Asia-Pacific Regional: Shanghai, Bangkok, Hanoi, Hong Kong
March 16-31, 2005
The purpose of this trip was multi-fold: 1) to represent the NAR and its CIPS designation at the Brawman International Forum in Shanghai; 2) to meet with the regional USAID representative and offer our condolences to REBA in Bangkok; 3) to participate in the first NAR/VREA conference in Hanoi as well as hold meetings with representatives of the embassy, U.N. mission and USAID; and 4) to hold a planning meeting with SKHREA for the first biannual Asia-Pacific Leadership Summit to be held in Hong Kong in early 2006.
Shanghai
Arrive 7:30 PM 3/17/05, Depart 3:00 PM 3/20/05
Hotel: Grand Pacific Suites
All (Pius Leung, CCIM, John Wong, CRB, Randy Eagar, CRS and myself, CIPS) of the NAR affiliate representatives arrived on the same flight. We were picked up at the airport by Catherine Lee, Manager, and Joyce Zhou, chairman’s assistant, two Brawman employees, and were excellently hosted by Brawman from then until our respective departures. Xiannian Ye met us at the hotel and was with us the rest of the time.
March 18th consisted of a visit to Brawman’s offices, the spring Real Estate Exposition which included Brawman’s 6,000 unit Beverly Beach development on Hainan Island, shopping in the Yuyuan Gardens area, a visit to the Shanghai Museum and, of course, a marvelous lunch and dinner. The morning of March 19th was a tour of the Lujiazui financial area and a tour of the Jin Mao Tower, the tallest building in China. The seminar which was the main purpose of our visit took place on the afternoon of the 19th.
Brawman International Group, Jason Wu, CCIM, CIPS and President and Helen Tang, Chairman, is a large, six year old real estate services company with over 5,000 members. Brawman has been the Shanghai sponsor and promoter of CIPS, CRS, CRB and CCIM courses. Jason and Helen are regular attendees at our NAR conventions and strong proponents of NAR education. Brawman’s services include real estate brokerage and development, architecture, interior design as well as other related services. Due to
Brawman’s size, experience and obvious interest in NAR designation programs, they make an excellent partner for future designation offerings in the Shanghai area.
The Real Estate Investment Internationalization Forum 2005 began with a speech by Yunchang Gu, Vice President and Secretary General of the China Real Estate Association. Having heard Gu several times before, I felt his remarks were more open and realistic than I’ve heard before:
The Chinese are obviously concerned about the market being overheated. Prices have increased 16.4% in the eastern region and are close to 9% in the western areas. The reasons, they believe, are 1) increase in cost of materials and 2) demand exceeding supply. In order to achieve stable prices, they feel they must establish a balance between supply & demand. They will control supply by land controls and need to do a detailed analysis of demand. Their plans for demand include controlling both interest rates and exchange rates and increasing the down payment required. In Shanghai they’ve gone an extra step by imposing a 0.2% tax on the transfer of real estate title
Gu recognizes that the U.S. is not as “nervous” about prices increases in our secondary (resale) market. He therefore believes that China should look at securitizing loans since in China banks are the only source of mortgage loans. China, he says, must learn from its past mistakes and learn from international markets about tax disincentives, control of land supply and removal of old housing in a socially responsible manner.
Another Chinese speaker of interest was Yin Kunhua, Director of Real Estate Research Center in the Finance & Economics Department of Shanghai University. Dr. Yin’s research shows that prices have doubled in the past four years while, in the same time period, disposable income has increased 50%-60%. Real estate has benefited the overall economy of Shanghai and represents 8% of the entire economy (he stated that real estate is 11% of the U.S. economy). About 25% of Shanghai’s housing stock needs to be renovated and suggests that 500,000 people need to move to outside the city limits allowing luxury units to be built in their place; such units could be used to house foreigners who now make up only 4% of the population. Yin acknowledged the need to build housing for middle income citizens as polling shows that everyone should own their own house!
