Taoyuan couple buy dream home with hard work and smart strategy
Many young people in Taiwan today feel that owning their own home is an impossible dream. But some are determined to make the impossible a reality. Let’s meet a young couple in Taoyuan, who with many years’ hard work and a smart strategy, have managed to buy their dream home.
At this restaurant in Taoyuan’s Neili District, five dogs serve as the most enthusiastic members of staff.
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Restaurant owner Yang Chi-hung recalls how he and his wife opened the restaurant seven years ago, building on their experience in the hospitality industry.
Yang Chi-hung
Pet-friendly restaurant owner
I went a whole year with no days off. I was working about 14 hours a day.
Picking up a cup and making foam art is muscle memory by now. Four years ago, the couple’s monthly income was gradually approaching NT$100,000. They were saving up for a home, but couldn’t afford the soaring prices in Taipei or New Taipei. So they chose Taoyuan, and decided on a home in Neili District worth about NT$5 million for their first property.
Yang Chi-hung
Pet-friendly restaurant owner
Even I thought it was very courageous. If we failed then that would be it. The mortgage was NT$22,000. I think the loan increment was more than NT$10,000. So overall, just the mortgage was more than NT$30,000.
Wife of restaurant owner
We saw some houses that were NT$5 million, NT$6 million and NT$7 million. But at that time I didn’t think we’d ever buy something for NT$7 million. I think for your first house, you should just get what you can, and later you can get something nicer. You shouldn’t put too much pressure on yourself all at once.
After three years’ hard work, the couple were able to buy a three-bedroom, 50-ping house in Zhongli They lived there for four years, and then decided to upgrade. They renovated to attract buyers, and in the end, the house they had bought for NT$7.8 million was sold for NT$13.16 million. With money in their pocket, they could move into a spacious 80-ping home in Pingzhen, which they bought for NT$19.9 million.
Wife of restaurant owner
The agent sold the old house for us in two weeks. We had four, five or six potential buyers come in for a viewing every day. Maybe it was because we had renovated. Because, although I’m not so involved in the restaurant business right now, because I have to focus on caring for our children, I do have another job at home, selling cosmetics.
Yang Chi-hung
Pet-friendly restaurant owner
There’s more stress now. If I hadn’t moved there wouldn’t be any stress. We could live easily. But I moved. I’ve got expectations for myself. I want to live better, because it was really tough in the past.
In these days of high interest rates and inflation, even white-collar workers’ salaries can’t keep up with the runaway housing market. For middle class people to win at the property game, they need to make a step-by-step smart strategy like this family, be willing to move house repeatedly, and commit fully to the dream.
2022-11-08