Forum Replies Created
All I know is that it adds a serious concern that should not be underestimated on wear and tear….. Roofs especially but vinyl siding etc… Just basic hard yakka on buildings, drain spouts etc.
Just back from mandatory 24 hour beach trip…. God that ocean and white white sand of the Gulf makes up for slogging it ATL style..!
Alex…. If we were talking fishing and meaning fly fishing I would bring my rod… Used to tie my own flies inAlaska… Caught all 5 species of salmon one season…. Loved it… River rafting/kayaking…… Just dont buy multiplexes there!
Ha – we do need to meet…. I remember being out one night in zip 89030 in Vegas at 44 degrees Celsius sitting in my now defunct little blow up pool looking the stars and thinking very, very very hard "what day of the week is this"…. it was the most wonderful, wonderful feeling to not know….
If anyone reads this and works in the ROFL 9-5 job that is 6:30am through until 3:30 am and where the greatest exercise you get is going for more coffee or a Rotary lunch or Chamber meal……..and Saturdays is just another day in the office with Sundays just a GREAT day to do some catch up office work without your staff hassling you…. THIS IS PURE BLISS.
I was probably more likely to die of a heart attack and stress slaving for others – I once worked out as an Exec. Director I made precisely $3.50 an hour for the work I put in ….. and PAID to go to a gym.
Sometimes I have to remind myself but I want this to remain fun and at the level that it is fun….. and I will….. without guns. I will take the sweat and sometimes tears to do that… hopefully helping others in the interim.
I pretty much do all the renovations on my own personal properties because I enjoy it (don't lay carpet and rarely now do my own tiling just because it hurts the hands and knees too much) – that is now meaning that I do a HECK of a lot of work….
So when I mean all nighters it means that I, and my 6 x 33 gallon Home Depot stackable totes (one for clothing and towels & blow up mattress, one for plates, toaster & microwave, one for plumbing, one for painting & cleaning, one for electrical & one for tools.) get whacked into the back of my Chevy and I go and camp on the property until it is done. My paint sprayer travels by itself separately. I have a fold up chair. My chalkline has doubled as a washing line.
I get to know the neighbors, they get my phone number, I know the ins and outs…. I inevitably get a tenant while renovating etc.
In my "professional life" what I do means that most of it is dealing with clients and they ALWAYS end up coming first and me second. So when I come home and want to relax, I can paint a wall or swap out a faucet etc.
This is NOT the lifestyle for everyone and I do have my 3 actual homes and offices (one Alaska, one primary in Vegas, one Atlanta) that have a lot of matching matters so when I walk in I feel like home and are furnished as such…but down the line they could also be rented as fully furnished accommodation as they all have sheds!
NOMADS are us…..we are a rare breed! Thus why I make the commitment to the client and their investment, not the specific property and city….. Plus great long term tax deductions if I do 6 monthly inspections for everyone and spend a few weeks working on the properties down the line = )
Everyone knows – I am here to babysit properties for 5 years only – after that…. hopefully all the grasshoppers have learnt well!
Emma
I did this very successfully for 2 years on a 4 plex I had in Alaska…GREAT family babysat it for that time and I cried when they left (and sold immediately)… it was enough for them to watch it and for me to visit every couple of months for the thorough go through……
Alaska as the long term threadies know, was my real estate training exercise from hell…. namely the lure of 30% yield on paper … aaaah, the newbie errors people make… sigh, so glad hopefully some people have gained from those days…. NEVER BUY COLD WET SNOW etc etc…
This ploy worked brilliantly for me – and back then, real estate was a hobby and a passion but supplemented by my real job so yield wasn't the big play ( THANK GOD) – in Alaska I would just be happy they were still standing another year.
I must say every storm I am through in Atlanta just makes me pray the same for my properties here…. GOD this climate over this neck of the woods is DIRE for longevity ……the GUSHING water and almost horizontal rain coupled with that wind……
Tenant issues aside……for those of you in Atlanta, please do not underestimate the severity of these storms…… coupled with humidity… nothing better than water + humidity. Actually get an HVAC specialist who has done roofing.
Oh no – it would probably have been tenanted – they probably marked up the house to subsidize the tenant though…
I used to be asked what the difference between me and the other "buyers agents" were (aka those unlicensed sitting in Australia who had been here perhaps on holiday) and I used to almost want to cry…ASK ASK ASK!!!!!!
1) LICENSED…. actually can legally use the term "US buyers agent" – you CAN sue me with recourse (watch how careful you get on that level in the US = ) I don't say "fabulous home you can buy" – I say this has these pros and these cons because they ALL do …. but I OWE you honesty – wholesalers …..? Not so much!
