Eggs In Other Baskets?

[softball]

I just bought another house up in the oil patch. Got three now, all renting and turning a better return than I thought. Close a deal tomorrow on another. The porn business still doing pretty well.....not, of course, like it was, but it looks like the bricks and mortar will put us back in the hack as we used to say in the taxi biz. I have always liked property. I should have done this years ago...
Buy beaters in good neighborhoods, fix them up, add an apartment.....instant equity. I like this shit.
What are you guys doing?

[RawAlex]

Property is an interesting thing. I am sitting here waiting for the Hong Kong market to take a little bit more of a dump, and then I will be in. It's pretty tough when the cheap stuff is about $1000 us a square foot - so yeah, the average condo around here is more than a million without a blink.

Otherwise, just more mainstream stuff in general, there is a serious lack of good websites in this country.

[softball]

That is expensive. I just read a survey that Hong Kong is the least affordable city in the world. Second is Vancouver and its half of HK...about 500 a square foot. Around here, it takes an average of ten times your income to buy a house. Its nuts.

[EmporerEJ]

small towns guys....apartments.....positive cash flow.

[RawAlex]

HK is pretty much like New York and London - very expensive in the core, not quite so bad when you get a bit away. The real problem is that HK's minimum wage is very low compared to the cost of housing, making the gap seem larger than it really is. Most people here work two or three jobs, and they can do it in part because "domestic helpers" (aka maids) only cost about $600 US a month. Probably 2/3 of the kids in my son's school go in the morning with their je-je (nanny).

Property prices here are up and down too, it's a tough investing market because it's driven mostly by superstition and outside money. The other driver is that there is a 10% or so tax on all real estate transactions minimum, so the resale on a property is always by default 10% higher just to break even. The government rake on things drives the market to a certain extent.

[softball]

Originally Posted by EmporerEJ

small towns guys....apartments.....positive cash flow.

exactly.....I am buying houses with two doors. Down at the heels, decent neighborhoods, fixing them up...instant 30 to 40k equity and positive cash flow after all expenses...management, maintenance, insurance, vacancy possibilities etc. And they are in Edmonton....blue collar oil town, low vacancy rate...and brand new lrt. No land transfer tax. No rental cap. Firm leases. Business friendly governments.