美國地主
在美國買房當地主的經曆
正文
I have been investing in real estate heavily during the last 5 years. My conclusion is that you just need to make the decision by yourself, run a calculated risk, and profit from it.
I came to Northern Virginia in 2000 with nothing but a debt of $10K. When I was buying my first house in spring of 2001, my colleague was strongly against my idea of such a purchase as the market was already up quite a bit. Her advice prompted me to do a research on the house price and income of the county. I just found that the median income was more than $80K and the median RE price was less than $200K. I was convinced that it was a wonderful time to buy. So I bought my first house. It was a five bedroom three full bath single family house for only $267K.
Then in 2002, my next door neighbor wanted to sell theirs and move into a larger one. I bought it for $265K. As the price had already gone up quite a bit, this one had only three bedrooms and 2 full baths. My colleague called me crazy.
Then in 2003, I bought a townhouse for $300K. My colleague told me that I was “INSANE”.
Then in 2004, I bought another townhouse and 2 condos.
In 2005, I sold my first SFH for $527K which almost doubled the price I bought.
Then I bought another condo.
This year, I sold one condo for a profit of $55K, and, bought three condos.
Now I end up with 8 properties and roughly a million dollars as equity.
Right now, the market is really slow and the price has dropped around 10% from the peak of the last year. If Miat is correct and the market is going to be flat for several years, I will have the opportunity to purchase many more before the next run-up.
If you think you are correct, either in RE or stock market, just go ahead and do it- buy, sell, hold, or just wait. Do not be confused by the others’ advices.
Lots of people think that I am just lucky, but I don’t agree. I HAD KNOWN the RE market had to go up when I jumped into the RE market in 2001.
BTW, my salary is not high at all compared to the other folks in this forum.
I came to Northern Virginia in 2000 with nothing but a debt of $10K. When I was buying my first house in spring of 2001, my colleague was strongly against my idea of such a purchase as the market was already up quite a bit. Her advice prompted me to do a research on the house price and income of the county. I just found that the median income was more than $80K and the median RE price was less than $200K. I was convinced that it was a wonderful time to buy. So I bought my first house. It was a five bedroom three full bath single family house for only $267K.
Then in 2002, my next door neighbor wanted to sell theirs and move into a larger one. I bought it for $265K. As the price had already gone up quite a bit, this one had only three bedrooms and 2 full baths. My colleague called me crazy.
Then in 2003, I bought a townhouse for $300K. My colleague told me that I was “INSANE”.
Then in 2004, I bought another townhouse and 2 condos.
In 2005, I sold my first SFH for $527K which almost doubled the price I bought.
Then I bought another condo.
This year, I sold one condo for a profit of $55K, and, bought three condos.
Now I end up with 8 properties and roughly a million dollars as equity.
Right now, the market is really slow and the price has dropped around 10% from the peak of the last year. If Miat is correct and the market is going to be flat for several years, I will have the opportunity to purchase many more before the next run-up.
If you think you are correct, either in RE or stock market, just go ahead and do it- buy, sell, hold, or just wait. Do not be confused by the others’ advices.
Lots of people think that I am just lucky, but I don’t agree. I HAD KNOWN the RE market had to go up when I jumped into the RE market in 2001.
BTW, my salary is not high at all compared to the other folks in this forum.
評論
va_landlord
2007-02-11 20:18:41
回複
悄悄話
The $10K debt I owned not to the bank but my family, so it could not be seen in my credit report. I had a good job at that time and also I borrowed the 5% downpayment from friends and family.
mwong2222
2007-02-09 16:00:37
回複
悄悄話
How can a bank loan you $267K when you "have nothing but $10k debt" ? Bank loan you money depending on ?
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