Hi All,
Just wondering among all is forum posters……. how many actually do own a property in the USA.
I am thinking owners are outweighed by sprukers on our forum.
By this i think there are more people on here to drum up business than genuine property owners.
I am more than happy to be proven wrong
I think i heard a pin drop Rick
Agreed ……. as sprukers scurry off under the nearest rock
Well, I tried to buy one. Turned out no renters were allowed in that subdivision. Didn’t find out until closing, but did get my money back. I only lost on the exchange rate. Worth checking things like that in the future though. It’s made me a bit cautious.
portpirate:
Understand you caution ……. do you think you will give it another go ?
Where did you almost buy ?
Nearly bought in Atlanta, GA. Nice properties. I am exploring other avenues of investment in the US property market now without maybe actually owning any. There are some horror stories around, even from the very people selling them. It almost makes me wonder if there is as much profit in them as first appears. In some cases, I think you are relying on potential capital growth for any return even on good properties. It's my understanding that a carpet lasts maybe 2 tenancies, with a repaint job and repairs, that just about wipes out any profit. Americans, it seems, just dont look after property the way we do in Oz.
I have to disagree with that comment that Americans don't take pride or take care of properties the way others do. I will gladly let you speak to some of my clients and view the properties that I own personally.
It is called pride and I have a lot of that. That consist of life in general. I own properties in some rough area but own the nicest ones on that street. I make sure they are allkept up to my standards which are high. My homes send a clear picture about who I am and what I do. So yes I do own homes and do have alot of pride.
I buy and sell in several state in the USA .My partner and I own 39 homes free and clear . We have been buying and selling homes for 12 years me and 17 years for him. I would put my own money where my mouth is, when any one insults me or any one here in the USA. I do take it personally .I do work hard on my business and have alot of pride in what I do and what I do for my clients.
My process for buying and selling is simple we try to buy 10 – 15 homes in each market. Currently buying in these markets Charlotte North Carolina , Atlanta Georgia, Sarasota , North port and Orlando Florida ,Jackson Miss soon to be Dallas texas selling them as turnkey deals. Our goal is to always sell 10 – 12 of these homes to clients looking to build cash flow, or real estate portfolios.I try to keep what is left over for my self to add to our real estate portfolio . Carrying little to no debt on these properties. I concentrate on only buying homes built 2000 an up.It helps with carrying cost, and long term and repairs. I expect the properties to look presentable at all times. Being I fly alot of clients in to the different markets.
Again it about pride in owning my properties so before you make a comment that aussie take better care of properties please talk to all. Again some might take that as a direct insult. As I did .
As for profit it depends on your goals in real estate , long term , short term , cash flow, private lending , fix and flips . Again it all depends on your goals as to what the profit margin will be and in what market you invest.
Ex for one of my newest clients .He is looking for cash flow , and to replace his income he currently makes. So we put together a package of homes in Atlanta turn key ( appreciation factor ) taking into consideration.8 homes $560k turn key .Cash flow is after all expenses( roughly $350 per property) so cash flow will go up with the down payment. This is a client who is putting 50 % down on those and financing the rest. In the Charlotte NC market he is lending $450k at 8 points every 90 days on homes ( again rough figures but $36k profit every 90 days if they all sell in time). So the profit is not a huge margin but good return for today's standards.It all depends on what you goals are and financial situation.
There is money in real estate just make sure you follow some simple rules , meeting the team, fly out to view the properties, set a time monthly to speak to the team leaders, get videos of your properties ( I like every 90 days inside and out) and most of all have goals and include exit strategies.
again just my two cents but I took that personal when some one says we don't care about properties like others do.
Sincerely
Alex Franks
[email protected]Defaults are at an all time high and foreclosures have been artificially restricted for the last 9 months since the title fraud incidents. So don’t go rushing in.
Will be a long time before you see capital growth due to the credit restrictions in place.
