Korean Banker Shopping for Room to Grow
The Yoon family of Rancho Palos Verdes is looking for a new house.
Already living in a $1.5-million house in the Alta Vista section, the Yoons are prepared to pay up to $3 million for a larger, more luxurious home.
Families like the Yoons, though hardly typical, are not unusual on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, where Pacific Rim executives are prepared to pay hundreds of thousands--or millions--in cash for a house, say realtors.
Duk Ha Yoon, 66, an attorney and banking executive, was born in Korea and moved to Japan at the age of 14.
As a young attorney in Tokyo, Yoon began investing in real estate after reading a book by a leading Japanese businessman. The book’s investment philosophy was based on the maxim that land is a limited commodity and is the best investment for spare cash.
After making his fortune in the banking and shipping industries, Yoon invested his “extra money,” buying homes in Tokyo, Seoul and Kwangju, Korea. In 1986 Yoon decided to undertake a new financial venture: founding a bank. The first branch of the United Citizens National Bank will open in May in Los Angeles’ Koreatown, said Yoon, speaking in Japanese.
Frequent Flier
Yoon, a resident alien, travels frequently between Tokyo and Los Angeles, so he decided to buy a home for himself, wife Soonrae, 60, son Jaechul, 29, daughter-in-law Yeonhee, 27, and 3-year-old grandson Charles Sunghyun. His son and daughter-in-law--who are naturalized citizens--will live with Yoon and his wife, as is the tradition in many Asian families, Yoon said.
The peninsula was first on the family’s list of neighborhoods when they moved here in 1986 because Yoon wanted to see his firm’s freighters from his home as they cruised past the peninsula en route to the Port of Los Angeles.
Yoon paid just under $1 million in cash for a four-bedroom, 4,500-square-foot home. The Yoons put in tennis courts and a swimming pool. The house is now worth about $1.6 million, Yoon said.
When a new house was built next door, partly obstructing their ocean view, the Yoons decided to move. Now, Yoon said, the family wants a “more spacious” house on the peninsula with at least five bedrooms--and room for more grandchildren.
