August Tales from the Landlord Jianghu | APOA August 2026 Monthly Newsletter

The Month Our Little World Started Echoing Back

August at APOA did not quite follow the script.

At the beginning of the month, a letter we had sent out two weeks earlier actually received a reply.

By the end of the month, Jason had written a song for the landlord community, Landlords of Australia, We Stand Together, and our very own “Group Member Xiao Wang” had somehow turned it into an animated digital performance starring Kun Ge.

Somewhere in between, a rental property needed a repaint. Quotes fell from $5,000 to $1,700 — and then, through a spectacular communication mishap, two different crews both turned up and painted the same house.

Twice.

These events sound completely unrelated.

And yet, somehow, they sum up APOA’s August perfectly.

We spent one part of the month trying to send landlords’ voices beyond the WeChat groups. The rest of the time, we were still dealing with Safety Checks, leaking taps, painters, lawns, VCAT, invoices and all the ordinary chaos of being a landlord.

And somewhere in the middle of all that, APOA started developing something else too:

its own jokes, its own characters, and perhaps even its own little jianghu.

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📊 August at a Glance

APOA’s August community archive covered 31 days, 12 groups and 26,273 messages.

That is a big number.

But if there is one number worth remembering this month, it is probably another one:

180+.

That was the number of people who had registered by the end of August for the APOA Mid-Autumn Gathering and 2026 Annual Event on 27 September.

What began as a casual “maybe we should all get together this year” gradually turned into venue hunting, volunteer recruitment, performances, sponsorship, event registration and a growing attendee list.

Quite a few things in August made the same journey:

from “shall we?”

to “we actually did.”

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🎖️ Around the Fire | August Community Star

⭐ August 2026 Community Star: Jason

This month’s Community Star goes to Jason.

Not because he posted the most messages.

Not because he answered the most questions.

But because he did something nobody had done before:

he wrote a song for the landlord community.

Landlords of Australia, We Stand Together.

The idea was simple: landlords gather, share the good and the bad, and when trouble comes, nobody has to carry it alone.

That would already have been enough.

But then Group Member Xiao Wang took the song and turned it into an animated digital performance starring Kun Ge.

So within the space of one month, Kun Ge completed an impressive career transition:

community organiser → Kun Daxia → wuxia character → digital singer.

Community culture is difficult to manufacture.

You can design a website.

You can create a logo.

You can build a membership system.

But when someone voluntarily writes a song for the group, something else has begun to happen.

🏆 August Community Star: Jason 🎁 500 APOA Community Points

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❤️ August Community Shout-outs

As always, this is not a leaderboard.

It is simply our way of remembering people who helped another landlord save some time, avoid a mistake, find a contact or have a slightly better day.

Yun Zhong Bai He continued answering questions and sharing experience — while also contributing one of August’s less expected highlights: a batch of homemade spring pancakes thin enough to deserve their own announcement.

Yulan, our pest-control professional, remained one of those valuable names that can be tagged when someone asks, “Does anyone know somebody reliable?”

Bie Chu Gardening was similarly pulled straight into a conversation when a landlord needed garden work done.

And our many tradespeople and experienced members continued answering practical questions about plumbing, electrical work, inspections, maintenance and renovation.

In a landlord community, sometimes the most useful contribution is not a grand opinion.

Sometimes it is simply:

“I know someone. Here’s their contact.”

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⚔️ Chapter One | A Letter Leaves the Jianghu — and an Answer Comes Back

Before August, policy discussions inside APOA were already endless.

Land tax. Rental rules. Safety Checks. VCAT. Investment conditions.

Pick any one of them and a group chat could easily spend half a day on it.

The usual ending was some version of:

“So what can we actually do?”

At the end of July, APOA tried something very ordinary.

We gathered some of those concerns, wrote them down properly, and sent a letter to the Victorian Liberal leadership.

On 4 August, a reply arrived.

Kun Ge shared the Chinese summary and the original English response across the groups. The reply acknowledged the role landlords play in housing supply, referred to the need for balance between rental providers and renters, and discussed possible reform around land tax.