Alexsc
I didn’t mean to denigrate Americans. But the horror stories I am getting are coming from Americans themselves as well as Aussies. What I am referring to is the buy and hold investor not the hands on investor. An australian investor mostly wants hands off investment in another country. The spruikers of us property provide little or no figures on maintenance costs etc. Some allow $300 per year which unrealistic but it makes the bottom line look good. All I am saying is that things break, things wear out and things get stolen. Any Aussie investor needs to factor this in to their calculations Aussies are also used to vacancy rates around maybe 0.5 to 1%. Tenants can pick and choose more easily in the US than here and the property needs to be up to scratch.
Your style of more creative property investment has more appeal and I would be interested to hear more about that.
Once again, no offense intended but things are different in the US to what we are used to here.
Hi RickH
An answer to your original question.
Just the one property. Almost have a second in Kansas City.
But I will stop there I think. There have been some recent tenancy issues with the first property. Promising to pay the rent then not. Then they become uncontactable. Then they claim to not have any money……………….
Stress. Not much you can do from your lounge in Australia.
Thankfully the house came with an excellent property manager who eventually managed to get the rent (13 days late). Sounds like she hounded them with phone calls, emails and house visits. Served them with a 3 day payment order or face eviction.
However I'm dreading next month when its due again.The issue will be going through the eviction process if it happens. What if the tenant decides not to pay the rent and refuses to move out? I've just been reading the literature and it can take months to get the unpaying tenant out via court order. All the time theyr'e not paying the rent and not looking after the house.
Stress.
An issue all Australian investors have to be prepared to deal with if they proceed with a USA house investment.
In another issue. I too am finding this forum frustrating and over run by spruikers. Some of their comments and input have been excellent but others are just confusing and contradictory.
Leaving me with more questions than answers.Still havn't got an ITIN number. So my property manager has withheld my rent payments (at my request) to avoid the 30% withholding tax. I was told it will take at least 6 to 8 weeks and it looks like that will be the minimum.
RickH = How many properties have you bought in the US???
cheers
Guys please before you buy any properties in the states.Make sure to check the state you are buying the eviction laws and the managements system. If any one should need help with this feel free to email me. Currently South Carolina and North Carolina have fairly easy eviction from start to finish. In Atlanta is can take upwards of 1 to 2 months some time to get the eviction done.As the courts are backed up with foreclosures, each county has it own process.
Florida is another monster to tackle. Again if there is a system in place the management company should have a good waiting list for the new tenants. Solid property management companies are well worth paying the extra fees.Currently trying to set up in Dallas Texas have not found a management company to handle out investors home.That has wowed us enough to make that commitment.
Please don't take this next comment as harsh but from experience once a tenant gets behind very rare do they make up the payments. So best to evict and move on to the next tenant. Again this is from personal experience and managing properties for others. Again at the end of the day we are in a business of collecting cash flow on our properties . If we are not getting cash flow no reason to be in this business.
Again if you should have a question about property management in USA .Please feel free to email me.If I cant answer your questions .I am sure there is some one in my network that can help.
Sincerely
Alex Franks
[email protected]Hi Biggaz,
We have one in KC . Owned it for about 6 mths. So far so good. At present I dont think we will buy any more. Might look again if the aussie dollar drops down.
Our place we renovated prior to sale. It is a neat 3 bedroom house near shopping centre schools and easy access to highways and interstate.
Where abouts in KC are you looking to buy ? Are you using a buyers agent or doing it solo.Look forward to hearing about your efforts to buy in KC
Rick
Hey Rick
Despite the thread "Beware My USA Property"…………………I'm using My USA Property or whatever their new name is. I guess when you create a thread asking people to air their grievences, you'll invariably get a few.
I've not had any major issues with them.
-They've made the buying process straightforward.
-They did pretty much exactly what I expected them to do.
-They always respond to my emails.
– Setting up a USA bank account was a breeze.Negative:
– Their original spiel is that they only "locate houses in good areas". So they flick me a bunch of houses to view. I then find out where they are. I then trawl through a couple of USA forums on where to buy and avoid investment properties. As expected some will strongly state to avoid certain postcodes in Kansas City. Of course most of the houses I get shown are in these postcodes or at least right next door.
– The accountants they advice you to use is insanely expensive. The quotes I got I thought to myself "I may as well just send you guys all the rent money for your fees. I wont see any of it".
– Since I refused to use their accountants I didn't fully understand the ITIN process. So I still don't have one. 7 weeks now and waiting.
