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Hi,
I can recommend a very solid market – Raleigh, North Carolina. Whilst most of the US is in a correction, North Carolina is still solid and growing with good cash flow and appreciation opportunities. It hasn't had the large spikes or troughs that you typically see in the West etc. Raleigh continues to chug along with great prospects.
A few quick facts about the market and the area…… Raleigh is essentially made up of an area called the "Triangle", which consists of 3 cities – Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill. It has great population growth, jobs growth, low vacancy rates, good geographical location and affordable housing. All the main growth factors you need in real estate.
It is home to the Research Triangle Park (RTP) – a business center and the largest research park in the nation that is home to 157 companies and employs over 39,000 people and growing. RTP is the headquarters of IBM. Other companies include GlaxoSmithCline, Cisco Systems and some of the the biggest Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology companies in the country.
The Triangle area is the home of 3 very credible universities. Raleigh has North Carolina State University (NCSU) – one of the best Engineering and Vet schools in the country. Durham has Duke University – one of the best Medical schools in the country. And Chapel Hill has the University of North Carolina (UNC) – one of the best Business schools and for sports (Michael Jordan went to college here if anyone cares).
So combining RTP and the 3 great universities there is a demand for rentals.
Forbes.com rates the Raleigh area……..
Number 1 for best cities for jobs.
Number 1 for best place to live and work.
Number 1 for Business and careers.
Number 1 for Biotechnology region.
Number1 for High-Tech region.
Number 4 for strongest economy.My wife and I (Both Australians) purchased a 4 unit building near Downtown Raleigh in July 07 for $160K. It positive cash flows $390 per month. And this was with 100% financing (deposit coming from LOC in Oz and mortgage financed in US. Imagine our cash flow if we paid our deposit in cash?) We hope to actually move back to Raleigh later this year, we previously lived there in 2004 -2006 so are very familiar with the area.
We recommend you look at this website for finding credible real state agents in all states of America that are also active investors themselves so know how to crunch the numbers: http://www.narreia.com./
NARREIA stands for National Association of Residential Real Estate Investment Advisors. They have agents all over the country and the website has great articles on each market.We found our agent in Raleigh through NARREIA. Her name is Tiffany Elder: http://www.tiffanyelder.com/
Tiffany is very knowledgeable on investing, invests in the area herself, and as I said knows how to crunch the numbers. If the numbers don't work, she walks away, no emotional attachment! She is familiar with single-family homes, multi-families, rehabs, pre-forclosures, you name it. Her website has a wealth of information on the market and what she has to offer. Tiffany is awesome and we will definitely be buying through her again. She also has contacts with lenders and property managers – very important. Feel free to mention that you found her through Caroline and Craig Makepeace on a forum.A few more websites you can look at for info on the area:
http://www.researchtriangle.org/
http://www.rtp.org/main/
http://www.newsobserver.com/ (local paper)
http://raleigh.craigslist.org/
http://www.realtor.com/ (nation wide real estate search)Anyways, I hope that helps anyone whose interested in learning about an area other than Texas.
As always, I highly suggest you make the investment in time and money to visit any area in which you plan to invest. Spend some time there getting a feel for the place, the market, and to build the necessary relationships with Realtors, property managers, lenders etc who are critical to your success. Whilst the internet is great, nothing beats "feet on the street" as they say!Feel free to contact us personally.
Craig and Caroline
[email protected]Its sounds as if he is pretty motivated. find out a price that will work for you and offer it. He can only say no, he might even say yes. You never know just how desperate he may be. If you don't ask the only answer is a no!
hi,
I'd hold onto it. The same thing happened with us about 5 years ago with our townhouse on the Sunshine Coast. We bought it in 02 for 135,000 and now its worth about $300,000. I'm so glad we never gave in to the constant stream of letters asking to sell, that increase in equity has allowed us to do so much now.
If its not costing you too much each week and you can handle it,then definitely hold it. The market is only going to increase in that area and your townhouse will keep appreciating.
Wealth through accumulation!I'm currently in the US, checking out properties to invest in. Nothing beats being on the ground. We have learnt an incredible amount just by being here. You learn so much more about the market, the areas and the properties, as well as how things work. Which is really important as things are very different to how they are done in your own country. Its also great to build those relationships so in the future you can continue to invest from your home. We have establised great relationships now with very talented, professional people and so feel confident in doing it from our living room in OZ in the future. This alone has made the trip worthwhile. (and you get a holiday which you can write off some expenses for!!)
But that of that is not feasable for you, its still possible to do it. Do lots of research on the net and build great relationships with people in the area you want to invest in. A good building inspector will definitely help in the due diligence for that part of the investing. We just had one complete an inspection on our property, even with us here. Trust the experts to do the right job.Good luck with it. I'm writing a blog on our experiences, if you want to check it out. Feel free to email with any other questions
hi,
I'm currently in the US investing in property now. My husband and i have come over from OZ for a couple of months.
we did a lot of research on the net before we came over and started to build relationships with realtors and brokers over here before we came. We also made sure we researched the best areas in the US to invest in. you can do it over the phone or the net but nothing really beats getting over here and working it from the ground. We are making good progress and now we have the relationships and systems in place to make it easier for us to continue to do it from Australia when we return.
there are loads of opportunities here.
I'm currently writing a blog which you can follow. I talk about different aspects of the investing in the US which you might like to read and learn from. Its http://camakos.blogspot.com
feel free to message me with any questions etc, I'd be happy to help
caroline