One letter, of course, changes very little on its own.

Council rates were not suddenly discounted the next morning.

Safety Checks did not become half-price.

But the reaction inside the groups was telling.

Jason wrote:

“What I admire most is people who don’t spend all day yelling — they just get things done. Thanks for taking the lead. This group means something.”

Another member wrote:

“This is what a landlord group should exist for.”

Then a new nickname began appearing:

Kun Daxia.

“Daxia” is an old wuxia term for a wandering hero — the sort who steps forward when something needs doing.

It started as a joke.

But it also captured something that had shifted that month.

For a long time, landlords had talked amongst themselves.

In August, some of those conversations were organised, written down, and sent outside the chat room.

A stone had been thrown out into the wider world.

It had not travelled very far.

But at least this time, there was an echo.

The funniest moment came shortly afterwards in the Sydney group.

Someone asked:

“Should we send Labor a letter too, just to put some pressure on them?”

Kun Ge replied:

“No need. Labor already sent us a letter telling us off.”

Diplomacy in the landlord jianghu, it seems, works both ways.

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⚔️ Chapter Two | The $727 Invoice That Shook the Room

Not long after the political correspondence, the conversation returned to something far more immediate.

An invoice.

Safety Check: $727.

The landlord had previously used another inspection company at about $121 per visit, twice a year.

Her agent then arranged a new inspection.

She had already asked whether it duplicated the existing service, whether she would be paying for it, and what it would cost.

The agent confirmed that the landlord would pay.

The actual price, however, was never clearly given.

Then the inspection happened.

And the invoice arrived:

$727.

The group instantly switched from “policy discussion mode” to “landlord emergency consultation mode.”

Was the charge reasonable?

Could it be challenged?

Should the cost have been disclosed in advance?

Why could apparently similar inspections cost a few hundred dollars in one case and more than seven hundred in another?

August produced plenty of variations on the same theme.

One CBD apartment owner was quoted $550 for gas, electrical and smoke-alarm inspections.

Her accompanying review was concise:

“Every time this comes around, my liver hurts from anger.”

Kun Ge reminded her that APOA already had a group Safety Check deal.

She found the information, filled in the form, and then wrote:

“Hopefully I can soon become a glorious member.”

Then there was the curtain safety clip.

A few small child-safety fittings needed installing.

The agent’s recommended quote:

$80.

Kitty looked at it and replied:

“Mine charged me 90.”

Further investigation revealed that the job itself was hardly aerospace engineering. Screw it into a timber frame, use an appropriate fixing on metal, and the actual hardware costs very little.

That is why the most common question in a landlord group is rarely:

“What is your ten-year forecast for Melbourne property?”

It is:

“Is this price normal?”

“Does anyone know a reliable tradie?”

“Am I being ripped off?”

Macroeconomics can wait until tomorrow.

Invoices have due dates.

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⚔️ Chapter Three | The Great Double-Painting Incident

If August gets only one story preserved for future generations, it should probably be this one.

A rental property needed repainting.

First quote:

$5,000.

Too expensive.

Second quote:

$4,000.

Still too expensive.

Third quote:

$1,850.

Better.

One more quote:

$1,700.

Now we were talking.

Same house. Same basic job. A price range from five thousand dollars to seventeen hundred.

At that point, one might reasonably conclude that painting quotes in Melbourne belong somewhere between economics and divination.

The landlord naturally chose the cheaper option.

Under normal circumstances, that would be the end.

But normal circumstances rarely produce good APOA stories.

A communication mix-up occurred.

Another crew that had previously been contacted also turned up.

And they did not merely inspect the property.

They started painting.

So, within a short period of time, one rental property received the rare privilege of being painted by two separate crews.

Twice.

Eventually everyone sat down and worked it out.

The final solution was almost suspiciously elegant:

one side received $850.

the other side received $850.

Total:

$1,700.

The landlord had not spent more than expected.

The walls simply gained an extra coat.

A form of accidental capital improvement, perhaps.

Then the story was posted in the group.

That was when the real drama began.

Kun Ge’s private messages started arriving.

One.

Two.

