Status: Buying and selling
Stance: Aggressive
Of the six "tycoons" we talked to for this update, Sky Minor has had the wildest ride. The rock musician/ real estate investor was late getting into the business and hit it after its peak. But, despite the rollercoaster, he also has embraced the business as much as anyone: He has not only opened a mortgage brokerage business with girlfriend Rachel Mintz, but he's entered the home-selling business as well.
You can separate his personal holdings into two geographical categories: California, which performed well since his profile last June, and Arizona, which has not. He has had trouble renting out two of his nicest properties in Casa Grande, Arizona despite their good size - four bedrooms - and inexpensive rent; he's asking just $750 a month. He's about at the end of his tether."I'm looking to unload those two," he says, "for what I paid for them."Minor has not allowed that to dampen his optimism, though, especially for buying California real estate. He is currently in negotiations to purchase a four-plex in the Los Feliz neighborhood of LA. He hopes to make a killing with a condo conversion.On the down side, he's also become embroiled in the kind of hassle that can make anyone swear off long-distance landlording, a dispute over a deposit. A tenant broke the lease on one of his apartments and the tenant wanted his security deposit back.
He has had to travel a couple of times to Arizona to fight the suit. Still, he manages to dismiss the set-to with a figurative shrug.
"The bigger you get," he says, "the more legal problems you have."
