Is everyone just jealous because Labradorinlove owned 8 properties before she was 23?
who's jealous mang?
zmagen I think I saw them for sale through ziprealty and I bought them through a ziprealty agent. She is a nice woman. They were about $122,000 for the 3 from memory. I looked on zillow and rentometer to get a gauge of what they would rent for. So the ROI seemed very good.
However as I didn't visit them, I was unaware the neighbourhood is very bad. They did require repairs I paid a tradesman to do all the repairs so they were rent ready. Unfortunately he took the money and never did the repairs. From my perspective the whole thing has been a debacle and source of stress.UPDATE TO THIS POST-
Unfortunately the sale fell through
what an unfortunate set of circumstances and thank you for sharing even though it sounds like this has been a tough learning curve.
What market did you buy in ???
These kind of experince’s make it tough for the good operators….
these on line valuations really are not what you should be looking at for value and rent stats they are either way too high or way too low rarely do they reflect market conditions… They are nice to get stats like sq ft. and see the google earth view.
And of course the higher the returns that you think your going to make the HIGHER the risk in all aspects of the transaction.
Just like the quotes of the one poster of 30% in Rochester… If you were to use the same method you described to purchase there you would have the same experience and with a known low end market like Rochester, Detroit (city proper) bad parts of Memphis and or really any larger city, your results will be the same unfortunately.
Its why I comment on Kylers low end KC properties he can pull it off because he works it… No way a contractor is going to decamp with his money… Most likely Kyler does what we all do small deposit up front draw payments as work is done and verified by KYLER not some inspector, then final payment when all is completed.
And even in higher end US properties you cannot just hire contractors from 6k miles away, some will be fine as they have good morals but you will PAY for their CHaracter and Morals…. Cheapest bids will rip you off big time in the long run..
JLH
I went back and saw that the houses were in Pheniox.. And were new constructions circa 2008… and purchase price was about 40k a property and they were model homes.
On the surface that seems like a great deal… Although Pheniox market has real issues with vacancy factors given the down turn in building and political influences that sent the Mexican labour pool flooding back to mexico.
There are large developments of 4 plex’s that housed a good number of these folks. And at the peak Linda Gercheck was selling them to CA investors for 350k per 4 plex those same units saw mass vacancy and fell to under 100k no rent no value.
I have looked closely at Pheniox for my TWH model and most of the properties I would consider buying are 75k and up… So for a 40k purchase you most likely got sold something in the Pheniox version of a war zone high crime area.
JLH
I trust contractors about as far as i can throw them. I do all my rehab and maintenance in house, i know my employees are better and cheaper than what somebody else could provide.
Ouch,,, all sorts of felonias activity as described above,,, to manage property in AZ you must be a licensed RE broker.
this buy is a crook period. end of discussion and inept it sounds like.
Jay, you sound really smart. Can we be friends? You lose me a bit though due to a few typos and acronyms I don't understand. It would be good if this was a real discussion forum as opposed to online but I'll soak in as much wealth of knowledge from everyone here that I can. Thank you
no not really smart just school of hard knocks you can send me a pm
or e mail me at [email protected]
I have a good friend that is a PM in Pheniox handles over 1000 units… I can have one of his people do a drive by if you wish and get you the skinny ( real story)
although I have to be upfront I have had private e mails from this forum from investors that were in bad situations, I made referrals and such to try to help with nary a thank you,,, kind of feel used in that regard… Just saying.
Jay you are not going to get lack of gratitude from me. My downfall is my youth, loyalty and too trusting nature.I actually bought properties I didn’t particularly want to buy because I thought the agent had done a lot of work inspecting houses for me and I owed her the commission. I also wanted to give more work to the tradesman who I considered my friend. This is one of the most heart wrenching factors for me because for nearly a year we had constant discourse via email and phone. To find out that everything that person told you was a lie and all that time they were making up stories to syphon more money from me is most upsetting.It’s actually kind of funny to realise my stupidity in hindsight. Like when I asked him how many bedrooms were in one of my houses he had apparently been renovating for several months and he couldn’t even tell me. He evidently hadn’t even stepped foot inside.I’m going to email you now Jay. I promise there will be no forgetfulness at my end for anyone who can help me sort out the mess I got myself into. You will more likely be the recipient of flowers/wine/chocolates at your doorstep.
labradorinlove wrote:My downfall is my youth, loyalty and too trusting natureSounds like a lesson learned to me. Thanks for sharing that. I also think it's good that you're looking back and finding it amusing – best way to learn in my book. ("And that was the time I learned to get a local third party's opinion on a deal" etc…)
Jay/Alex – are buyers' agents popular in the US like in Aus and Asia? Always thought that was the best way to avoid lack of familiarity with a local market…
Ziv Nakajima-Magen | Nippon Tradings International (NTI)
http://www.nippontradings.com
Email Me | Phone MeZiv Nakajima-Magen - Partner & Executive Manager, Asia-Pacific @ NTI - Japan Real-Estate Investment Property
Buyers agents exist, however are rarely used for these small sfr transactions, larger commercial deals is where you find contractional relationship between a buyer and an agent working specifically for a buyer
Really? I thought buyers agents were involved in all transactions in the USA. I’m pretty sure I’ve had a buyers agent involved with every house I bought. I guess I could be mistaken.I initially had a fantastic buyers agent in Phoenix who I bought one house through but he basically said the amount of work he was doing for the small commission he got was not worthwhile. Alas I had to find another buyers agent and that kind of saw my downfall as things took a nose dive from there. I’m not blaming the agent but I think having an intelligent and honest buyers agent is vital.Did you manage to speak to Kimberley yet Jay?
Labrador,
What area of Phoenix did you buy in? I lived there about 10 years ago and in that time the area went through massive growth.
There are some pretty bad neighbourhoods in Phoenix but considering u bought 3 houses for 122k, sounds ok for being only 3 years old. Keep in mind the Americans are a little different in that they expect to have at least 2-3 bathrooms for a 4 bedroom house and double garage to be easily rented out..
goodluckim jealous but at the same time suprised as well..good on ya mate ..good job .. keep up the good and hard work … and you wont have to do the hard work after a while .. retire when you want too really .. they way you are going
Remember Money can be a bad thing too ( The Rinehart case is a good example right now) … Remember to enjoy life an not let it go past you. You only live once
I have previously looked into investing in the US, I had got in contact with some company that catered to Australians looking into investing in the US.. I ended up getting the impression it seemed like a dodgy scam. I forgot the idea since until I just found this topic. Is there many worthwhile areas in the states to really buy? or should I just stick with what im doing in Australia?
Cheers, Ben.
Just do your homework and you will be fine. This investor was a novice at best.
Oh ok, so basically all I need is common sense? haha
It is so unbelievable how cheap these massive homes are.. 5 Bedroom 3 Bathroom only 224,000.. Florida. If only there weren’t massacres to be worrying about.
The greatest lose in life, is life itself. It's like saying if only the sharks weren't eating surfers in OZ. 40,000 people a year die in car accidents. It's the nature of how it happened and the news always loves to blow these stories up. It's sad and tragic, please be careful how you throw that around. The states is far safer than Mexico, most of Africa, the middle east, russia, China (really no rights or true freedoms) Central America, and South America.
Oh ok, so basically all I need is common sense? haha
I wouldn't say it's that easy….
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