Forum Replies Created
Love NY …Full of life, day and night. Love the winter celebrations there; it's wonderful…
kylermrice wrote:Kansas City and SW Florida are my areas i deal with most.http://www.forbes.com/pictures/efel45eddf/kansas-city-mo/#gallerycontent
http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/news/2011/06/23/forbes-kansas-city-in-best-for-renters.htmlOK NIce
Kilermice ,
where do you invest?kylermrice wrote:The trick is having enough passive income from your investments to support yourself while your here.It's so right !
Also, Deb if you want to buy a property and live in it, that will count as an investment, but as a passive income…it's gone…
Yeah,
I think this is one of the best threads here.
"Conflict leads to progress…"Hi Deb,
I lived in the US (on a H1-B visa, which means legally) between 2000-2006; in New York 1/2 year, Virginia and New Jersey for another 1/2 year each and moved in Indianapolis (Indiana) which is Mid-west for another 5 years (My brother still lives there since 1991). Due to the pretty rough immigration laws and the huge processing backlog I couldn't stay legally any more, so I moved in Canada, where I've got the Canadian citizenship. To be honest, my heart and soul are still in the US and, so far, I don't know anybody coming from the States in Canada who doesn't enormously miss that country. As I've seen 90% of the eastern coast, all the states in the Mid-West, plus northern states, etc. what can I say: it's gorgeous! As I say to all the guys I know in Canada:" If somebody will give me the US Green card I'll jump in the car and drive across the border immediately, without looking back." I love the US maybe more than a real American citizen, because of those things they can't realize, only if you come from outside…
As I passed through a lot of immigration processes, I'll try to help you giving some info (legal advice you can get from a qualified immigration attorney, though). To qualify for a visa based on E2 criteria (investor visa) you have to spend at least $50.000 on the investment (in some cases visa were issued for $30.000, but is depends on the type of investment), not counting the money for repairs. The $50K have to be spent only on the investment (the investment has to help the US economy !)and also you have to prove that the investment will give you enough financial security for you and eventual for your dependents as long as you'll live on the American territory.
Individuals I personally know got the visa for $100k and respectively $120K in the Washington state. From what I know USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services ) processes the visa following different criteria, with regards to the state where you want to move and the type of investment used. The visa is issued for 1 year and can be extended indefinitely. The dependents over 21 years can apply for the right of work and seek employment.
When investing in RE a major, major component is the state where you intend to move. You have to chose a location where with the money you'll get from rent, you can have a decent living. There are many states following this criteria and we can open another topic just for this.
Jayhinrichs,
I appreciate your lower tone, this time. It's no need for any of us to use this forum as a fighting arena and imply all kinds of non-senses addressed to any other investor.
I joined this forum in order to advertise my business (of course, everybody else is doing it, but I'm not signing with my web-site address or any other form of advertising) and to learn as much as I can out of it.
I don't brag about my transactions or about my accomplishments, as I don't find that here is the place to do that. If I offended someone, so far, I sincerely apologize, but I was easily taken by a wave of "non-sympathy" against me, based on what? Because I exposed the model on which my business is based, that doesn't necessarily mean that I'm one of those "Andrew Allan " guys. The fact that I sell the LLCs owning the properties as "turn-key" investments doesn't do anything else that saves money and time for the prospective investor and that's how I thought I can sell a whole investment package at a lower price. It is not mandatory, though. Whoever wants to buy just the property can do it that way, as well, I don't mind. As it's about business, I'm very flexible, especially when I have to satisfy customer's goals.
I respect your knowledge as it is obvious you have a greater experience than most of us, here, on this forum and I'm willing to learn from people like you, which had success down on the road, but It's a little bit rude to minimize the others' efforts on making money, as we all here are NOT perfect and try to take advantage of the present economical conditions.
My business is not only In the City of Detroit, but in Detroit Metro, as well, which is a little bit different, as I'm sure you know.
As by the Canadians drivers, let them away, who knows if they are Canadians or just visiting? I quote you "even the Canadians will do 100mph plus. but others will be doing 60 klicks…. " Exactly, the others…
By-the way, what type of airplane you have? Cessna, Piper, Beechcraft ? I envy you a lot, man… As a former bomber pilot, I miss flying…
So, as I'm directly involved in the rehabbing process (another way of keeping low the overall cost), I'm interested, of course, by low priced materials. Can you get me a list of what you are selling?
