Invest USA

Guys,

Nigel is correct, you do need to have an understanding of the market or be working with people that do.

Right now Texas is one of the best markets to be in for both capital growth and if you buy wholesale then you can expect reasonable cash flow as well. You do need to buy correctly though.” Its all in the buy guys”. That’s where the money is made.

At the end of the day regardless of where you invest, your investment is only going to be as good as the people you have surrounding you.

You need to be so careful because there are also risks. I encourage everyone to do as much due diligence as possible.

One thing that can be done to protect yourself is ” have clauses in the contract” so that if something doesn’t come back quite right, then you are protected.
There will be circumstances where a deal is presented but after investigation, the numbers aren’t quite what you were told. That’s why you do due diligence.
That doesn’t just go for the U.S. That goes for anywhere.

We just completed a deal in Stamford Texas with a lady in Sydney that just recently closed. We sent it out for a sale price of $525k. We had not seen the property nor did we work with the wholesaler before who sent us the deal. So once we found the investor who wanted this deal “based on the numbers we sent out”, Brian drove to Stamford and spent a day there inspecting the properties and paperwork etc such as the rent rolls and other important information.

To cut a long story short, there was minor cosmetic work that needed to be done. We estimated on average around $2k per property. Also the rent rolls were slightly out of date. Anyway she ended up still buying the 25 houses as they were a great deal. She ended up buying them for $465K though.

The point I am trying to make is that there is no cut and dry when it comes to real estate. The returns are good but it does come with being diligent and being active with your investments.

This lady is flying over to the U.S next month to view her properties etc. So don’t think for one minute its all rosy. All the normal risks and variables are there as they will be no matter where you invest. Investing remotely does have its challenges as well and it becomes so much more important to have good relationships set up.

I am fortunate because I am in a position to find great wholesale deals for Australians in the U.S.A. This is credit to Brian as he has worked very hard over the last 2.5years building a network in Texas with people in the industry. He gets these deals now because people have come to know that he can move properties and get them sold to his investors.

Even though we are getting good deals, people still need to also find themselves a good property manager if you are going to hold onto the properties. We have someone who does this for us however at the end of the day, its your investment and totally up to you who you use. Plenty of Australians now have real estate in the U.S and the great thing about this forum is that everyone has been willing to share there information and experiences. Different people use different accountants and property managers that they have found so the great thing is that there are plenty of resources.

The Texas market is definitely appreciating, so if you are going to want properties that are going to cash flow for you, the its going to come down to “the buy”. That’s the reality. Rents are starting to tighten therefore each property has to and should be looked at individually. There is still demand for rentals, its just that the prices are starting to drop. Buying under value or rehabbing and then re-financing are going to continue to create the good returns for you.

The other thing you need be aware of is to get the good deals, things need to be done outside the square box. I have had plenty of people call or e-mail saying some of the numbers they have seen are to good to be true. The reality is a lot of work goes on behind the scenes before a deal even goes out to investors. Plenty of negotiating and headaches have already taken place. Its really hard work getting good deals. It just doesn’t happen. That’s the reality of this business. And there are times when deals also fall through during the negotiations . That’s the nature of the beast if you want to be getting true wholesale real estate.

To give you just one example, we pick up TAX Sales. This is the sale of property by the government for non payment of taxes. The last 3 properties we have done for investors have been purchased through tax sales. Now to my knowledge the only way we can buy these properties is to physically go into the department, pay the back taxes owed on the property and do the paperwork there. I guess this is where things can get a little tricky with investors who have not worked with us before or don’t understand the U.S system and processes. Basically just for your knowledge, there are no sales contracts with this type of transaction as you are doing it with the government body. What happens is that when you buy the property, the title gets registered with there version of the Title Company and it can take up to 6 weeks for this to happen. That’s not 6 weeks before the property is yours, just 6 weeks before you will receive your “Warranty Deed” which is our equivalent of Title. Basically your proof of ownership.

All the details of properties are also registered on there government web site and once your Title is processed, you can view it on line. So its similar to Australia in that regard. When you buy a property here, it can take up to three months for it to be registered at the Title Office.

There are other means of finding good deals but the best way is to get your name out there with wholesalers who end up doing all the leg work for you. I am going to start putting together different educational information over the coming months (and when time permits) just on some of the things to be aware of when investing in the U.S. Other than that you can never supplement doing your own research as “Knowledge is the key” to success and also reduces risk.

At the end of the day, I look at investing offshore as another vehicle towards my goals and a form of diversification. Its definitely something that more and more Australians are starting to do and it is definitely worth while in my opinion providing things are done correctly.

Educate yourselves, understand the risks, jump on a plane and go and check it out! This way you can make informative decisions. Look at it as a way of diversifying your portfolio. I still think investing in your own back yard makes allot of sense as well.

Good luck with your research.

Providing Turnkey Real Estate Investments In The USA.
We also provide Owner Finance in a new emerging market.

E-mail:[email protected]
web: http://www.gr8realestateinvestments.com

ON SKYPE AT: chaddylansimons

What type of investment properties are you looking for?

In the US, anything that is 1 to 4 units is considered residential; 5+ is considered commercial.

Were you looking to buy properties that need to be rehabbed or were you looking for properties already fixed up?

If you need to rehab a property then you’ll most likely need to use uncoventional finacing like hard money lenders. Anything that is in at least average habitable condition should be available for conventional financing.

In the US there are less than a handful of lenders that make loans to foreign nationals. So be sure who you are speaking with is very familiar with these types of loans.

Ben Carmona
Mortgage Planning Consultant
“Specializing In Investment Loans”
First National Mortgage Sources
314-914-6052 c
866-226-6309 f
On Skype at: Ben.Carmona-US.Investment.Loans
[email protected]
http://www.BenCarmona.com

Lending Nationwide Throughout the US