US Invest

Hi Ryan

I have one question for you/US Invest?

Is this property in the link attached one of US Invest properties that is or has been sold to investors? 

https://www.propertyinvesting.com/forums/overseas-deals/4345831

WI

Jay:

I'll say this with a grain of salt.  I am originally from NJ and ended up in FL accidentally in 2002 full time after playing a stint in the minor leagues for the Red Sox (why you always hear me pitching about the new stadium

I went to school all my life including all 4.5 years of college in NJ and studied Finance with full intentions on being an M&A guy on Wall Street..  Once my baseball career was finished, I decided to follow a friends lead into the FL real estate arena.  I had very little money at the time but purchased 3 vacant lots in Cape Coral.  In 5 months, tripled my money and became sold that FL was the place for me to be since that was my first real taste of money.  Ok, so I turned 8k into 22k.  Nothing to retire on but in my young 20's, I bought my first bottle of good tequila! 

I learned and climbed quickly in FL.  Hired by a bank in 2005 to run their real estate division, a position I secured by blindly helping a developer affiliated with that bank get very difficult zoning and land entitlements on the Gulf of Mexico in Fort Myers.  A bit of skill and luck went into that but it catapulted me to high ranking positions at a bank who was eventually seized by FDIC.

In 2005 while with the bank I became licensed in NJ.  Launced http://www.NewJerseyRealEstateGuys.com in 2008 and it has quickly grown into a lead-generating animal.  During my time in NJ, I loved it and begged the wife to relocate back.  For one reason and this will hopefully answer your question:

Let me preface by saying that the FL qualifications for teachers is far less difficult then it is in NJ.  I JUST LEARNED THIS as my child entered kindergarten.  For years, I said to myself that business minded people are way more successful and competent up north then they are down south…For the most part at least and dealing with the people I have dealt with.  Florida leads the country in Multi-Level-Marketing.  Why?  Desperation.  What a garbage industry.  You don't see that up north.  Why?  Because its a garbage industry and we just don't buy into that crap up there.  Oh, and Florida also leads the nation in mortgage fraud, to boot.  Why?  Because mortgage fraud is easy and dummies take the short term gain with dealing with possible jail time later.  Yes, happens everywhere but way more in FL.  It's a proven stat.

That said, unlicensed activity practically is non-existent up in NJ.  That is one of the reasons I favor the NJ economics and housing market moreso then anywhere else.  It starts with individual intelligence.  I'm sure there is unlicensed practices everywhere and I've read about them in NJ….But in area where education is less and intellect is less, your bottom feeders thrive into more unsophisticated arenas. 

Jay:  I hate unlicensed activity.  The crappy part is, you deal with it in FL.  In NJ, you either have a license or you don't bring anything to the table.  To Floridians, this is a way of life.  To those up north, it's a slap in the fact to all of the hard earned education and accolades we have earned as a result of our education. 

Still love Florida for what it offers, but we just don't deal with that crap up north.  This I know from tons of experience, not guess and bias.

Hi Jay and Cheeves,

Thanks for your post, however I would appreciate you letting me answer your question without assumptions regarding licensed or un-licensed brokers. We are aware that the majority of the Australian and other International marketing firms operate without a license, however US Invest does hold an active Real Estate brokerage license. Again, this practice is something which many Australian operators tread a very thin line and we totally agree is in need of stricter regulation. We fully grasp the hard work it takes to do the right thing.

Jay, you’ve actually spoken on the phone one of our owners, Reid Stewart. I understand you were looking to set-up a fund to finance people looking to flip houses. How did you go with that?

I’m very familiar with the organizations you speak of in Utah and surrounds. –Boiler room set-ups with a focus on selling rather than quality of information and the good of the buyer. To be honest, that sort of thing is far more prevalent in this market with companies operating out of Australia. –There’s no need to put all the hard work into having an American presence if all you aim to do is sell smoke and mirrors without any form of rapport building, relationships and repeat business. Anyone who, like both of us, wants to build a career as an Investment/Real Estate  professional needs to do so on longevity, quality and above all, value. Princeton is the ideal location to house a professional environment.

You both seem like hard-working and intelligent individuals, therefore I’m sure you appreciate the reward that hard-work and service based offerings bring to the long-term strength of a business. To answer your question, our Princeton based team is focused on research and economic analysis for the areas we invest as well as memberships. These guys are not hired to sell on the phone in a boiler room setting like you described. Research should form the basis of any investment, whether its real estate, shares or even buying stamps. Unfortunately, from my experience, this is where too many investors fall short and is a major part of the service US Invest provides for our members. So yes, like many companies, we do hire intelligent graduates to assist in our research department, these are not interns and are not paid minimum wage. They are an asset to our team and in many ways, the future leaders of our industries. Similar to your daughter, Jay, (Congrats on her job at intel by the way!) they gain invaluable experience and skills which they can take throughout their career with the aim to move into roles with many fortune 500 corporations.

Cheeves, what are the main markets you operate in? Is it just NJ? I can see that http://www.NewJerseyRealEstateGuys.com  was founded by Scott Allen. That’s you right?

P.S. to answer your question regarding out markets and that being the "acid test", at this stage, our select market areas are within Dallas, Atlanta, South Florida, Memphis. Jay I see you also play an active role in Memphis and Atlanta. Are there any other markets you have your eye on?

