Forum Replies Created
It may not sound that good, but I think that having someone make you state your goals and hold you accountable – perhaps brutally accountable – for their achievement or failure may well focus the minds of many. I have always had goals, but did not start out methodically working towards them. This could have really helped.
Of course, these days I hold myself accountable. No critic like a harsh critic. [biggrin]
It may be bad manners to plug someone in someone else’s forum, but this looks like a job for either the Jan Somers books (although remember she’s a negative gearing fan) or Margaret Lomas who puts things very simply.
Some of Jan Somers’ books point out that the figure of 7 to 10 per cent not only holds over the last 40 odd years but can be traced back to property values at the time of the Domesday Book (i.e. 1070 AD)! I haven’t checked this claim, but I recall the phrase.
Heh, heh. The supersecret meeting of a group of which noone has ever heard meets again in total secrecy and has its entire agenda and discussions in the paper/ on the web etc.
Standard technique for dressing up personal theories as the view of leading authorities without even having to find an authority to quote.
Totally agree, Foundation.
However, I’d guess you don’t argue with the longer term proposition that an Australian median price of $1 mill per house is quite feasible (not that being a millionaire would be very special by that time)
To all except professor.
Ignore the drivel and the driveller. Above all, don’t respond to the muckracking. It’s called trolling and its only purpose is to draw a reaction – typical immature behaviour.
To put the discussion back on track, I’d be interested in finding out what most people see as the most valuable part of the exercise – the written resources, the mentor, the goals and the accountability, the networking opportunities or what?
Just on the ‘big company buys patent to suppress it’ crap, it’s just that. If you hold a patent and fail to market the product, it can be taken off you precisely to prevent this sort of behaviour. That’s been the law for decades.
Sheesh.
BTW, for the ‘wind is economical now’ fans, several investments in the Canberra region, in the face of potential rising energy costs, have neertheless been canned on a likely cost basis.
Shall we perhaps return to facts, instead of internet based conspiracy factoid babble?
Dazzling,
In answer to your original question, I always make sure that the cashflow covers the tenant expense, including vacancies. That’s the same as you, really – the tenant pays me to landbank.I don’t really think it’s a commercial vs residential thing, I think it’s more about cashflow vs cap gains.
And yes, my contracts specify all sorts of things that the tenant picks up, where this is legally possible, because that is a real difference between residential and commercial – the law allows much more flexibility on commercial.
But the interest rates are lower, the LVR is higher and the leverage possibilities are a lot of fun. You shouldn’t be so down on residential, even by way of being up on commercial.
Although my tenants get it easier than yours, I’ve never had more than a month’s vacancy in any year in any property I own or have owned in Australia. If you can say the same, you are exceedingly fortunate, as Brahms pointed out.
…and Michael’s views would be worthwhile, but they would be just that – views.
What does YOUR research and due diligence show? Where are you looking for info, and what trust do you put in your sources? As Michael’s response indicates, an answer to your question will only be valuable and as meaningful if it relates to your goals.
Do you have your goals and strategies written down yet? If you do that first, you may find yourself asking more specific questions that are more meaningful.
And don’t forget, advice from a forum is always caveat emptor, as the first two responses should have clearly demonstrated.
Originally posted by Maxwell:Thank you for taking the time to fill out the survey [thumbsupanim] As it is possible to get some international property questions but this is dependant on the answers that you submit.
I do not want to disclose the data I am after to ensure results are accurate.
Ah, an interactive survey! Will be interested to see the results. Having had certain fears assuaged, if I win you can PM me [biggrin]. Good luck with your course.
Andrew,
I note your form seems to concentrate in its second half on overseas investment. Why is that? It might be good if you were willing to spell out what it is you are trying to achieve in your survey.
NB. I never give out my personal details, so although I’ve filled your survey, I’ll just pass on the wine.
I’d view this as a golden opportunity. Every request should be agreed to, with the consequent rent rise stipulated. New switches? Sure, that’ll be $5 per week. New fence? $10 per week. Move the line? $15 per week. If you’re really lucky, they’ll agree to some of these before they get smart and shut up.
In the mean time, you upgrade your property, get more than the cost of the upgrades in rent and get the depreciation. Gotta love it.
Try Karratha.
Try Kalgoorlie.
Try buying a dump and renovating or a tiny box and extending or a commercial property or a “Don’t wanter” or a wrap or a flip or something that you can turn from negative to positive.
Use your eyes and your brains, not your butt and your mouse. CF+ never did just fall out of the skies, you had to look and look and look. And not on the net, where wveryone else is looking too.
And then you have to see what isn’t there, change things until it is there, and start to make money.
Alternatively, you can ask “Where are all the CF+ properties?” The answer is: I and everyone else who read the local papers and went out in our cars and inspected the properties and looked and thought and saw the answers BOUGHT a problem and CREATED a solution. And we own them.
End of rant.
Go out and buy a copy of Steve’s latest book. If you read it as it is written, not looking for secrets that will immediately enrich you, it should become as plain as day that anyone can buy cashflow positive property in a wide variety of ways (examples given) in today’s market.
If you get nothing out of it, that probably tells you that this brand of property investing is not for you, but at least the proceeds of the book have gone to charity.
Maybe I need to [chill], but there’s been an awful lot of this “where can I find CF+ today?” going on.
Dear elbows
I can’t imagine how hard that must have been, let alone how you must feel.
My (US) lawyer insisted that my wife and I decide the issue as part of estate planning so we have formal DNR orders for ourselves and as instructions to whoever may become responsible for us.
