Great information Property Scout. I've been advising people of the same options after being asked for $1000US to do this.

Regarding the ITIN.

Yes you do need an ITIN but not to set up a company. Set up your LLC, apply for your EIN (employer identification No) and then you will be required to have an ITIN when you lodge your first tax return in April.

The form is a W-7 and it needs to be lodged with your tax return. Remember in the US an LLC is made up of partners, as in a partnership, not shareholders and directors, as in a Pty Ltd company. (For that you need a C or S corp). Therefore the tax return you make as an LLC is applicable to an individual and you will need an ITIN.

Also, it takes about 8 weeks to process and you need documents and verification of ID etc to accompany the W-7. So there are a few hoops to jump through.

To save time and hassle at tax time, I would apply for an ITIN once you have your company set up and before tax is due.

You can find the instructions and the form at the IRS website http://www.irs.gov/individuals/article/0,,id=96287,00.html
Google : W-7 IRS and the instructions pdf will come up as well. These are very important to follow and a total pain

Please check all this yourself, but this is what I am going through right now and from my experience. In fact in  2 hours I am off to to a tax assessment office in Manhattan to lodge my W-7 which took me all yesterday afternoon to decipher and fill out.

Best of Luck.

Ian
http://theblockblog.com
Free Property Investment Info,Tools & Resources for Investors with a Sense of Humour.

Hi Engelo,

Some good points covered here from Matt, Scott and Wobbly. You may want to consider, short buy, renovate and sell deals where you aren't as exposed to monetary fluctuations amongst other variables, that may increase your risk.

Another area is the high positive cashflow deals that are available in the Uni towns in particular. One came my way yesterday for $240k with a 14% yield with potential to increase to 20% – fully managed and tenanted.

Ian
http://theblockblog.com
Free Property Investment Information, Tools & Resources for Investors – NZ – Aust – USA

There are some great opportunities in NZ at the moment but not for capital gain necessarily. That being said there are some excellent returns on offer at 13% or more for positive cashflow deals if you do wish to buy and hold.

Self and friends have been buying, adding value and selling with some great results.

You can have a look at one project here : http://www.theblockblog.com/new-zealand/property-investment-case-study-4/

Ian
http://theblockblog.com
Free Property Investment Information, Tools and Resoucres for Investors with a Sense of Humour – NZ – Aust – USA

Hi Oryx,

I think you may need to read up on property development and get yourself educated as much as possible. I understand you are in SA as you mentioned ‘torrens titles’. There are people who teach property development from the ground up and that sounds like it may be perfect for you. I’m not sure if they do so specifically through property investing .com, but you could have a look at a product put out by a fellow SA chap called Martin Ayles ( heres an old link https://www.propertyinvesting.com/resources/seminars/30 )

but you can find his product for sale here https://www.propertyinvesting.com/resources/products/36

If they havent got any, try: http://www.propertyinvestmentcourses.com.au/products/courses/development-blueprint-%7C-martin-ayles.html

Then you can have a look at http://theblockblog.com/propertyinvestment/strategies/property-development-2/ for 4 more options.

Also if you visit your local council and speak to a person in the town planning dept, they can answer all these questions as they relate to you specifically and the area you are looking to develop in.

Hope that helps a bit.

Ian
http://theblockblog.com
Free Property Investment Information, Tools & Resources for Investors with a Sense of Humour

Great start up reference. Thanks for the tip. With the 5 extras being added to this site, there should be a wealth of interesting reading ….. then the product????

Ian
http://theblockblog.com
Free Property Investment Information, Tools & Resources for Investors with a Sense of Humour.

Hi Kimberley,

For a whole host of website resources on USA investing try this : http://www.theblockblog.com/america/thats-arsum/
Also read up as much as possible either via the posts here on the forum or link up with those people who have already purchased property in the US and try to gather as much of their experience as well.

I have 3 properties in the US myself, each purchased via tax deed auctions which not a lot of people on this forum are doing, but it's only one way of getting a positive return – there are many.

