'Every crisis brings an opportunity'. That is the motto of Paul Liang, a Taiwanese immigrant who arrived in the United States at the age of 12.
When the US economy was gripped by the global financial crisis in late 2008, Liang's Fortune Group - which provided loans to small- and medium-sized enterprises and real estate refinancing - was forced to make quick adjustments to its business in response to declining demand for loans.
'Our business certainly was affected by the depressed economy. But every cloud has a silver lining,' Liang said.
'The current property market slump has created an unprecedented opportunity to search for bargain commercial properties in the United States and so we shifted our business from lending on residential properties to brokering the sale of commercial properties,' he said.
Liang now lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which was ranked as the most 'liveable' US city in the Economist Intelligence Unit's 2011 Liveability Rankings in February.
Building on his well-established relationship with banks, he now has about 50 to 100 foreclosed commercial properties on his books, which he is brokering for sale on behalf of the banks at between US$1 million to US$100 million each.
'We will market these properties through our partners on the mainland to look for potential buyers,' he said.