How do ethnic buyers have such a large downpayment?

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this thread is hilarious.



tax evasion helps people who have businesses that run in cash...but i would be curious to see if non "ethnic" cash business do not participate in tax evasion.



speaking from first hand experience i believe it is as simple as hard work with a focus on savings and growing personal wealth. when you leave a country with a crap government that does not afford you the economic liberty that the US gives, you tend to be overtly capitalist, conservative, and fearful of big government. you also tend to have a survival first and luxury later mentality.



for them, its like being starved for 20 years, then arriving at a buffet. you want to get as much as you can.



those are my parents.



for me, i dont evade taxes (although I wish I could), but I carried on some of the survival mentality (although not as strict) and i was extremely motivated to be successful from a financial perspective. as a result i picked my career realistically, with purpose and didnt have dreams of being a world traveling photographer.



everything has its price. maybe i would have been happier being a world traveling photographer. or maybe i would have been miserable if i failed at that endeavor and ended up being butt poor.



i took the safe route.



btw, i find the concept of being "ethnic" in amera to equal not being white. do white americans have no ethnicity or ethnic background? isn't being american an ethnicity unto itself? i believe it is.
 
[quote author="High Gravity" date=1250138388][quote author="FutIrv" date=1250137842]I would say that many immigrants are among the top people in their country of origin (whether you use intellectual, economic, spiritual ? values to do the ranking)</blockquote>


The big exception to this general observation is Mexico. The educated, affluent, blond haired, caucasian Mexicans tend to stay in Mexico; the poor, dark skinned, indigenous Mexicans tend to desire to live in the USA. I was shocked when I visited Mexico City. I thought all of Mexico looked like Tijuana.</blockquote>


sieg heil. hilarious. this is like the idea that the rothschilds are evil jews but no wait they are the "white" jews so we can claim that their success is due to their whiteness and feel racial superiority and that their evil conspiracy ways are due to their jewness



if you look at history immigrants have actually come from both categories--affluent and destitute but most of the time they are the destitute.
 
[quote author="High Gravity" date=1250138388][quote author="FutIrv" date=1250137842]I would say that many immigrants are among the top people in their country of origin (whether you use intellectual, economic, spiritual ? values to do the ranking)</blockquote>


The big exception to this general observation is Mexico. The educated, affluent, blond haired, caucasian Mexicans tend to stay in Mexico; the poor, dark skinned, indigenous Mexicans tend to desire to live in the USA. I was shocked when I visited Mexico City. I thought all of Mexico looked like Tijuana.</blockquote>




I am not Mexican, but I imagine that it is common for affluent Mexican families to send their children to American universities, and a good fraction of them stay here.

Regarding the poorer Mexicans, the ones that come here are those that do not accept their situation in Mexico. On the average, the willing to succeed and the energy put towards succeeding by these immigrants is higher than among the average, equivalent poor American. Furthermore, the children of the immigrants learn from the example set by their parents.
 
You could also argue that those that immigrated to the US automatically felt like they were already behind, therefore had a different mentality and approach towards a "job" or making a living. They could not apply for the standard job working for "the man" due to educational or language barriers. Therefore, they had a stronger entrepreneurial will to become business owners. They knew that in order to live the "better" life that America advertised, this would be the only path to riches. The humility of starting from nothing and behind the rest of the pack fed their hunger to work harder and surpass the rest.



My parents came here from Taiwan with enough money for plane tickets and a few months rent. My father worked as many hours as he could as a waiter while my mom knitted fabrics at home for cash. They saved enough money in a few years to purchase their first convenience store. They never complained about having to work 7 days a week or from 6 am to 9pm. Having that store led to the opening of an even bigger store. (They soon became the #1 grossing store in Lottery sales in the state).



I remember when I was in middle school, my dad fell off a ladder while changing a light bulb in his store. He shattered his forearm, requiring surgery and several plates/pins to be inserted into his arm. I used to cringe at the sight of the pins. Once he was out of the hospital he'd be downstairs working with one arm, never complaining about his disability or having to continue his work. There was no workers' compensation or disability leave. He either worked or our family wouldn't survive. He worked 6 am to 1030 pm every day for 11 years, and during that entire time did not take ANY vacation. I completely admire his dedication and relentless hardwork to ensure our family's well-being.



