Keith

I’m more than happy to give you the details of the agency that I am currently using to prepare a couple of duplexes for sale, also managing the properties, as well as some other recommendations from people I have used.

The previous company I was dealing with has gone out of property management and these guys now manage the portfolio. They seem the real deal.

PM me your email and/or phone number and I will give you their details and provide some feedback on their service, together with some USA investing tips.

For banking, I just opened a USA HSBC account at my local branch here in Aus. There are some restrictions for use, however, for the first 6 mths.

Which area?  I have done very well in Rochester NY.

Macocam,

Finding good property managers is the first challenge and depending where where you buy, finding good tenants may also.

I have been blessed with two excellent property managers and problems have been minimal, however remote investing from the other side of the world can also be a challenge.

The results are there if you do your homework and groundwork but it's always good to compare with what you can do here.

Amsjerm

I have a small studio in Traralgon Victoria that I use for when I'm staying there for work.  Whilst staying, I am doing some work to it, ie carpet (done), vinyl (done), tiles (kitchen and bathroom), replacing timber panelling with plaster and painting and perhaps some cosmetic work on the kitchen (doors and benches).

I really only bought it for me but will be selling up before I leave this posting.  It will be worth about $75-79K when I'm done.  Expected rent is $85-90 pw (should rise with Body Corp increase this year).  I may even rent back for a period so I can just walk out when I'm done, which I expect to be in early to mid '09.  Body Corp is $500 pa and rates $250 pa (from memory).  It's not the prettiest part of town but it serves it's purpose for what I need.

Traralgon is the largest township in Gippsland Victoria, with approx 27,000 people.  The main industries include power production (55% of Victoria's base-load electricity supply), coal mining, forestry and plantations, one of Australia's largest pulp paper mills also.  The state Government also announced a $1 Billion investment into the power industry for a new plant at Loy Yang, just out of Traralgon, extra mining licences and a coal to diesel plant.

The Victorian Government also announced the route of the new Traralgon by-pass, that will restrict land release in the area and create a shortage of available land, that should push prices up quite substantially.

I also have a couple of USA properties, if you are that way inclined.  I have just taken over the titles of two properties that I held the first mortgage over.  The owners surrendered the properties in lieu of foreclosure.  They are both duplexes in Rochester NY, just rehabbed (I need to spend about $4K due to a couple of code violations since new laws were introduced), fetching and potentially fetching $425 per month each unit (times four is around $1,700/mth ($20,400 pa)).  I only took over last week, so I still need to calculate the taxes and where they are with pro-rata payments.  They also have clean titles to keep the liens at bay.  The comparison properties put their value at around $60K each (USD), which I will be putting them on the MLS (multi-listing service) for.  I will discount considerably for a quick sale, so I can return the funds to Australia.

If you are only starting out however, I suggest you steer clear of the US market, especially at the moment.

Anyway, above are a couple of 'real' examples of what's out there.  If you can raise the funds, some inner Melbourne suburbs are going nuts at the moment!!!

Cheers…Peter

Hi Jase and Flic

I really enjoyed reading your post.  Congratulations on your work.  I would love to come up and have alook at your progress in person one day if that's OK. I live about 10 mins away.

Peter

Sorry, should read “to avoid inconveniencing us” but probably should read “to avoid an inconvenience to us”. My grammar is not the bestest.

All the best…aussie

(formerly giraffe…New Year, New Nick, New Opportunities)

“Real Estate – The Foundations of Wealth”

What an unusual post….well done and good for a bit of fun.

Many would be frightened off by the purpose of the signature on the paper but hey, we sign things every day so the opportunity to forge a signature exists anyway.

Electronic signatures (PINs etc) are more of a concern for fraud these days.

It appears from some of the posts above that many people put pride before profits.

I say…..show me the money baby and you can have my monogram!!!!

And like Wylie says, can we do it more than once?

All the best…aussie

(formerly giraffe…New Year, New Nick, New Opportunities)

“Real Estate – The Foundations of Wealth”

I think that getting too creative with ‘subject to’ clauses can run the risk of the agent and vendor not taking you or your offer seriously and making you look as though you have no real commitment to buying. If you are building a relationship with an agent, this can be a relationship killer and good agents are hard to find. I believe that there is a difference between ‘creative’ clauses and ‘water tight’ clauses.

What kind of things will make you pull out of the deal?

I guess no finance approval and a clause that I use is “at the purchasers financial institution/s of choice by XX date’.

Building condition – ‘subject to a builders report to the purchaser’s satisfaction’.

Code violations – ‘subject to no council code violations’.

I think that these are quite common and legitimate clauses and give you outs and protection as needed. If you are only wanting to sign and then pull out because you can, then why sign in the first place? You would have hopefully conducted some research before signing on the dotted line.

Also, and please feel free to correct me if I’m wrong as I haven’t bought, sold or made an offer on a house in Victoria for some time, but isn’t there a law that states if you take a contract to a solicitor prior to the end of the cooling off period, then it voids the cooling off period. Once again, I may be wrong but this may have some affect on the ‘subject to solicitor’s satisfaction’ clause. I guess you can always put on an expiry date and not take the contract to the solicitor until after the cooling off period.

All the best…aussie

(formerly giraffe…New Year, New Nick, New Opportunities)

“Real Estate – The Foundations of Wealth”

It would be interesting to know if the RESULTS forum has much of an impact on the general forum. I know when I click to look at the recent topics many have been blocked.

All the best…aussie

(formerly giraffe…New Year, New Nick, New Opportunities)

“Real Estate – The Foundations of Wealth”

The Christmas/New Year period should be a wake-up call for us all.

We live in one of the most fire-prone areas of the world and should not become complacent.

Major fires in four states, several houses and numerous outbuildings lost and major stock losses in NSW and Victoria. Even in WA, where the weather patterns have been reported as unusual on this thread, had it’s share of fires over the break.

In Victoria the prediction is for higher than average temperatures (hottest December and NYE on record) and coupled with the significant fuel growth, we have a recipe for disaster.

It is never too late to prepare, especially people with rural properties, on the urban/rural interface and those backing on to parklands and reserves.

Have a safe summer.

All the best…aussie

(formerly giraffe…New Year, New Nick, New Opportunities)

“Real Estate – The Foundations of Wealth”