Bosco Wong a Big Fan of Property Investment
When people think about TVB’s rich actors, most people will think of Raymond Lam Fung. However, Bosco Wong Chung Chak has recently joined the circle of well-off TVB actors. Last year, Bosco bought a house in Sha Tin. Within a year, his house appreciated by $700,000 (HKD) in value. Happy with his profits, Bosco bought another two homes in the midst of a good real estate market. Since 30-year-old Bosco has a good personality and knows how to earn money, perhaps it was time for Myolie Wu Hang Yee to marry him!
Attending the Church of Christ in China Kei Heep Secondary School in Sha Tin, Bosco grew up in a single-parent family. He was very filial towards his mother and Mrs. Wong often praised him in front of others, “He is very mature. The neighbors also say he is a good boy!” Formerly living in Pok Hang Estate in Sha Tin with his mother, Bosco’s dream was to purchase a luxury home. “My goal is to buy properties, not for the sake of getting married, but for the sake of supporting the family. The ideal house should be over 1,000 square feet so that I can live together with my family.”
Bosco and Myolie have been dating for six years. Bosco has been investing in real estate properties. In 2008, Myolie bought a $4.5 million (HKD) house in Mei Foo Sun Chuen to live with her parents. Allegedly, Mr. Wu said, “The boy [Bosco] is not bad! It is time for them to get married!”
In June 2010, Bosco spent $2.32 million (HKD) on a house in Tianyin Xi Garden in Sha Tin. He paid an additional $400,000 (HKD) to purchase a parking space. In eight months, the value of the house appreciated by $700,000 (HKD), no wonder he had so much confidence in purchasing two additional homes!
Career at a Standstill?
Since 2002’s Triumph In The Skies <衝上雲霄>, Bosco’s popularity increased. However, in recent years, his only leading roles were in the War of In-Laws <野蠻奶奶> series. Bosco often played supporting roles in recent series such as 2008’s Burning Flame 3 opposite lead Kevin Cheng Ka Wing, Growing Through Life <摘星之旅> opposite Raymond Lam, and 7 Days in Life opposite Steven Ma Chun Wai. Last week’s ratings for 7 Days in Life only averaged 24 points, while the ending for A Great Way to Care <仁心解碼>pulled 27 points. In comparison, 7 Days in Life’s ratings were even worse than mainland drama, <鐵齒銅牙紀曉嵐 4>, which pulled 25 points in ratings last Lunar New Year.
Netizens also heavily criticized Bosco, claiming that his pronunciation was unclear and that the theme song for 7 Days in Life, sung by Bosco, was awkward.
Mortgaging 3 Properties
After returning from filming Race Course <跑馬場> in Hengdian, Bosco was asked by his mother to purchase two small homes, priced below $500,000 (HKD) each. The three properties which Bosco owns total approximately $1.5 million (HKD), thus the mortgage amount was likely $50,000 (HKD) per month.
Although TVB’s new ownership fell in the hands of Charles Chan, Bosco said confidently, “TVB is a big family. Of course there will be work. Hopefully Mr. Chan will watch over me!” Bosco received approximately $6,000 (Yuan) for filming each episode in Race Course with Myolie Wu.
Other TVB Actors’ Real Estate Worth
Although TVB actors film night and day, not many actors own their own properties. Even Raymond Lam only has one property in his name and Ron Ng Cheuk Hei was still renting. By owning three properties, perhaps Bosco had the most houses!
Moses Chan paid $3.68 million (HKD) for Tseung Kwan O Le Point in 2006. The current market value was approximately $5.8 million (HKD). Moses’ other property was at Abraham House in Causeway Bay, in which he paid $1.5 million (HKD) in 1997. The market value was about $6.5 million (HKD).
Raymond Lam paid $20.58 million (HKD) for Jin Feng’s Sai Ying Pun City in 2009. The value increased to $20.5 million (HKD).
Steven Ma paid $5.36 million (HKD) for Grampian Court , Ho Man Tin Hill in 1999. The current market value was $11 million (HKD).
