SAN FRANCISCO — More than 150 real estate professionals attended the Chinese Real Estate Association of America’s quarterly educational seminar on April 3 at Yet Wah Restaurant to hear four top agents speak about how to thrive in today’s transitional market.
Eva Hom, the group’s executive vice president, hosted the event, which was moderated by the group’s president, John M. Lee. The panel of real estate experts included Steve Mavromihalis from Pacific Union, James Nunemacher from Vanguard Properties, Bonnie Spindler from Zephyr Real Estate and Gordon Wong of Coldwell Banker.
Each spoke about how they became involved in the real estate business, and what they did during the last recession in the early ’90s to transform their businesses into today’s powerhouses.
Though Mavromihalis is considered one of the brightest minds in real estate, he recalled how his purchases in the ’80s were not even worth the mortgages owed on them at one point. But time heals everything, and now those buildings are worth millions, he said, adding that with investing in real estate, you do not need to be smart; time will take care of everything.
Wong spoke about using the concept of leverage to create wealth with real estate, asking the audience if they knew of any other investments where you can use 80 percent of other people’s money to help you make more money. Wong also talked about the importance of constantly learning and reinventing yourself. For example, after the earthquake of 1989, nobody was buying brick buildings because of the incoming mandated retrofitting requirements and the plummeting prices. But he became the expert in that area and benefited greatly because of it.
Nunemacher spoke about learning all you can about the areas you are interested in: He started by satisfying his curiosity about developers by visiting construction job sites and asking people lots of questions to learn about new constructions. Today he markets some of the largest development projects in San Francisco.
Spindler focused on her involvement with teaching others how to invest wisely. And she practices what she preaches, purchasing at least one property per year on her own. She recalls the times when she had to put the down payment on her credit card, but utilized the concept of using other people’s money to make more money.
The Chinese Real Estate Association of America was established 30 years ago for networking and promoting homeownership opportunities. Since then, it has evolved into an organization that conducts educational seminars, promotes and educates the public about homeownership opportunities, and works with legislators on developing solid private property rights policies. For more information about CREAA, call Executive Vice President Eva Hom at (415) 850-7721.