Buying property in international markets turned one man to books
Christopher Dillon's investments started in Hong Kong and made him an author on how to invest
"Put it in bricks and mortar" remains a popular morsel of advice doled out to those looking for secure places to park their money - because such investments are seen as, well, safe as houses.
The degree of truth in that wisdom varies with geography and circumstances: the US housing market collapse of 2007 was the worst in history; the economic catastrophe in Greece has seen property values obliterated.
But there remains enough confidence in property's investment potential to keep the advice coming, not least in much-expanded form in a series of books on how to buy it within and across borders. The series was created by an investor who has personally felt the pain and enjoyed the gain of the bricks and mortar believer.
Hong Kong-based Christopher Dillon, who describes himself as an "entrepreneur and writer", has just published , which is brimful of insider knowledge on the nuts and bolts of purchasing, legal factors, pitfalls, transferring funds, taxes, insurance, surveys and a wealth of other considerations. It follows , and . So what makes him the expert?
Canadian native Dillon, who grew up in Ottawa, lived in Tokyo for three years and has been a Hong Kong resident for 22. In 2002, he bought and renovated a floor of an office building in Central, then "bought in Wong Chuk Hang at a time when nobody wanted anything there", he says. "I bought half a floor of industrial space that had mixed-used zoning and I put in a photo studio and rented it to Sony, De Beers, MTV and the like. Coming to Hong Kong, I didn't even know that as a foreigner you could buy; as my Finnish friend would say, I climbed the tree ass-first."
Dillon's property portfolio soon expanded and his collected experiences gave the series its impetus. "It all started with the Hong Kong book because I had bought commercial, residential and industrial, and got to the end of it after renovating all three and thought, 'There's nothing explaining how to do this, I'll write a book.' The next thing was: where do you write about now?
"Japan, because it was beaten down and I'd lived there and there was nothing available. It seemed like a no-brainer; then six months after the book came out Fukushima happened, which did wonders for sales."