Bangkok
Arrive 5:55 PM 3/20/2005, Depart 5:45 PM 3/22/2005
Hotel: The Imperial Queen’s Park
While in Bangkok, we had three important meetings which I’ll describe briefly:
1) Parties: E.E. (Skip) Kissinger, Director USAID Regional Development Mission/Asia (providing financial, legal and other procurement services for 30 countries including Iraq and Afganistan), John E. Wasielewski, Director, USAID Office of Development Credit, and Steven M. Weir, Habitat for Humanity International Vice President, Asia Pacific.
Skip began by asking, “What is it that keeps money from flowing to the people?” and stating that loan officers won’t go out into slums not to mention the improbability of obtaining title insurance. He stated that a number of housing coalitions exist around the world, including SE Asia but most are NGOs. As a result, he said he had a strong interest in forming a coalition with private organizations such as the International Housing Coalition Gordon described.
Much of the conversation occurred between John Wasielewski and Steve Weir as they discussed methods of guaranteeing loans to the poor. Apparently this is sometimes done by governments and sometimes by various NGOs. It seems to be the only way in which banks can be persuaded to make such loans.
In terms of Vietnam, USAID has a staff of 45+ but no mission per se although they’re obviously involved. DCA has a couple of programs and John is very interested in Vietnam especially since the Assembly has just passed a micro-finance bill. The real problem, they said, is that housing is pretty capital intensive. Housing loans in Vietnam are a problem given that the government “owns everything” (once in Hanoi we found that this is only true of the land for which owners of improvements have a use right in perpetuity). John’s mission is to provide private financing, establishing a private financial network outside of the state owned banks. He has 140 banks around the world making loans to poor people because the U.S. government guarantees these loans at a 50% level. There’s $10 million in lending currently going on in Vietnam.
In terms of USAID resource people, we should contact David Brunell and Dung (“Zoom”) Binh when we get to Hanoi; they should be invited to the seminar. We should talk with both David and Dennis Zvinakis and ask to meet with them before our meeting with the Ambassador.
The regional USAID mission has four major strategies: 1) HIVAIDS and health, 2) regional governance and economic reform, 3) vulnerable populations and 4) the environment.
John works very closely with IFC which does some grants; he volunteered to help sell both (?) IHC and our plans for Vietnam to IFC. USAID has no money at this time as 80%-90% is earmarked but both Skip and John are generally very supportive. They indicated that Alexi (?) may have some money we can tap as well as CFTA (?) (HfHI works closely with them).
Providing housing financing for the poor is obviously John’s love. He and Warren Sawyer are working with single women with kids in New England and are now moving that model to El Salvador and maybe to Thailand for victims of trafficking.
In general, we were extremely pleased with this meeting and found all parties to be interested in and supportive of our ideas.
2) Steve Weir, Habitat for Humanity International Vice President, Asia Pacific.
We met at Steve’s office at his invitation following our earlier meeting at the USAID offices. The purpose was to “explore” ideas. Steve was interested in what he perceived to be USAID’s “changing priorities towards housing” and would appreciate an entrée to David Brunell if we can arrange it.
In terms of Vietnam’s politics, the last People’s Congress was 18 months ago and a lot of the 70+ year olds have now left so those in their 60s are in charge and these people did not experience the war first hand.
NGOs in Vietnam have to either register with PATCOM or sign a MOU with a ministry.
In terms of HfHI politics, Steve shared that there is “some resistance” at high levels for the IHC. However, Steve likes the IHC because it represents private funds and involvement with the equity markets that are just beginning to develop in Vietnam.
Vietnam’s Women’s Union, a ministry under the local People’s Congress, represents most of the micro financing. HfHI wants to work through micro financing with banks. Statistics show that the micro financing repayment rate is 95% making any guarantees essentially risk free. HfHI has some money which could be used for guarantees. Steve volunteered to do some “arm twisting” if introductions to banks can be made by USAID.
