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We don't do short stay rentals typically but buy foreclosures and create shared housing with them. We will take a 4bed/3ba home that normally rents for $900 or $1,000 and instead rent the 4 rooms separately for double that or more. Happy to network! Andy
Nigel – Very informative video on investing in general and worth a watch/listen. Couldn't agree with you more on the Detroit market….investors started going there in droves around '07/'08 and outside of some successful Section 8 rentals, almost everyone I've heard of lost their shirts except for the wholesalers. Why invest in a place where you wouldn't lay your head at night? That should be the first rule of investing anywhere. Nigel targets the Orlando FL market which is an awesome US market….the economy is atypically stable for FL with strong employment & tourism thanks to Disneyland, SeaWorld and the like. I spent a week down there reviewing properties in June and liked what I saw….just a bit more expensive than what I can still do in Atlanta. Sounds like he has a very solid program going down there. thanks for sharing. Andy
You will find in most markets that if you want the best results…you need to pay for it! You can expect to pay 6% to 7% in most US markets usually equally divided between the listing agent & the selling agent. You can always try to negotiate but to attract the agents who really work to get things done…and not park it on MLS or stick a sign in the yard….you've got to pay for it. I'm not an agent but whenever I list one of my flips with one, I offer a higher percentage to the selling agent….works like a charm to get it sold!
In the US, especially in what we refer to as the "inner city", the best managers may not be those who pay on time or keep in touch…but as long as they do get you paid AND keep the place rented, that's what you really need to be after. Try to get personal references if you can. Some of the houses foreign investors are buying, look nice in the pictures and sold for $200k a few years ago, but are really in war zones. Parts of Atlanta are like that. Some of the best managers in the inner city parts of Atlanta are unlicensed and not the best with paperwork but they keep the place occupied. My group doesn't buy in the war zones anymore as I don't want to deal with that tenant base. Most of the managers I have used in Atlanta were God awful but I ended up with a few who were decent. I don't rent whole houses anymore. Instead, I create shared housing for better rents & returns. Happy to network! Andy
Kansas City & metro Atlanta are extremely different markets! Wish I could make your meeting been meaning to get to Australian for years now. I'm very active in metro Atlanta so happy to network. We partner with investors to create shared housing for higher & more consistent returns. All the best! Andy
We have watched so many Australian investors come to our market in metro Atlanta and get crushed so maybe an indepth article on the pro's and con's of investing abroad. Maybe something that followed investors in different "favorite" markets like: phoenix, atlanta, st. louis, detroit or memphis.
Ask yourself why you hired a PM in the first place? Do you have time for the headaches and the hassles? You tend to get better renters in Australia with the system you have there. In the US, it can be a complete free-for-all and eviction laws and process differ from place to place. If you live near the property then you might be able to manage it but I would suggest that you represent yourself to tenants as working for the owners and not that you are the owner. The dynamics will be very different. Try to network with other investors in your immediate area and gets some recs from them. Successfully managing investment properties is the hardest part! Here in Atlanta, my group got away from renting entire homes to families after a couple of disasterous years and now create shared housing for much higher & consistent returns, without the damages & vacancy. We have houses that would normally rent for $750 or so bringing in over $1,200 net. We like that! You may wish to try this in your market. All the best.