He retired at the age of 54 and spends about 3/4 of the year travelling to a vast array of countries. I stand here not to brag for him, but to say that I, from my standpoint, could never do what he has done in his life. And that is why he has the money in his bank, and I do not.
 
[quote author="High Gravity" date=1250138033][quote author="bkshopr" date=1250130617]What are your thoughts on how this group being able to saved all that money?</blockquote>


<img src="http://img.auctiva.com/imgdata/7/0/6/2/2/7/webimg/151530141_tp.jpg" alt="" /></blockquote>
I had one of those in a business I used to own... maybe I had it facing the wrong way.
 
[quote author="irvine_home_owner" date=1250141196][quote author="High Gravity" date=1250138033][quote author="bkshopr" date=1250130617]What are your thoughts on how this group being able to saved all that money?</blockquote>


<img src="http://img.auctiva.com/imgdata/7/0/6/2/2/7/webimg/151530141_tp.jpg" alt="" /></blockquote>
I had one of those in a business I used to own... maybe I had it facing the wrong way.</blockquote>


If you want more wealth, you need more cats:



<img src="http://cache.virtualtourist.com/806693-maneki_neko_good_luck_cat_charm-Tokyo.jpg" alt="" />
 
The assumption of this thread is that the cash buyers right now are foreign, specifically Asian. That isn't the case. The ethnic makeup of Irvine is changing slowly, but the buyer pool today is well represented by the same groups that have always bought in Irvine.



I respect anyone who can save money, particularly if they can manage to save enough to put more than 20% down on a property in Irvine.
 
[quote author="sad.machine" date=1250138627]

btw, i find the concept of being "ethnic" in amera to equal not being white. do white americans have no ethnicity or ethnic background? isn't being american an ethnicity unto itself? i believe it is.</blockquote>


You're right. Everyone has an ethnicity so calling people "ethnic" buyers is not technically accurate.
 
[quote author="IrvineRenter" date=1250143556]The assumption of this thread is that the cash buyers right now are foreign, specifically Asian. That isn't the case. The ethnic makeup of Irvine is changing slowly, but the buyer pool today is well represented by the same groups that have always bought in Irvine.



I respect anyone who can save money, particularly if they can manage to save enough to put more than 20% down on a property in Irvine.</blockquote>


Irvine Renter, when you mention the buyer pool today is well represented by the same groups that have always bought in Irvine. What exactly do you mean by that? I know all of us are just guessing here on who the cash buyers really are in Irvine. I would guess that there a lot more local Americian OC transfers who are buying with 100% cash in Irvine than there are Foreign Asian immigrants. The only people who would truly know this information are the real estate agents by looking up the surname of all recent cash transactions.
 
pooling of resources by having extended family live together. the decrease in proportional rent and economies of scale for grocery items saves a tremendous amount. if you're not used to a level of privacy, then you're not missing much... i could never do it.
 
[quote author="PANDA" date=1250144477]The only people who would truly know this information are the real estate agents by looking up the surname of all recent cash transactions.</blockquote>
And even then, that's the assumption that the person's name that is recorded doesn't have an FCB contribution from somewhere.



I know of a few couples/families where the last name is Smith, Jones, Running Bear (<- true American last name) yet the spouse and in-laws are FCB to the max.
 
First, there is an inherent bias in this question. A FCB is considered a notable or abnormal event, so everyone remembers it, whereas an American-born (predominantly white) cash buyers seems like a completely normal event. I don't know the statistics but I'd guess that the huge majority of people who own their home outright are actually born in America. But there's nothing abnormal about Americans buying homes in America, right?



The other problem is that this is not an apples-to-apples comparison. The best individuals from one group ("best" for the purposes of the comparison, i.e., wealthiest, most frugal, most hard-working, etc.) are being compared to the worst, or if maybe not the worst, then the average individuals from another group. As several people mentioned above these "FCBs" represent the most successful percentiles of their demographic group. This is not a fair comparison. Another example of this kind of flawed comparison is comparing foreign to US students. A foreign student from country X comes to the US. Just to achieve that this student usually has to be in the top 5%, if not 1%, of the students in country X and beat tremendous competition. In the US naturally this student is again in the top 5%. Based on this observation, citizens of X conclude that people in X are much smarter than in the US, that Americans are stupid, and that geniuses are born every day in X.



