If you’re not part of the ultra-high-net-worth crowd and you’re interested in owning a piece of land in another country, the U.S. is a good place to start. America’s sluggish economy, coupled with slumping real estate values, might sound scary, but according to Toronto investor Jim Chuong, those same factors make it a great place to buy undervalued properties. “People want to invest when there’s good news, but that’s always the worst time,” he says. ( MoneySense )

My 56% return in 2010 lands me in the Globe and Mail again. ( Globe and Mail )

"Jim Chuong...has been out shopping for U.S. investment properties since the fall of 2009. He has made several purchases since his first in early 2010. After an intensive screening of regions in the U.S. sunbelt, he narrowed his focus to Arizona. A key selection criterion was low crime rates: with the help of crime data published on the websites of most U.S. cities, he found that Arizona neighbourhoods were among the best for having both low crime rates and low house prices." ( Globe and Mail )

"This year in Phoenix, for the first time, there have been more buyers from Canada than from California, according to real estate data outfit Information Market. With the Canadian dollar approaching parity with its U.S. counterpart, the opportunity was simply irresistible to Jim Chuong, a 38-year-old...from Toronto. Chuong, whose house in Canada is already paid off, used to invest in U.S. stocks. Now he's investing in Phoenix condos, paying $50 a square foot for units that would cost $500 a square foot in Toronto. 'It's ridiculous is what it is,' Chuong says." ( Associated Press )

"Over the last 12 months, the markets have been very good to Jim Chuong, given that they perfectly matched his approach. Mr. Chuong's strategy has much in common with that taken by investment bankers. He likes to buy companies that have had predictable cash flow for the last 10 years. He also looks at top line revenues, operating profit, and net profit. "I also don't want them to carry too much debt," he says. "With the credit crisis those carrying debt had a lot of problems."" ( Globe and Mail )

"Successful investor Jim Chuong is wary of talking finances with his buddies after it cost him a few friendships. The 37-year-old...says his friends used to ask him for advice all the time. But when their portfolios didn't mirror his own, they grew upset with him and accused him of withholding the secrets of his success." ( Globe and Mail )

After a 1 hour interview, Macleans decides to use one sentence from my answers about Google. ( cover page 1 page 2 )

My good friend Dan Young was recently featured in the May 2008 Moneysense magazine on real estate investing. Way to go Dan! cover... page 1... page 2... page 3... page 4...

October 2007 MoneySense Magazine: "Otherwise, Chuong's portfolio has been pretty much unchanged, and his other holdings are doing very nicely. Fossil, which makes watches and accessories, is up by a whopping 75%, The Buckle, a casual apparel retailer, is up 60%, and Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (class B) is up 24%." ( cover page 1 )

July 2007 Globe and Mail: Returning to his hockey team analogy, Mr. Chuong says: "If I know I have a star player, why trade him?" ( page 1 )

October 2006 MoneySense Magazine: "My portfolio has been about as interesting as watching paint dry." ( cover page 1 page 2 page 3 )

October 2005 MoneySense Magazine: When his parents kept pushing him to get better grades in high school, he asked why. "So my mom explained to me that if I got really good marks now, I could go to the university of my choice. Then theoretically, I could get the job of my choice and be financially secure. But when I was 14, I said I don't think that's how it works. I don't believe it." ( cover page 1 page 2 page 3 page 4 page 5 page 6 page 7 page 8 page 9 page 10 )

March 2005 Money 101: Frustrated with mutual funds, Chuong started picking stocks for himself in 1998. He's had an average annual return of more than 20 per cent and his portfolio has more than tripled in value. He holds only five U.S. stocks, two of which he's owned since 1998, and keeps them as long as their fundamentals are sound. ( page 1 )

February 2005 Report On Business TV

August 2002 Globe and Mail: There are value investors, and then there are value investors. How else to descrie someone who has been an avowed follower of the value faith since, gulp, age 14? ( page 1 page 2 )

December/January 2000 MoneySense Magazine: Only 27 years old, Jim Chuong is already an experienced entrepreneur and investor. After graduating in materials engineering from the University of Toronto in 1997, he and a friend started Nth Dimension, a business that offered Internet programming and graphics services. ( page 1 page 2 page 3 page 4 page 5 page 6 page 7 page 8 page 9 page 10 page 11 )