We have a Ikea kitchen here in NY…..its from 2009…..here we are in 2019 and looks as good as new-would totally use them again.

http://www.collins.net.pr/Photo/House%20photos/135%20Henry%20St%2C%20Brooklyn/3%20-%20Final%20Outcome/photo.htm

@dale,

Property in the USA is cheaper because they have more tier2 cities.

I’ve said it before multiple times until its just as cool to live in Nowra, Orange, Port Macquarie as it is Sydney, housing=expensive in Australia.

This said regarding property taxes……you have to remember property taxes in USA is different to council rates in Australia.

Its is the main format that USA cities fund police/municipal services/schools etc.

For example I live in a modest apartment building here in Brooklyn Heights, New York. We have 6 apartments in our building (our apartment is the largest at 2br/2bth 160m2 – the other 5 are 1br or studios).

Our buildings annual budget is $60kpa and over half of that goes to city taxes (eg $30k). The other $30k covers everything else eg heat/water/gas/repairs/building insurance etc etc

So for my wife and I our portion of the monthly bill is a little over $2k a month or $24k a year.

Its high and we also have a city income tax bill of 3%pa of wages/salary etc but that $24k a year pays for everything that the city provides eg police/schools etc and we are ok with that…..lol though wish it was lower etc etc but it does make it expensive as a property investor to actually make a ROI on investments over here once you take property taxes into consideration (as a matter of interest our federal is 19% and state 6% + the city 3%).

Basically a good rule of thumb is city taxes is around 1% of the property value per annum (eg our apartment is worth about US$2.4m). Some cities charge more (a lot more eg 3%) some charge less.

I hope that answers your question on property taxes and why they are high.

• This reply was modified 5 years, 8 months ago by  DeanCollins.

Hi Karan,

If you don’t have the ability to borrow from the bank you are basically asking someone to hire you just for labor only?

How many property development deals have you completed?

How many block split deals have you completed?

Why would someone hire you to do this labor with no experience??

Hope you understand my questions are trying to be helpful and not hurtful.

Loans that are a Fannie or Freddie 30 year fixed can still not have pre-payment penalty

Likewise a Freddie or Fannie loan from any of the major banks should still be non-recourse.

Non-recourse means you can walk away from the loan by giving up the property in a short sale and not owe anymore, obviously you lose your equity but most loans in the USA are limited to the value of the property (unlike Australia…..where the banks have you on the hook for everything they are short after sales/expenses).

We’ve refinanced for lower rates twice over the last 8 years since we first purchased for lower rates (and once to acquire the apartment downstairs to do a combination). Apart from about 9 months when we first did the 2012 duplex combination we’ve paid extra every month with no penalties (around about $1-2k extra a month) with no pre-payment penalties with either Chase/Wells or BOA.

Anyway not really important, just never understood why USA banks allowed 30 year fixed loans you can pre-pay as much as you want.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 8 months ago by  DeanCollins.

Why do you think USA banks are able to offer 30 year fixed loans but ALSO have no issue in you paying back the debt at any time you chose.

I’ve never understood why paying back fixed loans to Aussie banks result in hug penalties….but in the USA they don’t care?

Ethan Timor wrote:

In my book ‘no reply from the PM’ is unacceptable. I would put her on notice and if doesn’t sort it out promptly, I would replace her.

Agree Ethan, we pay good money for PM…..they work for us not the other way around.

Awesome response Terry.

Thanks for confirming.