I have bought two properties in the last 3 months – both major loans assumed. Just to add to the appeal, there were layers of VF financing on top – less cash for me to come up with. Day before yesterday I signed docs on another property with – you guessed it – an assumed loan. I have sold one building this year and the purchaser assumed the loan, I VF’d him in so all he came up with was $15k on a $720k 8u. I’d paid $715 for it in 07, but sadly the building never worked for me.

I’m really glad you told me it was impossible before I seriously looked at these current loopnet listings:

$895k
POSSIBLE ASSUMABLE FINANCING WITH VERY LOW DOWN. Call for details.6 well cared for units, renovated in 2004. Great rental area, new construction next door.

Then there is this group for $11.95m
Seller Financing Available – This coastal portfolio consists of 93 total units encompassing 5 buildings that are within a 1.5 mile radius. All of the buildings are separately metered for gas and electric. The seller owns 4 of the 5 properties free and clear and is offering financing for those select properties. The portfolio can be purchased together or separately. Please email for details.

Not specifically assumable I grant you, but at least in the ballpark…

Malibu (I would guess) is probably a bit like Tahoe, and by all accounts is pretty popular too. A gentle play with agents up there came up with amazing deals. Hideous properties, but multi million dollar ponderosa’s for WAY less than replacement cost – realistically available for a (relative) pittance. I guess $2-300k could get you a $5m property, easily $2-3m. Remember these were properties selling 5 years ago for up to 10. You just have to ask really, they can only say no….

Find your own contacts (or get a broker/buyers agent and PM you can trust – PM is the hardest) there are deals out there to be done. As a guideline only, I have found the more you pay for a property, generally the easier the deal and the management is.

A good buyers agent is worth their weight in gold.

A good multi layered marketeer will charge you gold with platinum highlights.

Like property scout, I am all for good money to be made, but 100-500% markups makes Henry Kaye look like a Red Cross worker – his crime? He only operated in Australia. Just NOT on – and sadly ASIC is powerless to help. Do not get caught…

He he he. The other way of looking at it Rick, is that there are many ways to skin a cat and there have been some phenomanally successful US RE investors. The key to learning is to actually have an open mind. I have learnt so much from buying in the US and many things I have carried home. I loathe the fact they exist under archaic systems, are very difficult to _really_ communicate with and generally have no sense of aesthetics at all, but what they are EXTREMELY good at (light years ahead of us) is in creating flexible finance arrangements. And I don’t mean the MBS scenario we know so much about from recent times.

Tahoe would be a sensational place to start playing. There would be generally less dead beat people, and probably (know nothing about the market) a number of semi ‘holiday’ properties. So a number of properties that will be being offloaded to pay college fees etc. A very target rich environment for zero down deals…. Outside the foreclosure market there are many, many areas where $3-5m properties can be had for $1m or less – asking price.

I don’t see that as spruiking any particular business or trying to prove one contact is better than another. ALL contacts you find yourself will be WAY better than a multi tiered (and totally unpoliced) marketeer – you will also learn a lot more.

There will be nothing worse than people working out how hard it is to ‘run’ a number of properties, or even one, and deciding to offload the things only to realise the places are unsaleable for anything like what you paid for them. Factor in airfares you pay for to solve the disasters that may have occurred and you are looking at big losses.

Find your own path, above all think and learn!!

I made at least 2000 calls in ’97 to find someone who could help. I struck gold. I didnt have any money back then but bought $1m worth of LA real estate with credit cards. That was when the dollar was worth something. I have found management difficult to run the way I want, but I have a sizeable collection of US property now. The rip offs I see appearing I find intensely annoying – especially given the genuine agents out there who get no calls from Aussies at all. I havent bought a single foreclosure and I havent bought outside LA but I started to watch the market more closely when I saw what I could only term australian lemmings racing over to lose money with a million Henry Kaye disciples.

I urge anyone to think for themselves and get their own contacts, but if you are genuine and want LA (contact me) or LV (you can go to the website yourself) particularly then those are very good places to start.

One suggestion I followed was not to play the LLC game as it makes no difference to your au tax and really only stops someone serving papers on you, which they cant do really if the person is overseas. Net effect is add to your accounting bills (mine are quite enough already) for no net benefit.

BTW its not really me that gets time wasters. Emma in LV is australian and therefore used to dealing with us, but I dont want every man and his dog tying up my LA agent for no reason. And either would help with everything you want, its just two that I will guarantee are NOT going to rip anyone off. I have mentioned my contacts in the past to countless people, but until it was ‘trendy’ no one cared – lemmings?

I dont think it is difficult to buy (although the structured finance I get in LA is not simple) but having someone care about you after the sale definately is. Im talking 2-3 years down the track when I think most guys will realise they have near worthless shells instead of dream investments. With $1-200k to play with I think most people would be better off with a 7-10% return on a $1m+ West Hollywood or Malibu VF resi deal (I don’t buy those either, but you are dealing with ‘quality’ tenants etc and you can get a LOT with a little over there right now) but sadly everyone wants ‘bargains’ which I think most will find become very expensive and impossible to manage.

selectusaproperty.com – or if you are looking to buy in LA, PM (email link) me for info. 13+ years of successful US investing means please don’t waste their (or my) time. 10 years ago people thought I was mad. 5 years ago it was ‘how did you make your money?’ Now I wonder why I gave people so much free info and contacts that they never bothered to contact.