Congrats for having the courage to start this thread.
Ozi,
Be careful about “checking out” the bad areas. Many people I spoke to wouldn’t go there even if you paid them serious money, especially if you have a white skin. My realtor wouldn’t even inspect houses there without an off-duty cop for protection. As for trying to collect rent from one of these places – you’d need Mike Tyson to do it.
Quite often the $5000 houses look good in the photos because they aren’t the houses that are actually being sold (oops, so sorry, meant to put up the photo of the partially burnt out, boarded up dump, not the classic 3 bedroom family home – can’t figure out how that mistake was made…). Lots of them got sold to naive yanks on ebay a couple of years back, giving Buffalo an even worse name.
We are largely insured with Allianz. Never had a claim rejected.
Originally posted by mgs2:I think now days the average age the Australian leaves home is 25. This is understandable that this age has increased greatly over time, to keep with changing conditions. Now days in Sydney, as an example houses are 10 times the median wage, it also must be taken into account that few young people straight out of school or uni earn figures near that median wage.
Don’t know about you, but I wasn’t attempting to BUY when I moved out of home. Considering that rental yields in Sydney are currently around 3-4%, then to get a room in a shared 3 bedroom house will set you back a third of 3% of 10 times median wage or 10% of the median wage. Average Weekly Ordinary Time Earnings last year were under $1000 per week, Newstart is $200 per week.
It’s not flash living, but that, I think, is the real problem in that the reluctance to move reflects the reluctance to surrender a lifestyle for which the beneficiary is not paying. And that is an attitude which will not support them in later life.
In Japan, you have people in their late thirties, employed, still living at home, paying neither for food nor rent, and not wanting to move out because then their expenses would go up – AND MUM AND DAD MIGHT STOP PAYING THEM AN ALLOWANCE!!!
Starting from nothing, including experience, you aren’t going to make your millions in a year. But I guess you know that. But in 10 years, with grit and determination, you could well do so. And when a decade has gone by and you look back and see what you’ve achieved, I hate to say it but there won’t be a fireworks show and a marching band – instead, there will be vistas of places you couldn’t even see 10 years ago and you’ll wonder “Now how am I going to do THAT?”, roll up your sleeves and get to work.
By the way, one thing I have noticed is that there appears to be an unstated, maybe unthought, assumption that you are OK once your team is in place. This is SO wrong. Your team needs to grow with you. Some will, and will stay on the team. Some won’t be able to or won’t want to, and will need to be replaced, even though they are good at what they do. And the occasional one will learn from you and become an investor. They’ll sack themselves when the opportunity and time is right for them. You should be aware of this, because it means that you should always be looking to expand your team, so that when you lose one, there isn’t a gap to be filled.
I think it’s important to realise that Aussies are not the only investors who have come to realise the potential for the Buffalo/ Rochester area. There is a lot of money flowing in from New York City, as well as from California (where rental returns are down around 5% and below).
There is also the local percpetion that Buffalo is dying. When this appears to disregard the facts of the situation, as it does, that spells massive opportunity.
Like I said before, it’s not a market for the faint-hearted or the newbie. REALLY. But it is a market where money, specifically CF+, can be made.
I think I should probably reply, as, without meaning to, I appear to have promoted the US market, particular in the Buffalo area. My posts were and are only meant to be educational – what you draw from them is your own business.
Ozi makes a number of valid points, as far as they go. After some misfires, some of which cost serious money, I am now satisfied with my team, property manager included. (Don’t ask me who they are, go find your own stream to fish in [smiling]).
As regards section 8, the government rentals are usually ABOVE market rent (at least in my area) and if the government reduces its subsidy, the tenant is responsible for the difference – the rental agreement is with the tenant and how they get the money is, as with all leases, their problem.
Eviction notices are common – it’s a far more confrontationist atmosphere over there. Unfortunate, but a fact of life. You need to be organised, thick skinned, smart and experienced to do well in the market. This is NOT a market for first time wannabees seeking sexy returns, it’s an area where a lot of mistakes can be made.
The upside of a depressed area is that MORE federal funding flows in. If the low paid are your tenants this is good. If you are dealing in luxury condos, not so good.
Property taxes are rising. Population is static, rather than declining. A couple of thousand people (net) left the area over a 5 year period. Big deal, in an area with a population of roughly 1 million.
The point of this post is not to deny the truth of Ozi’s info, and certainly not to criticise. It is simply to balance the viewpoint, as imbalance, so the engineers here will tell you, tends to impede progress. (Unless you are human, in which case controlled imbalance goes by the technical term of ‘running’).[scholar]
In reply to gamay’s point, I think folks like Westan are BOTH buying (for themselves) and selling (bird-dogging). It’s one way to raise cash. But yes, I don’t think I’d be buying from anyone who was selling properties but not buying in the same area.
Hope this helps.
Not disagreeing, but perhaps a different way of looking at it. First, what anyone does is THEIR rsponsibility (duress aside).
However, in giving advice on a forum like this, where you only know part of the story but tailor a suggestion to what you do know, ay not be in the best interest of the person you are trying to help.
The solution is twofold, and I see folks like Dazzling practice it most days. Part 1 is to talk about general principals and techniques (teaching the newbies to fish, not handing out fish). Part 2 is to record your own experiences (as with Dazzling’s post about the land deal he did) and let others examnine, question, criticise and eventually learn.
At the same time, anyone who tried to sue on the basis of advice received here should be pilloried.
