All Forum Posts by: Helen Zhang

@Federico Gutierrez , where are you seeing that actually rose in population? If you are referring to Strongsville between 1990 to 2001, yes it has increased population by a few thousand. But this is only a few thousands, compared to the population drop in Cleveland of more than 100-thousand. Be aware the units of two graphs are not the same. 

What I am trying to say is that these people who left Cleveland def did not go to suburbs. (You can always argue that maybe they did, and people from these suburbs are leaving). But whatever the case is, people are still leaving Cleveland along with surrounding suburbs. 

@Account Closed

1) I dislike the word insinuating, and if Palo Alto is considered as A class neighborhood in my opinion then the property you have purchased in Oakland is indeed falling into F-. I hope you are not offended as we are grading the land value. As I previously mentioned, everyone has a particular scale on how the gradings work. It is all relative. I read that you mentioned that you like to invest in the bay area, and thus I am giving my grading for the property relative to the rest of the area in Bay Area. Obviously, if the grading scale is simply just within Oakland, it would be a D. The gentrification seems to be occurring in the north of the Oakland and probably will be coming to south someday. This is all debatable and relative. I once remember the tenants in Oakland are very difficult to deal with, but that might no longer be the case. If that is changing, then the grade should be significantly improved as I actually grade based on the tenants =) Please feel free to correct me if my information is no longer up to date. Afterall, it doesn't matter if the property is in what neighborhood, as long as we are making money. 

2) Yes if you are seeking for rental money, I do believe suburbs surrounding major cities are probably better options. I am not a fan of leverage money as I have no interest to deal with housing market bubbles. Even with cash purchases, I am still scoring 13-17% return (I probably won't be able to do this anymore for any new properties in the same area if I purchase more since Texas really has appreciated a lot since last year). But you are likely to earn way more than 24% if you are leveraging. Sadly, these texas suburbs are not the D neighborhoods in Oakland where you can bet on gentrification for huge appreciation. The best way I can describe these suburbs in Californian is probably Fresno or Riverside -- small town, relatively low density, box houses, quiet, safe. Because they are suburbs, they appreciate as the city that they are surrounding appreciates. As I was reading your thread, I remember you once said you were not betting on the appreciation anyways. So it is likely that you might be interested in Texas. 

I'm not an agent or anything, and I am not looking forward to convincing anyone. This is purely for discussion and information sharing purpose as I appreciate you are sharing with me your Oakland portfolio. =)

@Federico Gutierrez , RockyRiver, Euclid are in the graph. We can add more, but they are all  mostly are declining as well:

Interestingly, during great recession, these cities would spike in population. It is likely that residents from Cleveland are moving to suburbs. This is normal as I have observed this in many other major city along with surrounding suburbs. 

But as you can see, Cleveland and surrounding neighborhoods are all trending down in population. 

@Henry LiChi , I see this http://money.cnn.com/2017/09/11/technology/amazon-...

It doesn't look like that Cleveland is winning?  I sure do wish Amazon is going to Cleveland. 

@Sergio Picciuto , lol.

I wish that is the reason... but when I look at a worse weather area like Toronto, I'm certain that isn't the reason. 

@Brian Ploszay , I heard those reasons before but unfortunately they still don't fully justify the decline. The heavy manufacturing is gone long ago. The decline should've happened before the end 90s. I should expect more of a flat line for the last 20 years, but it is not what I am seeing. 

1. The graph shows that the suburbs surrounding Cleveland are not seeing much increase in population over the years. 

2. I cannot comment since I don't have enough information. But I am not a strong believer that the capital of the state is usually the wealthiest city. 

I am not in California, and my investments are not limited to California. I think your assumption is a bit off. But I really appreciate your attempt for caring about the issues and made recommendations for my investment route. =) Thank you. 

We all know Cleveland Population is Declining every year. I hear a lot of reasons, but other than jobs as being the main reason, I cannot seem to find other reasons that make it reasonable for the declinning population. 

There are a lot of metros with high unemployment and yet the properties are appreciating greatly (EX: Fresno, CA, Bakersfield, CA). 

With such high unemployment rate in Fresno, you would still be able to see an increase in population. Although I strongly believe in the fact that job will significantly impact the population, but after seeing Fresno as an example, I think jobs are not only source nor the true source of population decline. What do you think the reason that may contribute to the decline population? 

Interesting population graph that I see here: 

Although this is not a great indicator that "population is moving to Columbus", but those curves really made me wonder what is happening. 

To local Clevelanders, tell me what you think of the reason of decline population? 

@Account Closed, thank you for sharing (since I asked).

I cannot fully agree with you that your 4 plex is a C class area (obviously everyone has their own definition of what is considered as C class area). It is a decent deal, but not great only because I have been exposed to Texas. 

When you asked the question of "Is this possible in Texas?" I am uncertain if you are asking in a challenging way, or you are asking as you are seeking for information. But I will take it with the benefit of doubt that you are seeking for information =) 

With 140k to leverage the same way as you did, it is much easier to achieve in Texas (as you don't even have to look hard to those deals, they are just everywhere). To achieve the same level of appreciation in Texas, that will take a lot more effort (IMO, it is almost impossible). So in terms of appreciation, I think your Oakland deal is def better. 

@Account Closed

I don't like people generalizing California as cities like Fresno is way different from cities like San Francisco. I could see some cash flow positive properties but not a whole lot. I'm curious what are the large cities that you are currently investing in that is cash flow positive? when did you purchase these properties? Care to share? 

I can't seems to understand how is "give key to your handyman" different from "put key into a lockbox". If your handyman is not honest, then you may give him lock pin number and he could still take your key and make a duplicate copy. 

If you really want to make it right, get one of those locks with a keypad. As soon as your handyman leaves, change the pin on your lock.