Now, he has 60 apartments, including two in a small rental building, and a $30,000-a-month rent roll.
Now, he said, they bring no less than five times the rent roll.
Those whose rent rolls dropped could not afford them either.
But keeping it that way costs more than the $535,000 annual rent roll, according to the housing department.
The buyers projected a rent roll of $1.35 million in five years.
"The rent roll is over $500,000 a year," he said.
The lower the rent roll, the higher the multiple in the same location.
They survived through the sheer size of their rent rolls.
At the time the rent roll was £3226 for 156 flats.
"That's half my rent roll for the year," he said.