Updated June 2026. Originally published March 2023.
In Singapore, owning a property is often seen as a marker of wealth and success. But between high prices, tighter loan-to-value limits and ever-rising stamp duties, the maths on a second local property has quietly stopped working for a lot of people.
That’s why, back in 2023, I sat down with a Singaporean engineer named Weihan, co-founder of Byte Sized Investments, who had taken an unusual route: instead of buying his next property here, he’d been buying rental homes in the United States. At the time, he owned nearly a dozen.
I recently caught up with him again. Three years on, Weihan and his wife Tracy now hold 27 US rental properties, collect roughly US$37,000 a month in gross rent, and have both left their corporate jobs in their 30s to do this full-time.
So I wanted to revisit the original conversation, update it for where things stand in 2026, and understand how they scaled from a dozen to 27.
Why U.S. properties?
The first important point he shared with me was that not every country is suitable for foreign investors. He emphasized that a country must have cities that have a proper rule of law that is fair to both landlords and tenants, respect ownership rights, and not be prone to disasters in order to be a viable option.
Weihan ultimately chose the United States because of its lack of foreign ownership restrictions, which allowed him to compete on equal footing with local investors.
Compared to Singapore, the properties in the United States are priced lower, offer higher rental yields and enjoy stronger rental demand.
For example, the amount paid under the Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty (ABSD) in Singapore would be sufficient to buy one freehold house in the U.S.
Moreover, in the U.S, he could also refinance the properties and use the proceeds to buy additional properties without paying additional taxes, which would have not been possible in Singapore.
If a Singaporean investor bought a second property in Singapore, he would have had to pay a 20% ABSD and subsequent purchases would have been taxed at 30%. Such high taxes would have significantly lowered his investment returns, or worse, caused him to lose money on the investments.
However, in the U.S., property investors can refinance their properties and keep rolling the cash to acquire additional properties indefinitely. This flexibility has enabled Weihan and his wife to grow their property portfolio much more quickly and with greater returns.
How he scaled: buy, improve, refinance, repeat
His method is boring, unglamorous and repeatable. He buys the “ugliest house in a nice neighbourhood,” renovates it to force up the value, then pulls out a cash-out refinance (term loan equity) at the higher valuation to recover most or all of his capital, which he redeploys into the next deal.
He shared one example from a few years ago: he bought a beaten-up house for US$79,000, spent US$16,000 doing it up, and it revalued at US$160,000. He cash-out refinanced at 70% of value, drew out about US$100,000 in cash, more than the US$95,000 he’d put in, and still collected net rent of around US$610 a month today. He calls that an “infinite return,” since he’d recovered all his capital and still owns a cash-flowing asset.
Target middle-class properties
When Weihan first started, he bought the properties with full cash as they were priced below US$100,000 then. His target properties are typically the middle-class rental properties that are now priced around US$150,000 to US$200,000. These properties are easier to get quality tenants and are easier to sell too compared to high-end and low-end properties.
While high-end properties may seem appealing, they often carry higher mortgage payments and do not yield the same level of cash flow. There is also a smaller pool of tenants who are able to pay a high tier rent amount.
On the other hand, low-end rentals may appear to be profitable on paper due to their lower price point, but they often come with problematic tenants, frequent evictions, vacancies, and additional repair costs, resulting in significant headaches for landlords and lost cash flow.
Hence, the middle-class rental properties provide the best risk-adjusted returns.
The 1% Rule
He uses the 1% rule as a sniff test: the monthly rent must be at least 1% of the purchase price. So the rentals would fetch US$1,500 to US$1,800 per month for these middle-class rental properties costing $150,000 – $200,000.
This 1% per month would translate to about 12% per year, which provides enough margin to pay for operating expenses and receive a positive cash flow after the deductions.
5% to infinite rental yields
The net rental yield varies greatly with each property, starting from 5% to infinite returns.
This is because properties are heterogeneous in nature – locations, conditions, and other differences would affect property values and hence their yields too.
It could also be macro factors that drive the yields higher. For example, Weihan experienced massive rental growth the past few years and some of his property rental yields have increased to over 8% in 2 years, while some even went above 30%. For some, like the example mentioned above, the cash-out refinance was more than the capital investment, achieving infinite returns.
The financing edge
Several features of the US system make financing very friendly to a foreign investor:
- 30-year fixed-rate mortgages. The US is one of the few places you can lock your biggest cost for three decades. If rates later fall, you refinance lower; if they rise, your existing loan is untouched.
- No margin calls. If a property’s value dips, the lender can’t demand you top up — as long as you keep paying, they can’t foreclose.
- DSCR loans. Foreigners can borrow against a property’s ability to generate rent (its Debt Service Coverage Ratio) rather than their personal income, credit history or employment. There is hence no check on personal income and no Total Debt Service Ratio.
- No age limits. US lenders can’t decline you a 30-year loan simply for being “too old,” unlike most other markets. You won’t be pushed into a shorter-term loan that requires higher, more burdensome monthly payments, affecting your cashflow.
- Remote setup. You can form a US LLC and open a business bank account entirely remotely, without a local partner.
What about today’s higher rates?
When we first spoke, the US was in the middle of an aggressive hiking cycle. In 2026 the picture is “higher for longer”. The 30-year fixed has been hovering around 6.5%, and hopes of a near-term cut have faded as inflation reaccelerated.
Weihan’s take is that this matters less than people assume. His existing loans are fixed, so they’re unaffected; only new purchases carry today’s rate. Higher rates have actually cooled prices, which gives a cash-flow-focused buyer more room. The honest caveat: marry the property, date the rate. Being able to buy properties undervalued during times of high interest rates, where you can refinance to lower rates in the future, is better than overpaying for properties in times of low interest rates.
The tax angle
The US tax code is also surprisingly accommodating to investors. You can use depreciation to shelter rental income even while the property appreciates, defer capital gains through a 1031 exchange, and, for heirs, reset the cost basis via a “step-up in basis.” This is all part of why after-tax returns can look attractive.
Managing it all from 15,000 km away
You can’t be everywhere, so the team is everything: agents, property managers, lenders, inspectors and handymen on the ground. Weihan visited the US once early on, then didn’t return for three years even as he kept buying. His rule is “trust but verify”, he checks the monthly statements and confirms the rent has landed, but lets the team run the day-to-day.
What could go wrong?
Weihan is the first to say this is *not* free money. Buying in the wrong neighbourhood, a weak property manager, an eviction in a tenant-friendly state, a surprise repair bill, or an overcharging middleman can each quietly turn a “12% yield” into a loss, and from 15,000 km away, you might not notice until it’s done real damage.
His summary: treat it like a business with due diligence, not a lottery ticket. The gap between his results and a horror story is mostly knowledge and process.
Want to go deeper?
Weihan (Han) and Tracy, founders of Byte Sized Investments, are running a free online preview for the Dr Wealth community, walking through how they built and manage their US portfolio — and, just as importantly, how people lose money doing it.
📅 Thursday, 16 July · 7:30pm (SGT) · Online 👉 Register free