Until the next post I want to apologize everybody for the eventual unpleasant comments I've posted, so far, and let's use this forum as a common platform for learning and acquiring information useful in our business.
speedy gonzales wrote:mihovi wrote:speedy gonzales wrote:Hi Mihovi, Name any other US city that has lost 200,000 people in 10 years. The loss of tax revenue when these people leave is having a huge economic effect to the point the state of Michigan is considering a takeover of the city of Detroit. The fire commissioner has a policy of letting unoccupied homes burn to the ground. The city has already razed 4000 homes in 2 years. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Sh0eNznIFM…And I don't see where your point is. Yes, the new Mayor Bing plans to level down another 300 houses in the next 5 years. What's wrong with that? How does this influence my investments? While some other so called "hot spots for foreign investors" strugle with high vacancy rates, Detroit is not beween them, for sure. It still has aroun 1 million houses for a 750 K population (more houses that people, as you see), but what counts is the number of LIVEABLE houses. Don't think that the City bulldozes the houses in good shape; NO, they get rid of all burned and extemelly bad shape properties, most of them in junk areas. I don't see how this affects me, as an investor, in a negative way. On contrary, it helps me to get more stable tenants and rapidly get the new properties filled up pretty fast. High competition at a rental level for prospective tenants means more stable and higher returns for investors! I'm sorry for all the guys who lost their properties (most of them on TAX foreclosures in the Detroit area), but this means better things for me as an investor. I'm not sentimental here at all, when it comes to making MONEY. Even if the whole city of Detroit looks like a war zone ("Beirut" zone as it's called by the locals), this doesn't bother me, as I don't live there and it's helping me to make more,safer and faster money than anywhere else in the US.
Regarding the TAX MONEY: doing a small calculation we average 400 houses/year taken out of the TAX circuit. That means an average 2k-2.5k for each house/year in property taxes. My friend, who is one the biggest wholsalers in Detroit sales around 150/year to investors. Another company has an average of 100 houses/year. So, the taxes taken from the investors and wholesalers are probably higher in amount than the taxes taken from the house owners. What is realy bad is that the City is so greedy (due to their misplacement of the funds-they never have enough-isn't this the case with all the Goverments? ) that they are practically inventing new ways of taxing the investors ! But this is another story as I see you are not someone who is interested to invest in Detroit, only to criticize the area…Seems that you have disappeared off this forum rather quickly. Funny about that.
How could you not get my point ?? The main point is this city is dying and has been doing so for a number of years. The only thing keeping it going is people like you trying to sell foreign investors into some kind of nirvana for property investors. I have always maintained the point that Detroit and all the mid western cities should be the domain only of local investors who know what they are doing and treat property investment like running a business. Yes there is a buck to be made I'm sure but foreign investors are just playing with fire and being sold smoke and mirrors by people like you.
If this is your opinion, you can live with it, I don't mind. So far, there are hundreds of foreign investors happy with their Detroit investments. If you or some other guys writing on this forum have been burnt by the toughness of Detroit, it's not my fault. As I wrote once, Detroit is the Gladiator school in the US real estate. For those in kindergarten yet…
lawsjs wrote:Emma171 is exactly that.That's the whole package then.
triptizehd wrote:Or, get the best of both worlds: find an agent who is also an investor!You are so right! But I think it's better to refine a little bit: "find and investors who is also an agent"
British Buyer, you are so right!