HfHI wants to link the formal and informal banking sectors. It doesn’t necessarily need money but does need introductions and influence.
As background, Steve had a broker’s license in California where he worked for a large Hong Kong developer between 1980 and 1993. The company also provided architectural, computer program services, etc.
3) REBA (Real Estate Broker’s Association) parties: Somsak Muneepeerakui (president), Apichart Archadej (main contact due to English), Ballobh Kritayanavaj (senior VP Government Housing Bank), Siriphan Chenvanich, CIPS, Vivat Phurnprasert, Mike Chetter.
REBA’s current membership is 105 corporate members and 200 individuals. 99% of the members sell their own listings but they are developing a MLS this year. Their listings are generally exclusive. Mortgages are available for up to 30 years at 80%-90% LTV. 100% loans for condos are available if the payments are automatically deducted from the borrower’s pay check. There is a secondary mortgage market, SMC, which has used FNMA as an advisor.
New condos in Bangkok sell for about 100,000 baht/square meter.
There are a number of franchises active in Thailand: ERA, CB Richard Ellis, Knight Frank, Professionals (a Thai franchise) and Realty World ( a Thai franchise!).
The tsunami nearly destroyed Kaola where the wave was 12 meters high. In Phuket, the wave was “only” 6-7 meters high which destroyed the beach but left many buildings unharmed. They estimate that Phuket should be rebuilt in 2 years and it’s current market is strong. The government will build 100,000 homes and charge 1000 baht/year.
The National Housing Authority will build 1 million hoses for the poor during the next five years. The Government Housing Bank will make 100% loans with no need to underwrite since, if the owner defaults, HHA will simply buy the home back.
REBA makes the following requests from the NAR:
- Information on MLS
- Information on licensing laws
- Train the Trainer
- A sample GRI program
- Information on sources of non-dues income.
REBA has a strong interest in attending the Asia-Pacific Leadership Summit and volunteered to sponsor in 2008.
Vietnam
Arrived 7:30 PM 3/22/2005, Departed 7:10 PM 3/29/2005
Hotel: Somerset Grand Hanoi, an all apartment hotel adjacent to the “Hanoi Hilton”
We (Gordon, Pat Kaplan and myself) spent March 23rd planning for our March 24th seminar and meeting with Chuck Searcy, Vice President and Country Representative of the Vietnam Enterprise Group (VEG). Without Chuck, very little of what we’ve accomplished would have been possible. He has an excellent reputation within both the Vietnamese and the general international community in Hanoi, has great contacts, a superb staff and is the “go-to” guy on the ground. Of course, we did some shopping as well.
The remainder of our time in Hanoi included not only the seminar but numerous meetings with critical players. (Plus I went to Ha Long Bay over Easter weekend while Gordon held more meetings.) A description follows.
March 24, 2005: Real Estate Market Development Symposium
Co-sponsored by the Vietnam Real Estate Association and the National Association of REALTOR®s, the Symposium was held in the UDIC’s (a large government developer) office building’s large conference facility. The 60+ attendees sat around a large rectangular set of tables with beautifully upholstered chairs; the table was provided with small tea cups and bottled water. The attendees were high ranking members of the real estate industry including: Tong Van Nga, Vice Minister of Construction; Nguyen Trong Ninh,, Deputy Director Ministry Housing Bureau; Trinh Huy Thuc, Chairman Vietnam Real Estate Association and Director General of the Ministry of Construction’s Housing Bureau; Dr. Truong Anh Tuan, President & CEO Hoang Quan Real Estate Co., Ltd.; Eng. Hoang Long Quang, General Director Urban Infrastructure Development Investment Corporation (UDIC); Nguyen Dang Son, Vice Director Institute for Urban Studies, Director Urban Management & Planning Center and founding member of the Urban Partnership Foundation; Dr. Do Thi Loan, Chief, Department of Natural Resources and Environment, Real Estate Market Development and Administration Office of the People’s Committee of Ho Chi Minh City; Dang Hong Anh, Vice-Chairman and Director, Saigon Thuong Tin; Dr. Nguyen An Binh, General Director, Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee’s Saigon Real Estate Corporation; and Nguyen Thi Loc, Senior Reporter, Viet Nam News.