I have never understood why people seem to be so keen to throw money away on the Gold Coast style Real Estate Developer and Part Time Tax specialist types when there are 24 carat gold contacts out there that no one seems interested in.

I must have had too much to drink tonight to write this….

Transfer it while Greece still has the Euro???

Jay,
Just on my point before about managing managers and relationships. My new (your old) scheme has built a great relationship with my new manager, who in turn has built a great relationship with the tenants. I cannot communicate with Americans, I thought for a number of years I was doing OK, but I wasn’t. And it was spelt out in repair bills. Don’t be insulted, but you do not speak English, or certainly don’t understand it the way English/Australians do. Like De-planing (disembarking?) momentarily. A patently nonsensical announcement, yet it makes perfect sense to people who by any measure have to be deemed illiterate in the English Language – or above (sorry Alex) ‘getting there checks:)‘. The thing is, you combine that issue with a manager looking after 300+ sets of tenants and there WILL be tears. I would rather have one manager who is looking after much less, but much more carefully. Of course, you have to trust that manager and that is again another issue. However, if you have a really good one and expect them to do a job as if it were you yourself there, then they WILL be operating less properties, and deserve/need to be paid more. Like it or not, they are your partner in the deal and need to be looked after accordingly.

I have a number of buildings and if the current manager ends up ripping me off or walking out in any way, then despite the complexity/tax issues I will liquidate all the assets and bring the money home. I have spent too long finding out how hard it is to get an ‘Australian/UK’ style of management to go through it all again. Just convincing people you do NOT HAVE to have hideous pseudo country/frontier style interior design with tiled countertops took me nearly ten years. Eventually I managed to do what I wanted, and I bumped the rents from $700-$1400, impressively it was then the first person who saw the apartment that rented it, as opposed to sitting vacant for weeks. Working out that what the US calls ‘Euro Style’ and the rest of the world calls ‘normal’ was a triumph of communication… Finding the suppliers was tricky, but achievable (in the end). Like Apple who does no market research whatsoever, I subscribe to their philosophy that the US consumer (in particular) has no idea what they want, so don’t ask them:).

Find your manager, hope they have taste and an outgoing friendly personality. Make them study any decent design magazine until they understand ‘taste’ work out a deal that makes them ‘want’ to work for you and hope like hell it works long term.

The relationship you build with them WILL be continued through to your tenants. Make sure it is a good one, it will save you thousands and hopefully make you both a lot more financially secure.

It is very hard to achieve!!

They see their future in being turnaround specialists rather than managers. A property manager with a real interest in the quality of the tenant and building. The first few places of mine they did for free – considering 5-7% gross a waste of money collecting. Variation on a theme, we now split the rent increases. I am also looking at renting entire buildings to them alone. My list of US management disasters stretch as long as my us rental experiences. Generally I have found ‘gringo’ managers to be extremely difficult to communicate with and (whilst looking for a better word) lazy. If something is not directly going to benefit the individual they simply have no inclination for the task. If you want someone in the US to do something you have to first work out how to convince them it is in their best interests to do it. The old fashioned ‘pride in a job well done’ just doesn’t seem to be in the US anymore. Fortunately the rest of the world has not reached that level of selfishness – yet. I hope it never does…

In their defence, most individual managers Ive come across deal with 50-80 buildings. Some 250-300+ sets of tenants. That is a LOT of work for anyone. Also, the worst tenant in Australia is unlikely to know which end of a gun would hurt you, let alone kill you.

It is my sister, but she is 100% ethical and works her a$$ of for people. She started helping AU buyers in the states – so many contacted her she had to charge. I don't know what she does charge but it is something under $5k – she is a buyers agent ONLY, NOT a wholesaler but will guarantee you a 'proper' tenant and 'proper' reno's. As in genuine, and real reno costs – like less than $4-5k on a 40-60k property. selectusaproperty.com – and FYI (with a spare week) read the somersoft 'boholt – no' post which after 1000 posts became the 'emma171' thread. If you never speak to her you will learn more about US property than anywhere else on the web. And you WONT be ripped off if you follow the advice.

Please, please please don’t even THINK of myusaproperty, or indeed anyone of their numerous contemporaries.

Their modus operandii is thus:
You see glossy brochure. You buy an expensive property with 20-30% down.
They then buy and renovate the property they have just sold you for around half (or less) of your deposit.
They then finance you an extra 70% at very generous rates.
You then realise they have no expertise in the market they are selling in and you end up with a 100%-200%+ overpriced property with no tenant.
You then find out the ‘real’ market price for your spanking new 20%++ returning property is around 10% of what you owe and the rental market is non-existant.
You then realise you have been ‘had’.
Nice work if you can get it:)

I know enough to know.