I can give you the standard spiel about my achievements or my awards as an agent. Lots of people do it, so I should too right? First, my head hurts trying to come up with fancy diction. Second, by doing so I feel like I’m bragging. So I don’t. I let my work speak for me. If you’d like for me to list out my credentials, drop me a line and I’ll give you what you want to know. Or, …look through this site and I’m sure your questions will be answered. I will, however, tell you how I came to be in this business below, just cause I find it an interesting story. This blog is a reflection of what I do day in and day out. Feel free to drop me a line or find some more of my thoughts over on Bloodhoundblog.
James Hsu
Real Estate Agent, Advisor, Consultant, Number Cruncher, Analyzer, Industry Trend-Setter (or so I’d like to think), Investor, Landlord, wanna-be professional Photographer…
Contact Me at:
Phone: 206.229.0009
Fax: 425-402-6801
Email: james@nwupdate.com
IM Me at:
AIM: gymshoe42
MSN: gymshoe@hotmail.com
Google Talk: gymshoe
Snail Mail Address is:
John L. Scott - Mill Creek Town Center
15129 Main St. #C101
Mill Creek, WA 98012
Background
I have lived my entire life so far in the Puget Sound area. Born and raised in Federal Way, I graduated from the UW (go dawgs!) with a hybrid math and computer science degree and I’ve worked both on the Eastside and in downtown Seattle for several years, most of it in wireless telecom or Internet stuff. I currently reside with my family in the Bothell/Mill Creek area.
So…how did a math major who worked with cell phones get into real estate?! I won’t say that real estate was a life-long passion. Quite the contrary. I started out at UW as a pre-med student and ended up with a hybrid math/comp sci degree. (…looong story). Shortly after my wife and I got married, we were given a great opportunity to purchase the house we had been renting. It needed quite a bit of work, but we went for it. Thus began my foray into real estate. After a year and a half of remodeling and landscaping, we just ended up buying a bigger place and converting our newly fixed up place into a rental. That’s pretty much when the real estate bug bit hard. I had enjoyed working on the house and learned a ton from that experience (I learned I will never do plumbing, electrical or concrete work again…landscaping, drywall and paint are fair game though).
The experience left me wanting to learn more about real estate investing in general. I started reading as much as I could about it and eventually got a real estate license to help my burgeoning investment career (as I had read a lot of investors do). However the idea of utilizing the license as it was originally intended became more and more intriguing. I spent nearly 8 months pondering, planning and interviewing successful agents. I was told the horror stories of new agents, the astounding failure rates, going without income for several months, etc. etc., but I was determined. If I was going to do it, I was going to go all in and devote myself to it. After all, failure was not an option. I had a mortgage to pay and had a 6-month old baby at the time that depended on me! (how’s that for motivation?). So I took a deep breath, crossed my fingers and made probably the hardest decision in my life. I haven’t looked back since.
Hobbies and Interests
This is going to sound cheesy, but real estate is a big part of my hobby. No, no…my hobby is not work (that would break my work-life balance promise to the family). I’m talking about real estate in general. I love home projects, I’m always on the hunt for the next investment property, I like learning about new investment strategies, and….as my friends can attest to, … I love talking about real estate. Outside of real estate, I really enjoy playing sports, ..basketball (anyone want to play up in the Bothell/Mill Creek area?). Video games are a given. Valve and Blizzard rock …okay Valve a bit more (happy Kerry?) . Friends, movies and food round out my other past times.
