Hi, i'm new to the Board so Hey!
I'd like to purchase a foreclosure property in Bristol, Tennessee. It's a rural town in the heart of rural Tennessee, so you might be thinking "there's no returning on investment there". My reasons are for personal investment, rather than financial investment, well both, really.
I do not have equity on an existing home, have approximately $900-$1200 spare to play with per month, earn a steady income, and would need to incur a lender. I see there are foreclosure properties going for $27,000+. I would not mind if the property remained unvacated as I would use it when there (maybe) however, vacated is good, too.
My question is: being completely new to investing, I have no idea where to start, what the steps are, what are the things I need to look out for, who do I approach (lender wise), etc. I am thoroughly reading these boards, but if you could please offer a basic step-by-step account of what I need to do, I would be so grateful.
Thank you in advance.
Hi Zads….welcome aboard.
First of all I know nothing about Brisol Tennessee….other then what I just read on Zillow.com .
You mentioned you have no equity in a house…..do you have any savings to contribute at all ? You will find it very difficult to find any lender willing to lend you money for a foreclosed property in the value of US$27,000…..and that has nothing to do with Bristol TN. Most lenders aren’t interested in houses less then approx US$75,000. My only suggestion would be to look into a hard money lender but not sure if even they will lend against a lower valued home. If they did you will pay interest rates upwards of 16% and the loan term would be restricted to a short term.
Good luck on your US investing endevours.
Zads,
Welcome! Mate you may have a little difficultly with finance as mentioned by the post above from Speedy.
There are some companies however that lend hard money at very high interest rates but please be very very careful as these types of deals can bring you unstuck. There is no mercy in the hard money market in the USA.
Hey! Thanks for the responses.
Can I not borrow the money from here and say it's for a car loan?
Most clients investing from Australia would prefer to borrow money from Australia as it is safer and more easily controllable. You will also probably get a better interest rate too.
If you get an unsecured loan you can use it for any purchase you choose – generally a car loan will be secured against the car i believe but a personal loan allows you to use for any purpose you choose.
Just out of interest – why Bristol?
Hey Zads,
I'm a little concerned that you are completely new to investing, don't know where to start and then decide to look in Tennessee! That might be OK if you're living in Bristol or Memphis or Nashville…but if you're an Australian wanting to invest it seems like there are risks galore for you (if you can loan the money) even though your outlay may not be that huge.
I would suggest to you to be a little more careful, get some education, find out more about property investing and then set some property investing goals. If the Tennessee property still looks good then keep considering it – you might find other properties look just as good and are a little closer to home!
There is heaps of free information out there, from these forums to podcasts, magazines and TV shows, and you can always borrow books from your library. Expose yourself to some of these before you expose yourself to a $30,000ish debt for a property on the other side of the world from you.
Good luck mate!
Den
Hi and thanks for your comments.
I have personal interest vested in the Bristol area. Not a good market, and is heading down hill, but that's okay…
I've applied for loan, in approval process, got in touch with the rep for the bank who is after offer plus bank confirmation. Am waiting to hear back from a Buyers Agent that I met 2 years ago briefly. Asking her to do a home inspection for me, plus act as my agent. She should charge me roughly $300-$600 USD for this?
Then, if all good, will place my offer by email for the bank rep to submit to bank. If they approve offer (after counter offer and re-counter offer), will have the Buyers Agent review contract, or perhaps better to have someone in Oz look it over for me??? – and then confirm.
Hopefully get there in March or April to do some painting, reno and tidying up.
Wish me luck! If I've missed anything, and no doubt I have, please let me know. That would be appreciated.
Thanks,
ZADSHey ZADS,
You are one brave DUDE!
I couldn't agree more with DEN. You are like a baby, haven't learned how to crawl even walk yet, you already wanted to RUN. It is sure fire formula for disaster.
Investment is not risky rather the INVESTOR is risky particularly knowing little about investing in real estate property.
The best way to loose your money is investing something you don't fully understand. I encourage you to educate yourself first, Investing in yourself is by far the best investment you make.
Remember there is always new buses will come along…don't rush into investing. It is easy to loose money but hard to ear it.
Good luck and all the best…I sincerely hope you make it.
Thanks
Hi, and thanks for your feedback which I took into consideration… I got the loan but cancelled the application… Had a Buyers Agent that I'd met while there who was willing to help in finding a suitable foreclosure property. Turned out the house I wanted was in a crime ridden area, and the location was heading down hill due to factory closures etc, so I said Nay, and will continue to browse but elsewhere.
Thanks again for your feedback folks, much appreciated.
ZADS
Hey ZADS,
As said, investing in yourself is the greatest investment you make because you will learn how the rules of the game of property investment work that is how multi millionaires played the game. No need to learn from trial and error, not to mention losing big $$$ in the process……. when someone already shown the way by reading a lot of books about real estate investment, going to seminars etc.
To avoid losing your hard earned money, understand what you are investing first, because loosing money is quite EASY but earning it is hard.
Cheers, Leo
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