If only it was that easy Sash, if you do some research into vendor financing in the USA you may think twice about it with the new laws coming in, especially in Texas.

The 2 main problems with investing in the USA are finance and property management. Due to the US being such a competitive market, one of the things that make it even harder is that most US brokers and PM’s will tell you exactly what you want to get your business.

We have done around numerous transactions in the USA over the last 18 months and have a basic theory with brokers there.

If they say “yes we can help you”, walk, no run away immediately.

If they say “I may be able to help ill make some enquiries”, hang in there but dont hold your breath

If they say “no I cant help you”, then this is the person to deal with. They may not be able to help you however they will often have contact with someone that can.

Be sure to make sure you ask them what the minimum loan amount a lender will do in each area, if you are looking at Buffalo the only lender you can be confident of is Indy Mac Bank, however you will be paying around 9% interest rate on the smaller loan amounts.

Hope this helps, just be sure that you know what you are talking about before you make enquiries. It is not about what you ask, its more about how you ask it. There arent a lot out there who can genuinely help Aussies however there are some.

One guy we use who is one of the best is Ben Carmona, he is the real deal however if you are looking at doing cheapies in upstate NY

Good luck and remember, if property is causing you an ulcer maybe its not the right thing for you.

Regards,

Mic
[email protected]
http://www.househunters.com.au

Australian House Hunters.
Specialising in finding your perfect investment property throughout Australia and the USA or your dream home in Newcastle and the Hunter Valley. To recieve our free weekly newsletter or assistance with anything investing, [email protected]

I think the first thing all investors need to think about is “who am I doing this for”. It is well known 95% of the people in this world do 95% of the work for 5% of the money while 5% of the people do 5% of the work for 95% of the money. We are all 5%ers and have to realise that 1 in 20 people will understand and agree with what you are doing while the other 19 will try and knock you down.

Stop worrying about what everyone else thinks and get on with it. People think money buys happiness, it doesnt. Money buys you choice, its up to you to learn and understand money and then make the right choices. This is why 76% of lottery winners will lose their money withing 2-3 years of their win falls because they dont understand and respect the opportunities that money gives them.

My favourite saying is “get over it and get on with it”, the longer you worry about what everyone else thinks and says the longer it will take you to seperate yourself from the 95%ers and reach your goals. When people find out and ask questions humility is the best option, if you have people you want to bring on the journey with you actions speak louder than words.

good luck with your investing and remember, this about you and creating opportunities for your future. concentrate on yourself and dont be a rubberneck.

Regards,

Mic
[email protected]
http://www.househunters.com.au

Australian House Hunters.
Specialising in finding your perfect investment property throughout Australia, NZ and the USA or your dream home in Newcastle and the Hunter Valley. To recieve our free weekly newsletter or assistance with anything investing, [email protected]

Hey Cosie,

The fact that you categorise us like that just shows a natural negativity which i am sure will carry over into many aspects your life. This is a comman think for many investors, we call it “the chip on the shoulder syndrome”.

If you took the time to find out about us you would find that our clients sign on with us for 2 years.

Do we “Fly em in”? No our clients properties are sourced based on a specific brief.

Do we “Drive em through”? No our clients have a full support network of all professional who can assist them with every aspect of purchasing.

Do we “send em home”? No, our clients sign with us for 2 years to have full access to our research and we make ourselves constantly available to answer any questions the need.

Do we “collect the doe”? Absolutely, this is business however our fee (to find, inspect and take care of all aspects of the sale anywhere in Australia, and yes I personally inspect the property) is less than the cheapest service provided in a capital city

And do we “wave bye byes”? No, our clients are long term clients and that is the goal of our business.

Unfortunately its people like you who are the prime example of the tall poppie knocker. Why, because you will never get out of your own may to make something happen, you would rather watch A Current Affair and knock others for giving it a go. People like you are damaging these forums and pushing many investors away because they are scared to ask anything because of these sort of responses.

I hope you do something in the future and dont just be jealous of all of the successful investors or took a risk. And next time you compare me to one of these QLD fly by nighters I will have you for slander.

Have a great day and in future do your research before you make uneducated, uniformed and arrogant statements.

Have a great week.

Regards,

Mic
[email protected]
http://www.househunters.com.au

Australian House Hunters.
Specialising in finding your perfect investment property throughout Australia, NZ and the USA or your dream home in Newcastle and the Hunter Valley. To recieve our free weekly newsletter or assistance with anything investing, [email protected]

Hi Hernus,

If you are interested in what we do and how we can assist you with your investing please check out our website and email me with any questions you have.

We are a fully licenced and insured (including professional indemnity insurance) buyers agent that source investment property all over Australia and the USA,. We work with our clients for a 2 year period assisting them with all aspects of investing from research to inspecting the properties personally.

