About
Professional Summary
Don is the top-producing apartment broker at the Colliers San Francisco Peninsula Office. As one of the most active apartment brokers in San Mateo & Santa Clara Counties, Don is focused on the analysis, marketing, acquisition, and disposition of multifamily properties throughout the San Francisco Peninsula and Silicon Valley.
Focusing solely on multifamily assets in the Peninsula and Silicon Valley, Don’s exacting standards have truly set him apart. On the sales side, Don provides his clients with the most accurate, market-based underwriting and offers achievable ideas to maximize cashflow, return, and equity growth with sound disposition strategies. On the buy side, Don offers the broadest access to the best investment and acquisition opportunities from his deep network of owners and his relationships with other active principals and brokers.
Because of Don’s unwavering commitment to his clients' long-term financial success, apartment owners often seek Don out as they evaluate the best timing and strategy when considering disposition or acquisition opportunities. Through his competitive drive and tenacity, Don has built a strong track-record in consistently helping his clients increase cashflow, enhance value appreciation, maximize tax-sheltering, and most importantly, preserve long-term equity growth.
Don also specializes in 1031 Tax Deferred Exchanges. Through his extensive client relationships and vast broker network, Don has successfully completed every one of his clients' 1031 Exchange transactions. Don has repeatedly proven his ability to close on multiple trade/exchange opportunities and has time and again helped his clients fulfill IRS-mandated timelines, loan replacement requirements, minimizing stress, heartache and eliminate tax liabilities for his clients. Don also advises on Reverse 1031 Exchange strategies, offering clients with utmost flexibility to ensure their 1031 Exchange needs are met.
Prior to Colliers, Don was a top-producing apartment agent at Marcus & Millichap in Palo Alto, earning the prestigious Rookie of The Year Award, The Rising Star Award, Sales Recognition Award, and several other recognitions. Before commercial real estate, Don was an accomplished technology sales executive with HotJobs.com, Yahoo!, and Monster Worldwide, primarily managing enterprise relationships and handling national & global accounts.
Like many of his apartment owner clients, Don is also an immigrant. Don grew up in Taiwan and moved to the US at the age of 15. Don speaks, reads, and writes Chinese and he is fluent in Mandarin and also semi-fluent in Cantonese and Japanese. Don’s unique cultural background sets him apart and enables him to provide his clients with more direct access to Asia Pacific capital. As a result, Don exclusively represents a number of Chinese cash investors and syndicators who target multifamily investment and development opportunities in the Peninsula/Silicon Valley region.
As a graduate of Lowell High School in San Francisco, Don is a Bay Area native who is intimately familiar with the San Francisco Bay Area commercial real estate markets. He holds a BA in International Relations and East Asian Studies from Hampshire College in Amherst, MA, where he attended on a four-year, full-tuition grant. Don worked through all 4 years of college and financed his private, liberal arts education through work-study programs.
Don lives in Palo Alto with his wife and 3 daughters. In his spare time, Don enjoys spending time with his family, as well as playing golf, tennis, and skiing.
Accomplishments
Colliers Everest Club Inductee - Top 10% of All Colliers Brokers in North America - 2015, 2016 & 2017
Colliers International - Silicon Valley Broker of the Month - Aug 2015, April 2016
Colliers International - Peninsula Broker of the Month - September 2015
Sales Recognition Award
SF Peninsula Apartment Broker of the Year
The Rising Star Award
Rookie of the Year Award
President’s Club Qualifier - 1999-2005
Achiever’s Club Qualifier - 2006-2012
RECENT TRANSACTIONS:
UNITS CITY CAP RATE PRICE
15 San Mateo 2.96% $5,250,000
18 Millbrae 2.47% $6,500,000
85 Redwood City 2.64% $25,750,000
6 Palo Alto 1.49% $4,800,000
18 Burlingame 2.72% $6,600,000
5 San Mateo 4.00% $1,545,000
15 Belmont 2.50% $4,800,000
7 Redwood City 3.86% $1,950,000
8 Menlo Park 3.24% $3,500,000
7 San Mateo 4.79% $1,780,000
12 Campbell N/A $2,975,000
18 Belmont 3.80% $4,650,000
7 South San Francisco 4.17% $1,599,000
Education
Hampshire College
BA Degree in East Asian Studies & International Relations
Memberships & Involvements
Silicon Valley Association of Realtors, California Association of Realtors, National Realtors Association, Multiple Listing Service, LoopNet, CHP 11-99 Foundation