2) Don't mark up repair costs – as in yes, project management included
I spend 10 hours at least on every property – every one going over EVERY item – HOW LONG DO THEY – WHO DOES??3) Don't charge to rent your property – not even a renewal fee – and if evicted in the first 6 months you don't pay a cent there either (obviously didn't exactly find the "right" tenant at that point)…
BUT EVERYONE SAYS/SAID THE SAME PRATTLE….dear god the websites might as well have been written by the same person …
How the HECK would you tell the difference? I don't know… I seriously don't. I used to say ask them how much a toilet is at Home Depot…There are NO guarantees in life and especially not in investing…. all I did was think of the worst of my nightmares and try to think of reassurance factors to eliminate how to NOT get screwed – at the buy, at the repair, at the rental…. and I can tell you right now – it is hundreds of hours of work.
This annoys me because Alex, Jay, Kyler are STATESIDE people who I believe anyway AREN'T ripping people off but again – WHO IN THE US AS AN AVERAGE INVESTOR WOULD BUY THROUGH A WHOLESALER???? NO ONE UNLESS THEY WANT TO FEED WITH THE SHARKS….NONE of my friends, my former work colleagues would EVER, in ANY market go "hmmm, I want to invest in property…… let's go to the auctions and find me a wholesaler"…. they would go the course that offered legal recourse…. even if they were hopeless they could sue.
Guys, there are SLIME in both countries… and I don't have a solution….
I'm not sure I would wish the ground stuff on my worst enemy unless they have a passion for it (note NOT a passion for making money but for actually SOLVING a problem). The angst and I mean angst of an untenanted house – doesn't worry the construction dude at all….so if his repairs go over the 15th and you are trying to get a tenant in by the 1st?
Does your real estate agent panic about the date you actually close on a property that needs a lot of reno's…..it freaks me out but I can walk the neighborhood putting up flyers, instantly drop a rental amount etc.
I HATE mid month closings – anything after the 10th is fraught with angst….
Look – unless your guru is sitting here amongst the crap, you need to talk to the person that is. The tradesmen that promise they will be there Monday – you need to be there Monday to check they were etc…
The nuances to this are so so so so so much more than just "you can't lose" – someone SERIOUSLY has that as their "campaign" in Australia…..
FOOLPROOF
If you are interested in yield – you need to play hard ball with everyone get 3 quotes, ask to review the candidate, get involved with the rental ask – do your research because you are in BUSINESS.HOWEVER……. If you are interested in a capital growth…..??? Seriously… if it were me??? I would put the lowest rent possible on your property, interview 45 applicants and ask them to write an essay about how well they will look after your property, include photos and videos of their current house that they must have lived in for at least 5 years, get 20 testimonials including work and their reward is an unbreakable 5 year least at ??$500 a month on your property CANCELLED IMMEDIATELY THEY ARE A DAY LATE IN RENT…….Applicant MUST BE MAINTENANCE ORIENTED – PREF HVAC SPECIALIST and call it good……. bonus each year paid to them if they don't have any issues on your mandatory tax deductible inspection trip by someone.
Do away with property managers, tenant changeover etc….
Simple.
I'm not really joking – take a 5% yield slash but be happy.
You should ALWAYS get a home inspection unless you are seriously knowledgeable… world class home inspections and Brett will do them for $300…. Good guy… Includes your termite letter. Tell them to be evil and include everything.. radon is an issue here which you may or may not want to know about….. Problem with large granite rock in the middle of all matters…lol…
Alex I am SO here until July 22… Then Vegas, then LAX to look at MFR’s for a few days then back to Vegas and then back ATL the 19th of August…unless needed back ATL sooner if needed. Then Oz for a few days etc.
Ha, I will meet you in the parking lot of Home Depot I assume?? Not hard to spot the blonde with the beaten up chevy pickup (bought for one property as a throw away… Has lasted me every property ever since) Main headlight held up by pajama cord and NV plates.
I am constantly told by my NRA gun toting broker that imminent danger is upon. I have worked in the worst of zips in theory in Vegas by myself on all nighters and am decidedly the only solo white female in my little town home development in ATL and the only danger I face is either being converted to being a Baptist (unlikely, can’t sing) or becoming obese as everyone is adamant I am anorexic and need feeding…..
2 streets in any direction can give you a very different sense of America. Some of the loveliest people are Americans, right Jay? Right Alex?
My tenant…. One of my best tenants father passed on this weekend. She and her husband are two of the loveliest people and their kids go to private schools here in Atlanta…… I expressed my deepest sympathies having not that long ago gone through that agony.
