All Forum Posts by: James Park

I've read all three books from Thomas Stanley: Millionaire Next Door, Millionaire Mind and Stop Acting Rich. I have enjoyed all of them. One of the stats was most interesting to me was the median home prices of millionaires respective to their networth.

Average networth $1,493,804 Median Home Price: $404,240

Average networth $3,416,267 Median Home Price: $620,779

Average networth $6,859,864 Median Home Price: $1,034,411

Average networth $13,687,961 Median Home Price $1,818,699

Average networth $59,919,891 Median Home Price $2,735,436

My good friend of mine is a millioniare and he just bought a home for under $300,000. I guess once the primary residence is valued higher than $500,000, the carrying costs start to go against wealth building.

John. Thanks for your reply. I know i bought the Atlanta property at the peak of the market in 2006, but i am very lucky that i did not buy a home in SoCal then. I didn't think there was much of a bubble in Atlanta as the appreciation was 5%/year whereas Orange County rose 30%/year.

John, i am not sure if it would really take 20 years to get back to my purchase price in 2006 for my Atlanta, but i can definitely see this happening with a home purchased in LA back in '06.

It seems to make sense that smaller homes (3bed/2bath 1200 square/ft make better rentals, but i also noticed from my one rental that a 3500 sq/ft home in a great neighborhood attracted a qualified responsible tenant making over $150k and newed his lease for the third year. With this out-of-state tenanat, I do not have a property management company. Luckily... he is has extremely responsible. I am hoping that i can eventually sell the tenant my Atlanta home in 2011 - 2013.

I do agree with you that cash flow is better in Atlanta than OC, but the Atlanta homes will be not appreciate as fast as the OC homes.

Hi moved

Hello everyone, I wanted to get some advice from the professionals here on my investment goals as i consider myself as a beginner.

Question is there to buy or sell:

My long terms goals are to accumulate 5 -7 SFRs via new construction and preforeclosure in the south Orange County, CA area so that i can retire from my portfolio of SFRs. I was inspired by John W. Schaub's real estate book "Building Wealth One Home at a time."

Advice requested for my First Scenario

Currently my primary residence is in the northwest suburbs of Chicago which I bought in 2003. The house was fully paid off and I tried to sell the home early this year with no luck. The appraisal i received on the home was $365,000 back in May 2009 and pulled out a cash out $240,000 5% interest 30 fixed, and invested 20% in gold and 80% in a safe money market. I know my property would rent for $2250 and my carrying costs (mortgage, HOA, Taxes would be around around ($1900 - $1950) I am planning to buy my first Property in Irvine, CA to move into in 2011. Would it be best for me to keep (rent) or sell my chicago property in 2011 when I move my family to our new home in OC. If the home cash flows would it makes sense to keep the property out-of-state? I do like the idea that my mortage rates are fixed for 30 years at 5% if i were to rent out my Chicago property, but feel uneasy becoming a out-of-state land lord for two properties. If i decide to rent.. how long should i hold the property for?

Here is the situation with my rental property where i need some advice..

Advice requested for my Second Scenario

I purchased my first new construction SFR in Duluth, GA in June of 2006. My wife and I were orginally planning on moving there, but our job situation kept us in Chicago. I purchased the home for $550,000 with a $350,000 loan 30 year fixed 6.375. I had made a beginner's mistake by refinancing the home to a 5 year interest only ARM in April of 2008, which will last until April 2013. I was extremely lucky to have a responsible tenant in the house currently who pays me $3000 in rent and where my current mortgage is $1617. I am working directly with my tenant without a PM firm. My total carrying cost is around $2250. My home value has dropped to about $475,000 at this time.

Here are the Questions I want to ask the professionals:

1) Should i try to refinance the home to a 30 year fixed loan as rates are low? Do i have any chance of try to remodify the loan for 10 years? I am leaning towards letting my loan to expire in 2013 and trying to sell the home then. I am hoping that real estate prices will be slowly rising by then.

2) If my tenant decides to later purchase the home, can i make this transaction without using a real estate agent to save on the commissions. I do not have a sales license. How do i go about executing this.

3) Should i try to keep this home as long as can until i can break even from the $550,000 price i paid for in 2006? or try to unload the home immediately? My tenant has just renewed his lease until February 2011.

