momopi
Well-known member
When the KMT Nationalists retreated to Taiwan, it was said that the local Taiwanese were poorer and their kids wore slippers or went barefoot to school. However by the 1970s-1980s, the situation changed where land-owning Taiwanese who were previously farmers were able to become asset rich through their land. The KMT government also imposed strict rules on eminent domain to diffuse conflict with the Taiwanese, specifying that land taken under eminent domain must be paid three times of market value. That is, if your farmland is worth $100,000, the government must pay you $300,000 to take it by force. So even if there were protests against the seizure, it was difficult to argue against the large sums being paid in those days. Keep in mind that this was possible in those days partly because the land was cheaper. Moving forward to present day, you'd find eminent domain in TW to be far less generous, and in some cases, abusive against the land owner for sake of economic/business development.
For land-owning Taiwanese families with children in the US, it's a common theme for the parents or grandparents to sell off a piece of land and gift the money to their children/grandchildren in the US, for purpose of buying a house. I've personally observed 7-figure dowries. If the kids live in TW, upon marriage the parents might transfer title of some land to them, though younger generation tend to live and work in urban cities, leaving rural homes behind.
Unfortunately, many young Taiwanese today do not appreciate how hard their parents or grandparents worked for their family assets, and some would blow through the money like they say "wealth doesn't last 3 generations". For the parents, putting the money in a house seems like a safer bet, assuming the kids won't use their home equity as an ATM for playing money later.
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Here's an interesting note about TW: in some older neighborhoods in TW, your property line extends to the middle of the street. While the local government has right to "use" the land that the street is on for public use (road), the government must pay the land owner an use-fee every year. The amount is not large, but it's interesting that the government pays rent for having a road on your land.
In Taipei, most of the residential homes are condo buildings, and newer condo communities have HOA's that pay for common areas and lobby staff. When the building is "new" the management is under the construction company, and you'd see nicely decorated, brightly lit lobby areas with pretty receptionist and security guard. Need to call a taxi? Ring the receptionist. However, once the builder management period is over, the home owners are expected to manage the HOA and suddenly everyone is stingy with their money and demand the HOA dues to be lowered as much as possible. The brightly lit lobby is now dark for "saving electricity" and the handsome lobby staff is replaced by some old dude who doubles as security guard. Even if the standards were maintained, the home owners will still complain to their friends and relatives about paying the high HOA dues and "feeding a bunch of lobby staff that just sits there".
For land-owning Taiwanese families with children in the US, it's a common theme for the parents or grandparents to sell off a piece of land and gift the money to their children/grandchildren in the US, for purpose of buying a house. I've personally observed 7-figure dowries. If the kids live in TW, upon marriage the parents might transfer title of some land to them, though younger generation tend to live and work in urban cities, leaving rural homes behind.
Unfortunately, many young Taiwanese today do not appreciate how hard their parents or grandparents worked for their family assets, and some would blow through the money like they say "wealth doesn't last 3 generations". For the parents, putting the money in a house seems like a safer bet, assuming the kids won't use their home equity as an ATM for playing money later.
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Here's an interesting note about TW: in some older neighborhoods in TW, your property line extends to the middle of the street. While the local government has right to "use" the land that the street is on for public use (road), the government must pay the land owner an use-fee every year. The amount is not large, but it's interesting that the government pays rent for having a road on your land.
In Taipei, most of the residential homes are condo buildings, and newer condo communities have HOA's that pay for common areas and lobby staff. When the building is "new" the management is under the construction company, and you'd see nicely decorated, brightly lit lobby areas with pretty receptionist and security guard. Need to call a taxi? Ring the receptionist. However, once the builder management period is over, the home owners are expected to manage the HOA and suddenly everyone is stingy with their money and demand the HOA dues to be lowered as much as possible. The brightly lit lobby is now dark for "saving electricity" and the handsome lobby staff is replaced by some old dude who doubles as security guard. Even if the standards were maintained, the home owners will still complain to their friends and relatives about paying the high HOA dues and "feeding a bunch of lobby staff that just sits there".
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