I didn’t dare ask but she almost nonchalantly said he was shot by his cousin at a 60th birthday party…..
But of course. I have to say I havent once in Vegas come across a gun incident but Atlanta….?
Alex
Couldn't agree more. Every one of my investors gets to sit in a cafe playing with pipe cutters and sharkbite and they all go home with a souvenir copy of Home Depot 1-2-3…….having walked the aisles…. some practice replacing faucets and angle stops just so they SEE what it really entails.There is method in madness… if you have an issue, even if you have ZERO real clue, you could sit in Australia and open your Home Depot 1-2-3, look up the problem (Leaking toilet) as explained by your property manager and go – aha, well is it the flapper or the flush mechanism or is it leaking from the angle stop….. ? You can see that for a novice it might take you 30 minutes….to fix problem "x"… (seriously that book tells you how to do ANYTHING in a house to code)…. but you will know enough NOT to be screwed.
Me with cars?? ROB ME BLIND…. I know nothing but nothing about them – it might as well be magic. I KNOW but KNOW I am being screwed every time I have to do anything…. it is NOT a good feeling.
AAAaaah, next lifetime.
CL1706
Great to hear it…… I don't care who you are or where you invest, there isn't a time that you won't get a bill and go "WHAT THE!!". If you meet someone who can operate via email, send quotes and photos of the work…..add them to the list if you so desire.Emma
Alex… glad you piped in, I must say that in Atlanta, I am beginning to turn to the dark side…. I love Home Depot but not so much in Georgia…. Sigh…. what is up with the crappy HD selection here – for instance, 58" blinds – standard window size… but do they exist in Georgia??? No. Yes, I know, I know, I get the behind reasoning, I get they can't all be the behemoth version but seriously. PLUS with Lowe's… I do love their new online (NOT CREDIT CARD) tracking card….. nice sticker to add to my credit card (I don't WANT an HD or Lowe's CCD – I want airline miles for my reward)…..so that tracking card is just a GOD SEND…. HD seriously slacking on that.
Okay – two other things that are making me a bit of a convert to Lowe's – their $19.00 faucets…. looking very similar to the Glacier Bay Builder's chrome ones at $24.86….. hmmmmmmm, OH, and the 2 pack lights…. Home Depot have them – both about the same price but Lowe's definitely has an edge on "style".
PLUS I HATE HOME DEPOT FOR DOING AWAY WITH SPEEDWALL INTERIOR EGGSHELL – I am stuck with Glidden now – but will keep buying paint there for the Propaints reward…
NO – WORSE…. my all in one toilets at $79 have just disappeared….. Next up in price… $88 ones that are evil to install. AND the audacity of the guy who…. get this says "oh they were just a special"!!!??????? YEEEAAAAHHHH right, a special that I have been buying for THIRTEEN YEARS……. !!!
So, yes, my love affair with HD is still there just slightly faded and my loyalties must lie to the Charleston and Lamb Home Depot in Las Vegas with Shirley, and Sean and Travis and Charlie and all my family there……..
In Vegas they actually know what they are talking about – here?? they congregate and talk and if they ask you if they can help you it is while they keep walking past and away from you. I rarely have a question but dear HEAVENS if I need something from the top shelf it is an hour delay. HOME DEPOT, ARE YOU LISTENING???? I MAY HAVE TO BREAK UP WITH YOU……
Okay – blinds still at Home Depot even if they don't have the sizes ($4.97 for a 34"x 64" blind), lightbulbs (come on, pack of 16 for $3.97… can't beat that)….plus of course redbeacon…. Exterior carriage lights – $10.97 (they have gone up to)… plus the Leviton $1.99 for pack of 10 faceplates or $3.97 for the outlets….
Carpet I use the same – mocha cream charger 12' for ours with the 8lb underlay, I rarely deviate because despite it being cheap 63 cents a sq ft (Lowe's again), it is just really convenient and I really actually like it… I chose it ages ago. I used to buy through wholesalers but they never had consistent enough volumes and I need 600 yards a week+ it is important to know they haven't given it to someone else or I can go to another store etc….if I don't have carpet in my properties by day 4 or at worst 5 of reno's I am one grumpy gal….I can't take advertising photos until then…
AHHHHHH… I am torn.
Underlay ABSOLUTELY not from the box stores (Lowe's or HD)…. $50 a bag. Ditto with A/C…. I just pay the systems guys…. plus my a/c cages are expensive but that just is what it is… $275 for a cage but on call.