Kevin Cheng paid $1.91 million (HKD) for Residence Oasis in Tseung Kwan O in 2003. The current market value increased to $4.2 million (HKD).
Joe Ma paid $4.1 million (HKD) for Kung Po Shan Court , with the current market value increasing to $9 million (HKD).
Bosco seems very filial and close with his mother! Good for him! Investing in property is always a smart thing to do. Even though I always have to worry about the mortgage, I feel that buying a home is the greatest investment I have ever made, and I’m sure every celebrity’s dream is to buy a luxurious home and live comfortably too. I’m not familiar with HK’s neighbohoods and locations but, dang, Raymond’s property is worth 20 million? And everyone else’s was between 1-5 million when they bought it? Huge difference. It must be very big and nice!
Or in a really good location!
I don’t know about HK, but around my area some of my friends(we’re all in our 20’s) have already bought houses to rent to people as a side business. I’m not involved so I don’t know if it’s good or bad heheh.
HK netizens and media are sometimes blunt. I agree with the pronounciation but because I’m bias and shallow I love that song and the MV. Drama ratings however can’t be contributed to a “single not even the lead actor” alone. A drama is a collective work from the producer to the directors to the screenwriters to the cast to the lightings people to the sound mixers, editors, graphic editors, image designers and other crews. Shouldn’t HK media and TVB look into the mirror clearly and go to the depth of the problem so that TVB drama production can improve instead of looking like a cheap 3rd world country production? For example a current mainland series or Korean series can pwn TVB totally in choosing appropriate lightings for a scene. Tim Gor recently shows improvement in TVB’s cinematography in his series No Regrets; thumbs up to that. Too bad ratings is everything in TVB. Even if an actor perform poorly and exaggeratedly but if the ratings is high and the character is popular he/she will be deemed as TVB King or Queen candidate. If the drama is popular it doesn’t matter if the whole drama is OTT. Maybe I just don’t have the same cup of tea with HK viewers.
I personally wouldn’t watch 7 Days In Life or Growing Through Life if not for Bosco, Damien, Sonija and Mimi Lo. One has yawnworthy recycled storyline and the other has a fresh idea but distracted by an unattractive love triangle. If not for the attractive Chilam Cheung, I won’t watch The Rippling Blossoms either even if it uses the most beautiful Japanese backdrops ever.
No offense to TVB fans out there.
How do all these reporters find out what these artistes buy and how much they pay for?
That doesn’t look smart for him to buy so many houses. He’s not from a well off family so is he gonna pay the mortgage for all his life? He’s also not as popular like Raymond, Moses who have countless fans.
@Moonriver, reporters know where the artists live (that’s how they stalk them and take all those candid photos). Plus, if they are property owners, there should be public records that state they own the properties. Once these records are found, it should even state the year the bought and the purchase price. The property records in the USA are transparent and I believe in Hong Kong it should be the same. As for the market valuation, all they have to do is ask a knowledgeable real estate agent to get a quote or even search online for similar sales ads.
@Vivien, 3 properties may sound like a lot but as the reporter pointed out, they are smaller properties. The monthly mortgage for these 3 properties are approximately $50,000 (HKD), which is equivalent to $6,500 (USD) per month. It sounds like all three properties are being rented out for income. Thus the rents should cover the mortgage amount and there might be even a little left over. It sounds like Bosco and his mother are living in a separate location and paying rent. So their living expenses shouldn’t be that high, roughly the rent they are paying for their apartment.
The difficulty in purchasing homes is coming up with the down payment. I don’t know what the percent down payment is typically required by Hong Kong banks before they approve mortgages. His 1st home, priced at $2.32 million (HKD) was the most expensive house and the 2nd and 3rd were smaller units priced below $500k (HKD). I think his purchase of the properties is to collect short-term rent and possibly sell at higher prices in long-run to finance any other future business endeavors. Many TVB artists probably also have extra money to buy these smaller type properties if they wish, but not everyone wants to be landlord, deal with collecting rent each month. Not every artist has time for this type of micro-money management and respond to tenant issues. Bosco’s mother sounds like she is his full-time property manager and he trusts her with his finances, so he can buy these smaller properties to invest.
