Story of Chinese entrepreneurs / Angela Cheung

Has The Courage To Try Adventure Development

World Journal San Francisco

August 7, 2021

By Han Li

Original version in Chinese: https://www.worldjournal.com/wj/story/121368/5657240

The real estate market in San Francisco is booming, and housing prices have jumped to the forefront of the United States. Whether in housing sales or real estate project development, this industry has attracted many Chinese to join in.

Angela Cheung, a Chinese entrepreneur who spans real estate sales and development, not only has her own strong sales team but also founded a real estate development company. Her footprints are all over the east and west coasts of the United States and all over Asia. In her mind, the courage to try is the key to prominence in her career.

Hong Kong Immigration Accounting to Real Estate.

Angela is from Hong Kong. After graduating from high school, she immigrated to the San Francisco Bay Area to study at university. When she was studying at California State University East Bay, her major was accounting. However, she said that her mother was an accountant and her sister was also an accountant, so she wanted to make some changes. Then she transferred her major to study finance and then focused on real estate investment. "Compared to accounting, I prefer more flexible work," Angela said.

After graduation, she went to take the real estate license examination and formally entered the real estate industry. In the beginning, Angela had been developing in housing sales. It was not until about ten years after joining the industry that she started to get involved in real estate development around 2003. She said that at that time she had the opportunity to set up a small company and began to develop some small properties, such as single-family houses and four-unit small apartments.

The Financial Crisis Finds Another Way

However, the 2008 US financial crisis caused the real estate market to plummet. In the following years of 2009 and 2010, the real estate market in the United States crashed. "The prospects were bleak at the time, and I was also thinking about ways to overcome the difficulties," Angela said. At that time, sales and development were difficult to do, so

she had to find another way and bravely try.

The well-known San Francisco luxury apartment mansion, Millennium Tower, went on sale at the time, but it has not been selling well. However, Angela went directly to their sales department and said that she had the resources of buyers in Hong Kong and mainland China to help them sell. At that time, the Millennium Tower had a bit of hesitation, and after interviews and investigations, they finally believed her. The representative of Millennium Building also went to Beijing with Angela and held many marketing exhibitions.

In the end, 7% of the high-end residences in Millennium Tower were sold by Angela. She also helped sell a lot of high-end condominiums on the east coast. She bluntly said that when she first walked into their sales department, what she thought in her heart was to have the courage to try.

Real Estate Development Is Recognized

After the financial crisis, the enthusiasm of the real estate market gradually returned, which also inspired Angela’s belief to move forward courageously. After 2012, she began to take over some medium-sized and large-scale property developments, such as condominium projects with more than 30 units or even hundreds of units.

Among them, Angela has also participated in the development of Pacific Heights, a well-known wealthy district in San Francisco. This is a luxury housing apartment with 34 units, and the project was subsequently commended by the industry. The 115 apartment and residential projects in the South Market (SoMa district) were also sold out. In terms of sales, Angela’s sales team is also highly praised and has been certified by the San Francisco Business Times, becoming the top 100 sales team in the Bay Area in 2020. Now, in addition to developing and selling, Angela will also cooperate with some other developers and do some consulting work on development projects. Now that the epidemic has eased, everyone is also concerned about the future of the real estate market. "I believe the real estate market will continue to improve in the coming year," Angela believes that the technology industry and talents will gradually return.

Concern for Disadvantaged Asian Communities

Angela Cheung, who has been successful in the business world, still cares about the Asian community. She is the current Chair of the Board of Directors of the Asia Pacific American Community Center (APACC) in the Visitacion Valley, a Chinese settlement in San Francisco. The center is located at No. 66 Raymond Street in Visitacion Valley. It is an important activity center for the local Chinese and Asian communities. Angela said that there are many Asians who live in the Visitacion Valley, but they usually receive little attention and help, so she hopes to do her part to help them. She also said that she pays attention to the development of young people because the education of the next generation and young people is extremely important. In addition, Angela is also the Vice-Chair of the Hong Kong Association of Northern California (HKANC), connecting the representatives of the Hong Kong business community in the Bay Area, and also promoting business opportunities between Hong Kong and the Bay Area.