Our goal is for our clients to reach their goals as fast and cost effectively as possible.

Regards,

Mic
[email protected]
http://www.househunters.com.au

Australian House Hunters.
Specialising in finding your perfect investment property throughout Australia, NZ and the USA or your dream home in Newcastle and the Hunter Valley. To recieve our free weekly newsletter or assistance with anything investing, [email protected]

Hi Hani,

part of the reason there arent many 10%ers online is that when we get properties like that they go to our paid subscribers first, after a week if they are still available they will hit the website. These higher yeild properties will usually go fast, if they dont there is usually a problem that needs fixing.

I currently have 10%ers in QLD, WA and NSW however there are certain risks involved.

Steves 11 second rule is a good basic rule to find properties on but you need to look much deeper. 10% returns will make a $100-180,000 property positively geared, when you go under 100,000 you will find that you need 12-14% to make it positive. In saying this once you get over 200,000 you will really only need 9-9.5% to make it positive. The higher the price the lover the yeild needs to be so around 400k you could be positive with an 8-8.5% return.

Construction loans are great ways to use other peoples money to renovate and create equity in a property.

As for the USA i find it just as easy to purchase a property there as it is to buy here in Newcastle. The USA and Australia have many things in place to make it easy for OZ investors because we support them in Iraq, or our government does.

We have a broad tax agreement and there is huge opportunity there to invest. Australian property investors are at the forefront of investing around the world. America is where Australia was in 1997 , it should be interesting to see the change once Steve and Dave release their book in the USA. Those who have already bought may experience the sort of growth all of those people that bought pre 2000 in Australia got. Those who are procrastinating will be the latecomers who will be finding the 15% then 10% then 8% returns that latecomers experienced over here in the last 2 years.

No risk, no return. With the way we have our systems set up we just minimise the risk so it is almost non existant.

Regards,

Mic
[email protected]
http://www.househunters.com.au

Australian House Hunters.
Specialising in finding your perfect investment property throughout Australia, NZ and the USA or your dream home in Newcastle and the Hunter Valley. To recieve our free weekly newsletter or assistance with anything investing, [email protected]

Hi Again,

Didnt expect that many responses for the article, it just is easier if i post it here, its a biit long but good info.

Play fair.

Mic

CITY AIMS TO MAKE FLIPPING FLOP!

Published on November 26, 2005
Author: Deidre Williams – NEWS STAFF REPORTER
© The Buffalo News Inc.
Scott Rocheville learned a hard lesson about real estate last year when he purchased a four-unit property on Buffalo’s East Side.

The listing in the online auction site included a picture of what he thought was a pretty yellow house, well-kept with a beautiful, manicured lawn and three of the four units already rented. What the Boston, Mass., police officer-turned-investor found after buying it sight-unseen was quite different. In fact, the Web site’s fine print warns “image does not depict actual asset.”

“From the get-go, I was thousands of dollars in debt,” he said. “I had to hire a lawyer to go to Housing Court with me and to evict the tenants who weren’t paying rent. There wasn’t any electricity coming into one of the homes, although a person had been living there for months.”

But Rocheville wasn’t the only victim. In cases like these, flipping — buying low-priced property and quickly selling it at an inflated price without making improvements — has helped create some of Buffalo’s most distressed neighborhoods.

The story is similar in Ohio, where illegal flipping has spread from Cleveland to its first-ring suburbs and officials have begun cataloging problem properties.

In Baltimore, officials established a Flipping and Predatory Lending Task Force five years ago.

But after modeling its anti-flipping effort on Baltimore’s program, Buffalo now has a weapon that other cities lack: Hilbert College students are building a computerized database to identify flippers and flipped properties.

“You can type in a name, and charts can show multiple sales and vast changes in selling price,” said Tim Parisi, a Hilbert senior majoring in economic crime investigation.

The new system will help prosecutors and Housing Court officials act more quickly. One company, for instance, had bought 66 abandoned houses and quickly resold many at inflated prices before more than a year of court activity could drive it out of Buffalo, said Michele Johnson, a task force member. The new system, which is computerizing now-separate city, county and state property and housing code records, will enable officials to zero in on such companies in as little as a month, Johnson said.

The Buffalo task force also is exploring two other options:

Limiting the number of properties an out-of-towner can purchase at city auctions.

Holding two-stage auctions: the first day for those who want to live in the homes, the second day for investors.

Buying a house and reselling it for a profit, even a big one, is not illegal. Such flipping becomes illegal when it involves mortgage fraud, predatory lending to buyers not financially able to take on the mortgage, or fraudulent advertising on eBay and other online auction houses, saidAssemblyman Sam Hoyt, D-Buffalo, task force co-chairman.

Lured by the ads, Rocheville decided to get into the landlord business so he could cut back on his work week and spend more time with his children.

