Wealthy Chinese home buyers boost suburban L.A. housing markets
By E. Scott Reckard and Andrew Khouri
March 24, 2014
"The Lennar home that Tom and Rebecca Chow bought last year in Chino’s College Park area has not only this "home within a home" design, but also a second "wok" kitchen designed to accommodate Chinese cooking. The range has a 50,000 British thermal unit double burner for high-temperature recipes, a high-powered exhaust fan to carry off the smoke, and walls covered in white tile for easy cleanup of spatters.
The home is aligned to avoid feng shui miscues: You can’t see the back door or a staircase from the front door, both of which are thought to create imbalance. Lennar sales representative Michael Lua also noted that the sink and refrigerator in the main kitchen are not directly across from the oven and range, which would create friction between water and fire elements.
The Chows, originally from Hong Kong, came to the U.S. more than two decades ago as students and stayed. They now have a son at a university and a daughter getting ready to go. The apartment enables them to host relatives from Hong Kong, Canada and Saudi Arabia, as well as their own returning children and a college-age niece, Tom Chow said."[More]