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SCMP Reporter

NOT buy overseas property without seeing it. That is the advice from real estate consultants after a rash of misleading advertising in the territory.

  Buyers or their representatives should always visit the property before signing on the dotted line, said Barry Lea, regional director of private bankers Hill Samuel.

  Cyndi Tuffs, Hong Kong manager of estate agents County Homesearch, offered the same advice, adding she had 'heard of awful things happening here, especially to Chinese [buyers]'.

  But Hong Kong investors often have to purchase blind and in a matter of days, because 'unless people are prepared to move that quickly the property will be sold', said Anna Stokes, director of estate agency Aylesford.

  Ms Stokes said one long-time client had bought seven Mayfair flats within a week of their going on the market for GBP2.65 million (HK$33.4 million) last month, without viewing them. However, the client saw photographs and sent a surveyor to visit the property before buying.

  Richard Redknap, managing director of property consultants Interprop, said disreputable estate agents often implied their properties were located in particular areas, when really they were somewhere else.

  For example, promotional literature might imply that an East London property is located in West London. Many estate agents exaggerated the proximity of their properties to city centres or to public transport, Mr Redknap added.

  Mr Lea criticised a recent advertisement which implied Sovereign Place, a residential development in Peterborough, eastern England, was in London, 123 kilometres away.

  Peterborough was advertised as being 'only 30 minutes by train' from London. Mr Lea said there were few trains that would take only half an hour and the journey by car would take nearly two hours.

  Mike Smith, a director of Connaught Holdings (UK), Sovereign Place's British developer, said the advert had been placed by Cosmos Property Consultants, the sole agents for the estate in Hong Kong.

  The advertisement was withdrawn once the error was spotted, he said. 'It's very tough to control what a Chinese agent puts in an advert,' Mr Smith said.

  But Mr Redknap rejected this explanation, saying it was the responsibility of all vendors to ensure they and the agents conveyed accurate information about their properties.

  A spokesman for Cosmos was unavailable for comment.

  Nigel Clark, managing director of estate agents International Homebrokers, said misleading information was often given about Australian properties marketed here and buyers were sometimes overcharged.

  For example, an agent described a property as enjoying views of Sydney harbour when it was actually at Parramatta, 45 minutes' drive away. The only way you could see the harbour from Parramatta was if you were 'flying at 20,000 feet', he said.

  On another occasion, a Hong Kong buyer was swindled out of A$30,000 (HK$171,900) by an estate agent who added an extra 10 per cent commission to the price of an A$300,000 flat.

  Then there was the Japanese developer who offered 'brand new' apartments on the Gold Coast that were in fact five years old, Mr Clark said.

  He added, however, that it was possible to buy 'blind' provided investors used reputable agents and sought property from reliable developers.

  Indeed, 90 per cent of his customers bought Australian properties blind through his company, which is also an agent for British properties.



Consultants warn against buying blind