Five.

Ten.

Eventually, roughly 20 messages.

Almost all asking the same thing:

“Can I have the painter’s number?”

Nobody was particularly interested in analysing the communication failure anymore.

Nobody wanted a post-mortem.

The community had identified the only truly actionable insight:

$850. Painter. Contact details. Please.

This may be the purest expression of the APOA survival instinct.

If the price is good enough, even a mishap can become a community resource.

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⚔️ Chapter Four | The Landlord Manual Opens a New Sect

On 3 August, we published the July edition of Tales from the Landlord Jianghu.

Its opening was deliberately ridiculous.

Kun fell from a cliff.

Instead of discovering the legendary Nine Yang Manual, he found a different sacred text:

The Landlord Manual.

And so a new martial-arts sect appeared in Australia:

The Australian Landlord Sect.

It was only meant to be a playful way of writing the monthly newsletter.

The group, unfortunately, decided to continue the universe.

“Is this one wuxia style?”

“Actually, wuxia suits us.”

Someone even produced a line worthy of being carved above the sect entrance:

“A little jianghu spirit, a little chivalry; laughing and talking, we tell the stories of the world.”

Kitty decided the atmosphere required a soundtrack:

“Cue the music: A Laugh in the Sea…”

Then another long-running mystery emerged.

Who exactly was “Group Member Xiao Wang”?

And what was his relationship to Kitty?

Kun Ge provided the official lore:

“Xiao Wang is Kitty’s plug-in.”

At that moment, the APOA character universe became considerably harder to explain to outsiders.

But something more interesting was happening.

“Jianghu” was no longer just a writing style imposed by the newsletter.

The group itself had started playing with it.

The following week, the newsletter began with reasonably serious subjects: the political reply, Safety Checks, insurance disputes and maintenance.

Then Yun Zhong Bai He suddenly posted a photo of homemade spring pancakes.

His explanation was entirely unapologetic:

“Mainly showing off how thin I made them. It’s the start of spring in Australia.”

So that week ended with a new APOA principle:

Policies matter. Properties need maintenance. Numbers need checking. And spring pancakes should be thin.

That probably says more about the community than “engagement remained strong throughout the month.”

A landlord group is never just a property channel.

In the morning, VCAT.

At lunchtime, a plumber.

In the evening, house prices.

Late at night, apparently, pancakes.

Then tomorrow we begin again.

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⚔️ Chapter Five | The Mid-Autumn Heroes’ Call

The other big August storyline began with something deceptively simple:

maybe we should all meet in person for Mid-Autumn Festival.

At first it had the slightly improvised feel of a village show.

Find a venue.

Maybe organise a group dance.

Create a rehearsal group.

Someone volunteered to handle aerial footage.

Then more pieces were added.

Performers.

Hosts.

Volunteers.

Sponsors.

On 14 August, registration officially opened.

27 September 2026.

Doncaster Bowling Club.

Property talks, a panel discussion, performances, games and lucky draws.

APOA also planned to show members the website, tools and services developed over the previous year.

Registration was connected to APOA membership too: attendees could become regular members, with the option of upgrading to Plus+.

Then the numbers began climbing.

70.

More than 100.

More than 140.

More than 150.

By the end of August:

180+.

And the larger the event became, the more glamorous “community building” revealed its true operational form.

“Did my registration go through?”

“Why am I not in the event group?”

“Where is my ticket?”

“I didn’t receive the email.”

“Do sponsors need to register too?”

Yes.

Sponsors also need to register.

And this was probably the moment when things like “website”, “membership system”, “event registration” and “Plus+” stopped being internal project vocabulary.

They became real questions from real people:

“Where’s my ticket?”

That is often the moment a product becomes real.

Not when everybody praises the design.

When somebody cannot find something and messages you about it.

By the end of August, Kun Ge was still recruiting a male host and more performers.

Singing.

Dancing.

Instruments.

Recitation.

Martial arts.

Three to five minutes each.

The moon was not yet full.

But the programme was already short one male MC.

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🎥 Kun Ge on Video | From Group Debate to Longer Conversations

The Kun Ge video section from July stays with us in August.