TVB actors typically receive $10,000 to $20,000 (HKD) for each event appearance they make in a month. If he has five appearances in a month, that’s already $50,000 (HKD). I think money-wise, Bosco is able to support his mortgages and sounds like he would buy more too, once he can save the down payment.
Bosco reminds me of Michael Miu, who possesses passion for the entertainment industry, yet there is a business-sense and good people connections.
@Masaharu, Fans want Bosco to focus on acting improvement, but he also seems distracted by dabbling in too many things at the same time: real estate, singing, filming movies, etc. Since his relationship with Myolie Wu sounds like it’s going well and they’re pretty serious, that relationship also takes a lot of time to maintain.
I’ve seen flashes of brilliance in Bosco’s acting in his early career and I do hope he’ll be around a long time and reach the accomplishments of Nick Cheung Ka Fai, whom Bosco expressed admiration in.
@Moonriver, hehe and thanks to these tabloid magazines, JayneStars readers also know where TVB artists live. So if anyone is ever in Hong Kong and really wanted to stalk their favorite artists, they can stop by these apartment buildings as well….
@Masaharu, Fans want Bosco to focus on acting improvement, but he also seems distracted by dabbling in too many things at the same time: real estate, singing, filming movies, etc. Since his relationship with Myolie Wu sounds like it’s going well and they’re pretty serious, that relationship also takes a lot of time to maintain
Jayne:
From my perspective, or what I know ‘most’ of his fans want him to develop further as a serious actor, even better if can go to movies. He did well in I Love Hong Kong and look really good in a mainland-cinema-only movie co-starring Lynn Xiong. His singing acceptance among fans varies, but his best singing moments are on stages outside of HK. I just heard from his interview with Cha Siu Yan 3 days ago that he won’t make his 3rd album this year because he has acting jobs lining up.
“Raymond Lam paid $20.58 million (HKD) for Jin Feng’s Sai Ying Pun City in 2009. The value increased to $20.5 million (HKD).”
Increased or decreased? Because it seems to decreased if based on the figure (20.58 to 20.5)
Raymond’s apartment must be really high class and luxurious. All the other TVB actors paid less than $5 millions for their house/apartment, while Raymond paid $20 millions.
COuld be location and view, especially location. Was it the one that was reported before where it looked small but of course great location and view?
Does he even have 20 million?!
He has to paid more than 1 million of tax a year few recent years, so his income must be more than 10 million (10% of tax).
Jayne posted an article when Raymond purchase is property. The article is probably somewhere in archive. The house itself is small for the price he paid but the view is beautiful. I think being in the business for so long, Raymond must have some saving. If he can afford to buy a Masarati, then that should come with a beautiful home:) The one that I am surprise that does not own a property is Ron. Perhaps he needs to “add oil” and work harder to make more money than have too much gossips.
Based on the article above, looks like Steven’s home generated the most appreciation, double what he bought for, now that’s a smart investment.
Kevin has triple :). From 1.91 to 4.2
Moses’ one has quadrupled. From 1.5mil to 6.5mil. 😀 😀
I think Ron’s still renting a house doesn’t mean he can’t afford to buy one. Maybe he just doesn’t want to for now.
I have the feeling Ron has interest on car more than house.
1.5 mil to start with must be the low end sort of apartment since HK apartments even small ones are around that price. He must have bought it very early in his career!
Looks like only the rich can afford to own either apartments or houses in fairly good locations. They seem like to cost the earth! Where I live, my maid and gardeners can all afford to own houses with 3 bedrooms in each, albeit not in choice locations. But, back to the actors, they work so very hard and they deserve to own their own homes or flats. Raymond seems to own the most expensive a bode but does he not come from a rich family?