Vice Minister Nga began the Symposium by stating the goal was to increase the efficiency of the Vietnamese real estate market, placing an emphasis on legal matters relative to construction and management and the encouragement of foreign investment. He expressed a desire to create a market economy and sees the Symposium as the basis for cooperation between the NAR and VREA, especially in the areas of training and education and assistance with development of laws related to brokers as well as the real estate market in general. One interesting comment was that the Vietnamese feel they have learned a lot about development from China but they cannot learn about brokerage from China. This they must learn from the U.S. and Australia.
The all day Symposium included a fine lunch sponsored by CB Richard Ellis. The speeches were simultaneously translated and the notebooks given to each participant were likewise translated into English for us and Vietnamese for the participants. There were three speakers from each association; for details on the Vietnamese presentations please see the attached copies of their speeches. Gordon Davis spoke on “Legal Issues in the US Real Estate Market”, Pat Kaplan’s presentation was “Building and Managing Low Income Rental Apartments in Urban Areas” and mine was “The US Brokerage System and Its Operations”. Following each of our presentations there were pre-prepared questions, about 8-10 each as well as a general question and answer session at the end. Both Mr. Nga and Mr. Thuc expressed great satisfaction at the end of the program and a strong desire to form a relationship between the two associations, beginning with a Memorandum of Understanding in 2005 (their suggestion).
We were approached by some of the participants, including Do Thi Loan, Chief of the Real Estate Market Development & Administration Office of Ho Chi Minh City and President of the Ho Chi Minh City Real Estate Association. At present, this is the only local association. It was formed 1/31/2005 and already has 450 corporate members and 200 individual members. Loan is a very assertive person who told us she’d been sent to the Symposium to learn all that she could, to write a report for her superiors and, within two months, develop legal regulations governing the real estate industry in Ho Chi Minh City. This is critically important as HCM City is generally recognized as having the most modern real estate market; what happens there strongly influences the rest of the country. I asked her where she received her PhD: she answered that she was in Budapest for five years, wrote her thesis in English and learned her English at the British Embassy.
Our understanding and communication with the Vietnamese continued at dinner for Mr. Thuc hosted by the NAR, a dinner given by Mr. Nga for the NAR delegates and a lunch for the NAR delegates hosted by Mr. Quang. (Mr. Quang will be part of a 20-person high level [vice mayor, Chamber of Commerce, university professors, planning & development officials] delegation from Hanoi which will be visiting Italy, the UK and the US in April. We invited them to visit our D.C. building so that they can learn about high-tech and green construction; at a minimum, a working lunch should be provided in reciprocation for our feast.)
March 25, 2005: Meeting with USAID Staff
For almost one and a half hours, we met with David Brunell, a new USAID employee for Vietnam, and Dennis Zvinakis, Country Manager for USAID Vietnam. Although new to USAID, David has been in Vietnam for the past five years working with private corporations and before that he was in Africa for 10 years.
After explaining both IHC and our thoughts about NAR’s and IRPF’s future participation in Vietnam, David said he “sees enormous potential for our vision”. Housing, he said is a new area for USAID and they’re especially interested in issues of legislation and land use. There’s a great need for regulation and the amount of real estate activity (resale as well as new construction) is “mind boggling”.
David recommended that we contact Steve Parker of DAI’s STAR Project which is responsible for the legal development necessary for the US/Vietnam bi-lateral trade agreement and support for Vietnam’s probably entry into the WTO. STAR is a contract to which a program such as we’re suggesting could be attached. Gordon met with Hank
Baker, one of Steve Parker’s lawyers, over the weekend and will include information on that meeting in his report.
