Forum Replies Created
- DHCP wrote:As a buyer's agent, a good way to start your market research here in this forum?
Absolutely. We want to hear from people that have or might be investing in the US in order to find out what the specific issues are. AND in return, we are more than happy to give some free advice!
Where to buy in the US is dependent on so many factors. The first thing we ask is “what do you want to achieve?” and work from there. There are so many market which is why we diversified our service locations to cater for different types of investors.
You always pay for a rental guarantee in the purchase price or it is not legitimate.
Much better to put strategies in place to reduce your risk of vacancy ie. buy in the right area – check out current vacancy data, crime rates, employment trending etc. Price your rent accordingly (we have seen on so many occasions, sellers putting in a tenant on a high rent, marketing the property with extraordinary yields and the tenant leaves three months later).
wobblysquare wrote:A more useful resource, if any one knows of it, would be an idea of rental vacancies. By zipcode…any ideas on this would be appreciated.
Zip code will give you some indication, but in many areas you will really need to drill down to certain neighborhoods within a particular ZIP. Local buyers agents/realtors will be able to give you the best information. If you are planing on “going it alone” – take your time and build a network of reputable local service providers on the ground.
NAR bring out some good data but again, it can be quite generalized and limited to a city or metro area.
Again, RealQuest data have more statistics than you will ever need to assess a property’s investment appeal/potential.
OnboardNavigator give data for a particular zip – rentals/owner occupiers/vacant on a graph. If you want, send me a particular zip and Ill send you a copy of what comes up. At the end of the day, its all relative.
Everyday32 wrote:USpropertydirect wrote:Everyday32, Great questions and I could go on all day to provide a detailed answer. I guess there are some general "rules" when looking at investing in US property. First, identify what you want to achieve (ie. whats your strategy, how long do you plan to hold, do you have a bias towards income or capital gains). This will determine where to invest. Secondly, do your research. Even though we assist clients purchasing property in the US, we still advise them to do their own research and ask questions. Get on the forums (as you obviously have), visit the US property news sites, learn about different areas etc. Property management in an area where we pay particular attention, because on an income property, your property manager makes or breaks the investment. Any specific questions, just email me.USpropertydirect,
Thanks for your reply.
What may be the specific or reliable US property news sites to look for detailed information. In other words where can we get detailed reliable information.
For very general information check out Zillow and Trulia, but dont pay too much attention to their propitiatory valuations. Use then to get an idea of what properties are being listed for and the types of properties. You can do a search for a particular price bracket to see on a map where these type of properties are. For example, we do a basic search in cities for the lowest price bracket and see visually where these are (and stay away from).
Check out onboad Navigator to do broad zip demographic searches (http://www.onboardnavigator.com/1.5/webcontent/OBWC_Results.aspx?AID=759-2f444dbf8b8c)
News sites such as Inman News and the NAR often bring out some good reports on what is happening.
If you find an area you want to explore further, go as far as subscribing to their local newspaper.
For detailed property information and analytics, we use a system from CoreLogic calls RealQuestPro (the same system used by many of the banks, lenders and insurance companies) when assessing property along with our on-the-ground teams.
Everyday32,
Great questions and I could go on all day to provide a detailed answer. I guess there are some general “rules” when looking at investing in US property. First, identify what you want to achieve (ie. whats your strategy, how long do you plan to hold, do you have a bias towards income or capital gains). This will determine where to invest.
Secondly, do your research. Even though we assist clients purchasing property in the US, we still advise them to do their own research and ask questions. Get on the forums (as you obviously have), visit the US property news sites, learn about different areas etc.
Property management in an area where we pay particular attention, because on an income property, your property manager makes or breaks the investment.
Any specific questions, just email me.
Where to buy is largely dependent on your short, medium and long term investment goals are. In assisting our clients, its important to know firstly what their strategy is. ie. buy a couple of income properties, put aside excess cash flow to fund (or create the basis of) more property when lending becomes available, or buy property with a 3-5 year plan 9although this is very speculative) with an idea to realize a modest capital gain.
I often tell people that there are thousands of property markets in the USA, and the county as a whole will experience a rolling recovery. For example, we are finding in Phoenix AZ (which I read today has is reducing their foreclosure investor at the fastest rate in the US) that the $50k – $100k market is extremely active, and price bidding is coming back. That said, the market is depressed but showing signs of a reincarnation.
Deciding where to buy property depends on so many different factors: Just to mention a few: budget, bias to cash flow or capital gain, how long you intend to hold onto your property for, risk profile (very important – no investment is worth losing sleep over), whether you plan to physically visit your property and how often…etc.
For long term capital growth places like Florida and Las Vegas should be on your radar. The issue with these places is that there are so many foreclosures that it will be some time until any gains are seen. Basic demand and supply! That said, we are seeing a pick up in parts of Miami from foreign investors who are having an impact on the market.
For income and some stability consider update NY or Kansas City. The issue with Kansas City is you really need to be extra careful about location.
Sorry to hear about your experience. When choosing a company to assist you with your USA purchase and subsequent management, you should expect that the majority of the work is done for you, by competent people. This is what you pay for. As someone who heads a company that also offers these services, there is some advise which I would like to pass on. When being presented details of various properties always ask: how long has this property been available/listed for? (you do not want to have properties presented to you that no one else wants to buy). How old are the photos? (often, photos take on teh property could be many years old and not reflect the true condition of the property). Histociracl sales? This information is readily available and you should be able to obtain this from the company you are dealing with. This information gives extra purchasing power if you jbow how much the current owner purchased it for. Does the company you are dealing with have any financial interest in the property. Too many times, there are companies offering services for a fee AND receiving a kick-back from the seller. I do not believe this to be fair as a service provider should be acting solely in the buyers interest.
Please take this only as general advice and I wish you all the best with your USA property endeavors.
Dan