WeChat groups are good at instant reactions.

One piece of news lands and dozens of people can begin debating it immediately.

Video is different.

It gives one question a little more room.

In August, Kun Ge published videos around Australians’ attitudes to falling property prices, including one framed around the idea that 61% of Australians wanted property prices to fall and the possible domino effects that could follow.

That question sat neatly behind many of August’s discussions.

Landlords were watching a softer market while simultaneously dealing with land tax, council rates, borrowing costs and higher ownership expenses.

So the underlying question kept returning:

If property prices genuinely fall, what happens next to landlords, renters, banks, household spending and rental supply?

The group chats throw out the moves.

The videos take more time to unpack them.

📺 WeChat Channels: 澳洲房东联盟の昆哥

▶ YouTube: APOA / Kun Ge

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❤️ Jianghu with Heart | Kun Daxia Makes His Singing Debut

In July, this section ended with durian.

August gets a song.

Jason wrote:

《澳洲房东联盟不相忘》 Landlords of Australia, We Stand Together

Then Group Member Xiao Wang turned it into an animated digital performance starring Kun Ge.

So within one month, Kun Ge evolved from:

group organiser to Kun Daxia to wuxia protagonist to digital singer.

None of this reduces land tax.

It will not represent anyone at VCAT.

But it is exactly the sort of thing that starts appearing when a community becomes more than an information channel.

Rules can be written.

Membership systems can be built.

Websites can be developed.

But nobody can set a KPI that says:

“By August, one member must voluntarily compose a landlord anthem.”

Those things either emerge or they do not.

This month, one did.

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🙋 Heroes Wanted | APOA Volunteer Call

In July, we wrote:

“No daily clock-in. No KPIs. No entrance duel.”

That remains true.

But in August, the jobs became much more concrete.

For the 27 September APOA Mid-Autumn Gathering and 2026 Annual Event, we needed help with:

• promotion and outreach
• registration and welcoming guests
• venue setup
• event hosting
• food arrangements
• stage support
• photography, video and aerial footage
• on-site coordination
• Newsletter / Community Wall content
• AI-assisted content and information organisation

You do not have to join the team forever.

If you can arrive a little early, help put up signs, move a few tables or welcome some fellow members, that already counts.

A jianghu is never held together by one great hero.

Usually, it survives because enough people passing through are willing to lend a hand.

👉 APOA Volunteers https://apoa.org.au/zh/support-us/volunteer/

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📚 More from August

One monthly newsletter cannot hold 26,273 messages.

More practical cases, landlord experiences, policy conversations and weekly stories are collected across APOA’s channels:

🇨🇳 Community Wall https://apoa.org.au/zh/community-wall/

☕ Weekly Newsletter Archive https://apoa.org.au/zh/newsletter/

📺 Kun Ge on WeChat Channels 澳洲房东联盟の昆哥

🎟️ APOA Mid-Autumn Gathering & 2026 Annual Event 27 September · Doncaster Bowling Club

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☕ Sheathing the Sword | Editor’s Note

When we wrote the July Jianghu edition, the wuxia theme was still somewhat deliberate.

By August, we hardly had to force it.

Members were already calling him “Kun Daxia”.

Jason had written a song.

Volunteer recruitment genuinely started resembling a call for heroes.

A badly coordinated painting job became a legendary story that ended with twenty landlords chasing the same tradie.

And more importantly, some of the voices that had spent months circulating inside WeChat finally travelled a little further.

A letter went out.

Something came back.

That is why the line we most want to remember from August is still the one we started with:

This jianghu is beginning to echo back.

We are nowhere near becoming some grand martial-arts alliance.

The taps still leak.

The invoices still arrive.

People still cannot find the group notice.

And Kun Ge’s childhood dream of retiring at 30 has apparently been revised all the way to 65.

The jianghu has always been an excellent teacher.

But by the end of August, one thing was clear.

More than 180 people were preparing to step out from behind their profile pictures and meet in person.

July opened the gates.

August gathered the people.

In September, we meet at the martial-arts assembly.