I'm in NZHerald :)

[PTILoveYou]

http://m.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11571162

By Anne Gibson

Gary Lin says he started buying houses only so he could play World of Warcraft on his computer all day every day.

Now he's a multimillionaire who owns 11 rental properties in the soaring Auckland market.

[Anthonyacat]

Bad form quoting the whole article, Gary!

But congrats. Read the article and I was sure it said you were an optometrist. But it clearly says optimist.



... And still playing WoW? What's it like now? I had to quit when I got a full-time job, still miss it occasionally.

[jimO]

200k wedding gift helps to get started my parents gave me a lounge suite, most start using equity from their own home built up over years

[PTWhatAGreatForum]

I have noticed the NZ Herald has lately had a number of marketing articles featuring residential property investors.

The worst part is all their featured people seem to mistake a bull-market as being their own personal investment nous and commercial acumen.

[PTILoveYou]

200k wedding gift helps to get started my parents gave me a lounge suite, most start using equity from their own home built up over years

The 200k comes with 4 parents, 5 cars, 2 homes to look after, physically, emotionally, and financially.

Actually all that comes regardless of the 200k or not.

So I am grateful that my parents helped out, just like any other Chinese/Asian parents do.

[PC]

Well done Gary!
Inspiring to hear a great success story.

[snobilo]

Congratulations, people hate on those that get a gift to get ahead but so many people get it and waste it, you used it well.

[Nick G]

I have noticed the NZ Herald has lately had a number of marketing articles featuring residential property investors.

The worst part is all their featured people seem to mistake a bull-market as being their own personal investment nous and commercial acumen.

That's a bit rough. Hiring a mentor, recognising they were in a slump and the buying was good... that takes a bit of nous otherwise everybody would have done it.

[Fenix]

The partner of my friend basically said on Facebook 'does he have a passport?' - and has been known to have anti-immigration sentiments... I said you were a permanent resident but if you could clarify the passport cos I'd like to shut him up (like the last time when I told him he wouldn't be in NZ if it weren't for Chinese - because they invented gunpowder without which the British wouldn't have been able to colonise this country).

Cheers!

[PTWhatAGreatForum]

That's a bit rough. Hiring a mentor, recognising they were in a slump and the buying was good... that takes a bit of nous otherwise everybody would have done it.

All of which would not have been possible without overly generous banks who share a unfortunate obsession with residential real estate. Consider the underlying numbers - $20k cash surplus and $250k revenue on $6.5m of assets. What sort of numbers is that?

It looks good while the carousel is turning, banks are throwing credit at anyone who breaths and huge profits are showing on paper, but the underlying multiples are still in the region of the dotcom period and other bubbles. Gary (and many others) have only been doing this for short period of time - which coincided with highly favorable operating conditions (massive capital value increase and very low interest rates) and have not had the experience of things going south - and that $20k can go south very quickly.

Gary has stated at various times he is quite happy for a downturn. I'd like him to explain the assumptions he has made because these may not be appropriate - has he considered the effects of bank's willingness to lend drying up and increased interest rates as savers/money markets demand higher returns to compensate? If the value of the security is decreasing, would banks be willing to lend on real estate at all?

By itself, he may be quite happy for prices to go down, especially with his sizable equity, but I believe this view is very narrow and overly optimistic without considering the flow on effects of this in other areas of economy and nothing happens in a vacuum.

(To be clear this point is not specific to Gary - I'm just using that article as an example)

[Bluecoat]

and more on here

https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=nzherald

[Keys]

So I am grateful that my parents helped out, just like any other Chinese/Asian parents do.

I agree Gary. There is no reason, none at all, which should prevent a parent helping their children in this mannor.

[Keys]

Rarely does this poster have a good word to say.

Originally Posted by MichaelNZ
I have noticed the NZ Herald has lately had a number of marketing articles featuring residential property investors.

The worst part is all their featured people seem to mistake a bull-market as being their own personal investment nous and commercial acumen.

[PTILoveYou]

The partner of my friend basically said on Facebook 'does he have a passport?' - and has been known to have anti-immigration sentiments... I said you were a permanent resident but if you could clarify the passport cos I'd like to shut him up (like the last time when I told him he wouldn't be in NZ if it weren't for Chinese - because they invented gunpowder without which the British wouldn't have been able to colonise this country).

Cheers!

I am NZ citizen since 1999

[PTILoveYou]

Rarely does this poster have a good word to say.

Originally Posted by MichaelNZ
I have noticed the NZ Herald has lately had a number of marketing articles featuring residential property investors.

The worst part is all their featured people seem to mistake a bull-market as being their own personal investment nous and commercial acumen.

Well Michael still rents? So I can understand where he is coming from, after all, I was a renter at one stage.