I Have Been Searching For Grandpa’s Papers Without Success

According to family legend, grandpa was a great traveler. In addition to the legend I have proof of his wanderings by way of postcards and faded black and white photographs. My mother also told me stories of how grandpa, who was very rich, would buy things on the spur of the moment. “If he walked past a building and he liked the architecture or the entrance, he would go inside, ask for the owner and try and strike a deal to buy it. I distinctly remember a house in Stubbs Road in Hong Kong, a mansion with huge palm trees and a view of the pyramids in Cairo and a stone building in King David Street in Jerusalem.”

No, I don’t know where the papers are, said mother when I questioned her. There is no sign of these properties anywhere. So, I search. I have searched the house where he lived, so much so that the present occupiers are sick of me pestering them. “There is nothing here!” they yell. I have been to the bank, looked through numerous files and books under the strict supervision of the manager and his staff. Nothing. Hardly a sign that the old man ever trod the green marble floor. I spoke to his caregiver who tended him in the last few months. She shakes her head and asks if I know anyone who needs a caregiver. Why am I doing all this? Easy, it’s in the interest of raising some money so I can get rid of my boss.

 

Here’s my reasoning. I pick up the paper and see this article: Three residential sites were auctioned by the Hong Kong government at a value well over the predicted rates, reinforcing the belief that the curbs on property have not had any negative impact on demand and there may have been some expansion of the economy in the first quarter of this year after all.

 

The highlight of the auction was a site on Stubbs Road which was bought by Sun Hung Kai Properties Limited for $578 million. The original estimate for this sale was put at about $565 million. There has been a move by the government to put a damper on the real estate prices. But the Stubbs Road sale indicates that this is not seriously impacting the demand for luxury apartments even as prime real estate is getting scarcer by the day in Hong Kong.

 

According to a property analyst, Eva Lee, Hong Kong’s economy may have expanded by over 5% in the first quarter of 2011. Real estate dealers are still confident of selling properties at prices above the current rates within a space of two years. Housing in Hong Kong is considered to be the most expensive according to a survey by Savills Plc. Home sales however, have reached the lowest over a period of two years.