REPLY – Thanks for your interest

Michael and Bronwyn are Real Estate Professionals with many years experience, Michael managing his own specialist rental company. There are some things that are readily apparent to people who work professionally in property all the time and recognising each other is one of them.

I agree that trust is important, as are good character, reliability and performance. In my experience with Michael and Bronwyn, so far as I can see, is that they have a genuine interest in helping others, qualities I commend and that align with our own professional ethics policy.

To speak for myself, i am a licensed buyers agent with several years experience locating, negotiating, buying, financing, and arranging management and renovation for my Australian investors. We started buying in the US last November and have access to professional buyers agent networks in the US, located in several major cities with access to properties from across the country.

We are currently contracting two properties for our clients that have been sourced through Michael and Bronwyn. We have also completed our due diligence on the properties including studying the social and economic data for the location and searched current sales and sales history as well as comparable rentals. I also have another buying agent operating in the area and have conferred with him about the properties on offer.

To lose money on these short-sold properties another catastrophic economic event would need to happen, and this would create peril for all property investors. The property market in America and Atlanta has bottomed out in March 09 and stabilised, showing modest increases in prices. There are still many foreclosures taking place and a wide range of prices evident in sales in the same area and sometimes the same street. One of the most important factors is the price of rehab (renovation) work. A property may sell for $15,000 and need $35,000 in repairs before it can be rented. It is extremely important to ensure complete condition reports are made and builders quotes for any rehab work before committing to purchase.

Another commom concern is "what if we do not get any tenants"? The answer is a 10% unemployment rate means 90% of people are working. Housing is a necessity of life. When people walk out on their mortgage, which they can do in the US without further recourse, they still have to live somewhere and they generally don't lose their job at the same time. By renovating properties so they are in better condition than other properties in the area and pricing the rent so that it is better priced than competitors, your property will be the first to be rented. When you consider that most of the properties we are buying have over 20% return after all your US rental costs, we can be afford to be generous in order to fill them and keep them filled. I have many rental properties in Australia and have always found that supply and demand works well to ensure my properties have tenants.

Appointing professional and capable managing agents is also essential. I know Michael and Bronwyn are very astute at this because they ran their own rental management company in Sydney for several years. My other agents also have connections with their preferred managers and ultimately owners have control of appointments if they do not work out. The USA is not an alien world and operates in similar, common sense ways just like Australia, though I think we are more modelled on them! Real estate practices are essentially the same, but different, just like buying in NZ is different than Australia. An asute real estate professional can operate anywhere. Good property is good property.

I operate to help others create financial independence. The US market offers something which is scarce in Australia, terrific cashflow! When someone talks to me about positive geared property in Australia it usually means break even after depreciation. I have a client at the moment who is ecstatic, because he is buying ten US Properties to replace his income. Each property is approximately $40-50k AUD and will net over $10k in income per annum. He is also looking forward to the US economy recovering in the next 3-5 years, because interest rates will go up there and the Aussie dollar is likely to fall back to previous levels, making his US investments more profitable, because rent is paid in US dollars. Also, once US banks begin to lend to Americans again, they will buy up the market, ensuring these prices we see today will double or triple in value.

One way people have been getting ripped off  is by buying properties that have been bought and renovated by property dealers and sold with huge added margins. They are well above current market price and this diminishes return and renders resale impossible. Other unscrupulous operators have charged huge upfront fees and closed up shop later.

To avoid these potential pitfalls, ensure that you are gettting a property direct from the market, preferrably a bank owned property. Do your research well using zillow.com or trulia.com to analyse the market and check for any recent sales history on the property. Ensure that it is thouroughly inspected by a reputable builder. Don't pay purchase money to anyone other than a US lawyer, acting for and appointed by you to close (settle) the property. Ensure that all fees and charges for professional services are disclosed before purchase and pay them directly to the contractors to avoid unscrupulous mark-up and double dealing.

I deal with property investors for my living and the ones that do best are those that take nothing for granted. They do their own due dilligence and check and double check each opportunity before commiting to a purchase. I encourage all my clients to educate themselves and satisfy their curiousity by checking information with third party sources. I also give them contacts and processes to make it easier for them to do this. In the end an educated and successful investor is someone who will refer their friends and grow our business.

I get a lot of people thinking that the opportunity to buy say, a duplex pair in Cleveland which has been renovated completely with a 1 year warranty, with tenants in place, for $33,000 with an annual rent of $14,200, rent expenses of $4,600, giving a net return of $9,580 or 24%, IS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE!

What astounds me is they walk away without even seeing if this is possible. Are you one of them?

I am happy to talk to anyone who would like to hear more.

Vincent Selleck
Buyers Agent
Mortgage Broker
888 Wealth Creation P/L
Ph 02 66 857 888 Mbl 0403255510
[email protected]

http://www.888wealthcreation.com