All Forum Posts by: Xing Zhu

I did some search on NNN office condos before. It looked as if the income was good, but couldn't see huge appreciation in the near future. Maybe I was looking at wrong thing in wrong place.

In many areas, the market price of a house is far lower than the building cost of a similar house. If this is the case, it is better just sell it as a lot.

Myrtle Beach is a great location to invest. It was a buyer's market last year but now it becomes a seller's market. Real estate agencies there work very hard to find sellers.

The county tax is high there for investors.

Yes, Yes! Hedge Funds are like an enormous and monstrous vacuum machine, sucking off all the good deals in every corner
of this country.

I am not worried about it at all. I rather view it a positive factor
for my investment. Maybe I don't get deals as good as before, but
the liquidity is a much bigger problem for them (hedge funds). Even if I stop buying and just sit tight with the properties I am having,
I can still enjoy the price increase brought about by this massive
funds' buying. If I am an aggressive momentum chaser, I should be
able to get ahead of the funds.

Don't sell now! This is probably the time in which your thinking does not make you money, while your sitting does.

In Nevada, typically, the closing is done by a title company, which sets up an escrow account for you. This method is quick and efficient with minimum paper work.

In Carolina(s), a closing is typically done with a closing attorney. A closing attorney does the work more carefully and therefore the title insurance might be cheaper, but of course you pay attorney fees. If he find something unfavorable to you, which you may not have noticed, he will tell you and he will demand other parties to change the terms or negotiable with them. For example, if the lender added a small fee, he may help you to get it removed. He will also advise you on all related matters.

Luxury remodeling of a unit for rental in an average building is a losing proposition. You need to begin with luxury buildings.
Many of the most luxury ones are in the form of condo-hotels, with very small cash flow due to high management costs. Investors buy them only for capital appreciation. The following is a real example:

Someone bought Unit 5806 in Trump Gold Tower in Las Vegas for $300K on 8/25/2010. Now he is listing it for $649999. I would say he can sell it now for $550K.

I just want to be more clear about what I just said.

I meant that those years were good for stock traders, not investors.

I was not involved directly in real estate that time.
I knew John Paulson made a lot by betting on this housing market downturn. The lesson we can learn from him is that historical evidence might be useful for a while, but in a critical time, analysis should be based more on external information.

As a stock trader, those years were good.

Check on local rental market and government regulations thereof.

REIT is a much more efficient market and therefore much harder for average investors to make high return with limited risk.

I suggest you consider it only if you are a good trader in stock market. Otherwise, stay within the traditional real estate market,
which has lower efficiency and your chance is much better.