How I got started
In 2002, my wife and I started to invest in real estate. We could have done it sooner, but we were busy with kids, house projects, and other things. We saw our parents invest, and we thought we should start investing also. We began by looking on our own for a while. Later on, we used a realtor to look with us. After about two months of looking, we purchased a 4-plex in Little Canada, Minnesota. We got into it without knowing anything about being landlords. It worked out just fine.
In 2003, we thought we should try buying more real estate.
One night, my wife was watching a real estate infomercial on TV. Russ Whitney was the investor guru. He was saying that you could make thousands of dollars buying investment properties with little or no money down. I ended up spending about $2,000 for the seminars, tapes and books.
After all of that, I still didn’t have a concrete plan on investing in real estate. I realized that Russ Whitney wasn’t interested in helping me build wealth through real estate. They wanted to make money selling us books and tapes!
I finally found a local realtor that invested in real estate. We met and then everything start to make sense. Since 2002, we have purchased 5 single family homes, a townhouse, a commercial property, and also bought and sold a 4-plex. All of our properties are currently rented out now.
Now that I'm a real estate agent, I get excited to see my clients' dreams come true. Listening to each person's goals, solving their problems and finally getting to closing are satisfying experiences for me. At the end of the day, when I walk out of that room with my clients happy, it makes my job so worthwhile and rewarding, just to hear them say "Thank you".
Background
In 1993, I graduated from the University of Minnesota with a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering. After I got my degree, I worked as an engineer at 3M, TSI, and Donaldson Company. I earned my Minnesota and Wisconsin real estate licenses in 2005. Currently, I am a member of the Minnesota Real Estate Team, member of National Association of Asian-American Professionals, and also volunteer at my church.
Family and Personal Interests
I am from Vietnam. In 1975, I came over to the United States with my family when I was 7-years-old. I can speak Vietnamese and English fluently. My wife and I have been married for 12 years now. We have 3 boys, ages nine, five and four. We currently live in Burnsville, Minnesota. My wife is a podiatrist. In my free time, I like to golf, play basketball, and go to the YMCA. I have a basketball court in my backyard. In the summertime, I enjoy playing with the three boys on the trampoline.
