Patricia Wu has an eye for potential. She has been rolling the property dice for 15 years through the various highs and lows of the Hong Kong market. Since entering the market, she has bought, redecorated and sold about one property a year, and she says, 'anyone can do what I do'.
We're sitting in her Happy Valley home, the latest of her property acquisitions, the 15th she has bought, renovated and placed back on the market to be sold.
This unit is on the third and top floor of a 1960s block in Happy View Terrace and covers 1,800 sqft. Features include an open-plan kitchen, three bedrooms - all with en suite bathrooms, one with a full-size tub, and another bathroom that is accessible from the living area-cum-third bedroom. Upstairs is the roof which, at 1,800 sqft, is equal in size to the floor below.
Before-and-after photos reveal a total transformation involving the gutting of an internal staircase leading to the roof. 'If you saw it originally, you wouldn't have wanted to buy it,' Ms Wu says.
Since she returned to Hong Kong in 1983, she has lived in 11 properties. Today, the word 'home' is even more elastic as she flits between residences in Australia, Hong Kong and Thailand.
In truth, though, there's little of the gamble about her investments. Her professional background as a real estate agent in Hong Kong in the late 1980s has sustained her long after the less savvy have fallen by the wayside. She credits the experience with giving her insider knowledge of the business and stresses the importance of cultivating good relationships with estate agents who by now know what she's looking for.