Across the board, Vietnam is in the beginning stages of capacity building. There is strong interest in developing associations within many sectors, including real estate. Our “logic and vision makes all kinds of sense” to David indeed, it could make some real difference for the overall Vietnamese economy. As we expected and had been told in prior meetings, there’s no money in the 2005 or even the 2006 budget for our proposal. However, he said they “will challenge themselves to be creative, entrepreneurial thinking outside of the box” in order to assist us in finding funding.
In terms of numbers, we estimated we’d need about $200,000 over three years for capacity building plus another $50,000-$75,000 to cover HfHI program costs. All agreed that the latter money should not go to actually building units as the Vietnamese can build their own housing units better and more efficiently than anyone from the outside can.
David asked that we summarize what happened regarding the workshop as well as our vision for the future. He also asked that he be copied on all that we do with VREA. Communication should be through Do Hong Hanh, Development Assistance Assistant.
March 25: Meeting with U.S. Ambassador Michael Marine (with Dennis Zvinakis sitting in) (Vicky Spiers, Personal Assistant)
The Ambassador’s first question to us was “how did you get onto my calendar?” Gordon explained his connections with the U.S. Embassy in Beijing that were the entrée. Once that was established we explained both the IHC interest in affordable housing as well as NAR’s and IRPF’s vision for Vietnam involvement. When he asked “what’s the sense of USAID’s Washington’s support?”, we were able to say strong interest for the IHC. When Marine said he didn’t know of any discretionary funding, Zvinakis said “we’ll look at it” as he “thinks our proposals are very worthwhile”. We were asked to refine our approach, told that “Hanoi can be supportive” but that “decisions are made in Bangkok and D.C.”.
The Ambassador clearly stated that the Embassy can be a resource to use and “can be supportive as long as there are no administrative requirements”. He further suggested that the World Bank and the Asian Bank are possible sources of funding and recommended that we talk with Brad Phillips.
March 28, 2005: Meeting with Mr. Quang and his staff
Mr. Quang was a participant in the 3/24/05 Symposium and requested this meeting as a result. He is the General Director of UDIC which sponsored the Symposium. UDIC works for the state and has 12,000 employees that produce a turn-key development project from identifying and obtaining land resources (all land belongs to the People’s Committee but those who use the land have a perpetual use which can be freely transferred, used as collateral for a loan, etc.), providing all design aspects, construction, sales and building management. UDIC is currently working on several major projects and has about 1,400 hectares in its “land bank”.
He clearly stated that Vietnam wants to be part of the global economy and are doing everything they can to learn how best to do this. They have some concern about the differences relative to land ownership between Vietnam and the U.S.; we assured him that these differences would not prevent cooperation. UDIC asked for assistance with construction, technology, management and consulting.
They then demonstrated two of their current projects via Power Point and maps. Both are residential high rise buildings. 1) 19-story, five elevators, 10 units/floor varying in size from 76 to 250 square meters and selling at an average of $1,000 USD/sq.m., 170 units total The price varies with size and floor/view. The first two floors contain numerous amenities including swimming pool, work-out facilities, restaurant, grocery store, etc. They were especially proud of having set aside about 4 sq.m. in each unit for hanging clothes since Vietnamese don’t use dryers. 2) 17-floor, 150 units of 100-190 sq.m., 10 units/floor. The windows are sound proof (a Japanese product). Pricing is similar to building 1. UDIC is also building units for middle income families that are priced at about $200/sq.m. Housing for the poor can not be done without strong government financial support which the government currently does by reducing taxes and requiring 30% inclusionary zoning on all new projects. Similarly, a government decree requires that UDIC use part of its capital to build housing for its staff. All UDIC units are for sale, none is for lease.
There’s about two years between pre-sale and move-in; the pre-sales have occurred during the first two hours of offering. Nothing is spent on advertising. Payment is all in cash with no financing. Over the two years, there are four payments: 40%, 30%, 20% and 10%. Upon move-in, owners can use their unit as collateral for a loan but at this time no banks are making mortgage loans as there is no foreclosure system in place.