4) I've read several real estate investing books that discourage owning out-of-state rental properties. For some of you long term investors, would agree that it is much less of a headache, and more profitable to own rental properties in your backyard?

Thank you so much for your time and consideration. If you need more information, please feel free to ask.

Hello everyone, I wanted to get some advice from the professionals here on my investment goals as i consider myself as a beginner.

Question is there to buy or sell:

My long terms goals are to accumulate 5 -7 SFRs in the southern Orange County, CA area so that i can retire from my portfolio of SFRs.

Currently my primary residence is in the northwest suburbs of Chicago which I bought in 2003. The house was fully paid off and I tried to sell the home early this year with no luck. The appraisal i received on the home was $365,000 back in May 2009 and pulled out a cash out $240,000 5% interest 30 fixed, and invested 20% in gold and 80% in a safe money market. I know my property would rent for $2250 and my carrying costs (mortgage, HOA, Taxes would be around around ($1900 - $1950) I am planning to buy my first Property in Irvine, CA to move into in 2011. Would it be best for me to keep (rent) or sell my chicago property in 2011 when My wife and 2year old twins move to our new home in OC. I do like the idea that my mortage rates are fixed for 30 years at 5% if i were to rent out my Chicago property, but feel uneasy becoming a out-of-state land lord for two properties. If i decide to rent.. how long should i hold the property for?

Here is the situation with my rental property where i need some advice..

I purchased my first new construction SFR in Duluth, GA in June of 2006. My wife and I were orginally planning on moving there, but our job situation kept us in Chicago. I purchased the home for $550,000 with a $350,000 loan 30 year fixed 6.375. I had made a beginner's mistake by refinancing the home to a 5 year interest only ARM in April of 2008, which will last until April 2013. I was extremely lucky to have a responsible tenant in the house currently who pays me $3000 in rent and where my current mortgage is $1617. I am working directly with my tenant without a PM firm. My total carrying cost is around $2250. My home value has dropped to about $475,000 at this time.

Here are the Questions I want to ask the professionals:

1) Should i try to refinance the home to a 30 year fixed loan as rates are low? Do i have any chance of try to remodify the loan for 10 years? I am leaning towards letting my loan to expire in 2013 and trying to sell the home then. I am hoping that real estate prices will be slowly rising by then.

2) If my tenant decides to later purchase the home, can i make this transaction without using a real estate agent to save on the commissions. I do not have a sales license. How do i go about executing this.

3) Should i try to keep this home as long as can until i can break even from the $550,000 price i paid for in 2006? or try to unload the home immediately? My tenant has just renewed his lease until February 2011.

4) I've read several real estate investing books that discourage owning out-of-state rental properties. For some of you long term investors, would agree that it is much less of a headache, and more profitable to own rental properties in your backyard?

Thank you so much for your time and consideration. If you need more information, please feel free to ask.

Hello everyone. Really Excited that i found this forum. I am a new investor with one SFR rental in Atlanta. I am newbie investor, so i am hungry to learn. :D

Hello everyone, this is my first post on the forums and I am a newbie RE investor. In June 2006, I purchased my first new construction SFR in Duluth, GA in June of 2006. My wife and I were orginally planning on moving there, but our job situation kept us in Chicago which is our current primary residence. I purchased the home for $550,000 with a $350,000 30 year fixed 6.375. I had made a newbie mistake by refinancing the home to a 5 year interest only ARM in April of 2008, which will last until April 2013. I have wonderful tenant in the house currently who pays me $3000 in rent and which my current mortgage is $1617. My home value has dropped to about $475,000 at this time.

Questions I wanted to ask the professionals:

1) Should i try to refinance the home to a 30 year fixed loan as rates are low? Am i able to refinance into a second home mortgage rate after my tenant's lease expires.

2) If my tenant decides to later purchase the home, can i make this transaction without using a real estate agent to save on the commissions. I do not have a sales license.

3) Should i try to keep this home as long as can until i can break even from the $550,000 price i paid in 2006? or try to unload the home immediately? My tenant has just renewed his lease until February 2011.

4) I've read several real estate investing books that discourage owning out-of-state rental properties. For some of you long term investors, would agree that it is much less of a headache, and more profitable to own rental properties in your backyard?