Publication:  DNA Info

Summary:  Wei Min interviewed on Chinese buying Manhattan property for kid’s college housing.

Wei Min’s comments in article:  

The number eight is considered lucky for Chinese buyers, noted Wei Min Tan, a broker with Rutenberg Realty, who also said his business with Chinese clients doubled this year.

An apartment with the number 1188 would be ideal, he said. “In Chinese it translates into ‘get lucky every day.’ Eight is prosperity and one means every day. Four would be an unlucky number, so they avoid apartments with the number four.”

Tan said that many of his clients often come asking to see apartments in “Shang Dong,” the Chinese name for Upper East Side.

“They want Central Park or Fifth Avenue, because that’s what they hear about from their friends as well as seeing it on television,” Tan said.

But many of these buildings are co-ops, and most foreign buyers, especially Chinese nationals, want condos, where they’re given title to the apartment and have flexibility to rent it out, Tan said.