http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000220948&__source=yahoo%7Cheadline%7Cother%7Cvideo%7C&par=yahoo --- OMG. exactly what i was saying 2 years ago. except now the prices on these distressed homes have already doubled. so a disgusting dork like me says something that makes you boat loads of money and no one listens. now a charming person wearing prada and michael kors tells you something that can lose you money and people follow. CLASSIC HERD MENTALITY !!! hahahahahaha. why didn't they tell you to buy 2 years ago? why was i the only one screaming to the world to sell any unused property you have in the philippines and buy these dirt cheap homes for rental income?
11/6/13 facebook post
it's recorded !!! oracle of cebu officially catching a double in just 2 years. i play with an open hand !!! this is what i meant when i said - "opportunity of the millenia" - big upside, virtually zero downside. the housing market is not done going up, i believe it still has legs, but as the saying goes - bulls make money, bears make money, pigs get slaughtered !!! good thing i bought in many small chunks instead of 1 big chunk like the $300k+ houses my golfing buddies bought. my strategy is more nimble - ian crystal be nimble, ian crystal be quick, ian crystal jumps over the candle stick.
geeks like me invent strategies to profit from the misery of lower and middle class americans who can't pay their debts. unfortunately, the smart people who understood what was or might be happening were paralyzed by hope and fear so they weren't talking. i was blogging but who the hell wants to listen, much more follow a geek?
11/2/13 facebook post
oracle of cebu catching a double in just 2 years. i just signed the closing docs but i will declare victory only when the wire transfer is complete. this was like playing red-black in the roulette table in the casino, except that if you lose, you get your money back and if you win, you double your money. that's why i was screaming here in facebook like a little girl - for the love of our lady of guadalupe sell any unused non income generating property you have in the philippines and buy dirt cheap condos here in america. the $10k condos of miami at that time are now $40k.
10/12/13 facebook post
the buyer's deposit is now in escrow !!! i just sold my hayward condo across mission hills golf course for $120k, double the price i bought 2 years ago. i was screaming here in facebook like a little girl telling everyone to take advantage of the strong peso and crazy cheap real estate in america by selling any property you have in the philippines and then buy a dirt cheap property in america, rent it out and enjoy the stable monthly cash flow while you wait for the prices to start rocketing up.
(update jan 15, 2013 - this is amazing. it's like i'm the leader of the herd. 2 years ago i was screaming this opportunity in facebook nobody listened i thought i was crazy but now the star hedge funds are trying to follow what i started. as usual, i'm always ahead of my time -
http://news.firedoglake.com/2012/11/15/hedge-fund-blackstone-buying-100-million-in-foreclosed-homes-every-week/
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2012/jan/24/your-next-landlord-could-be-hedge-fund/
http://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2012/10/22/beat-hedge-fund-buying-real-estate/
http://www.marketplace.org/topics/economy/hedge-funds-crowd-first-time-buyers-out-housing-market
)
(Final result update, dec 1, 2011: I did it !!! I thought it was just a pipe dream but instead it is even better than i expected !!! the 50k house is renting out for $850 and the $35k house is renting out for $780 through section 8 meaning the government pays me 100% direct deposit to my checking account meaning i don't have to bother collecting rent. The turnaround time is around 3 weeks from the time i called my real estate agent to the time it passed the section 8 inspection (which is the last hurdle before you start getting paid. the insurance is around $40 a month and the property tax is also around $50 a month. Unbelievable !!! I'm so proud of myself to have discovered this gold mine investment by myself. i did not follow any herd or jump on any bandwagon.).
(original post - sept 2011)
For my dear friends and family and my imaginary fans - i wrote this blog just so that i won't feel guilty for not sharing my god given foresight and foreskin. Any professor in history and economics will tell you this kind of imbalance has never happened in the history of the civilized world.
If you are earning the same as an RN (registered nurse) in he US, you can easily retire in 5 years with $3k monthly cash flow and $200k net worth that has nowhere to go but up, up and away. Even if you don’t have money right now.
Let’s say you earn the average salary of an RN in California which is $100k a year. After taxes you take home $70k. It’s easy to save $35k a year even with 2 kids. You buy a property (pay in cash) in Las Vegas each year that can easily rent out for $650 a month.
How? Just go to zillow.com, search Las Vegas and look for houses around $35k near the strip (Las Vegas Boulevard). It has to be near the strip because your market will be low income families and not all working members might have cars. Google and learn the bus system in Las Vegas and try to get a house that is near the bus stop. You don’t have to worry about choosing a good real estate agent, just email Rochelle Sutherland realtorsutherland@gmail.com– she’s a super real estate agent.
My original plan was to have both properties rented out quickly and then just go bum around in Europe. But I enjoyed Vegas so much that I decided to stay 3 more months. So I decided to post one of the houses in airbnb.com while I’m in Vegas.
