If you want to invest off shore I would suggest the United States is a good place to go. Even with the Sub prime you can still get loans. There are a lot of places in the US where you can get positive cashflow but you do need to be careful where you buy and who you buy through.

I think the chances of making money in Japan are very good. However I do not know a great deal abut it. I know that prices and equal to 1980s prices their,I recently read that to maintain the Japanese economy they need 600,000 foreign workers where today they only have around 60,000.

The only stupid question is the one you do not ask.Yes you do need to set up a company and arrange finance. I am looking at Indianapolis next, have some good contacts their. Also have a few good ones in San Antonio. Do your research very carefully and do not buy anything you cannot see. Whats parts of the states are you interested in?Where are you…[Read more]

Hi http://www.Realtor.com is a good standard site for looking at prices and areas and at least geeting an idea of what you want for your money. It depends on what areas you are interested in.

BTM are a great company. They were a young group of guys in their 20s, bit older now. They have a great reputation. Whenever I have delt with them I have found them to be great.

I also love the fact that they claim to have god guiding them. If what the article says is true and the information is nothing new then they should rot. They do deserve to be dealt with fairly however and we should see the evidence of what has happened. Not all the people mentioned may be guilty. This proves again that you should always do your…[Read more]

If you read the latest article on the Jenman site that has plently to say about Westen

I was attacked a few weeks ago on this site for dare mentioning anything about Westen. I do not always agree with Jenman, however if you take money from someone based on the fact that you are giving them advice and the property turns out to be a dud, you should take responsibity for that advice. Westen states that he has not adviced anyone to buy…[Read more]

You can also try Texas, however cheap individual houses at around $50,000 are often in slum areas. If you are interested in slum areas the people in the Jenman article will help you.My suggestion is that if you want to buy in the United States do you own research, spend time there. I will look to buy again next year in Indianapolis and Texas but…[Read more]

Once again purfatter or whatever your name is since I do not know who you are I dio not care for your views.What I would like is for people here to share both good and bad stories about the USA and who put them their.

Property management is also a serious problem in the US. Its a long way to travel if something goes wrong, Heidi Steger is also great with finance. hsteger@gmail.comShe comes highly recommended.

Just for the recordI spent much of last year in Texas. I brought property for myself however I did not buy for anyone in the early stages until I fully understood the market. I do not use other peoples money to research the market I use my own.

Thanks for your comments Hux but people who hide behind a fake name mean nothing to me nor do you no anything about me.

Perhaps Western is over there looking after all his happy customers.When you sell slums it works out well.

Hi LukeI am currently back in Australia, but I am told by many that ther market is strong in San Antionio. There is no doubt that there will be some great buying opportunities in the United States over the next year or so.

I think the nature of the property cycles are changing, for a number of reasons. We have an ageing population. We will also only have a small numvber of people entering the work force after 2020. Infact according to government estimates between 2020 and 2030 a total of 140,000 will enter the workforce. Last year there were 175,000. In other words…[Read more]

If we go back to 1990 which was the Australian depression. There was a downturn in the property market brought about by the drop in commercial property. Unemployment hit 14%. Even then we did not see a dramatic downturn in the residential markets. Returns even in areas such as Camberwell were over 7%. That was with interrest rates at around 17%.…[Read more]

Without a doubt you are better to look at an apartment or unit close to the city. Currently 25% of households have only one person. It is predicted that that will increase to 35% over the next 10 years. Also consider that according to Melbourne 2030 the population will inctrease by at least another 1 million people. In the future if not know…[Read more]

I agree with Simon buying second rate property is a waste of your money. Unless you get great returns you are better off buying inner city properties. I would stick to Melbourne Sydney and Brisbane. Melbourne at the moment is doing very well. According to the 2030 review Melbournes population will increase by 1 million people. I would look at…[Read more]

In Victoria and only Victoria the stamp duty is only based on the land value. If the developer is not charging any stamp duty then it is likely that they have loaded the stamp duty onto the price.