I invest in Detroit and I had to go there and "visit", talk with local investors, RE agents, Property managers, etc. Almost everybody has at least a property, but, and here comes an interesting fact, the least knowledgeable people in the investing stuff were the …RE agents. They didn't know how to properly calculate a cash flow, they have rented their properties at the minimum with no quality rehab done; the Detroit's MLS is full of properties listed by RE brokers in "as is condition" and they recognize that are not making money on them as they purchased 2-3 years ago when the market was higher and the locations are not that what they used to be . I talked not to only one but at least 3 RE agents in different Michigan locations (Detroit, Flint, Pontiac, Kalamazoo, Dearborn). Of course, I found some (very few) with a little bit of know-how but not enough to convince. A laughing case: one of them was assisting a guy from New Zealand who purchased through Ebay 2 properties for 30K each (can you imagine something dumber than this?) and, of course, told him to spend another 20K on rehabs, even those houses were on extremely bad neighborhoods, with very low chances to be ever rented. So, in my opinion, don't put your trust in agents (I'm not talking only about Detroit), better find successful investors and learn from them. That's my opinion, again.Jayhinrichs,
I take full responsibility for my comments, as they express my personal opinion based on my sole experience. So far, I'm extremely pleased with the performance of my properties in Detroit as I have a very good investing plan, I stick to it and I never jump into trying new things (new neighborhoods). As for the comments on zero maintenance costs and zero vacancy rate I have, sorry but it seems that you don't know what a FULL rehab done RIGHT means. So far, this is how things work for me …
Congrats on your flip in Indiana. I lived there until 2006, when Indy was the US foreclosure and bankruptcy capital. Good times, though… You could buy a full duplex with 5-6k, a nice brick foreclosured house in a nice area for less that 50k. Not anymore.speedy gonzales wrote:Hi Mihovi, Name any other US city that has lost 200,000 people in 10 years. The loss of tax revenue when these people leave is having a huge economic effect to the point the state of Michigan is considering a takeover of the city of Detroit. The fire commissioner has a policy of letting unoccupied homes burn to the ground. The city has already razed 4000 homes in 2 years. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Sh0eNznIFM…And I don't see where your point is. Yes, the new Mayor Bing plans to level down another 300 houses in the next 5 years. What's wrong with that? How does this influence my investments? While some other so called "hot spots for foreign investors" strugle with high vacancy rates, Detroit is not beween them, for sure. It still has aroun 1 million houses for a 750 K population (more houses that people, as you see), but what counts is the number of LIVEABLE houses. Don't think that the City bulldozes the houses in good shape; NO, they get rid of all burned and extemelly bad shape properties, most of them in junk areas. I don't see how this affects me, as an investor, in a negative way. On contrary, it helps me to get more stable tenants and rapidly get the new properties filled up pretty fast. High competition at a rental level for prospective tenants means more stable and higher returns for investors! I'm sorry for all the guys who lost their properties (most of them on TAX foreclosures in the Detroit area), but this means better things for me as an investor. I'm not sentimental here at all, when it comes to making MONEY. Even if the whole city of Detroit looks like a war zone ("Beirut" zone as it's called by the locals), this doesn't bother me, as I don't live there and it's helping me to make more,safer and faster money than anywhere else in the US.
Regarding the TAX MONEY: doing a small calculation we average 400 houses/year taken out of the TAX circuit. That means an average 2k-2.5k for each house/year in property taxes. My friend, who is one the biggest wholsalers in Detroit sales around 150/year to investors. Another company has an average of 100 houses/year. So, the taxes taken from the investors and wholesalers are probably higher in amount than the taxes taken from the house owners. What is realy bad is that the City is so greedy (due to their misplacement of the funds-they never have enough-isn't this the case with all the Goverments? ) that they are practically inventing new ways of taxing the investors ! But this is another story as I see you are not someone who is interested to invest in Detroit, only to criticize the area…TO BOBBY 25
This is you post with my remarks, as I invest in Detroit and I'm a first hand (direct ) seller.
My intention on this forum is to inform my fellow citizens and not to tell anyone where to invest. I am using my previous negative experiences to educated people about what to look for. As for myself, I have been investing in Detroit for the past few years. The cashflow I am seeing is amazing and it outweighs any upside potential (IT IS THE MOST UNIQUE IN THE WHOLE WORLD). Even if there is zero growth I am close to recouping all my capital on some deals……and not only me. My friends, my relatives, my associates. I have to stress on the management aspect. Most people fail because of bad management and there is a lot of dishonesty in the property management field.(HARD TO FIND RELIABLE PROPERTY MANAGEMENT COMPANIES IN DETROIT. I AM LUCKY TO HAVE ONE OF THE BEST IN THE AREA. THEY DIDN'T HAVE A SINGLE EVICTION IN 14 YEARS . THIS SAYS SOMETHING) I found that companies manage properties from computers. Unfortunately that does not work these days. I have been through my learning curve and I am here to share my thoughts and give some advice.
