- bumskins wrote:Defaults are at an all time high and foreclosures have been artificially restricted for the last 9 months since the title fraud incidents. So don't go rushing in. Will be a long time before you see capital growth due to the credit restrictions in place.
3 to 5 years in most markets to if ever in some of the upper midwest markets like a detroit, and other rust belt towns with population decline.
I have personally lived through 3 of these in the states and this one is the worse. Its going to take time to heal, time for a new generation of buyers to come out of the woods who have not been burnt. by buying properties in 04 to 08.
Jefff1 wrote:Hi Rick,Thanks, it was your previous comments that pointed me towards them.
They said they were pleased to hear existing clients were recommending them.
I've also been looking into US property invest and US property purchase but haven't decided which one yet, although I am swaying towards housebuyersUSA as I like the fact one brother is here and the other is in US.
I have spoken to Matt and have organised to meet with him and his brother next week as both will be in town for a short period. Great opportunity to talk to US and AUS partners at the same time.
These are good players, I have had Nate to my office in Oregon along with his Account Marty, they most definatly know what they are doing, Marty is an ex banker, We have worked on a few projects that have not taken off as of yet but we both have checked each other out thourougly and will be do some deals here in the near future.
I can tell you from first hand knowledge that they would not rep my properties without a personal meeting and vetting our company along with our financial capability.
JLH
Not sure what the spruikers comment is but anyone looking for good information on the Kansas City market, I would be happy to help. Also have found financing that is currently available in the area. There are bad areas in Kansas City just like any city, however, there are alot of good areas that provide great tenancy. I own 12 properties in this area and am always looking for more. I get great returns with cash on cash of over 18%. Not too many areas can boast to that. Thanks for reading.
MJ
Agree Mike,
My KC property is providing similar returns.
Good to hear from someone who is an active intester on the ground in the US.
What areas of KC are ones to avaid in your opinion ? Zip codes ect ?
Rick
Rick,
I know you didn't direct your question to me, but I will throw in my 2 cents if it means anything to you.
An easy quick guide I follow is West of 71 Hwy, just be careful here, the property taxes can jump pretty quickly and kill the cashflow.
South of 55th, for the most part is considered still good, there are pockets that are bad, have to do a street by street search.
Better still would be south of Gregory, which is about 71st, this area is HOT!!!!
If you are going to be East of 71 Hwy, then the closer you get to I435, the better you will be.As far as zip codes the most obvious ones are those located in the inner city:
64109 is considered by many as being the worst in KC, the crime rate is very very bad, however there is a section called Hyde Park that is home to some very expensive homes, and they can still bring a very nice profit on a retail flip, and do make excellent rental units. But only if they are in Hyde Park!
64128–I don't know of anything good in this area, in fact this area is losing about 6 blocks of homes for a new crime lab being built in KC, be careful about buying in here.
64129 — has some good areas further to the east, stay away from the western edge of the zip code, rough rough waters here.
64130– this zip needs to have a street to street search done, there are good areas in here, and there are bad.64111,64112 and 64113 are on the cities far western edge, and meet the state line. Excellent properties in these locations, but will be difficult to cash flow, the property taxes will choke you compared to other parts of the city. Great opportunity for retail flips over there though.
64123,64124 and 64127 are the Historic Northeast area of KC, this area has mixed reviews, I absolutely love this area as it is so easy to rent properties up there. You will here some say that hate it, others say they love it! The taxes up there are a joke, I have a client that we are renovating a 7 unit building on, and his taxes are under $1,500 per year!
If this will help you, I have a attached a link of our zip codes, basically 64105 is downtown, and moving south is typically where you will find the investor zone. http://www.city-data.com/zipmaps/Kansas-City-Missouri.html
Im sure you know the KC area well, but hopefully this will help you some!
Best of Wishes!
JohnThat's great.
Does anyone have similar info on Atlanta. I am interested in finding out what are the good and bad areas.
