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A reminder of his own mortality led Michael Koh to a new
country, a new life, and an unexpected new career.
Before becoming one of Buenos Aires' biggest names in real
estate, Koh, 95BA, was doing just fine in Dallas. Co-owner
of a successful healthcare company, he was working hard
and earning plenty of money. But after several years on
the job, Koh had begun to worry.
"I was seeing a lot of clients pass away just three
or four years into retirement," he recalls. It made
him wonder: "What if it were me? What if I had three
years?"
Koh decided that from then on he would live life as though
his doctor had told him he had only a few years left. "I
really made myself believe it," he says. And since
he could afford to, Koh began to travel. His first stop:
Buenos Aires.
After arriving in Argentina in 2002, Koh spent his first
few months living in Buenos Aires' luxury hotels, coming
and going every few weeks. Then, to stretch his money out
a bit, he decided to buy an apartment. He found an old,
abandoned place, renovated it, and furnished it nicely.
When Koh had to return to Dallas for awhile, he put it
up for rent. "All of a sudden, I was getting all these
calls," he says. "I thought, wow, there may be
a business here."
There was indeed. After buying several more apartments and
leasing them out to tourists, Koh founded his own apartment
rental company, Apartments BA.com, with a novel concept.
Rather than compete with other rental companies catering
to the many tourists pouring in at the time, Koh decided
to take on the five-star hotels.
"We wanted to offer everything they do and more — more
space, more style, better technology — for less.
And we do," he says. "We pioneered the luxury
rental market."
Over the past three years, Koh has bought up more property
than any individual in Buenos Aires. That's landed him
in the New York Times and the Economist, among other publications,
as an expat with rather uncommon expertise. No one knows
the Buenos Aires real estate market better. Not even Argentines.
And while Koh welcomes the success, he hasn't forgotten
why he came in the first place: "I love this place:
the people, the food, the language-everything," he
says. "The best part of all this is that I get to
stay."
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