Engelo, Yes, I am sure many others are feeling the pain of dealing with IRS etc. never mind, worth it at the end:)

Porsha

Some lower entry level areas you may want to consider are:  Girrawheen, Koondoola and Beechboro, these areas have all had significant growth over the last 2 years, however due to proximity to city and rezoning on the agenda they are hotly contested, I think you could source something around $425-450K, renting for $400 pw. Where can you buy this cheap/close to the city. Girrawheen and Koondoola ex-State Housing, however this is changing rapidly with Sattlerly refurbishing houses for Government which are on sold to FHB.

Another one that I would look at is Mirrabooka, once again proximity to city, and excellent infrastructure, currently as cheap as chips, not for long.

Cheers

WI

Nigel

The time to buy development sites was 2 years ago, this is what I have been doing in Perth, not shaky at all, its a numbers game as long as it stacks up then I buy. The market in general has been rising and very strong in Perth, however I believe it is now starting to slow down. Sydney seems to still have some steam.

I am also developing in Melb 4 unit site, it is becoming increasingly difficult to source sites as builders/investors are jumping in. I stick to small 3/4 unit developments get in and out.

As I mentioned before the power of leverage and the strong Australian property market makes investing home much more attractive than US and the numbers do appear to have dropped, less interest in US for this reason and also the fact that yields in general in US are no longer as attractive, which makes it a much riskier proposition.

It is also very difficult dealing with the systems in US as they are so archaic its unbelievable.

Seriously I have never ever dealt with anything like this. One example IRS, we sent in our tax last year, they processed my partners tax refunding the with holding tax, however did not process my documents, we have been waiting for 6 months now, many phone calls in the early hours of the morning, and finally my accountant phoned as now we were receiving fines for not processing our tax returns even though we had been discussing our documents and confirmation of this on the phone. They now have lost everything, now we are processing tax returns again.  It appears that the government departments and banks seem to have no systems in place to make people/employees accountable its like I am dealing with some Third World Country, very strange. Anyway, enough of the rant, this however does make it more difficult  not to mention the money you have to spend to resolve some of these issues.

Hi All

I started investing in Atlanta over 2 years ago, but I stopped buying when I could no longer achieve 20% gross yields, at that time I realised as a landlord it was not going to be fun, lots of slippage for example higher maintenance tenants, property management fees higher and other associated risks.

I believe that various property markets in Australia such as Sydney and Perth started rising 2 years ago after 7-10 years of no growth so investors have started jumping into these markets, with historically low interest rates and the power of leverage it is a no brainer.

As far as investing in US for me personally been great, my 8 properties (investment of $500,000 Au) have pretty much doubled and still got income sitting in my US bank accounts, my plan is to pull the pin over the next 12 months and bring back $1M and continue reinvesting in Australia.

I believe the ship has sailed in US and unless you got in early I would not bother as the positive cash flow will turn into negative as the current yields are way to low IMO. Its time to play in your own backyard as there are great opportunities to make serious $ in Australia, Brisbane market is now starting to rise.

WI:)

Hi Nigel

I agree his will go a long way, but without a plan/goal, courage and action you will achieve very little.

Kong

thanks for the link.

Cheers WI

The multifamily deals you mentioned are cheap for a reason, these types of properties need to be run as a business, also if it is in the inner city areaas then most likely in areas that should be avoided at all costs. The cashflow will be negative and you wont be able to give it away.

WI

No surprises here, I imagine there are many o/seas investors who will go through many property managers only to find that they are chasing their tail.

We say cheque, you say check, similar to property management, its like chalk and cheese.

WI

Hi Speedy

$50 per sq ft is too high, no more than $30 I would also say.

Don't know Temple.

I think try to buy no older than 10 years and anything over 2000 sq ft would be great, I like my properties to return at least $1000 pm.

I don't know if it is too late, depends on your criteria. For me it is too late as I will only buy properties with 20% gross which is just not realistic at the moment.

Cheers WI

Hi Cheeves

With regards to Atlanta  –  3 turnovers in a year, that would absolutely be a killer. 

I am curious, how would you describe  a 2 class B property?   

Those 6-8% yields I believe are just not attractive for foreign investors, coz we can not LEVERAGE in Australia and our interest rates are now very attractive, if you look hard enough there are properties in Australia that provide 7.5% yields and much lower risk.

I personally think the boat has sailed and the stock that I am seeing now is way too expensive or inferior.

WI

This is not good, I have a girlfriend who has purchased a development site in Karatha to build 10 units, joint venture.

I thought this was very high risk at this time of the cycle. Looks like I could be right.

WI