If you are an expat. Living in or moving to Hong Kong, and you are likely to remain for some years to come, and then the decision to buy property locally may be a preferable option to paying rent. Even if you own a property in your 'home' country, if that is being "let out" and is in effect paying for itself, then to buy a further property where you are now based can make sound financial sense!

Even if you were to re-locate elsewhere sooner than anticipated, to retain your Hong Kong property as an investment with, hopefully, the mortgage outgo being 'covered', or largely 'covered' by rental income can, for the longer term, only help with regards to building a capital base for your future security.

When negotiating a mortgage, you will need to look at all the options available according to current "terms & conditions" as they will apply to suitable lenders.

If there is a chance that you might go onto offer your property at a later stage for letting purposes then it could be wise to consider seeing whether an "interest only" mortgage might be available. Or possibly a combination of "interest only" and "capital & interest payment" methods. This is due to the fact that from a tax "break" point of view, most tax authorities will allow the interest element of a loan or mortgage as a "set off" against incoming rental. But they will not allow any capital payment element. However what is interesting with this scenario is that separate savings plans that you might effect as a means of giving yourself the choice of paying off mortgage debt at some future point in time is of no account as far as the 'tax man' is concerned !

Hence the above is very important to consider when taking up a mortgage and if there is a choice available as regards "interest only" or a combination arrangement then it is worth discussing at some length.

Some lenders, but by no means all lenders, will wish to see you taking out suitable Life Insurance so that if you were to die prematurely then the mortgage debt would be immediately repaid. Very often, even if the lender suggests their own linked Insurance scheme, it will pay you to select your own plan.

Hugely substantial International Life Insurance Companies specialise these days in providing low cost plans that can ensure that not only is the mortgage repaid in the event of an untimely death but that there is a significant surplus that can be used by dependants to ensure that any ongoing expense relative to maintaining the property can be met as well as income for a spouse, children, school fees etc.

Free professional advice is available as to both the "protection" aspect along with advice on the most attractive methods of repaying the capital of any mortgage or loan taken up when buying a property. This applies equally to both residential acquisitions as well as the purchase of business properties.