I must admit we use OZFOREX after having some poor experiences with AFEX however unless you intend to go to America and invest a lot of time and money to do due diligence I would strongly advise you to either not invest or work with someone you trust.

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However although the dollar has dropped keep in mind that all your earnings will be in US dollars. We are doing everything from flips to buying hotels and other quality commercial property. As for markets like Detroit I think there are better markets to invest in. we like markets lie Florida where you have a growing economy.

I offer a mentoring program and deal directly in Florida

I keep hearing about people paying $20,000 pls from so called US investors.

I am sure that Engelo and Jay will agree with me

If you want to invest in America do it with trusted people on the ground

Unless you intend to spend 6 months on the ground doing your own research you are wasting your time

The quality of the person you are dealing with makes all the difference. I spend every second month on the ground and have a full time partner in Orlando.

If you do not like Florida both Jy and Engelo are good people to deal with

We have no problem opening US bank accounts for clients. Not all banks do it

The banks we use require a passport and drivers licence to be notorised. If you go to the US embassy on line they list Nortories in all states.

If I could add to Ivan comments the most important thing about investing in the United States is with you deal with.

Part of the Problem is that they Americans have a ca do attitude but not a cant do attitude and what I mean by that is whoever you talk to they will tell you they can help you. Often you only know that you made a mistake when you try to re sell your property.

So keep in mind that if you buy in America you have to look at the establishment of an LLC (limited Liability Company)
Tax Returns and travel costs.

So if you are going to buy in America you must do this for the long term with your aim to establish a separate income stream to what you have in Australia.

We are base in Florida but rather than buy houses to hold we buy renovate and on sell to end users in other words home owners in Florida.
Generally our investors are looking at around a 20% cash on cash net return.

I believe the US market is a great market and may have many years of growth ahead so do your due diligence carefully and make sure that however you work with you have 100% confidence in.

Its my understanding that Bob has been doing this for years,. He has a great reputation and has a strong following. I have looked and carried out a similar model. You will be in good hands with Bob and should at least have a chat with him.

I am a big fan of Texas and Florida but I am mainly focusing on Orlando at present. In all cases the states determine lending policy so back in 2006 during the boom most homeowners in Texas still had to have a 20% deposit to buy a house in Florida you needed a pulse beat. The end result was when the GFC happened, in states like Texas the medium price help well. In Florida prices were over the top and fall sharply.

So in 2014 it has been possible to buy properties with much higher returns and growth in Florida than Texas

But I agree with Ivan it is a matter of looking at your individual position and working out what you want to achieve.

• This reply was modified 9 years, 11 months ago by  Nigel Kibel.

I think a lot of people have been burnt and its true that the Property market is strong but thats a good reason to stay out of it.
The other issue is the falling Australian Dollar. However if you want to trade properties or buy great quality investments there has never been a better time to do so. Consider

A rising market coming off record lows

Finance coming back into the market (recently funded an apartment complex for 70%)

Strong rental demand

Strong demand for owner occupier homes

Florida current has around 1,000 people a day moving there the same thing happened in Texas and it pushed up rents.

Even if you have never considered the United States you should at least explore the option.

What Jay says is correct. I was approached by one of the large companies that wanted us to source commercial properties for them. However they wanted to add a 30% markup. Naturally we have not done business with them. When I decided to stay involved in the US market I decided that i would only stay involved for 2 reasons firstly that i owned half the company and secondly that we could provide all the back end services. My business partner Rob Keeler is also a registered builder in 28 states. Now currently we are focusing on Florida but we have the ability to go further afield.

If you are going to deal in the US make sure that you are dealing with someone that knows what they are doing

Lol Jay I was going to ask your secret.

I took 15 months because whether I am investing my own money or a clients I need to know that who I am working with are who they say they are. By that I was approached often by American promoters and was quite gun shy of these people. However after dealing with Rob Keeler fr more than 15 months he turned at to be a smart intelligent guy who really knows his stuff and is motivated more by how good the deal is rather than how much he would make. He had personally done over 60 fix and flips in the last few years just for himself and was a property developer before the GFC and also understands commercial real estate. I am proud of what we are doing. However from what I hear Jay also has an excellent reputation. What matters is that you understand the process and have confidence on who you are dealing with.

It is good advice because the problem is that on many occasions you are dealing with a so called wholesaler who is not even based in the city where the properties are located.

I have just gotten back from my third trip to Florida in 4 months. I have a full time partner on the ground. This is what we do with flips

We drive past look around the property if it has the things we are looking for and that is houses that will be in demand from an end user we make an offer and then wait for a response. We normally put a time limit of 3 days but banks will sometimes take longer. If they accept the offer it is subject to a 15 day due diligence process. During that time we take a builder and a roofing specialist to go through the property plus we check the title. On average about 30% of properties fall over because there are problems with the titles or issues with the structures.

If the properties check out we close them and then move onto the renovation and put the property up for sale on the market

If you want to be successful then this is what you need to do. If this is not being done you are gambling with your money

• This reply was modified 10 years ago by  Nigel Kibel.