The successful Mr Ha

A lot of commentators spent a lot of yesterday talking about the "sub-prime" mortgage market in America and about "loan sharking" here in NZ, and (at least on Radio New Zealand) promoting restrictions on borrowing "especially among immigrant communities." According to this patronising view, "members of immigrant communities" -- that is, individuals who have the gumption to move to New Zealand seeking a better life for themselves and their families -- are just too dumb to understand all the complicated stuff about interest and repayments and the like.

Following this patronising line to its logical conclusion, the all-too-dumb Judith Tizard has has now revealed the Clark Government plans to "deal with" loans sharks by restricting the activities of finance companies in immigrant areas.

I thought of that patronising advice and those restrictive plans as I read the story of Don Ha in NBR's Rich List this morning, a man who came to NZ in 198o from Vietnam penniless (presumably landing first in the Mangere immigration hostel up the road from where I was in 1980) and who is now worth $60 million. Tizard's restrictions on lending to immigrants would not have helped Mr Ha, who I feel confident knows his way around a balance sheet far better than Ms Tizard and any of her colleagues working on her plans would.

The irony is too much for me. People like Tizard with a barely functioning brain suggest that immigrants (of which Mr Ha is the supreme example) are too dumb to be allowed out in finance houses on their own. Perhaps I might suggest that she and her fellow nannies could think of people like Don Ha next time they feel like offering their opinion on the abilities of immigrants. The Herald has a brief account of Ha's career in its report on the Rich List:

The self-made-man model is alive and well in the form of 38-year-old Manukau real estate magnate Don Ha, who comes in at 143rd equal overall with his financial worth estimated at $60 million.Not bad for a Vietnamese refugee who was just a kid when he arrived in New Zealand in 1980 with his penniless family.The family opened a string of bakeries in South Auckland but Mr Ha went his own way, importing shoes and belts from Asia, only beginning his real estate career in 1994. Mr Ha became a top salesman in the Professionals Group, selling 86 properties in his first year.

He was headhunted by the Ray White Group in 2004 and now owns Ray White Manukau, which has subsequently achieved record-breaking sales. Mr Ha shelled out $2 million on a Zabeel colt from champion racemare Sunline at the Karaka yearling sales in January.

More on the Rich List and the very smart Mr Ha here at the Herald. And you can see Mr Ha and the Rich List's editor being interviewed this morning on the ASB Business News at this TVNZ link.