Kudos

Ryan

Hi Jay,

It absolutely does frustrate us. Its an unfortunate grey area, and I wish the majority of the Aus companies would do the right thing and take it to the next level and get licensed.

With the Aussie expectations.. It sucks that their are companies out there offering yields of 20%-40%+ in areas like Detroit etc. A lot of unsuspecting investors buy into it and get burned. It's destroying the industry and the name of good companies selling realistic investments. Our members are educated to expect between 9-12% and can go higher to the likes of 16% cash on cash when using finance.

What people just don't get, is no matter how good the returns look, it means nothing if you cant get a tenant to pay the rent. These property spruikers are pushing homes in areas that you wouldn't feel comfortable walking down the street without wearing a bullet proof vest, let alone living there and paying the type of rent they claim you could get!! Its crazy! If it's too good to be true it usually is.. 9-12% is safe and real, and in some cases a little higher.

Haven't been to Premiers operation yet, but keen to take a look. We aspire to be the best, so if you recommend them, I'm sure we can take some good from what they do and further strengthen our own business.

Lets chat soon, as we have plenty going on in the institutional side of things. I will be in Atlanta on a buying tour with investors this week. Let me know if you're around to catch-up!

-Ryan

Yes, it seems commonplace at the auctions these days to see prices driven way above what those of us who have been in this market a while are used to paying. Its a fine line between acquiring quality property and still maintaining solid rental yields at the other end… Much of the stuff we're seeing go out the door doesn't meet our buy criteria so happy to let the seagulls squabble over it…

As for Premier, sounds like another over-priced 'wealth-building' course. I won't pre-judge without seeing the operation but 40k to learn how to buy a rental? Unless its Warren Buffett himself, sounds like a stretch to me!!

Hope you did ok at the auction yesterday. I'll be touching down in Atlanta this evening for a busy few days ahead!

MCH_51,

Thanks for your post. Its unfortunate that you spoke to one of our membership consultants for an hour but still do not feel you have all the answers you were looking for. Please Private Message me your name and I will gladly have one of our managers call you to answer any questions you still have outstanding about the US Property market.

Regarding other questions, if you are concerned as to US Invest’s authenticity, you can view a recent client testimonial as we regularly post them to our home page: http://www.usinvest.com.au/ (Feel free to sign up to our newsletter while you’re at it!!)

Good luck in your search and if our team can help you in any way, please feel free to contact me. These forums aren’t about pushing product, they are about helping others so please feel free to reach out.

Regards,

Ryan

Mark,

Why would you want to buy through US Invest if you do this business for a living and your on the ground in America? If your an expert why did you become our member? Most likely you paid for membership to get hold of our marketing material. If you have received no value from our company we will happily refund your membership and part ways.

I appreciate your comments on saying we are a slick operation. I hope it was meant in a kind way, because its true that we are a very well oiled machine and work very hard to be on top of our game.

Regarding your other comments, they are way off the mark.

We sell property below its appraised value, just like you claim to do on your website. You also say we have substantial mark-up’s. I urge you to show me how that is possible. Our margins are extremely tight, in fact our fee's are below what you charge and we are a full service operation with everything in-house.

From what I can see from your website, you charge $5000 to provide a property which you didn’t front the cash for, you didn’t research the area, you didn’t evict the tenants or manage the refurbishment. In the meantime, every one of these parties that is required to get a foreclosed home rent-ready, is making money in the transaction. Somewhere along the line this money is getting made. Just like Jay said, lots of middle-men in your model. So you might not be making this money, but its getting made, and at a substantially higher amount then the like's of a company who does it all in-house and can afford to make smaller margins over the whole process.

You facilitating (or being the buyers agent) for an Aussie investor with one single renovation will cost a bucket load more then our own construction company doing 70 renovations in the same area, using the same type of paint, carpet etc. The builder you use is doing a one off renovation and would need to buy carpet by the square footage and we buy it by the Kilometer. Big difference on price and what type of quality we can afford to put into each job. We have a streamlined approach.

I’m dumb founded that you can offer advice to people to not use companies like ourselves and TCCI who buy the property themselves and streamline the whole approach.

Even when you facilitate, all you’re doing is pairing off a seller with a buyer. Do you not think the seller who bought the home in foreclosure and renovated it has also made a profit? Come on. Any property you facilitate has already got the profit built in by the seller. Unless you are taking Aussies to the auctions to buy wholesale houses on the courthouse steps. And if you are doing this (which I highly doubt) the home will still need at minimum a renovation and it brings me back to the original point. No construction company on the planet works for free Mark, nor do lawyers, or property agents so how can you suggest your way is any better…It's absolutely not.

It seems to me that all your doing is creating relationships with US turnkey suppliers, then pointing your clients in the direction of those suppliers with your $5,000 fee attached.

I’m sorry but in most cases, you get what you pay for. Paying your company for no more than ‘facilitating’ or introducing me to multiple parties, hardly sounds like adding value to me when clients will inevitably pay more, and deal with many more people for a product which has not been managed with a fine-tooth comb from start to finish. Too many hands in the pot which will lead to headaches for the investor when an issue occurs, (which can and will happen). You get passed from pillar to post, which is a nightmare when dealing on a different time zone in a foreign land. Using a large company with everything in-house that will stay the test of time avoids this drama. 

Best of luck with your business. Feel free to call and chat to myself or one of our affiliate team members. We can help your clients avoid a lot of heartache and also help you streamline everything you’re trying to do. I’m sure I’m not the only one who disagrees with your business model…