All Forum Posts by: Walter Ichikawa-Doyle

Will do @Engelo Rumora !! He's as busy as ever and keeps me hoping, too!

Cheers!

Hi @Michael Alston ,

As Jordan mentioned above, having your team on the ground is crucial when your overseas. You want to make sure you've got a good attorney as well, who knows what your goals. When you've the got the right team in place, you can pretty much be anywhere and invest.

By the way, have you considered investing in Japan while you're here? Now's a pretty good time to get consistently good yield plus with land prices finally starting to rise, you could even see some capital appreciation over the next couple of years before you head back.

Walter

Hi @Brent C. ,

I'm also Canadian living in Japan. I don't have any US investment but I'm invested in Canada and also here in Japan. Let me know how things are going for you. I'd love to know what your experience is in the US and maybe we can share some ideas!

Good luck,

Walter

Hello @Frank Manzella ,

Just wanted to say hello! I'm also in Japan and do some investing here, along with back in Canada. Just took a look at your website and signed up for your newsletter! Good job and thanks for putting the support out there!
Regards,
Walter

Hello @Kristin Shitara , @Patrick C. and @Matt E. ,

I was just curious as to what kind of deals your doing in the US? Have you looked at investing in Japan as well and what did you think?

Have a great day!

Walter

Hi @Simon Lloyd

Thanks for the message. I'm familiar with that podcast from Freakonomics, thanks!

While there is some truth to what's being said regarding homes being torn down at what appears to be a rather pre-mature time, especially in comparison to North American homes which may be in use well over 100 years, a lot of the information contained is reflective of theory - derived from a predetermined "depreciation" formula established by the government, in essence, to keep the economy humming.

The basic formula was determined by taking the age of all the homes that had been razed, and averaging out their age. For single family residences it came to 30 years so that's what was used. The life-span for concrete/steel multi-family homes is given at 37 years!

To help set the proper perspective, I'm going to refer you to a couple of very good articles that really explain well exactly what is going on. I could explain here, but it would be sort of lengthy and the articles are pretty succinct.

After you've read them, if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask me, either here in the forum or via email or pm.

To be frank, investing in Japan is a pleasure compared to other locales.

http://japanpropertycentral.com/2014/02/understanding-the-lifespan-of-a-japanese-home-or-apartment/

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2014/03/31/how-tos/japans-30-year-building-shelf-life-is-not-quite-true/#

(If the moderators don't allow these links, I'll send them to you directly.)

Interesting discussion!

As a Canadian living in Japan, I've been fortunate to be able to access Japanese real estate while living here. Japan is a very interesting option for investing, particularly the past year or so as the economy is starting to rebound after years of stagnation and property prices are finally starting to rise after sitting idle for so many years after the bubble economy.

The biggest surprise I found about investing in Japan was the low entry point! While non-residents would have to purchase in cash, you can buy a cash-flowing freehold property, yielding 8% or more, for as little as $20,000/unit. The properties I have in Canada have had entry points at 3,4 or 5 times that for just the downpayment and closing and come with a lower ROI... but hopefully a great capital appreciation.

There are a couple of blogs here on PB by my colleague Ziv Magen regarding investing in Japan that worth the read if your interested.

http://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2012/6/29/japan-real-estate-cashflow/

http://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2012/7/6/real-estate-japan-tenant-laws-purchase/

Great tools mentioned above... another option is to call another landlord or PM as if you're a potential tenant and ask them about a listing they have and ask how much the rent is.

Good luck!

Hi @Peter Hammer and welcome to BP.

Regarding the RE option at University, my thought would be since you're going to be there anyway, the courses are available and you plan to go into Real Estate, why wouldn't you take them?

Real Estate investing is a lot about knowing what to do and how to do it so education is really key. It doesn't have to be formal education, but if you have access to that, why not!

Best of luck!

@William C. , great advise you're offering! I particularly appreciate your willingness to forego rent in order to get the right tenant. I agree and think it's important for us as landlords to be prepared to cover a short-term vacancy (contingency fund planning) rather than panicking about leaving a unit empty. Thanks for sharing your practices!