The problem Hanoi’s real estate market faces is one of supply. The current population is about 3 million and it’s expected to grow to 10 million by 2020. Hanoi’s plan requires 8 sq.m. per person which means that the market must add about 1 million sq.m. each year to meet the demand. The current homeownership rate is about 70%. There’s a strong homeownership ethic in Vietnam. For example, in the center city, people often own just 100 sq.m but also own a cottage in a village outside the city which they use for the weekend.
Foreign investment is encouraged. It’s quite easy to transfer profit from Vietnam to the investor’s home country; all that’s required is to pay the 10% VAR and 28% corporate income tax. The initial steps required of a foreign developer are three fold: 1) find a reliable Vietnamese partner that has access to land, 2) obtain permission from the People’s Committee and then 3) discuss plans with the appropriate Ministry. For planning purposes, current commercial rents range from $20-$64/sq.m, The best known foreign investor at this time is the Indonesian, Ciputra, who is building a $2.1 billion residential project on 400 hectares in the northwest part of Hanoi.
At the end of our meeting, Mr. Quang had five questions which, I think, are instructive in terms of the sort of pre-packaged information we should generally bring with us on trips to other countries. 1) Describe the current and future U.S. real estate market. 2) What are the prices of houses, low rise, high rise and single family? 3) Describe modern construction, especially technology and green building. 4) Describe your capital mobilization methods. 5) What kind of homes (low rise, high rise, single family) do Americans prefer? Since most of these are questions NAR’s research & economics group could easily answer, could they be asked to prepare a simple packet annually with such information?
March 28, 2005: Meeting with Jordan Ryan, United Nations Resident Coordinator
Vietnam’s poverty level ($1/day or less) has reduced from 70% in the early 1990s down to 29% currently. This is attributed to Vietnam’s Doi Moi policy (a radical economic reform/renovation program that encourages production in the private sector, agriculture and light industries) which began in 1986. Donor money also started coming into Vietnam in late 1993.
Jordan finds that the Vietnamese are very effective at mobilizing once they’ve decided to do so…even when foreigners think it can’t be done. For example, right now VREA wants assistance with smaller development that can be done competitively by Vietnamese developers. He thinks the real estate market really has VREA ‘bugged”…they’re struggling to understand market forces and certainly appreciate its economic power. For example, many of Ciputra’s units have already been sold three and four times and this is prior to any occupancy. This situation presents many opportunities for graft. The Vietnamese are “insanely jealous of the rich Indonesians who have money to burn”.
UNDP has been pushing for a long time to organize various professions, including real estate, into associations. Just recently he’s been finding a positive reaction from the Vietnamese. On the U.S. side, Jordan has developed a close relationship with the ABA which has provided, pro bono, timely comments on Vietnamese legal proposals. The Vietnamese have very much appreciated this assistance.
The Vietnamese know that professionalism is critical. They want to know what it takes to be a professional. Relative to the real estate profession, it’s important that we bring experience from the rest of the world, not just the U.S. (an IRPF/ICREA opportunity?)
Jordan said that HCM City is like the wild west and that, through decentralization, they have the ability to do even more. The current head of the HCM City People’s Congress was educated at Harvard. The Vietnamese see HCM City as the model for the rest of the country so we should take advantage of our contacts and work with HCM City.
UNDP has historically worked through volunteers (often retired executives) who act on a pro bono basis. Since this is generally how we work, we might be able to get some funding through UNDP and should make a proposal through Jordan.
The World Bank is another potential source of funding as they have a fairly big program in Vietnam but they’ll say they don’t have any money. They are interested in financial institution development, especially given the hot real estate market.
Sweden is a major player in land administration. British DFAD has a $100 million/year program in Vietnam from which UNDP has received funding. Possible cooperative programs with our Swedish/UK partners? The Italians, on the other hand are notorious “bi-laterals”.
