Jay,

Welcome back buddy. We have been missing you !! Your right. The markets have changed. Dallas is much like others where the hedge funds have moved into town making it hard for the individual investor to get a look in. Prices have risen and it's hard to compete against the billions of dollars that hedge funds have. Pretty well all our…[Read more]

King-co,

As a foreign national you cannot get a SSN….these are for US citizens unless you have a classification that allows you to work in the US on a valid visa. Foreign Nationals that invest in real estate need an ITIN

Hi sonic81,

For single family homes you will find it very hard as a foreign national to get anything but private finance usually having terms from 50% down and rates at 8.25%.

As far as I know we are the only company that has access to a bank in Dallas that gives finance to foreign nationals. 30% down with a rate of 5.75% over 15 or 20 years.…[Read more]

ivanc,

I can also back up Nigel's referral to Donna Shaw who is based in Melbourne. Not sure exactly where your from but you might also find this list useful

http://photos.state.gov/libraries/australia/5/tax/TaxConsultants.pdf

The real problem I see is that you don't have title to a motel room under US laws so exactly what is it your buying into ? Look the return if it is true sounds good but what about an exit strategy ? As the old saying goes…the higher the returns the higher the risk

gazz,

I have a couple of sources for setting up bank accounts and no it's not a myth….it can be done. One bank will only open LLC accounts and not personal accounts and another bank does both a LLC & personal accounts but they both need to be established at the same time (i.e. won't open up just in personal name without opening one for LLC as…[Read more]

Looks to me like a Tigers & Cardinals World Series !!

Hi Richard,

We'd all love it if you can expand a little on this topic of a SMSF borrowing oversea's to purchase oversea's property…..not necessarily US property as I know you work for buyers of UK property as well don't you ?

Seems there are two trains of thought & it depends who you speak to as to what answer you get.

Jay,

Agree 100%. It's all about what expectations they have been sold from the beginning. Investors do need to appreciate that there are some major difference between property management in the US & Australia. It is unrealistic and naive of these investors you mentioned to expect otherwise.
My guess is that they know they have been sold a lemon…[Read more]

jayhinrichs wrote:

PS this forum has gotten pretty dull here last 2 weeks other than my two articles I don't think there has been anything new posted in a month or so… Save how to set up a bank account. Which is important yet not really riviting stuff.

Agree Jay….the forum has been looking pretty dull of late. What can we do to rev it…

Adropro

I have had this discussion with BMT. They will prepare a Depreciation Schedule for US property. They just need as much information about the improvements to the property as possible and dates etc. Cost I recall was in the vicinity of $500

Thanks speedy gonzales (Byron),

Your spot on. All of our homes are sold at or below a normal market value and we can show anyone interested plenty of comparable sales (not sold by TCCI) to back up the prices asked. We are not a fly by night company and have operated for over 12 years and pride ourselves on our honesty and intregrity.
I have many…[Read more]

Hi Joel,

Very observant of you !!

Yes you are correct. These are Texas Cash Cow homes that we own and have been refurbished by us.

Hi Jamie,

Referring to the USA. Zillow & Trulia are sites that offer computer modelled estimates of values of homes. Sort of like a realestate.com.au on steroids !!. They also include homes for sale or for lease.
Zillow provides what is called a "zestimate" of value. They don't offer a high degree of accuracy but do provide useful information…[Read more]

Obviously that hardest thing to do on forums such as this is to be as constructive as possible without being seen as being critical or negative. I'll do my best……

Jeff let me first of all congratulate you for admitting your a "middleman". Your a link in the chain that  perhaps isn't necessary but you see yourself as a conduit between the…[Read more]

labrador,Sorry to hear of your situation with the HOA. What was the HOA annual fee of $600 covering ?How were you getting the invoices from the HOA for the fee's you were paying ($50 a week)

Hi MillaLou,Welcome to the forum. I am sure if you search the forum you will find plenty to hear about users of MyUSAProperty. Plus they of course featured on the ABC's 7-30 report due to this actual  forums members perseverance.It would help if you posted some actual figures so you can get some informed opinions from forum members & experts.…[Read more]

labradorinlove wrote:
To put an end to the story I sold all 3 properties at a profit of $50,000. However then you have to minus the $20,000 that the con artist tradesman stole which brings the profit down to $30,000. At the end of the day I came out on top but there is still a con man walking around continuing to rip people off on an ongoing…[Read more]

ben1990 wrote:
Thanks for that mate! I will certainly have a look through and soak in as much info as I can. Last thing I want is to go ahead and spend a lot of money building a foreign portfolio and for it to turn to nothing faster than I can blink. Is there other countries that are worth while looking into?

You would need a couple of bottles…[Read more]

Tony,It really all comes down to your own personal level of risk tolerance and understanding of what's on offer. Something that we don't appreciate in Australia is that the buying and selling of notes in the US is just as big as the buying and selling of real estate. As you say…we are brought up on bricks and mortar. Just as big a factor to…[Read more]