Jeff
Jeff shoot me an email.We just bid on 63 in Atlanta.I can show you where we bid and why. We don't touch war zones. We like rentals that will bring in at least $1k a month , only homes that are 15 years or newer.
Sincerely
Alex
[email protected]Hi Rick,
I have quite a few properties in Phoenix and Kansas City. All have cash flowed from day one and I haven’t had one issue and my only annoyance was the title companies aren’t very good at communicating and I had to email through to make sure settlement had occurred on a couple of the properties.
I first entered the market a couple fo years ago with 2 of my friends and we did a quick flip and made a good 20% return in 3 months work. This was our way of a low risk entry to see how the market worked and whether we wanted to proceed further. The flipping side of things was very time consuming (even though we partnered up with our guys on the ground and they did all the work), so we decided to look for some high cash flow property and that is why we turned to Kansas City.
I am the kind of investor who likes to do it on my own and research research research and find the best bang for your buck. I feel that going through an Aussie buyers agent has its pros if you are lazy and time poor but you pay an insane premium!
I just put under contract 2 more in KC last night. I have recently come back from KC and Atlanta and I was really impressed by both cities.
The company I buy off in KC is the same company that supplies all its wholesale property to our big Aussie agents. Companies such as –
21st Century Property, myUSAproperty, housebuyersUSA, that dude in Byron Bay (888 wealth???), Property Shop USA all get their property through this company
I bought a property in KC 2 months ago for $23,000 that was listed with one of these Aussie agents at the start of the year for $46,000.
Be careful who you choose and when you can, try and cut out the middle man!
Hey now I really hear the pin drop!
Agreed,
No arguements here. Eliminating the middleman always
reduces the bottomline.
If i were tied up with long hours at work i would like to do it
solo and increase returns and profits.What parts of KC have you bought in ?
In general I have bought in pockets between south of 39th and Nth of 80th in Kansas City
Also parts of Ruskin, Raytown, Marlborough to name a few.
If you start going south of 80th you get into more ranch type property, with larger blocks. Can pick up some great cash flow property down that way.
Some nice solid suburbs within 2miles of UMKC also for a slightly higher price, but, in saying that, we have got in around UMKC with some amazing built in equity buys as well as high cash flow. Its harder to get these equity deals if an Australian Agent is taking a big piece of ‘your’ pie
Property_scout
I agree with you and disagree with you. To put people who are time poor and lazy in the same basket is just unfair.
"I am the kind of investor who likes to do it on my own and research research research and find the best bang for your buck. I feel that going through an Aussie buyers agent has its pros if you are lazy and time poor but you pay an insane premium!"If I work 60 hours a week and look after young children at home with a wife who also works full time then I am time poor. But to be then labelled as lazy to do the proper USA investing research is just plain unfair. If you had of said "…lazy or time poor.." then I agree with your statement.
I entered the USA property market completely ignorant of the USA property situation and buying process.
I have never flipped a house.
I dont' have any friends who flip houses.
I don't have any friends who are interested in the USA market.The first USA investment property I bought through a Buyers agent, they were very suportive.
The second house I bought through them they have been next to none existant. I have since worked out that they simply go to a wholesalers webiste, select a bunch of properties and ask you to buy one. All my enquieries to the buyers agent were simply forwarded onto the wholesaler for answers. I had to be proactive or I got no information.Would I use a buyers agent for the 3rd house? Absolutely not. It simply becomes a matter of locating a wholesalers website and buying directly and thus cutting out the middle man.
The 2 houses I bought were for sale on a wholesalers website for the same price as the buyers agent offered it to me. No mark up. Both wholesalers websites refused to negotiate their prices. So I'm comfortable that I haven't overpaid for a house.
But the wholesalers fee for the 2nd house was a complete waste of money.
I would like to know who the wholesalers are that you guys use. I am going to US in a couple of months and would certainly prefer to put my money into rehab where necessary than lining buyers agents pockets.
