Hi Everyone,
Well my heads still spinning a little from the weekends workshop but what a weekend! Met some wonderful people and gathered a whole lot of info to help me along this path. Biggest issue for me at this point is trying to work out how to make the banking side of things work as smoothly as possible, (will be getting on to Citibank asap).
What did everybody think, what issues are you facing, what insights or clarity did you come away with, what problems have you solved?
If anyone’s interested in catching up for a coffee to chat further about all things liens and deeds, just drop me a line and we’ll see what we can organise. I’m in Northcote, Victoria.
Looking forward to hearing from you all.
CheersI missed the seminar but am interested in hearing more about investing in liens. In general, what was it covering?
I'm the same head still spinning from all the information. Like you the biggest thing at the moment is to open a US account. Will be looking into that tomorrow.
Would love to catch up but I'm in Perth and it would be a hike.
Looking forward to getting started.
Ros
For US bank accounts, I opened a Wells Fargo one while over there and im pretty sure you can arrange one by phoning them.
HSBC Aust can arrange a link one with their US office for a fee of A$200.
Citibank isn't going to the solution for me – so I'm checking out HSBC.
Citibank only offers a 'Multi Currency' account which means that it's an Autralian Account, held in US dollars. This presents the same limitations as using an everday Australian account (US cheques are deposited at a hefty fee, and take 21 days to clear).
If anyone has found a way that works – please let us all know!
Thanks,
Amanda.It seems banking is a bit of a drama. I haven't spoken with citibank yet but if I hear anything different from them I'll be sure to post it here.
Ambosh can you present a cheque for Wells Fargo in Australia or how do you have to do it?
Andrew
itsandrew
Go as far as you can see and you will see further.
Hi All,
Just called in at Citibank in Melbourne and they are no help. In order to open a US dollar bank account with them, you physically have to be in the US. Pretty much a no goer if you are just wanting to start off small with the Tax Liens to try them out. The transaction costs of paying in smallish US dollar checks here would likely wipe out any money you make from the tax Lien. I'll look into the HSBC option mentioned by akirk.
I dropped into a citibank branch in china town melb and they advised me to ring up the branch in the US, they said I might be able to set up an US bank account over the phone. With the ID process I could get the local branch to verify the documents and then I could send the documents over to the US. Haven't called the bank yet but the process sounds very logical.
Also did some research on applying for ITIN numbers in Australia. Apparently it's pretty easy to do as well. Just google it and you'll find the answer.
Citibank = too hard basket. As I said earlier, suggest sticking with HSBC Australia and just paying the $200 to get them to setup your US bank account.
re the question about my wells fargo bank account. I set this up over there. It me not be an option from here. You cant present a US issued cheque in Australia. You have to mail the cheque to the payee over there.
Suggest staying away from multi-currency accounts. This isnt an actual bank US account – its just a currency account. Your sole purpose for this is for hedging not trading.
Applying for your itin is easy on the IRS site: http://www.irs.gov/individuals/article/0,,id=96287,00.html#apply
Why are there so many people on this forum trying to setup US bank accounts all of a sudden?!
Hi Ambosh,
About 300 people attended a workshop on investing in us tax liens. Having a no fee account for banking US checks was one of the key elements for would be investors who didnt want to have their returns significantly eaten into.
$200 to set up an account could be the best deal if you can deposit checks without fees and dont want to pay airfares and accommodation to do it. I wonder if you can deposit checks over the counter in Australia with HSBC or if you have to mail to the payee in the US.
Googling suggests that it's almost impossible to set up a US account up unless you're in the US. A 'loophole' for Canadians may be to do it through BMO, apparently they own Harris bank and offer the service for Canadians.
Andrew
itsandrew
Go as far as you can see and you will see further.
I doubt you could bank US cheques in an account in oz. You can make and receive wire transfers through your US bank (once the account is setup) to the payee/peyer over there. Thats what I do for my properties. Being based here, you dont want to be continually messing around with US cheques.
Is anyone keen to meet for a lunch/coffee to discuss US liens. Somewhere in the the Sydney CBD?