“Real estate here in Boston is ridiculous,” he said. “I looked around, and prices in Buffalo were good, and I saw an opportunity to have some rental property to make some money.”

He hasn’t abandoned his property, but said, “It’s become a black hole for me.”

City records show D&N Properties bought the property for $14,000 in November 2004 and quickly sold it to Rocheville for $30,000, doubling its money in less than a month. On his first visit, Roche-ville found housing code violations, only one of the three tenants was paying rent, and the house needed major repairs.

Rocheville, who doesn’t want the site identified because he doesn’t want to invite vandals or scare off potential tenants, has been working with city officials and said he remains committed to repairing the apartments.

“Definitely,” he said. “I will try to get them fixed up and get them rented.”

Cities across the country are trying different approaches to keep such properties from becoming eyesores or ensnaring unsuspecting buyers like Rocheville. Cleveland has begun logging its problem properties. So has Baltimore, which used the data to close loopholes and prosecute unscrupulous investors.

Officials there say the data, so far, has helped to indict 104 people, including 100 who have pleaded guilty or been convicted. Sentences ranged from probation to 64 months in prison.

Baltimore’s task force has had to search records manually, but since August, Hilbert students have been using Analyst Notebook, software developed for tracking white collar crime, to build a computerized database, said William J. Haslinger, the Hilbert professor supervising the project.

The database will include the location of properties sold, dates of the sales, the seller and buyer and the sale price. The students will turn the data into charts that will spotlight properties sold over a short period of time with substantial changes in price.

“What they’re going to enable us to do is track the activity of people who are flipping properties,” said Kathleen Lynch, a Western New York Law Center attorney and a task force member.

>Blame to go around

Unscrupulous speculators aren’t the only problem, task force members say. They also point to the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, online auction houses and the city’s auction process itself.

Lynch outlines the problem: A person buys an inexpensive HUD home with a government-insured loan, then defaults. HUD forecloses, but if it can’t sell the house, the property goes on the open market, where it might be bought for a pittance. The new owner then lists the property online, and the flipping begins.

That was the case with 41 Loepere St., purchased online by a California resident. After being flipped a few times, Lynch said, the property went back to HUD for just $10.

“HUD is aware of the problem and is working with us,” Lynch said. “There’s a growing number of HUD houses that are being sold to investors.”

Asked about HUD’s role, a spokesman noted the agency had pushed for establishing the task force and has a member on it.

>Solutions under review

Online auction houses add to the problem by broadening the base of potential scammers, creating an international market that otherwise wouldn’t have access to Buffalo housing. More importantly, Hoyt added, they don’t monitor their sites for fraudulent or misleading advertising.

“Somebody can advertise over the Internet a property ‘a short walk from beautiful Lake Erie in an upscale neighborhood, and it only needs minor cosmetic fix-ups,’ ” Hoyt said. “The fact is, it’s none of the above. The reality is it has 20 housing code violations, and it’s in the heart of the ghetto.”

Online auction sites acknowledge the Web contributes to the illegal flipping game, and they have agreed to look at ways to alleviate the problem, Hoyt said.

In Buffalo, more and more properties go on the auction block each year, he added, a result, in part, of an aggressive foreclosure policy that includes owners who fail to pay water and garbage collection bills.

In fact, at least six properties that Scott Wizig — one of the city’s most notorious landlords — purchased at city auctions in 2000 and 2001 were back on the auction block last month.

“There could be as many as 40 or 50 like that,” said Tracy Krug, a housing inspector.

Task force members and city officials, therefore, are considering the two options.

Limiting the number of homes an out-of-towner can purchase would help ensure the buyer will be able to maintain the properties, said Mike LoCurto, co-chairman of the task force’s legislative committee.

But potential problems loom for a two-stage auction — limiting the first day to buyers who want to occupy the homes then offering unsold properties to investors on the second day. Investors have warned that restricting their access to the auction might be illegal, said Louis J. Petrucci, a task force member and director of housing for the city’s Office of Strategic Planning.

City lawyers are analyzing both proposals.

“The point of these options is to keep houses off the foreclosure list and to keep them off the auction block and to keep them away from speculators,” Petrucci said.

e-mail: [email protected]

Harry Scull Jr./Buffalo News
Because of its deteriorated condition, the city now plans to demolish this
house at 144 Breckenridge St., which was flipped in the real estate market.

Regards,

Mic
[email protected]
http://www.househunters.com.au

Australian House Hunters.
Specialising in finding your perfect investment property throughout Australia, NZ and the USA or your dream home in Newcastle and the Hunter Valley. To recieve our free weekly newsletter or assistance with anything investing, [email protected]

Hi Deb,

Investing in USA is something that is not for everybody, with the distance involved you have to be very thourough with your due dilligence. We are lucky to be working with a company that buys property, renovates it and then property manages it all within the one company.