– Not enough photo's of the houses for sale. As luck would have it, the first house I got was also on Zillow for sale with about 20 photos.In the end I found a house in Independence, Kansas City. There's actually a few positive comments about this neighborhood in the USA forums. And its nowhere near the areas to avoid.
I would love to go over there and do it all myself but I simply don't have the time or skill to get it right. I reckon you could save some serious bucks to go solo. Good luck to those that do.
Did you use a buyers agent for KC???
cheers
Gary
Hi Gary,
Your experiences with My USA are similar to mine.
They offered 3 properties to me and wanted an instant answer.
I reseached and they were in the slums of KC …… one post codes was reffered to as "the murder factory". Also same issue with photos. The ones we were shown were 5 years old !! When we asked for current photos we were told that it was an infringement on tennants rights to take any photos ?????
The accountant ….. yes major rip off. They are based in Geelong where i am from and they have a good reputation here. But their fees were way too high.
I used HouseBuyers USA and they have been good. We were offered numerous houses and advised they move fast but you decide in your time. We had our account set up, LLC set up all done without fuss. We even have a guy on the ground in KC who can look after any minor issues that may pop up. So far so good.
We also had contact with a local buyers agent Mike who we missed a property with that looked really nice and was well priced.
Seems to be knowledgable on the local area.We ended up buying not too far from you in Fairlane distract of KC. Good mixed of people , average incomes average house prices. I am sure they all have their share of crime……… but research ment we avioded buying a ghetto !
Hi All,
Thought I would add my 2 cents worth….
I got my first home underway in October last year so nearly coming up to the first anniversary….no issues at all to report in the first 11 months. This one was via a friend of a friend who had also purchased a year before me and he is still happy so I was able to get the benefit of his contacts. Local bank finance for 70% LTV at 6.75% ARM. SFM in Denison TX about 60 miles north of Dallas. $111,000 that rents for $1250 a month
The second one only came on board a few months ago and again no issues to report….too early on in the piece. This one is in Dallas and purchased from a turn key operator called Texas Cash Cow Investments. SFH $139,000 that rents for $1350 a month with a small HOA. Got local finance at 50% but when I asked about another one yesterday they informed me of new finance for 70% LTV.
Again a bit too early to be beating the drums about how great it is but it's doing what I hoped so lets hope it continuesByron
good to see some positives. I am still looking and trying to decide on who to use. I know what you all mean about all the spruikers trying to push their own business. I am looking at Atlanta and KC and possibly Texas but I received some emails from My US property trying to sell me some condos in florida for $15k supposedly before they go to general database so I told them not to email me anymore.
I am going to USA on holiday in a couple of months so I am planning to have a look at some of the properties and neighbourhood while we are over there, see what they are like compared to photos.
Doing plenty of research in the meantime.
Hi Jeff,
I agree take your time as there is no shortage of stock from what i can tell.
Personally I found House Buyers USA to be very good and offer properties in the markets you are lookiing
at.
They have delivered the goods with aftersales service and communication. You can do alot worse than getting in touch with them.I find too many people / businesses promise the world and deliver nothing but annoyance and frustration.
House Buyers have delivered with prompt aftersales communication and all issues have addressed and acted upon quickly.
So far so good …….
Happy house hunting
Rick
Hi Rick,
Thanks, it was your previous comments that pointed me towards them.
They said they were pleased to hear existing clients were recommending them.
I've also been looking into US property invest and US property purchase but haven't decided which one yet, although I am swaying towards housebuyersUSA as I like the fact one brother is here and the other is in US.
I have spoken to Matt and have organised to meet with him and his brother next week as both will be in town for a short period. Great opportunity to talk to US and AUS partners at the same time.
RickH and Jefff1, take a good long look at some of the (currently listed) properties on HBUSA's website and that of 888 US Real Estate – there are some houses that look suspiciously similar last time I checked… and with a noticeable price difference too I would add.
We own 3 properties (so far)
All 2 bed/2 bath homes in Las Vegas.
Paid approx $52-55K per property (including repairs, fees etc)
Rents are approx $830-$880 per month.So far very pleased with how things are working out.
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