Josh
Hi,
You can definitely bank US checks into an Aus bank account with the majors (NAB etc)… I've done it many times. The banks hit you on fees, clearance times and with an unflattering exchange rate though. I'll keep looking for an answer for a US account, but the issue is having verified ID.
The trick in applying for an ITIN is having the right reason and supporting ID. You can't just set one up… that's why Tommy needed to get a letter from the County Tax Collector to support the application. I'd like to see the looks on their faces when he asks for 300 letters!
Further light reading on the ITIN can be found at:
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/iw7.pdfHappy reading,
– Steve
Steve McKnight | PropertyInvesting.com Pty Ltd | CEO
https://www.propertyinvesting.comSuccess comes from doing things differently
ambosh wrote:Why are there so many people on this forum trying to setup US bank accounts all of a sudden?!
What I'd like to do, is have US dollar account that I can buy Tax Liens from and bank the checks into. This would avoid the transaction costs of paying the checks into a AU bank account. It would also have the advantage that you could choose the best time with respect to the USD AUD exchange rate to transfer any profits back to the Australia with a company like Oz Forex or HiFx. Ideally I would be able to bank the US dollar checks into the US account while in Australia. I'm hoping that HSBC can do that.
Hi,
I'm just wondering if anyone in melbourne's east is interested in catching up about the tax lien seminar. It might be good to go over the information again.
Feel free to post or PM me.
Andrew
itsandrew
Go as far as you can see and you will see further.
Hi,
I am interested to know more about this investment in tax lien. would love to meet with anyone (attention 'itsandrew' and 'katchw') to discuss further.
Or if anyone can discuss more about this on this post, that would be much appreciated.
Thanks.
Read this free ebook on liens:
http://lienbaron.com/tax-lien-ebook
Its a brilliant summary of the lien process, outlining the risks (primarily early redemption or ending up with a worthless piece of land or property), benefits, process and discusses the methods of bidding at auctions etc. It goes into detail about the difficulty of investing from abroad etc followed by a bit of a plug on tax lien funds (like managed funds), but its a valuable read.
Hi all
Well in all this discussion about Tax Liens etc I think we have forgotten something important…
I just wanted to say thanks to Tommy and Steve and their team of hardworking guys and gals for running a truly excellent conference. I enjoyed it thoroughly, i found the information comprehensive and easy to understand and certainly felt as though my investment would be returned "with interest"!
Thanks guys, I appreciated it!
On a side note I definitely sat at the best table! Met some lovely people at my table, Queenslanders, Cockroaches, a lovely Polish lady and a livewire "3 businesses at once" gentleman from some other state that isnt as important as Queensland…
Had a lot of laughs and thoroughly enjoyed the social aspects of the conference with these new friends I apologise to anyone who noticed my momentary powernap, and all i will say is that whilst Backpacker Hostels are cheap, and Tiger Airways is cheap, they arent necessarily conducive to good sleep and timely departures / arrivals. I also wont mention my travel-partners two West Australian friends who plied me unmercifully with alchomohol and good company which further reduced my "stay awake power"
Hope to see you all at some future conference
Chris
(the 6'10" Queenslander!)Hi,
Yesterday I opened a HSBC US Checking Account. All I needed was to take in my drivers licence, my passport, a recent bank statement, the filled in forms and $200 into my local branch.
This will give me the US Checking account, a Debit Mastercard (which they will send from the US) and access to online banking. To deposit any US cheques and not get hit the big fee and conversion, then the cheques need to be deposited within the US.
Please don't consider this as advice.
I just joined up with this group, http://www.meetup.com/Melbourne-Tax-Liens, if that helps anyone else who’s looking to catch up and share info.
Cheers
ChrisGoing by what akirk has mentioned I found this link…
https://www.us.hsbc.com/1/2/3/international-services/bank/howto
Press Apply now and enter in your details and select USA as country to open account….
The paperwork will be sent to you via email to fill out…
Just need to walk into the bank with the correct ID requirments and fee…
Stewy
Had a lot of laughs and thoroughly enjoyed the social aspects of the conference with these new friends 
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