There are a few USA investing posts on The Block site that may help, but my rule of thumb is that you should be getting at least 20% net return on any property in the US at present. Anything less and I would be trying to find out why.

Best of luck with it.

Ian
http://www.theblockblog.com
Free Property Investment Info, Tools & Resources For Investors With a Sense of Humour. – USA – Aust – NZ

Hi WealthyJVD,

Sounds like you really need to study up and there are some great resources for this. Probably the first step is Frankston Council website and check out all the info on property development requirements and fees. (600m2 site may be too small for 3)  A quick phone call to council once you have studied their site and ask anything you couldnt find out.

You could look at my site (below) for a whole host of resources or http://www.rookiedeveloper.com or http://www.realestatedevelopmentcoach.com/?hop=goodcho1ce. You should 'google' property development then add frankston to the search.
Good Luck

Ian
http://www.theblockblog.com
Free Property Investment Info, Tools & Resources for Investors with a Sense of Humour.

Gday Hados

Congratulations mate on the forward planning and saving so well. I think you have things sorted regarding the accounts and prerequisites regarding both FHSA and the FHOG. I've had experience buying my first residence when I already owned investment properties and was eligible. Check all the details as they pertain to the situation now though.

If you have the deposit funds and can keep the LVR as low as possible, then no problem buying an investment property now. Buy well (area, price, future prospects), buy what you can afford and move forward. Agreed, no need to pay more than required on an investment property so interest only loan and if you've bought well, then the tenants will pay your mortgage and holding costs.

Keep saving and in 2 years reassess your situation. You should be in a position to then buy a principle place of residence, receive the FHOG, have a sizeable deposit to reduce your interest payments as much as possible and rent out the other rooms to friends to help pay your mortgage. Your investment property should also be a positive income producing one by now if it wasnt right from the start.

The key is to keep earning and to increase that (wage) as much as you can and to save while you are young to give yourself the leverage you need to start with.

Best of luck with it – you are certainly doing things right so far.

Ian
http://theblockblog.com
Free Property Investment Information, Tools & Resources for Investors with a Sense of Humour.

Does anyone wake up to Kris Sayce from MONEY MORNING?
I think the people he hates most in this world are Property Spruikers and his angle on the market is an interesting one.

http://www.moneymorning.com.au/20110511/where-is-the-%E2%80%9Cpoint-of-control%E2%80%9D-for-aussie-housing.html#more-5138

If he wasn't an advisor for shares and wealth management, he'd make a great stand up comic.

Ian
http://theblockblog.com
Free Property Investment Info Tool and Resouces for Investors with a Sense of Humour

After reading all these comments, a couple of things stand out very clearly. The first is that Detroit Dan and High Income Property both have a great insight into the Detroit market for how it is panning out today and in the near future. The second thing is that Nigel Kibel is full of it when it comes to talking about anything other than his own property spruiking in Texas, so why dont you stick to what you are good at Nigel and Im sure you are very good at it. Stay in Texas, do a great job but stop spreading all this demographic BS about areas you have little knowledge of it seems.

Suburbs mentioned such as Dearborn, Dearborn Heights and Redford as mentioned by Detroit Dan are excellent little pockets of Detroit to invest in as are Livonia and the Uni District and a couple or others. Have a look at this post for pictures of the houses in these suburbs .http://www.theblockblog.com/america/detroit-dodging-the-bullet/ – not exactly the slummy picture painted of Detroit by all and sundry.

Sure there are other areas one can invest in in the US – too many in fact, but hey stop bagging people and their choices in favour of your little slice of pie in cowboy country. Most investors are not complete idiots and will have at least looked at the stats for Detroit and Michigan and will make up their own mind. They don't need you to be stupidly quoting rapper movies to add to the negative hype.

Ian
http://theblockblog.com
Free Property Investment Info, Tools and Resources for Investors with A Sense of Humour.