All Forum Posts by: Daniel Ryu

@Dominic Jones 

That's awesome Dominic! I wish I got started younger ^^ but it's never too late.

You'll definitely benefit from all the experiences you read about on BP.

At our meetup, a lot of our members have investments in the US (including me ^^). But we also have members with Korea investments. And at the last meetup, we had a new member with investments in Ireland. Another member has holdings in Hong Kong and another member who flew in for a meeting, has holdings in Taiwan and Burma. 

Our usual set up is:

* A) One Korea focused investor (or local area expert)

* B) One investor from the group

* C) One virtual investor

B & C can be whoever and I, for one, would love to learn more about investing in Thailand, and other parts of Asia.

So the long answer to your question ^^ - lots of US focus and Korea. But we're open to hear about global strategies. Overall, there is soooo much momentum that is gained from being around active investors and I think that's the main thing members get! 

@Ulises Romero 

Sounds like you have a lot going on. Looking forward to meeting you next time you're in Korea. I just updated our MeetUp - March 21. Hope to see you then.

@Dominic Jones 

That would be great! We send out more detailed email recaps to our members, so PM me your email address if you want to be included on the email list - or reach out through the MeetUp page. Hope to see you out here in the future.

@Natalie Heo 

We were surprised too, Natalie ^^. But we've been working hard to build up the community and help everyone succeed in real estate investing. Join the group and you'll get updated on the latest happenings. I hope to see you at a meetup in the future!

@Sandra Roddy 

Thanks for the kind words! But it's the investors like yourself that really bring the value ^^

Hopefully all the resources lead to more success stories among our members. Looking forward to the next one!

@Mehran K. - I love how BiggerPockets allows people anywhere to connect. Thanks for commenting. A lot of our members are just getting started and having to do that while being in Korea can make it more of a challenge.

But we'll keep supporting each other and helping move our group members forward. I hope everyone single person in our group is able to post in this forum before the end of 2015!

Thanks @Christina R. and @Jonathan Makovsky 

It is pretty cool! It's crazy how easy it is to connect with anyone, anywhere now.

Makes me really appreciate the importance of building strong networks and an online presence.

Thanks for commenting!

@John Van Uytven 

Me too! 

Hi BiggerPockets Community!

I wanted to share a success story with everyone that I hope gets people fired up about starting meetups and spreading the word about BiggerPockets.

Sometime last year around November, I got a random message from someone I'd never met before - @John Van Uytven 

The only thing I knew about him: Like me, he was living in Korea and like me, he was a member of BiggerPockets.

What started out as messages back and forth eventually ended up with us grabbing coffee to talk about real estate investing. I brought along my real estate partner, @Benjamin Hauser , who also lives and works in Korea.

One thing led to another and after a couple more meetings, John said the next time we meet up, he'd post something on MeetUp to see if anyone else was interested in joining us. We were surprised when we took up almost an entire floor of a coffee shop with over 12 people showing up including fellow BP members: @Josh McNicoll , @Jacob Michaels. 

Thus the Seoul Real Estate Investing Meetup was born.

Last meeting we had @Brandon Turner virtually Skype in. Here's a clip from the meeting in which he tells about his WORST REAL ESTATE EXPERIENCE EVER! (Warning: You May Not Want To Watch If You're About to Eat)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqgZTwwu_2Q&featur...

And this meetup, the head cheese himself, @Joshua Dorkin was kind enough to take time out of his busy Friday night to join us. Here's a short clip from the interview (Watch til the end and see how Josh McNicoll convinces Josh to visit Korea - and it has nothing to do with Real Estate!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNe1b178zWY

The meetup has now grown to +110 people and +30 people in attendance. It was literally standing room only by the end.

In addition to Joshua Dorkin, we also had Sandy Rodriguez discuss her real estate investments in Arizona as well as local real estate agent, Jeff Yu, who explained different ways of investing including Kwali Kum - a system where the former tenant of a building receives a money from a new tenant if the former tenant was the first to use the space in a specific commercial way.

A year ago I started on this journey into real estate. I had no idea what I was doing - I just knew that this was something I wanted to do for the future. I started like most people - by reading and reading and reading. I learned a lot but it wasn't until I joined BiggerPockets and actually started to meet and connect with others that I made real progress.

And by progress I mean forming a joint venture with Ben and fellow BP members @Kelly L. and @Maxwell Lee last year and closing on my first buy and hold rental property in Jacksonville, Florida at the end of 2014. We plan to start flipping this year. 

If I could somehow buy a house in a state I've never visited with partners I knew only through the 'internet' and help organize a meetup of real estate investors in Korea and have Josh Dorkin and Brandon Turner attend our meetups, all while living and working in Korea, running a business and raising two children, then I think anyone can do it!

Every time I visit the website, I'm motivated by something new I read. I hope this success story helps motivate someone else to get started or start networking or take some action.

And if you're involved in a meetup in another country, send me a message or post to this thread! I think we share a special kinship as "international meetups" and I'd love to discuss how things are going.

Lastly, for the members of our meetup, post an introduction to yourself on this thread here. Let the BP community know who you are and what you're doing out in Korea!

@Dustin Karns , @Paul Wurster , @Sandra Roddy 

And now for some photos:

Getting started...

Lots of new faces..

We might need a bigger room!

Sandy Rodriguez addresses the members and discusses her Arizona investments

Joshua Dorkin!

Joshua Dorkin addresses his new peeps out in Korea!

Ben Hauser interviews local real estate agent, Jeff Yu.

Group shot!

Time to relax and have a drink afterwards...

PS.

@Ali Boone , @Mehran K. - This is the meetup I mentioned ^^

I wanted to read the article but the link went dead : (

I wonder if it's now hidden behind a subscription..

Just wanted to let you know in case there's a way to get the link active again.

Hi BP..

I recently completed purchase on a 5/2 SFR all cash shortsale in Murray Hill, Jacksonville (while living in Korea)..

The purchase price was around $45K. 

I purchased with 3 other partners, two are local residents in Jax - Title is held in an LLC.

We currently have an inherited tenant in at $695. We think after their lease is up, we can do some minor plumbing repairs and up the rent to $950.

We're looking for a commercial bank that could help us refi out.

Still new to the world of financing so I was wondering if anyone out there had any advice on how to approach commercial lenders or if they had any leads that they could recommend? I'm assuming because title is held in an LLC a commercial lender is the only choice we have?

Thanks.

@Kenneth Hynes 

haha.. yeah, should've busted it out at the end.. ONE SHOT!

(Soju, for those that don't know - Korean traditional alcohol.. For me personally, it tastes like formaldehyde ^^ Others, love it. It's about $3 / bottle.. which is why Korea is among the heaviest drinking nations. One bottle, if I drink it, is enough to get me feeling pretty drunk.

One Shot (or GUMBAE) = Something you yell as you toast classes and down your drink ...)

Koreans definitely like to drink and it's a part of the business culture, too.

A usual night of drinking goes something like this:

* Eat (and drink)

* Go to a place to drink more 

* Go to a singing room (sing and drink)

* Go eat again (and drink)

Anyways, in case anyone ever does business in Korea, you'll know what to expect!

@Brandon Turner 

That just makes that story so much worse!! Ewwwwwww. 

The pleasure was all ours!