Adler Ho understands the inconveniences, stress and time involved in the purchase of real estate, particularly when you are offshore. With a large property portfolio of his own, and experience across a wide spectrum of the real estate business - from design and development to marketing - Adler Ho has now turned his expertise to helping clients purchase real estate in Australia. His company Adler Ho Property Consultants offers investment strategy, buyers agent, portfolio management, and lifestyle management services to both local and international clients.

How did you get into the real estate industry?
I first got started in real estate investment, buying my first property at 19 by saving and working 2-3 part time jobs while studying to afford the first deposit. I was fortunate that not long after, I was introduced to a bank manager who was very patient and, combined with my self-education through numerous investment books, I ended up purchasing up to 30 properties by the time I was 30. These were driven through a high growth period of capital gains, which allowed me the LVR to get more loans. I was also mainly purchasing high-yielding properties (rent-wise), which enabled me to get ahead quickly. From there, I began working with property developers and have been involved in everything from acquisition through to observing design and DA applications and processes, taking control over marketing of projects and working with selling agents. In my roles with these developers, I have also developed trust and rapport and been involved in the bookkeeping and financial control of construction projects which has also furthered my experience in this industry. Working with small/mid-tier developers has enabled me to see the whole development process as opposed to specialising in just one area.
 
A couple of years ago, after taking stock of my experience and expertise, I felt that my experience could best be utilised as a buyers agent to assist other buyers in defining their investment/home-buying criteria and assisting them to make educated decisions for themselves.
 
What are some of your career highlights from your time in the industry?
Career highlights would include my personal investments in real estate along with more recently working with a developer on a $50m project north of Sydney where I have continued to gain experience in all aspects of development.
 
From an agency point-of-view, highlights include my continued expansion into overseas and expat markets where I can assist buyers in sourcing and negotiating deals in Sydney. While I have numerous satisfied local clients also, I feel that my services are of most benefit to overseas based clients (generally Australians based overseas) as we are solving the problem of distance for them.
 
What are the biggest issues facing the industry in your market at the moment?
From a buyers agency perspective, the challenges are in educating the market in why our services are needed and how it differs from a selling agent. While many local clients and expat clients generally understand and specifically seek out our expertise as independent buyers agents working on their behalf, many foreign buyers are yet to be convinced of the need for a specialist buyers agent when there are so many selling agents promoting off the plan apartments to this segment.
 
How has the industry changed in the time you have been involved with it?
Over the past 12-15 years that I have been involved in real estate, I have noticed a huge shift in everyday people on the street getting actively involved in property investment. While it is great to have this interest, from an investment perspective, this makes it difficult to source exceptional deals.
 
Lending regulations and requirements have been tightened and this has been a positive step to ensure that the industry as a whole is robust and not open to unhinged speculation.
 
From the view of developers, margins have been squeezed and in certain areas of the market.
 
From an agency perspective, there have been more and more people marketing themselves as buyers agents and it is even more crucial now than ever before to get to know the person who you are engaging and their experience and expertise to see how they are able to assist you with your particular requirements.
 
Regarding the industry as a whole, sales agents have come under more scrutiny for underquoting and compliance for other regulations in the industry has increased which is a positive.
 
What advice do you have for people who are just starting out in similar careers?
To work with as many industry professionals as possible. Observe, observe, observe. If possible, get experience not only as an agent, but in other areas of real estate as it will help you to better understand the industry as a whole. I have been fortunate to have had the opportunity to see the industry from investor, agent and developer perspectives, which is quite unique.
 
What do you believe is a unique factor of doing business in your market?
Specifically from a buyers agent view, I believe that a unique factor of this role is understanding that my job is not about real estate. It is about the people buying the real estate and what their needs and requirements are. Many times, the buyer has a biased perspective of what they require and as buyers agents, we help them to realise their actual criteria may be different to what they originally think they are. Our clients generally see value we have added at the end of the buying process. We may have steered them away from their original intended purchase and possibly saved them many thousands of dollars in stamp duty, agents fees and other transactional costs from buying a property that does not meet their needs.
 
Having a degree in business management and marketing also lets me work with our corporate clients in accurately assessing their business requirements and how this may affect their real estate purchase requirements.
 
What is your favourite holiday destination in Asia?
While it would be easy to say Hong Kong or Singapore given my frequent travel to these places, it is in fact Bangkok, Thailand which gets my vote for favourite holiday destination. From the service-based culture of Thai Airways when travelling into their home base airport (such as massages and porter service to meet you off the plane), the value of Thailand is unbeatable and also the mindset of being able to take a break from the stresses of business in nearby HK and Singapore.
 
What’s your outlook for your sector/s for the next year?
While I always advise clients that no one has a crystal ball to be able to tell the future, I maintain that the Sydney market is very buoyant and will continue to grow steadily (not speculatively). There are many people looking to buy in Sydney and with new public transport infrastructure investment coming into play, I believe the market as a whole will be very robust.
 
Where would your next purchase be?
I am always hesitant to single out just one area. As a buyers agent we get to know our client’s needs intimately before suggesting locations that may suit their individual needs. This may take in to account certain factors such as lifestyle, business requirements, infrastructure growth, rental yields and expected capital growth. Our clients often have a very specific requirement in mind and as such, what we recommend for one client may not be suitable for another. All investors (and home buyers) seek capital growth and high yield properties – unfortunately it is not that simple to just look for these requirements otherwise our services wouldn’t be required.

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