All Forum Posts by: Maiko Miyake

what kind of difference in rate are we talking about here?

if so, will you send me a message? thanks

interesting question. I guess most of people here are in the - broadly speaking - real estate business. Well, I am not. I work on development aid. I travel all over the world to discuss development agenda with government officials and recommend them how to change laws or build institutions. It is challenging, rewarding, and stimulating. I love it. But I now have two little children and would like to cut down on traveling, at least till they grow up. So I am hoping REI will give me some supplemental income to cut down my office hours (hence travel). Also, ultimately, I want to have my own charitable foundation to design my own development aid agenda in Africa. So for me REI is a way to buy my dream one day :D

In another word, if I am planning to hold the property for more than 2 years, I should just forget about this? What if I am looking at the following scenario. the property is 40% below market value, but required some repairs, which is estimated at 2 months work. Once it is rented out, it should yield reasonable size positive cashflow.

hey Tucker, have you had your child yet? if so, congratulations!

I agree with esnut that it is actually a good time to think about investment, if you can put things in good perspective. I couldn't, because my mind was not there - we just bought our first home when our first child was about to arrive. Also, I must say it was a shocker to see how expensive childcare is in the area where I live, and I was just so focused on paying bills every month.

I have friends who bought investment properties for their children's "college fund" and with a good appreciation rate it proved to be the right decision thus far. We, on the other hand, put some money aside every month into a saving account "college fund", which gave us pathetic ROI. At least we can now use that money for investment :))

Hi there, Srosent! Hope you are going to enjoy this forum as much as I do. I am also pretty new here, but LOOOOOOVE this forum. It is like having a virtual mentor, and in a way it is even better, because there are more than one mentor giving you great advises. I have learnt so much in one month just surfing through this forum!

preferably DC metro area, but would consider any strong recommendations. Thanks for tips!

:protest: I was looking for a panic face, but couldn't find. 8) Wow. that will be scary. OK, back to more investigation then. Thanks everyone!

Thanks. I am sure that is the investor psychology the seller is banking on. And I would buy, if buying both the property AND the vacant lot still does not change my investment forecast so much. But the seller is asking the same amount for the vacant lot, so my upfront investment doubles, for the same cashflow...

I am looking at three residential properties. They all have one thing in common - they are adjacent to a vacant lot. Any problem with this? These are rowhouses in the center of city, close to commercial areas. For two out of the three properties, it looks as if a rowhouse next door dissappeared, so the house I am thinking of buying has no windows on the side, but the third property does have windows on the side and will affect the amount of light the house will get if something gets built next door. That is all what I can think of as a risk, anything else I should consider? Also, is there a way to mitigate a risk?