
Anwell Tsai, a Realtor for Real Estate One, grew up in the Real Estate business. Anwell is extremely interested in analyzing property from a variety of viewpoints, utilizing different financial models. He explores various issues in Real Estate on his blog at ValuationHome.com. When he is not out looking at homes, Anwell, a conservatory trained violinist, loves expressing his creative side through the joys of music.
Anwell has written 16 article(s) for the BiggerPockets Blog.
Real Estate by Anwell Tsai | January 22, 2009With the ongoing deluge of foreclosures and short sales, it has become more and more difficult to determine what the market value of homes are. The market value is the most probable range of values in which a typical buyer and a typical seller will agree to terms with in an at arms length transation. Foreclosures [...]
Read the full article → Real Estate by Anwell Tsai | January 15, 2009 
Let’s assume you’ve been presented with two outstanding investment properties to purchase. Both can be purchased at a great discount and share similar risk profiles, though property A is significantly more expensive than property B. You’ve spent hours analyzing this to no avail. You have done extensive research in the market area. You know what [...]
Read the full article → Economy by Anwell Tsai | January 8, 20091. Average workweek of production workers in manufacturing 2. Average initial weekly claims for unemployment 3.New orders for consumer goods and materials, inflation adjusted 4. Vendor Performance 5. New orders, non-defense capital goods 6. New building permits issued 7. Index of stock prices 8. Money supply, adjusted for inflation 9. Interest rate spread: 10 yr [...]
Read the full article → Learn Real Estate by Anwell Tsai | January 1, 20091. Real Estate Principles for the New Economy by Miller/Geltner 2. Real Estate Finance and Investments by Brueggeman/Fisher 3. The Appraisal of Real Estate by the Appraisal Institute 4.Investment Analysis for Real Estate Decisions by Greer/Farrell 5. Property Management in Real Estate Investment Decision-making by Jaffe 6. Macroeconomics by N. Gregory Mankiw Real Estate Principles [...]
Read the full article → Real Estate by Anwell Tsai | December 25, 20081. Post on a broad array of websites such as Realtor.com, Yahoo, Google, Zillow, Trulia, Craigslist, Etc. (my listings are found on over 50 sites) 2. Syndicate video walkthroughs which hopefully will go viral (Youtube, Vimeo,Tubemogul, Metacafe Etc.) 3. Create Virtual Flyers and a stand alone webpage for your property 4. Create HTML coding to [...]
Read the full article → Economy by Anwell Tsai | December 18, 2008Perhaps the biggest challenge facing the Obama administration is implementing a new energy program. As gas prices rocketed skyward 6 months ago, calls for energy reform were rampant. As the economy slides further into a recession, focus has shifted towards the financial markets, manufacturing, and stabilizing housing prices. Economist have long argued that even with [...]
Read the full article → Real Estate by Anwell Tsai | December 11, 2008BiggerPockets.com has done a tremendous job of aggregating information on Real Estate topics through blogs, articles, and forums. As investors, understanding how to sift through data and analyze potential deals is absolutely critical. One of my favorite sources of Real Estate information is the American Real Estate Society, which publishes numerous journals, available for free, [...]
Read the full article → Financing Real Estate by Anwell Tsai | December 4, 2008Trying to determine the market value of a piece of property in a stable market is pretty simple. Just find a few comparable homes in your area to find a probable range of values. In today’s volatile Real Estate market, adjusting for factors such as property rights, conditions of sale, and market conditions, as well [...]
Read the full article → Real Estate by Anwell Tsai | November 27, 2008The U.S. government plans to lend an addition $800 Billion to help ease the current economic crisis. According to Edmund Andrews of the New York Times, the government has already pledged close to $7.8 trillion dollars in financial obligations this past year alone. The additional $600 billion allocated to purchases of debt for Fannie and [...]
Read the full article → Commentary by Anwell Tsai | November 20, 2008In today’s uncertain economic climate, people tend to throw out any form of risk management and opt for “safe” investments, not realizing that all investments are exposed to some sort of risk. Elements of uncertainty and risk are associated with all asset classes, including Real Estate, and can be managed and optimized by looking at [...]
Read the full article → Commentary by Anwell Tsai | November 13, 2008Real Estate markets are inefficient and involve non-homogenous assets being negotiated and purchased by private parties. It becomes difficult to track data since conditions of sale, financing, and property rights being sold, among other things, can not be easily verified. However, there are more and more sophisticated indices published by various companies that try to [...]
Read the full article → Real Estate by Anwell Tsai | November 6, 2008Commentators speak of numerous broad housing indicators and indexes tracking property values across the nation. However, Real Estate, unlike Stocks and Bonds, are not fungible. Properties are non-homogenous and are affected by both broad economic macro and local micro factors. Due to market inefficiencies, the usefulness of data derived from these broad indicators is limited. [...]
Read the full article → Real Estate by Anwell Tsai | October 29, 2008In a Comparative Market Analysis, adjustments to comparable property oftentimes are made to reflect the motivations of a delineated market area’s typical buyer and seller. Adjustments for conditions of sale reflect the motivations of buyers and sellers when they are not typically motivated and purchases do not reflect arm’s-length transactions. ADJUST FOR SALES BETWEEN RELATIVES/FRIENDS [...]
Read the full article → Real Estate by Anwell Tsai | October 23, 2008When sufficient data is available, paired data analysis can be utilized as one of the most persuasive tools in a Comparative Market Analysis. Paired data analysis can be broken down into two categories: Primary pairings (pairs of sales that are identical except for one component) and secondary pairings. Primary pairings should be used first and [...]
Read the full article → Economy by Anwell Tsai | October 16, 2008With the recent crash of the Stock Market and continued weakness in the housing market, people are scrambling to find “safe” places to invest. Many people are taking their money out of the market in fear that the system will crash. There are many valid reasons for doing this. However, if the primary reason is [...]
Read the full article →
Uncertainty vs Risk in Real Estate
by Anwell Tsai | November 20, 2008In today’s uncertain economic climate, people tend to throw out any form of risk management and opt for “safe” investments, not realizing that all investments are exposed to some sort of risk. Elements of uncertainty and risk are associated with all asset classes, including Real Estate, and can be managed and optimized by looking at [...]