Thank GOD they don't allow direct advertising on this site….. ????
Yes anyone can get that through any bank in the US and it is free to set up an account – the question becomes WHY do you so desperately want to open a US account.
You can pay all your bills online ANYWAY – from Australia… admittedly once you have rent coming in, it may well help to keep bills in the same currency but isn't that what you have a property manager for?
For some of my guys who self manage it is definitely advisable for the US account but again, totally free. UNTIL you get monthly charges, some of which can be waived with minimum balances etc….. all US accounts offer online bill pay, tracking of expenditure, mobile phone alerts etc – IT JUST ISN'T FREE AND ISN'T LIKE AUSTRALIA. Bank Of America, Wells Fargo, Bank of Anywhere USA
Again, thank you for the spruik.
Totals it. However, declare bankruptcy, behave and 2 years later… FHA here you come! Oh, if you foreclosed on them, you get the house!.
Will he care in this economy… Probably not, the shame of left in about Dec 2010.
I concur on the ethics… And caliber and with a huge nod to those in TYO, I tried to boil it down to one item and ultimately for me it is simply navigating through… I have looked at other cities when I have lived O/S and it is just the joy of sitting in a room where every document is in a foreign language or you have a meeting and your translator has to repeat everything and half of what you would love to say may or may not be translated etc… But yes, it actually does sund tempting …. Just with that caveat.
I think that carries until you are in a situation where something goes "awry" – it doesn't matter where I have been on the planet – there is just always that point at which you just want to KNOW. It is a difference from micromanaging it is the added assurance that if something DID go wrong, heaven forbid, you COULD deal with it. You could, in the worst case scenario, get on a flight and get over here and actually do something.
I took a video of a massive thunderstorm in Vegas… They do occasionally happen… A doozie… Hailstorms. 20 minutes later you couldnt tell for love nor money it had happened. Dry as a bone. 4″ a year in zero humidity doesn’t quite quantify as rainin m mind. When you walk outside and have to think twice about what that drop was on you and your first thought is a bird, I will go with that. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE thunderstorms… Just not as a property owner and I was in the tornado warnings here as well… Even yesterday afternoon here in Atlanta the trees were almost bent double. I used to think Sydney had big storms! Actually every day in Atlanta has that mid summer, boiling hot Christmas day feel to it.
Problem with investing overseas, even the US is where you are adding cross cultural issues and language barriers. It can be tough enough the Spanish/American but I think I would personally baulk further coupling in a potentially greater complication of Japan where, if push came to shove and I had to deal with it I REALLY couldn’t… And too often I hear people saying that there gut tells them “x” and you can say, oh, just pick up the phone, call 3 other vendors. It is too reliant on someone else that I wouldn’t be able to take over.
At least here on July 4th people were accepting we are all siblings birthed from Englband in our legal system.
When I set my company up I did it to enable people to survive in this market with or without me, to teach the skills and just not get ripped off…. I am just not sure Japanese wouldnt end up a prerequisite!
OOOOOHHHH, I have to bite.
VEGAS
I think it is dire too…. absolutely tragic at the moment.
I will prove it too…..
This was what I just pulled – the link below is the ENTIRE Vegas market on the MLS ( we only have one in Vegas). As In when I run my searches I can draw in the MLS (the listing service where all properties in the open market are), a big rectangle that encompasses the whole of the vegas market….. So I did.
Search criteria:
Any active listings (ER, EA, AU)
ALL foreclosures under 80k
Minimum 2 bedrooms
Minimum age 1980.http://las.fusionmls.com/DotNet/Pub/EmailView.aspx?r=651207116&s=LAS&t=LAS
Actually 2 of these surprised me – I would have thought Possum Berry would be gone by now (ha, it could be totalled) – it piqued my interest and had been taken off … hmmm…that isn't a bad street/style – still steep in my mind if you assume 6k repairs…. – definitely on the flight path for Nellis… hmmm, might just be agent not updated…
For those who can't be bothered – there are 14. Yep. 14 actually – one modular in the mix.
On the plus side, starting to be great for flippers and for those wishing to buy, outside of the auctions, probably what you will end up buying….- have to love Vegas – no population decrease, 40 million visitors a year NO MOULD…no rain…..
Unfortunately, and it may just be for now, the window of opportunity for Vegas is just not there – it may come back… I just very very much doubt it.
1.8 million people live in this city. 40 MILLION visit.
No state income tax, no lawns, tiled roofs, just places to GO. I even love that service calls aren't delayed by traffic…… aaah, I am homesick.
I love Atlanta trees and I actually really love the heat but not without a beach! Plus the storms here and flipping roof damages!
