This is good feedback, I certainly like Western Syd and I purchased in this area about 18 months ago. This property provides excellent cashflow as it has a self contained granny flat which was already in place.
To replicate this again in Syd would not be difficult, however as far as I am aware you can not get bank finance for the granny flat and trying to refinance would not be worth the effort.

This is my dilemma, I like Syd and I like to chase cycles, I feel this will be the next boom area, who knows when but its a case of positioning yourself.

As far as Perth goes I am finding properties about 12-15km from city where rezoning is occuring and I have the opportunity to purchase in low 300s and its a matter of sitting and waiting (land banking). This will not be cashflow positive, however in the interim you will get reasonable growth, its already happening. If you can keep the front property and build at the back you will have a great little money spinner down the track.

Cheers, WI

Hi Jay
yes I will shoot you an email.

I have had one quote to date, by placing all houses on one policy can make a substantial saving around $2400 pa which is excellent, also with a blended policy this means you do not have to take out a policy when the house is vacant, so set and forget.

Thanks

WI

This is an update on XETrade

I just signed up, relatively easy (5 minutes), all they required were 2 IDs, I provided passport number and licence number.
 
They will advise if they require copies etc. This is far easier than setting up with Ozforex. My account will be activated in 24 hours.

I also contacted their Aus phone number to clarify whether I can transfer funds from my bank account in US and what is required, all good.

for all US transfer  they require is:

Us Bank Account number
Branch Code
Brance address
Routing Code

Each wire transaction will cost $22 (flat rate) regardless of the amount you are transferring to Aus.

I will keep you all posted as I will be transferring funds shortly. Certainly this is great, as it will cost less transferring funds, competitive currency rates and most importantly side line the banks woeful system and costly bank fees.

Cheers, WI

I started this post on 5 April, did not expect things to change so quickly.
 

So what happens over the next 12 months will be very interesting.

What I can see has happened recently is:

Aus$ is falling.
RBA wil be meeting next week, if interest rates fall which seems highly likely we could see the Aus$ continue to slip/slide.

Houses in Atlanta that I was purchasing at $35K-50K are now selling somewhere around $60-70K.

If banks continue to drip feed foreclosures this will add pressure and prices may continue to rise.

Will Oz investors pull back if the Aus $ falls back to 90c as this will erode the yields???

One thing for sure if you timed it correctly you can certainly make money bringing back the US $.

Lots of fun at the moment

Cheers, WI

thanks Derek, will do
Cheers, WI

Thanks JoelAREI
no, property management company not offering this, unfortunately, there were at one stage for $95 fee I have heard as much as $150.

I have actually been able to source someone else to assist.

What I am curious about is how they establish value, I have read conflicting information.

Is it simply the price you paid for property, comparables???? Do you know

Whenever I research I seem to hit a dead end.

Thanks, WI

jayhinrichs wrote:

I think one of the important aspects of this conversation as it relates to WI is that she has sufficient MASS or SCALE… I think she mentioned that she has 8 properties to date, So probably a 400 to 500k investment on her and her husbands part…. As well as based on what she has shared she has bought in the easier to manage areas of Atlanta and did not go for the cheapest thing on the market, And this is a big AND,,, last year is not this year in the market, All those who were trying to time the bottom well you missed it by and large at least in the Metro ATlanta market…WI I and others timed it well just because they made a decision to proceed… So WI has again by what she has stated on the forum 8k to 12k coming in monthly gross ( if everyone pays) and or more. With this kind of financial commitment and investment you have the scalability to run this as a little business… And here is my point I bet WI spends a pretty good amount of her month e mailing skyping and other management duties managing her managers. And running her small rental business… I doubt seriously that she just sits in her easy chair collecting her rents as is portrayed buy the Turn Key companies And yes if they have to travel to Atlanta 1 or 2 times a year for the 5 to 10k a year that would cost, its just the cost of doing business. so you add in those cost to Property management, vacancy when and if she will have any,, and on going repairs… TAx's insurance. etc etc. And its a nice cash flowing business, but it is a business and needs to be treated as one. Where this model goes Squirrly is for the investor that buys 1 or 2 properties.. There is no scale and no mass.. So fixed expenses travel expenses they cut into the return in an inordinate % of gross rents… if you have one property and you pay 5k to come and look at it before you buy it. there went year one 50% of your rental yeilds.. add in other costs and your brake even or negative geared year one. So I think the comparison to the TWH model for the smaller investor the one that would like to dip their toe… Is pretty easy,,, No need to come view your Note purchase as you do not own the property just the debt with equity, NO closing costs or any other fee expect the purchase of the note… And thats kind of how it goes in our market here in the US. I have only had 1 client actually physically visit there Note purchase out of over 5 million dollars worth of note sales in the last 12 months… I mean the CPA and doctors from Perth invested with us specifically because they did not have the time to spend 2 weeks running around the US…. At the end of the day of course the US welcomes the OZ investor and love it that they are coming here and spending money on properties hotels food rental cars… Airline tickets.. Although Qauntas probably gets the lions share of those fees. Anyway something to think about.

I started investing in US about 12 months ago and I was initially looking at purchasing 10-15 properties, however as a fellow investor mentioned I have been spoilt with the great deals I secured at $35,000-50,000 and now most of the deals/properties that fit my criteria are more like $60,000-70,000 where 20% gross return will be very difficult to achieve. I am sure there are still plenty of great deals  —  just harder to find and with the Aus$ falling back will just add further pressure.  

 I agree for this to work you need to be buying multiple properties, its a numbers game.
You are correct Jay my investment in US is around $500K  approximately $62,000 per property (fully rehabbed & associated costs/fees), I do not sit back watching the money flow in, though at the moment I am enjoying a healthy bank balance in US, just a shame I am having problems trying to work out the best way to bring the money back to Oz….  J   

From my experience anyone purchasing multiple properties in US will benefit if they are involved at all levels from researching structures that will reduce exposure but also ways to reduce tax in US,  ie setting up loans against each property. Its also taken time to source an accountant and almost 12 months to understand what he is talking about, that’s another story. If you are not prepared to be proactive be prepared to get burnt.

Property management I am finding is another beast, no surprises here, I always knew this would be a challenge. Clearly it is early days, absolutely not easy from OZ, however I believe I am having some little wins here and there.  I think the key is to get involved from ensuring you understand rental statements, request invoices for all costs and ensure they are itemised. If I need to I also contact the Operations Manager and keep him in the loop via emails. It is work for sure, I email/phone regularly but I have the time and it really is the only way I know how to do things —  as us Ozzies say "Keep the B….ards Honest".

Cheers, WI

Hi Emma
Thanks for your reply.
This may be a solution however not for me, coz I would expect the property management company will charge a fee for this which will probably be minor in the scheme of things,  however the real issue for me is the lack of control. 

I would not be comfortable transferring funds into the brokers trust account, at the moment I want to transfer $24,000.

What one would assume  would be a simple process ends up an absolute nightmare.

Cheers, WI