I'm not saying that it's all a fallacy, just that there some significant biases here. Personally, I'd go as far as saying that immigrants have always been a major force in pushing America forward, and that as long as this country continues to be relatively immigrant-friendly, it will maintain it's dominant position in the world. There's nothing like coming from a place where your basic human rights are not guaranteed and you can't get a good job, and suddenly finding yourself in a place where you feel free and safe, and all kinds of economic opportunities are open to you. A lot of Americans do not realize that just being born here, just the fact that English is their native language, and the fact their American citizenship gives them the right to participate in the biggest economy in the world, all of this, gives them a 100:1 advantage compared to most of the other people in the world. And then they don't do anything with this advantage...



One final point about what motivates foreign immigrants that I didn't see mentioned. It's that many of them refuse to settle for less. Most immigrants leave behind and sacrifice something, most of all family connections, also friends, habits, things they loved. It is natural for them to want to compensate this loss with something. I think that this plays a huge role in their drive to be successful and not settle for mediocrity. The highly qualified and educated immigrants are not content with simply being average as they could easily go back to their country of birth and be more than average. Just think of what $100K could do for you in most countries, for example, whereas the same amount would be just a small down payment in Irvine. It doesn't make sense to accept a lower quality of life in the US, if you could live like a king somewhere else. Of course, most immigrants will not go back to where they came from, for a variety for reasons, so they work harder to improve their situation here.
 
I think it also come from parents having an active role in child their child up bringing and steering them toward realistic, yet high income careers.



I was recently at a graduation for pre-schoolers (all were Asian except for one white kid, and he learned to speak chinese). There were ~40kids "graduating." Part of the graduation ceremony involve the child stepping up to the mic as saying "when I grow up, I want to be a _______." There were a couple of policeman, princess, but I swear 80-90% said Doctor. My nephew was one of the last to go and I told to to say "I want to be a lawyer so I can sue all these doctors." But he wouldn't listen, and just followed the crowd. I did not hear one football or basketball player, singer or movie star. I suspect that this would be different if the ethnicity of the kids were more representative of the US.
 
I forgot to add to my list the ethnic buyers who have inherited a large amount of cash, have trust funds and who earned a lot of money either in the USA or another country so therefore were able to "save" even if that means saving less than 2% of income.
 
[quote author="roundcorners" date=1250155252]they brown bag it almost everyday...</blockquote>


Have you run the numbers? I brown bag it about 90% of the time and dropped off my trips to starbucks/coffee bean etc by 80%.



Plus, when you pack your own food...you tend to be healthier.



Do it on 250 work days a year.



Going out to Lunch: 250 days x $6 (avg) = $1,500



Going to Starbucks 2-3 times a week: 45% x 250 days x $3.50 = $400



Brown bagging it: 250 days x $2 = $500



Making your own coffee: $250 days x .40 cents a mug = $100



$1,500 + $400 - $500 - $100 = $1,300 in savings at the very least :)
 
[quote author="Astute Observer" date=1250209504]With people like optimusprime, no wonder our economy is in such a sad shape! Go out and max out your credit card and be more..... you know.... american! ;)</blockquote>


Hahaha...I do...I just take advantage of things like Bing so I can get 50% off on my purchases LOL
 
[quote author="optimusprime" date=1250206202][quote author="roundcorners" date=1250155252]they brown bag it almost everyday...</blockquote>


Have you run the numbers? I brown bag it about 90% of the time and dropped off my trips to starbucks/coffee bean etc by 80%.



Plus, when you pack your own food...you tend to be healthier.



Do it on 250 work days a year.



Going out to Lunch: 250 days x $6 (avg) = $1,500



Going to Starbucks 2-3 times a week: 45% x 250 days x $3.50 = $400



Brown bagging it: 250 days x $2 = $500



Making your own coffee: $250 days x .40 cents a mug = $100



$1,500 + $400 - $500 - $100 = $1,300 in savings at the very least :)</blockquote>


I'm not saying that's an insignificant amount of money but when you compare it to what you need for a downpayment these days it gets kind of depressing. Its enough to make a guy want to go to In'N'Out every day!
 
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