We advertise for renters and have gotton 2 calls this week only from people out of the state of Michigan looking for homes to rent because they just got hired. The fact is that tenants are paying and I have paper trails on my properties. The problem is when a house has a problem and the property management company fails to address it then tenants stop paying. You get a month's security deposit and eviction takes a month. (NOT NECESSARILY. A GOOD ATTORNEY SPECIALIZED IN EVICTIONS CAN GET YOU ANY TENANT OUT IN 7 DAYS.) Risk is very low(WHAT IS THE MAJOR RISK – IN CASE YOU CAN'T RE-SELL YOUR PROPERTY YOU ARE STUCK WITH IT FOR EVER AND MONEY FOREVER AS THE VACANCY RATE IS ALMOST 0 IN DETROIT AREA). There are not enough rent ready houses for the demand we are getting from tenant market.(EXTREMELY RIGHT!) Here are some more facts:Consumer Bankruptcies are decreasing in Detroit
Ford to hire many new employees in Detroit and other U.S. cities (YES, RIGHT, DETROIT'S CAR INDUSTRY IS BOOMING RIGHT NOW, BUT IN ORDER TO LIVE IN DETROIT CITY ) YOU HAVE TO BE BLACK; ALL THE CAUCASIANS ARE LIVING IN THE SUBURBS, WHICH ARE A LITTLE BIT MORE EXPENSIVE, BUT I KNOW CITIES IN DETROIT METRO WITH PLENTY OF PROPERTIES OFFERING THE SAME CASH-FLOW AS DETROIT'S
Detroit’s Plan to Stimulate the Local Economy and Create more Jobs
Abundance of Section 8 Tenants SECTION 8 HAS AN ALMOST 2 YEARS BACKLOG – NOT ENOUGH HOUSES COMPARED TO THE NUMBER OF PROSPECTIVE TENANTS.
See my comments at https://www.propertyinvesting.com/forums/property-investing/overseas-deals/4344313.
Ciao guys
Give me an example, I need ONLY ONE example with better areas in the US with better cash-flow that Detroit.
And please document it with real numbers not with what you've heard from some other guys…As Miami is one of the nicest areas on the Eastern coast it is recognized as being one of the worse rental investment solutions in the US. With very high rental vacancy, lots and lots of prospective investors are turning away from wasting their money in Miami.
Personally, I have friends who invested in Miami's high risers and lost hundreds of thousands of dollars. There are tons of brand new developments unoccupied for years. One of my best friends (whose cousin is a real estate broker in Miami) bought 2 apartments in one of those brand new buildings (with two or three tenanted units, so far) in 2006. The down payment was $108K . He couldn't find anybody willing to rent them so he quit on paying the mortgage and lost the ownership. This is not the only story I know about Miami, try to search on Yahoo.com and you'll find more. Be careful.
Read my posts on https://www.propertyinvesting.com/forums/property-investing/overseas-deals/4344313Hey guys take a look at my comments at https://www.propertyinvesting.com/forums/property-investing/overseas-deals/4344313.
Alex SC, why do you say Fannie Mae takes longer to accept offers? You are partially right – this is the case for multiple offers situations – they set up a "higher and best offer" auction and has a dead end scheduled. It takes no more than 3 days to get the answer; in many cases not more than 24 hours.
You are right when mentioned about buying and holding. As the properties are the rock-bottom prices it makes no sense to get something today and resell it in 3-6 month for a minimum profit. Sooner or later, the old price levels will bounce back (hopefully at he 2008 level) and the equity will be a delight…
Please, take a look at my comment at https://www.propertyinvesting.com/forums/property-investing/overseas-deals/4344313.
Just a small mention though, as I see you guys getting info from Zillow.com. As a free tool, is not bad, but between investors in the US is well known that Zillow is far away from the reality. It uses optimizing engines for averaging property prices based on the areas around and the history of the property. TRULIA.COM offer way better info and more accurate. It is free, as well. There are paid services with monthly subscriptions, but at this point you don't need them.As one who has investments in the US (read my comments at https://www.propertyinvesting.com/forums/property-investing/overseas-deals/4344313) I can recommend Chase Bank. Very easy to work with, low monthly fees ($15/month-unless you have at least $5000 daily balance). Fast money transfer overseas. I don't think you can you open an account if you are not present in the US.
An international bank spread all over the world is MSNBC, which has branches in the US, as well; I don't know about Australia.Hi guys .
Take a look at my comments if you are interested to invest in the US.
https://www.propertyinvesting.com/forums/property-investing/overseas-deals/4344313