The house does not have to be great. It just has to be good enough to qualify for Section 8 housing. http://www.reiclub.com/realestateblog/government-guaranteed-rent/. And you don’t really need to use Section 8 you can still easily rent it out.
It’s even easy to rent out a 2 bedroom apartment for $650 a month. So if you rent out your 3 bedroom house for the same price as the apartment, you won’t have any problem finding renters. Imagine their kids have a front and backyard to play in. They don’t have to worry about noisy neighbors, etc …
Lower end markets are usually more stable because they usually can’t save enough for a down payment to buy their own home. Just make sure you follow the standard practice of checking the tenant applicant’s credit history. If you hire a property manager this is already part of the service.
Also in the current recession the low income jobs did not really go away, it’s mostly the higher end technical and manufacturing jobs that went away mostly because of outsourcing. It's not physically possible to outsource janitorial or labor intensive service jobs to India.
Low end markets are usually better investments – although you would rather own a hand bag from Louis Vuitton, you would rather own a Walmart stock and not even touch the Louis Vuitton stock with a 10 foot pole.
You don’t need to live in Vegas, just hire a property manager (google New West Property Management ). They usually get 10% of monthly income.
You don’t need to do any heavy lifting or labor like the home improvement work I’ve been posting on FB – you can hire so you just end up spending a little bit more. It’s easy to find good contractors at angieslist.com.
I think Vegas has bottomed – http://www.lvrj.com/business/nevada-gaming-revenues-up-in-2010-ending-two-year-slide-115718534.html. Welcome to bottom fishing !!! My style of investing – the point of maximum investment opportunity - http://www.mississauga4sale.com/Market-Emotions-Cycle.htm.
Even if you don’t actually retire after reaching the goal of $3k a month cash flow, the feeling of not having to work is such a luxurious feeling even if you choose to continue working. Of course the choice of retiring depends on your personality, passions in life, obligations, etc …
Because of my investment style I was able to take a small advantage of the dot com boom, and also because of my disciplined investing style, I was able to weather the dot com crash. So in 2003, I was ready to retire if I wanted to. But I enjoyed my work so much and my parents and siblings were beginning to migrate to the US so I decided to work a few more years to help them out. At that time my cash flow vehicle was not real estate. At that time I would not have touched anything related to real estate with a 10 foot pole. At that time, I was relying on bonds (PTRAX - http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=PTRAX+Basic+Chart&t=my) and it’s sweet 7% annual return.
The cheapest cost to build a house is currently $95 per square foot. I bought my 2 properties at $26 per square foot. Isn’t that crazy? Actually if my tenant accidentally burns down my house I triple my investment overnight because the insurance is $175k, which is the cheapest cost to rebuild the house.
Before you make a decision, read my blog article http://ian-crystal.blogspot.com/2015/06/investing-for-dummies.html because you need to know about the importance of diversification and other important rules of investment you need to follow.
Las Vegas has a solid Hispanic and Asian population base which is good because white people don’t make enough babies and population growth is the key to increase in property values.
If my blog is true why is it being kept quiet by the media? I think it’s because the big guys in Wall Street want to get the bargains all to themselves - http://www.thestreet.com/story/11224917/1/a-huge-housing-bargain--but-not-for-you.html. Saying “it’s not for you” is just a misdirection. It’s actually for anyone with an RN income and are willing to do a little homework. I think these bargains will continue for another 5 years. Meanwhile, I’m happy collecting the 17% cash flow on rental so in 5 years, I already almost doubled my investment even if the property value does not move up.
The forecast is more and more foreclosures will flood the market but that’s ok because investors from China, Singapore, Canada and Germany are also snapping them up like hot cakes. Last week I inquired on 7 properties I found on zillow.com but only 2 were available, the other 5 were already sold.
Of course my predictions could be wrong. But it’s even more risky to leave your money in the bank because the governments keep printing money like there is no tomorrow and pretty soon we could be using a wheel burrow to carry all the cash just to buy a loaf of bread. I’m just exaggerating but you get my drift. If not, google and learn about inflation. And if you know about inflation, you will know that real estate is a great hedge against inflation.
Another big reason for my investment decision is that everything that caused the housing crash can easily be fixed and avoided in the future - overbuilding, too laxed on credit requirements, etc ...
Warning: I've been posting in FB my escapades of buying awesome house appliances and furnitures through craigslist.com for dirt cheap prices. Be warned there have been many incidents of robbery and even murder through craigslist where criminals pose as sellers or buyers. The reason why I still use craigslist is I believe I have very good street smarts and instincts, and I love these kinds of challenges and adventures.
(for more of my knowledge bombs, click the "ian's knowledge bombs" banner at the top of this article and choose any article in the table of contents that piques your interest)
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