Actor and YouTuber Lee Hae-in. [Herald Muse]
Actor and YouTuber Lee Hae-in. [Herald Muse]

Actor Lee Hae-in has opened up about the financial hardships she has faced since becoming a building owner.

On Saturday, Lee wrote on her social media that she had once believed owning a building would make her rich and let her cover living expenses without working. "I thought if I just bought a building, I wouldn't have to work," she said.

Lee said the number of vacant units in her building had dropped from six to two, but the financial relief has been limited. "On paper, I should only need to cover about 1 million won ($724) myself, but some tenants are behind on their monthly rent, so I'm still paying 3 million to 4 million won out of pocket," she said.

She went on to say that even full occupancy would leave little to show for it. "Even if all the units are filled, after everything is deducted I'd be lucky to have 1 million won left in a month. I thought buying a building meant I wouldn't have to work — but that was a mirage," she added.

Earlier, Lee had taken out a loan of 3.2 billion won to purchase the building, which cost around 4 billion won. At the time, she said she had not anticipated the financial burden. "The monthly interest is 12 million won. Honestly, I didn't think it would be this much," she said. "Only half the units are rented out right now. The monthly rent income is 6 million won, so I have to pay 6 million won every month myself. There are six vacant units. Honestly, I'm scared."

Meanwhile, Lee made her debut as an advertising model in 2005 and later became known through the tvN program "Jaemitneun TV Rollercoaster." She currently runs a YouTube channel and works as a content creator.


choigo@heraldcorp.com