My only concern would be finding decent people to do rehab and a decent property management agent although I think there was one mentioned in another post.
I was thinking of Atlanta and KC.
I found out it is http://www.americanrealestateinvestments.com and they do rehab and property management as well.
They also do LLC setup and registration for $650.
Sounds pretty good, still got heaps of research and due diligence to do before I commit.
Looking forward to trip to US so I can check out areas properly.
I had a look at these guys website. There is a property on there, a duplex in Atlanta, that I was offered about 3 months ago from a us wholesaler. Can’t remember too much about it but I do remember that it was a whole lot cheaper than what it is now so they’re all on the gravy train. I see they allow $191 p.a. In maintenance costs. Is that realistic? A visit by just one tradesman will cost more than that. No allowance for vacancies, letting fees or replacements between tenancies.
All their figures represent only the first year. Unless youre planning to cash up in 12 months time, factor in vacancies, repairs and maintenance and then look at the % return. Aussies can get 6% leaving their money in a term deposit.Hi Biggaz,
I apologize about labeling time poor and lazy people in the same category. As you can understand I meant to say time poor or lazy. I am time poor as well but when it comes to improving the bottom line I will try to dedicate as much time as possible.
I think using an agent for the first home if you are either of the above is a great start. What I was trying to point out was, these wholesalers offer the same exact service as all of our Aussie buying agents and have helped build a lot of the Aussie businesses to where they are today.
If someone can get the same service, mentoring and assistance without paying the premium and the double tier marketing fees then I’d say go for it!
Jefff1: the properties we have bought through them has cash flowed from day one as the rehab has been completed and tenant already put in place before it is offered to the public. We like to do it this way as I don’t want my money to be doing nothing for 6 weeks or longer waiting for rehab and tenancy placement. There are a few KC companies doing this, it seems to be more prevalent in KC than other cities for this type of turnkey product
So what we have here is a Mexican national leaving Mexico from his own private property and landing in the United States on someone else's
Thanks Property_scout.
I think I work too many night shifts………..
Thanks for your input into these forums.
As an aside for everyone. The A$ is moving!!!!!
I imagine this will slow down Aussies investing into the US market. It's certainly going to put a smile on my face when I start dragging the rent money back into the A$…………
I read somewhere that if pessism remains with Greece nearing default then investors will continue to buy the US$ thus driving its value up. Also likely to sell off the A$ and turn it into US$. This will speed the differential between the 2.
Of course if the Greece debt is managed well by the European Bank then investors will be less cautious. Meaning the A$ should again breech parity.
Just my thoughts.
I have bought 2 properties now in SW Florida, both tennanted and cash flow positive. I have my own team on the ground, and I am still trying to buy more. I dont rush in and I wait until I find a house that fulfils all of my criteria. When I see a house I like, I speak to my realtor via skype and have a contract drawn up and submitted on the same day. Unfortunately, I recently lost a short sale deal. The owners who wanted to stay, I negotiated a lease deal with them (via my realtor) which included lawncare and finishing rehabs. There was a paper work muck up on settlement, house sold to bank and owners kicked out. Owners hired lawyers to fight this decision and bank countered by paying owners to move, End result, I lost sale!!!
The house was in Pelican area, SW Cape Coral, 3 bedroom, plus den, 2 bathrooms, double garage, concrete construction, new roof, ducted A/C, etc.
Very happy with both of my houses and my second house I actually bought for capital growth in a very good area and it is still cash flow positive. Read the API articles on US property series..Hey rickH,
I have registered with HBUSA…when you bought… what other extra expenses did you have? Accounts' fees, lawyers…etc… I have gone with the full package and getting ready to by hopefully in a few months… just trying to get a ballpark estimate…. of extras. would be great!
Hi Rosa,
No much at all really …. a few hundred in closing costs but the price i paid included insurance and property taxes for 12 mths.
The only extras will be standard closing cost (alot less than in australia as there is no stamp duty on purchase)
Hope you acheive your goal
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