The whole thing was a money-making scheme these big businesses peeps waited till as late as possible as to make the most money!!! Ignoring the obvious fact that there are blurred lines in the law about living at sea so they could profit more. Actually a rly sad situation

​@@isilikespeopleandthings covid19 killed tourism around the world and hurt the marina club owners, most of all. Today the lantau yacht club is only 5% full, if you look at Google maps today.

That's not rich. That considered middle class. You didn't catch that part where he mentioned that his property value has been knocked down to 5% or 10%. That's a loss of 90%.

@@lambertlum1087 and you actually believed that lmao they're saying this shit on an interview to get sympathy they have high income sources all year round

@@bryanhiebert1941 Yes, I believe him because I earn a similar wage as a software engineer in Silicon Valley. Houses here are $1 million USD, similar to the price of his boat. That pilot has middle class wages just like me. I don't live like a king. Neither does he.

@@bryanhiebert1941 Having a million USD is nothing. If you have an engineering degree of any type, you should be able to accumulate a million dollars by the time you retire. At least that would be true in the US. I can't comment on other countries. Oh, I have been to Hong Kong. I'm Chinese and my mother comes from Hong Kong. In general Hong Kong is a rather prosperous city. The British did a good job managing the city, and it prospered. It's so prosperous that people are still trying to move to Hong Kong, thereby squeezing the real estate market. There is definitely poverty. I have seen the shanty towns on the hill side. The real estate market is just brutal. We have the same problem here in California, but it's not the lack of land. It's the city councils who refuse to give permits to develop housing. Most cities prohibit high risers, thereby creating a market where homes are most commonly priced at 1 million USD. You talk about affluence. No one calls themselves affluent when they live in a 1 million USD house. The mortgage payments eat up a big chunk of an engineer's salary. We consider ourselves middle class. We are not rich. Oh, and I'm not liberal. I am conservative, both economically and socially. I got laid off from a tech company because I wore a T-shirt that says 1 man + 1 woman = marriage.

@@lambertlum1087 >having a million USD net worth is nothing Lol that's in the top 10% of the US population of course you wouldn't get it because you probably grew up paycheck to paycheck

Phillip Leong not for luxury yacht though

Luxury yachts around the world generally always decline in value obviously, but is at somewhere(on the depreciation scale) between a motorcar and on the other side of the scale an actual house (due to the cost of purchasing a brand new identical, equivalent of that motor yacht. But in H.K - and I'm only guessing this- that the yacht as a home at a prestigious marina location WOULD INCREASE IN VALUE AS AN ENTITY in a COMBINED DWELLING and MOTOR-YACHT, hence the reason it seemed like a great investment on paper initially.

2nd world

When my apartment went condo I think I got 6 WEEKS notice...

But boats are really expensive, and Hong Kong is extremely expensive as well!! Now they have lost lots of money

But this dude is a baaddd example not everyone had high incomes as this - many chose this as a cheaper living option than apartments.

If he really wanted to continue his life living on his boat, he can move it back to a UK marina and continue living on it for life.

Pilots are middle class. His wages are similar to a software engineer living in Silicon Valley. It sounds like his house boat is priced similar to Silicon Valley homes as well.

If you live in HK that lifestyle is very normal, it was at that time the most expensive country in the world (in terms of living expenses) and the boats as a living option were far cheaper and more spacious than any flat that you could buy. It also gave resident the opportunity to buy a home instead of renting it.

You can't blame the present generation for the past generation. Can you keep on blaming your grandfather or great grandfather for their sins? Do you have to pay for your father's sins? If your father had stolen from people, did you pay them back on your father's behalf?

Harder to find a place for a boat than it is to just get another house

The tragedy of it was that this marina knew for years that this would happen but didn't give notice until 2 months

This guy is a bad example. The point is that these are people's only houses. This is where they live. There is no other alternative.

yeah i only feel really bad for the children cause schools are quite tough to get into with long waiting lists right? So having to change schools could be a pain

Also , these vessels need shore power and water constantly- generator power is not for long term according to the owner for this vessel.

It's cheaper to live on a boat in HK. Many people lived there because it was cheaper for larger families (with more than 2 children). When we moved it was a huge financial burden for my parents as we were a family of 7. Only a few people were actually millionaires on these boats. Some families were separated and a man k**led himself. Have a heart

​@constance.m Hi Constance - were you living on a boat in h.k.at some point??

elfacisco The SCMP and its associated media are the target of professional mainland Chinese internet trolls. These are derisively called "fifty-cent" or "wumao," they tend to be young Chinese college-age students who get paid pennies to police and spam forums with commie-slanted rhetoric. The first hint this is a wumao attack is the comparison of an expatriate pilot to colonial policies from nearly 200 years ago. There is actually a shortage of qualified Chinese pilots and nearly 80% of Chinese air fleets, in Hong Kong _and_ mainland China, are piloted by foreigners. IF the young commies so please, they can ship all foreign pilots back overseas, ground 80% of the fligths and basically kiss foreign travel goodbye. Just ignore them. Everyone else does.

Peking - are you from 1950s'?

Everyone was following the rules. No matter which ethnicities lived there (there were many)