Pricing is obviously a problem for the Vietnamese as the government sets prices, at least on new construction, rather than using a market pricing system. Part of the financing problem is a handover from the 1993 huge crash of Vietnam’s credit union system. This (and other factors) as resulted in a lot of discrimination against the profit sector. This is evident in the fact that recent graduates of foreign institutions are encouraged to get a job in government rather than in the private (called “non-state”) sector.
Real estate is one of three or four issues that has the attention of Vietnamese leadership. Our ability to bring concrete international experience in ethics, education/training, law is important. In approaching Vietnam, one should come as somewhat humble, recognizing that the Vietnamese system is different. One effective method of training would be a foreign intern program for Vietnamese real estate professionals: we should explore funding for such a program through NAR’s big broker division and IOC members. Jordan believes that the Communist Party is often more forward looking than the government.
Excellent Hanoi Restaurants (for future reference!)
Indochine
Wild Rice
Emperor
Seasons of Hanoi
Nam Phuong
Com Nhieu
March 30, 2005: Meeting with SHKREA’s Karen Wong and Alex Tang re: 2006 Asia-Pacific Leadership Summit
We have an excellent working relationship with Karen and Alex. In terms of position, Karen is current SHKREA president, Alex immediate past president. Karen just retired from her position as CEO of the Mission Hills development outside of Shenzhen; Alex is president of the huge Centaline Real Estate Corporation. Between them, they have excellent contacts and resources and are willing to take on the necessary in-country planning for this first Summit.
Together we decided that the Summit should begin on with a welcome reception on a Monday night in Hong Kong and end with a farewell dinner at Mission Hills on a Thursday night. The rest of the program will be Summit meetings on Tuesday (including lunch), a Hong Kong property tour (including a box lunch) on Wednesday followed by a motor coach trip (about 3 hours including border crossing) to Mission Hills. Thursday will be a day of networking including golf, tennis, and tours of the Mission Hills’ development (million dollar homes, 10 international golf courses, club, etc.). Depending on hotel availability, the Summit will begin on March 13 (or March 6 or 20 is the 13th is not available. Karen will obtain a hotel confirmation in the next few weeks. The total package will include the welcome reception, two lunches, conference facility, motor coaches for both the property tour and trip to Mission Hills: the cost of this will be approximately $200/person (we’ll probably charge $300-$350 with the excess to cover contingencies and any remainder going to SHKREA). The hotel (possibly Ritz Carlton) will also be included and Karen will know this cost shortly.
As a group, we decided that invitees should be restricted to leadership of the various (3-5? each) Asia Pacific real estate associations plus SHKREA will invite leadership from Shenzhen and Guangzhou. We would expect about 50 participants. Because of the number of languages represented by this region, simultaneous translation would be cost prohibitive. Since many of the leadership speak English, that will be the official language for all speeches and documents. However, non-English speakers will be encouraged to use a Hong Kong based interpreter (SHKREA will develop a list of available interpreters) and the Reaume Foundation’s hardware will be made available.
All speeches will be no more than 20 minutes with an emphasis on panel discussions and workshops based on the speeches and panels. Topics may include: non-dues sources of income, referral commissions, MLS, licensing, cross-border business, market updates. In terms of the latter, a form will be developed for each participating association to complete in English, each association will be requested to bring 100 copies of these completed forms; in addition, 3-5 associations will be invited to make a market update presentation to the Summit.
To determine the exact topics, a list of possibilities will initially be sent out to all of the associations with the announcement of the dates for the Summit. Associations will be asked to prioritize the list as well as add any additional topics of interest. We’ll ask our PLs and AAs to assist in follow up to encourage both the return of these forms and association participation. Once the topics have been determined, a simple RFP will be sent to all associations to source the speakers, panel participants, etc. for each topic.
We’re quite excited about the prospect of a bi-annual Summit and think this first Summit in Hong Kong will be an excellent model for future Summits which will be sponsored by other associations. A small group (3-5 associations) will determine the sponsoring association for the 2008 Summit.