Luffy Chiu: Catch the market boom in Vietnam

Luffy Chiu, founder and CEO of V Home

In the eyes of many people, Luffy is an anomaly who always makes investment projects that are different from the mainstream trend of the market. He worked at a bank before, but he decided to go to Vietnam to sell egg waffles, and then became a real estate agent. He recently launched the first Vietnamese real estate investment fund – Future Vietnam Fund. In the future, he chose to continue to pursue his dreams in Vietnam with unparalleled enthusiasm.

In September 2019, along with the role of founder and CEO of V Home, Luffy also takes the position as the founder of Future Vietnam Fund. V Home has been established for about three years, so the official launch of Future Vietnam Fund shows the strong development of V Home.

The first private fund – Future Vietnam Fund

The plans for this fund started at the beginning of 2019. "During the 11 years before and after I worked for the bank, I got in contact with a lot of different investment funds. Therefore, subconsciously, I have outlined a plan with the hope of bringing investment opportunities to customers. After I founded V Home, I have taken clients to see real estate in Vietnam. At the time, market prices were about HK$100 million ($12.9 million), but the owner only gave us one week to collect enough money. As a new company, it was not easy for V Home to collect HK$100 million ($12.9 million). Therefore, the opportunity slipped through our fingers. A year later, the value of that land increased 30-40 per cent. Because of this experience, we sped up the idea of setting up a fund by making profits for customers, which is now the Future Vietnam Fund."

The funds are supervised by legal authorities. Therefore, the benefits of general investment funds are highly reliable and help diversify investment risks. They can also participate in large investment projects through fundraising and they can seize current market opportunities at the same time and are suitable for the pursuit of stable returns for investors. The clients of the fund are professional investors who have a soft spot for "brick and mortar" and want to diversify their assets in the property market.

"Vietnam's real estate market began to open four years ago and is still developing, and the local rent return is about 8.5 per cent," said Luffy.

From private bank to selling egg waffles

"In 2013, I worked for HSBC, I became one of the top salesmen in Hong Kong”.

He pointed out that in 2013, the market has not yet opened in Vietnam. There was not a single private car on the road and motorcycles were everywhere.

"I understood at that time, in Vietnam, opportunities all come from the streets. I thought that it would be better to go to Vietnam, open a shop and quit my job."

After learning how to make egg waffles on YouTube, he finally opened a shop he dreamed about. Because of an accident, he had to close the shop and return to Hong Kong. Then, because of a successful investment in property in Osaka, he thought about the opportunities in Vietnam. "I wanted to set up a platform that allows everyone to buy properties in Vietnam. Vietnam has opened up its property market, but the market was new and there was not much information. In order to help people buy a house easily and with confidence, V Home was established in early 2017 and I decided to return to Vietnam to start the business."

Hanoi's development potential

When talking about Vietnam, most people will only know Ho Chi Minh City. Although Hanoi is the capital, its growth rate is slower than Ho Chi Minh City. However, V Home’s development strategy focuses on Hanoi, where there are not as many high buildings. Luffy confessed that at first, many people said he was stupid for going to Vietnam.

"But I am very stubborn and I chose Hanoi. This was what the intuition I have accumulated over the years of real estate buying and selling telling me. I just smell it, and the development of Hanoi today has proved that my decision was correct. Since 2013, Hanoi has changed. From the beginning there were only motorcycles but nowadays, famous cars such as Lamborghini, Rolls Royce, and Porsche can be seen on the streets. The citizens are young and energetic. There are many investors and companies from Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan in Hanoi. I am already a senior. The FDI in 2019 is ten times higher compared to 2018. The price for a square metre in the West Lake area is about HK$10,000 ($1,290), while it was only HK$3,000 ($387.11) before and the metro is about to open. I often tell customers to buy a property as soon as possible."

"Real estate and finance are things I like to do. Many people said that I don't know how to do business. In fact, I only do high-quality ones. The most important thing is to attract a group of high-quality customers. With my achievements, I hope that I can make some contributions to the local area. At present, V Home has helped 500 orphans in Vietnamese orphanages so that they can have skills and grow up in a better environment. I hope that part of the fund’s income can be used for charity in the future.”