customer needs.
Lesson #5 – Have a big vision for the “With a grand vision to grow a thousand
future billion-dollar business, they can attract lots of
funding and talents from top universities
Centaline entered the China market in 1992.
which is a completely different breed from
They brought with them rich experiences in
Centaline‟s property agents. For the last few
marketing properties. Centaline used to be
years, Centaline has been „battered‟ by
the market leader in China for many years.
competitors. To survive, we have to increase
But the new local players have a bigger our investment in IT.”
vision. Many are proud of being an agency
His views of the current property market
rather than a developer.
Unlike Singapore, Hong Kong property prices
For instance, the vision of Lianjia (链家),
keep setting new record highs. From 2009,
Centaline‟s biggest competitor, is to build an
prices have increased over 220 percent.
O2O property platform. To them, revenue
“When market prices surge like that, of Personally, he follows the 4-3-2-1 rule in his
course it is abnormal. There is too much investment portfolio: 40 percent in properties;
liquidity because of money printing. 30 percent in shares; 20 percent in bonds;
and 10 percent in gold. If he sees the value of
But this is only the rich man‟s game in the
any asset increases a lot, he will sell it to
international market. For the common people,
compensate potential loss in other assets. By
how can they compete with the suddenly
do so, he can avoid big losses during crises.
rich? Even if property prices drop 60 to 70
percent, they can‟t afford to buy. But if that His reasons for not leaving money behind
really happens, owners in Hong Kong will all
When asked how he manages his wealth,
end up with a negative asset. Hong Kong‟s
Shih said he doesn‟t have much left, just
financial system will collapse.”
enough for his living. In 2008, on his 60th
To solve the housing problem, Shih said the birthday, he donated all his company shares
government should allocate enough land to to set up a charity fund called Shih Wing
build housing for first-time buyers. For Ching Foundation. He gave away over 80
upgraders to the private market, this group of percent of his total wealth.
people can wait.
He is not planning to leave anything to his
When asked how to stay intact through ups three children, not even his company to any
and downs in the market, Shih said one of them.“This is to prevent them from
diversification is very important. fighting over my fortune.
Also, I hope they can rely on themselves and Some final thoughts
work hard for a living.”
By donating his wealth to those in need, Shih
He mentioned the same in his previous Wing-ching has finally fulfilled the ultimate
interviews. goal of Communism to achieve common
ownership and re-distribute resources evenly
“Reliance on family deprives the next
in the society.
generation the chance for hard work and self-
discovery, leading to an unfulfilled life.” Do you notice the Chinese calligraphy behind
Shih in the picture? If you can read Chinese,
“Having too much money will make you lose
know Chinese history and understand China‟s
the motivation to work.”
political scene, this Chinese poem clearly
“There is no point having too much money. explains why Shih spends his lifetime in
You can only use the first few in a big stack of business instead of politics.
banknotes.”
You can‟t change the world. But you can go
“When you have fulfilled all your financial with the flow to see what you can make out of
needs, you have to show your worth by doing it.
good deeds that benefit others. Money should
be used where it is most useful.”
Non-Landed Residential Resale Property Transactions for the Week of Mar 25 – Mar 29