Dundas, Carlingford etc is not the best place to live if you want good transportation, I grew up in Carlingford and it took at least an hour just to get to the city, unless you are close to the M2 bus as the train station there is pretty hopeless.Eventually it should be upgraded with the North-West metro so by around 2020 hopefully it would be…[Read more]

Interesting opinions there Steve,Although they may sound fairly negative about the future of property in USA, I must say I am pretty excited to hear news like this. I am looking to start investing over in the USA in the next few months, hopefully get a property when I am over there in May/June this year. Nothing too major, maybe just a $40,000…[Read more]

Hello all,I pretty much agree with most of the comments, I have personally never enlisted the help of these companies or similar ones. In principal it all sounds very nice, they do all the hardwork and you pay a little bit extra for piece of mind. But unfortunately like any organisation, greed can become a factor and in the end all they care about…[Read more]

Happy New Year Fredo,Capital gains tax as I believe is just added to your taxable income so you fall into a tax bracket. I think I have made up a quick spreadsheet with this before, where you simply enter your taxable income, and your capital gains, as well as ticking a box if you had the property for over a year or not to reduce the capital gains…[Read more]

Thank you for all your advice so far,Just a quick question, I understand you set up the LLC in America and then pay company tax with that. But when do you pay the Tax as an individual in Australia, is it only when you bring the money back into this country, and if that is the case, theoretically do you not have to pay it at all if you leave it…[Read more]

Hi Liv,I am in a similar position to you, trying to figure out how to make as much money as I can to try and set myself up for the future to hopefully have a comfortable and financially secure life. I have been looking a lot at the US property market due to the low level entry prices, as well as high rental yields and potential for high capital…[Read more]

I keep hearing that it is very difficult to obtain finance through an LLC. Why is this the case? Is it harder to get a decent credit rating as a company, if so why would this be the case.

Lplate101Properties for $40,000 and under are abundant across USA. Just look on http://www.trulia.com or http://www.realtor.com and you will see plenty of properties across USA at very low prices. But remember just because it is low price does not mean it is necessarily even worth that, a vacant property that will not increase in value is worthless to an investor.James

Thanks white_goodmanI did think maybe it was just  due to more people living under one roof, and also the issues of too many houses before the GFC led to an over supply in the current market place. Just was not sure exactly how it all worked, unfortunately economics has never been my strong point.I suppose is increased population exceeds the…[Read more]

One of my main concerns with Florida is the vacancy rates. I have a query and to be honest I am afraid of looking a bit idiotic asking it, because I am sure the answer is very obvious. But nonetheless, my main query is, where have all the people gone that used to live in all the houses that are now vacant, not just necessarily the rental ones…[Read more]

Thanks alot Terryw,That is how I thought it would work, just wanted confirmation.I am hoping to get to America around May next year, and will try and talk to a tax consultant and/or solictor person to hopefully help me set something up, however I think I would rather it set up before I go over there so everything is ready

Hello all,I believe purchasing as an LLC is the way to go for my situation (a couple friends and I going together to pool our money together) but I am not sure if it is best to have the LLC set up as Australian based or US based? Are there any particular disadvantages with either one?ThanksJames

Hey white,I am in a similar boat to you at the moment, started looking into the US a couple months ago, similar age to you, just a bit older, and also seems that we have similar goals and ideas in that we both want to achieve some financial independence for the future, and see the US as a great oppurtunity to do so.Unfortunately I cannot answer…[Read more]

British Buyer wrote:
Someone asked whether they should borrow in Aus $ or US$.Assuming you were offered the same rates (eg. 30 year fixed at 6%) in both countries, then you should definitely borrow in Aus.I say that because the current commodity cycle will end at some point (let's say 8 years from now), since:1. China will slow down it's…[Read more]

As was said above just do your own little checks. I know it might seem nice to have that money in your hand like that. But given what I assume your interest rate would be, obviously just guessing, but would think it would be around 6.5% (that is what mine is around) you would save yourself around $2400 after 9 months in tax, the only difference i…[Read more]

jeff2tract wrote:
Steve, Don't get me wrong 10% minimum is great, I am about to close on a deal that will give me 26% net. There are plenty of deals like this. If one is happy with 10% thats fine no problem. I know that there are better deals that will give one better than 10% more like 15-25%. I know it sounds to good to be true, these deals…[Read more]

Does anyone know of a good mortgage broker in the Miami area? I was looking at the Flordia Association of Mortgage Brokers website, and I found a whole list (about 155 in total) of mortgage brokers in the Miami area, but there was no rating or anything, so I am not sure who is good or not, who would be useful for purchasing as a non-resident and…[Read more]

First of all thanks to everyone for all the useful advice, and I do not want to appear like an idiot asking this. But like a couple others on this board I am new to investing and am very keen on getting a place in America, and Miami seems like a good place to start.I was hoping to get some advice from people who have done it before on more of a…[Read more]

http://www.wiziq.com/emailverification.aspx?RCIorOiOf%2bAbJx%2fMh1zU%2bQiqkOnEUUwp6UQDRAbeHdbmLXoMzyMusMGjMBSxpahFRnr2%2f4og0iGuW5WiME6buldVOiG58ixXD4XgxaINgoj%2fR4%2f77X0hDrDjQeSeN8gjThe link above is meant to take you to download the spreadsheet I was talking about earlier, unfortunately I am not sure if that link works or not. I could not find…[Read more]

One little warning I found when I was doing some research into investing in USA, because I initially did not see it myself and did not realise how much an impact it can make.Property Tax is vastly different to what we have as an equivalent in Australia in rates I suppose. Because the property tax is the major supplier for funding for public…[Read more]