" The Flower of Chino Hills" — Interview of Real Estate Agent Grace Hsiung

Aug 23, 2002 — The very first time I laid my eyes on Grace, I remember, I couldn’t take my eyes away. I stared at her for the longest time, and told her,” anybody ever told you that you look like Deng Li-Jung (a legendary Chinese singer)?”

A smile blossomed on her face and she said,” don’t flatter me, please, how can I ever compare to her.”

Grace Hsiung is a real estate agent who focuses on the east area. Before I met her personally, I have known her from her articles from magazines. She wrote many articles about the real estate market. Her articles are very simple and right to the point. She doesn’t copy some basic knowledge and then try to sell her name like some other ads. Her articles are very neutral, analyzing the current market from her experiences, which are helpful to the buyers and the sellers.

After a long conversation, I was surprised to learn that she had only been in this field for four years, and the first year she was doing loan and financing. I couldn’t understand how and where she got all her experiences and knowledge from only four years. She said that she is still learning everyday and that in real estate, you can never know too much. She also said that her mentors, Charles Wang and Mike Lee, (to whom she sincerely expresses her gratitude for their support), from her first company, Century 21/West Coast Brokers, had taught her valuable lessons.
When she first entered the field, Grace didn’t know what to do, nor did she have any clientele. She said that for a period of time, she just went to see all the open houses every day, averaging 20 and sometimes even 30 houses a day. At the time, she was living at Temple City and she drove 40 minutes one way to Chino Hills daily. Her coworkers laughed and said that she was wasting her youth.

I asked if her broker asked her to go to Chino Hills and she said no. Grace said that it was a coincidence that she discovered that the houses in Chino Hills are newer and bigger, and a lot more affordable. She thought that Chino Hills is conveniently located between LA and OC. The city was filled with beautiful landscapes, the school district is academically acclaimed, and there is a low crime rate for the area. She thought these factors will one day eventually attract many people to the city.

Its been merely two years and Grace’s prediction came true—today the population in Chino Hills has notably increased.

After commuting from Temple City to Chino Hills for about 7 or 8 months, no one will ever laugh at her again. Now Grace is familiar with all the little streets around this area, and knows exactly which house is on the market at the moment—no wonder others named her “the flower of Chino Hills.” Even though she modestly said that the reason it seems like she has a lot of clients is because there aren’t many agents who work around this area. With her exceptionally high rate of selling and buying at her current office, the King Realtors, we know that Grace in fact very active in Chino Hills, Diamond Bar, Walnut, and Rowland Heights.

From our conversation, I also learned that she was very proud of her web site. Grace has built this bilingual web site, to help both buyers and sellers to get through the painful process of the real estate transactions. Her site includes essential knowledge of real estate transactions, and anyone can log on to look for new homes in the area. She said that it doesn’t matter whether the readers ask her to be their agent or not, anybody is welcome to utilize this web site.

A coworker of mine bought a house through Grace. He first went to her site, www.bobohomes.com, and found a house he liked, and then contacted Grace. Grace was very helpful and the transaction was completed in very little time. He was very satisfied with her professionalism and honesty.

--Cover Story from the Home Magazine