Todd's Comments

Car Towing at Owner's Expense?

Hi, I'm from NYC. I'm a homeowner and also a car owner and my home happens to have a garagebwhere I keep my car. Last night, I returned home and found a van parked in my driveway blocking my entry. Basically, this meant I had to either search around for a place to park on the street (where my car is likely to sustain some damage -- I say this from many past experiences) or pay to park my car in someone else's garage. Or, I can try to get the car towed. In order to do this in NYC, I have to first get a police officer to ticket the car. In my case, I called the city hotline last night and logged a complaint. About an hour later, the officer came, confirmed that the van wasn't mine and that I wanted it ticketed, and then wrote a $110 ticket for the van. This morning it is now nearly 10am and the van has not been moved. So, I am searching online for a towing service that will do this for me. In my eyes, it makes perfect sense that the car owner needs to pay for the towing. Once we get a summons written for the car to establish that it is parked illegally (which can still be argued in court), then I can take the action required to regain access to my driveway and garage. It makes sense to me.

Posted by Todd at 2008-01-27 22:46:53. More

Is 10,000RMB/Month a Ridiculous Offer?

Listen, 10k RMB a month is a very high salary in China, for most Chinese. For a foreign person coming to live in China, it is considered a low-middle salary (low being 5000/month). Cost of Living in Shanghai has risen so much in the last 5 years that 10k is hard to get by on, especially if you want a life similar to what you had abroad. In other cities in China, like Qingdao, Dalian, and Xiamen, you'll get a lot more bang for your buck with 10k. To live comfortably in Shanghai, consider 16k as a minimum.

As far as the salaries of most foreigners go, the vast majority are on some kind of local or what we call a "hong kong" package. Local is quite cheap, in the 8k-20k range. When you think about the top end of that, 20k is around $2500 USD. If you aren't an incrediably seasoned and skilled professional, you may just be making that same amount back in London or L.A.

A "Hong Kong" package is different. That is when you get into the 300,000 - 700,000/year range. But you don't really get anything else, just this flat salary. Hong Kong companies have to entice their people to come to the mainland, so they keep their salaries at what the person would be making in Hong Kong. The only downside to that is that PRC taxes are very high. In HK, personal taxes are at 15.5%. In PRC, when you get close to 600k/year, taxes are in the 40 to 45% range. Regardless, this is still a decent salary.

Expat salaries, the big fat packages, are very rare. With over 400,000 registered foreigners living in China, only around 2-3% are making that kind of bank. Don't count on this unless you are a senior employee at your org.

Would I personally take an offer for 10k/month in PRC? No way! 8 years ago, I did accept a job in Shanghai at 13k/month. I really needed the money and was happy to accept the offer. Durning the first 3 years of that job, my salary steadily rose to 35k/month. I was able to pay off a USD $40,000 debt and $6000 in credit card debt. Then I got an offer at a large multinational and the salaries were even higher.

Now I have 11 years experience and am in a MUCH higher bracket - I would probably accept an offer above 100k-120k/month, with benefits and tax equalization to Hong Kong.

Posted by Todd at 2005-04-22 11:03:58. More

Is the Real Estate Cooling Down? - Part III

After looking at the Shanghai Real Estate market in detail, it looks like it's still got a few good years left before a bust. It is riding low interests (4-6%), high down payments (20-40%) and a massive secondary market this is happy to flip for 5 to 10% within 3 to 6 months. In about 2 years, I believe it is going to begin to slow down when the mortgage exceeds the rental cashflow because the majority of secondary market investors are individuals that can't actually afford a monthly mortgage.

This is not a market for the faint at heart though, nothing like doing out-of-state appreciation investing in California where you can simply hire a property manager to do everything for you. Professional services here are still very immature and under-developed and an absentee owner would have an ulcer - with the buying, managing and selling process.

Posted by Todd at 2005-01-22 00:20:42. More