I was driving through Atlanta today and gosh, on the radio "you could win a trip to Vegas"… I was in Sydney last time and yep, you betcha (they do a lot in Vegas), you could win a trip to …. yep, you guessed it…….. Atlanta….. naaaaahhhh, only kidding – VEGAS – you could go to VEGAS…
Every day I am in Atlanta I WISHED I could zap the dryness of Vegas into Atlanta. EVERY drip or leak just is GOING to be that "bluish/grayish" substance. I wished I could just drive 15 minutes and be on the strip watching everyone as the Bellagio Fountains go off and happy tourists all around…… the economic impact of and spending $$ on the economy is just palpable.
However, place your stake wherever and claim your own spot. It just doesn't make much sense for it to be Vegas right now – although the odd ones do come up. We will try to nab them the second they do!
Casa
No problems – here is the thing – the ONLY way that I know to realistically transfer OUT of the US unless you are physically sitting in front of them is XE.com – you have to sign up for an account (which is in and of itself a bit of a saga) but once you do you are GREAT to go – if you have a Wells Fargo account….they simply wire it over – wonderful – and avoid all the fees.ANY OTHER MECHANISM YOU MUST PHYSICALLY BE SITTING IN FRONT OF A TELLER TO DO IT… NOT GOOD.
If you can't qualify for an XE account, the only other seriously viable option would be to have a debit card and take out of an ATM at $500 increments….
YES it is THAT stupid. You can't even write yourself a cheque as US drafted cheques aren't accepted in Oz banks.
So – XE account and then you can wire out of your Wells Fargo Account into your Australian account and you will open your Wells Fargo account for free when you set foot in the US and present them with your passport – BUT
No, you don't avoid fees with Wells Fargo – there used to be a great way of transferring x amount back and forth between savings and checking but of COURSE they caught on to that.
Ironically I closed all of my accounts with Wells Fargo over their fee structure and moved to Bank Of America but BofA aren't as friendly to aliens without Social Security Numbers.
So, if you have a job earning over 80k, can present every last widget of tax information to Xe and can wangle it, this would be my strongest recommendation.
Smaller banks and credit unions won't charge fees (or as much in fees) but this is a BIG lesson I have learnt – Never say never. If anyone had said when I was living in Alaska that I would invest and eventually in turn through all this become a real estate agent in 2 states in the Lower 48, let alone said Las Vegas and Atlanta (!), I would have toppled over backwards – but that is the problem with smaller banks – accessibility … you may never venture out of "x" state but if you did, Alaska Federal Credit Union is a FABULOUS bank with no monthly maintenance fees if you have even one direct deposit – but there are only 2 affiliate banks and each only have something like 2 branches at that in Las Vegas that I could use… how is my tenant/pm etc seriously going to be depositing my funds there – a wire to my account is as much as a wire to Australia!
A primary concern to me is always – if your property manager and you fell out….. if they are the only mechanism of you getting the rents and they disappear? Have a bank account in a bank that has many branches. If you HAD to, you would be able to tell your tenant directly to deposit into your account – remember, people generally pay rent in cash or cheque in most instances… online payment for rent is still VERY VERY rare…
Yep, if I was going to have 24k in rents in a year – i would NOT be leaving it all in the hands of anyone other than me… so I would either pay the wire fees to have it come to me every 3 months or I would indeed have a US bank account to shove it into.
Hope that helps.
Emma
Hahahahaha you think these are for me?????? Ooooooooh silly people… No I use QB online for me…. This is just me being the most amazing charitable person on the planet….
No these are funds for the brokerage, for tenants for contractors and as laterally as I think there is no simple solution…..
Paying me is the simplest deal on the planet…… QB Online saved my sanity on that level a million years ago. Apologies for the deposit confusion. Send an invoice and it is paid immediately online with QB… Merchant services so my clients can pay me by CCD from ozetc etc….
But sending coop fees to agents that aren’t online??? Contractors who aren’t on line?? It isn’t me…… It is everyone else!
I don’t do checks in my business at all…… My tenants (I still self manage all my personal properties) online…… Everyone else……… PLEASE GET ONLINE!!!! How can a real estate agent not be able to invoice me for the simplest blasted thing as a coop fee!!!!
I am licensed in 2 States and have yet to find AN agency dialled in…..
EARNEST MONEY DEPOSITS ???? I DRIVE CASHIERS CHEQUES HITHER AND YON…. How much of a waste of time is that…. ! Mind you that is my paranoia to check each clients stuff is done right but still…. Hand holding and sanity?
