A busy couple's dream home was right under their noses
AFTER THEY RELOCATED from New York, it didn't take Chris and Noelle Chau long to realise that if they wanted their dream home in Hong Kong, they weren't going to find it ready-made.
Firstly, it had to be on Hong Kong Island. They wanted a sea view, a quiet, leafy neighbourhood, a high-rise rather than a house - in fact, everything the executive couple already had in their existing Braemar Hill apartment, except for one factor: room for a family.
On inspecting both old and new flats, duplexes and penthouses, the couple found that they either held little appeal or were too expensive. Noelle became the litmus test, Chris says. 'She'd walk in the door and announce whether or not she felt comfortable.' Sometimes, Noelle would just say: 'You've got to be joking!'
The solution was to stay in their existing apartment building, buy two flats, and knock them into one. They found two flats for sale, one on top of the other on high floors, and top-secret negotiations began.
'The flats were being sold by separate vendors, and we didn't want them to know we were buying both places, as they might have put the price up,' Chris says.