If you want some actual “LATE BREAKING NEWS” Tuesday 29/11 edition of the Buffalo News has run a big front page story about all the investors who are getting into the Buffalo area, buying property and on selling it without any real maintenance done. This is damaging the market and a lot of those who arent comitted to what they are doing are being run out of town. They are especially targeting international investors who are not aligning themselves with respectable tradesmen or companies.

There are a lot of people putting together companies in the Buffalo area to do things similar to GenesisREI the company we have an exclusive agreement with, however due to the fact they are not licenced and insured or working with reputable firms they are not getting the support from lenders as Quiggles was saying earlier. Banks have been looking at the PM, Vendor and realtor for the past 6-12 months however since the new Partiots Law came in in September a lot has changed.

It is becoming more difficult for foreigners to borrow in the USA, not impossible but bloody hard if you cut corners or dont have the right contacts.

Basically there are people here who have good and bad things to say about Buffalo and the surrounding areas. The biggest mistake people make is listening to people who have read a lot but never actually put their acquired knowledge into practice. I have reports stating that for Buffalo prices to drop 5% you would 1000 job losses and interest rates to rise to 25%. It states the projected growth in Buffalo is pretty much set in stone. (if anyone would like a copy of this report please email me)

To everyone who is bad mouthing Buffalo and other areas thank you and keep up the good work, I know where I will be buying and recommending my clients to buy. If you do your research correctly and are comitted to what you are doing you will always succeed.

If you are looking at using the services of a buyers agent make sure they are licenced and are fully insured. New laws will be coming in which may be a surprise to a lot of bird doggers and spotters out there.

Whatever you decide to do make sure it is fun and you have final say on everything you do and before you believe everything you read on these forums maybe do some research on the people that are commenting. There are a few very knowledgable people on this forum who can help you a great deal with your investing, there are also a few that will leave you chasing your tail. Good luck and have fun with your investing.

Regards,

Mic
[email protected]
http://www.househunters.com.au

Australian House Hunters.
Specialising in finding your perfect investment property throughout Australia, NZ and the USA or your dream home in Newcastle and the Hunter Valley. To recieve our free weekly newsletter or assistance with anything investing, [email protected]

Hi Rajeev,

With the influx of Buyers Agents around Australian laws regulating procedures in purchasing property are changing all the time. be sure to check with asic and fair trading regarding what you can and cant do when trying to put these deals together.

There can be problems if you are seen to be manipulating the market for profit by making fake offers they you are going to pull out of for other buyers.

An easier way for what you are doing is to look at taking an option on the property to secure it for a period of time until you get a buyer, similar to the model a Sydney company uses to secure the properties they sell to their clients. The one negative in this scenario is that if you are unable to sell the property you may end up with an unhappy vendor which in turn creates unhappy agents and have you ever tried to get a good property out of an agent you inadvertantly made unhappy.

Whatever you do be honest, careful and always do something yourself and understand it before you recommend it to your clients.

Regards,

Mic
[email protected]
http://www.househunters.com.au

Australian House Hunters.
Specialising in finding your perfect investment property throughout Australia, NZ and the USA or your dream home in Newcastle and the Hunter Valley. To recieve our free weekly newsletter or assistance with anything investing, [email protected]

Whoever is right or wrong the bottom line with investing in the USA anyehere for that matter is “PROPER PREPERATION PREVENTS PISSWEAK PERFORMANCE”

Congratulations Lisa and I wish you luck, the biggest problem with investors is analysis paralysis. This is not to say read 1 book and go for it, what I mean is when you have done the research and confident of doing it yourself, trust yourself and go for it. All you get from sitting on your hands is warm hands and sore knuckles.

If you have the time and confidence to take control of your destiny like Lisa has you will go a long way, others may employ a company like ours to help them get started and learn how the market works. Whatever the options the longer you leave it the closer you are to your pension.

If investing in your future through education or property is not your thing theres always the public service. They have medical benefits, a great holiday program and even that great pension at the end. Not my cup of tea but hey, everyone is different.

Regards,

Mic
[email protected]
http://www.househunters.com.au

Australian House Hunters.
Specialising in finding your perfect investment property throughout Australia, NZ and the USA or your dream home in Newcastle and the Hunter Valley. To recieve our free weekly newsletter or assistance with anything investing, [email protected]

Hi Bj,

the first question to ask yourself, do you want and can you afford 100% finance and have you got the collateral to support this. Also is it in an area that will allow you to get 100% finance. It all comes down to the postcode you are purchasing in.

Contact Simon from Mortgage Hunter. Simon has done a couple of deals for clients of mine and has his finger on the pulse. His link is on the links page of this site.

Good luck,
Mic

Hunter House Hunters.
Specialising in finding your dream home in Newcastle and the Hunter Valley or your perfect investment property throughout Australia.To join our database [email protected]