INPROP USA Good or Bad

Hi jacobapple, 

I have not heard of inpropusa, we do some business in the states and there is no shortage of Aussie's selling property there especially Geogia, Florida and Texas.

Best thing you can do is ask around, before you proceed (as you have), if you have not already attached is their team from their site

http://www.inpropusa.com/meet-the-team/

You would want to know what their methodology is, everyone is buying in Atlanta at the moment, also what stucture. For instance, many of my clients buy in their SMSF, so advice is imperitive.

As I say, there are a heap of Aussies out there selling properties, I know one I do business with and someone I can refer you to if you donot proceed. Will be in the states late Feb to buy some property also.

Hope that helps

Just one (maybe two) words of warning.

The AUD is at a 3 year low. If you buy now, you are paying more than you otherwise would if the AUD appreciates again (likewise you will lose money unless your new assets appreciate at a greater rate than the AUD devalues against the USD. (Ignore this if you brought your money to the US when it was sitting above parity). Indications from reserve bank are they want to see AUD sitting between $0.85-$0.90 US).

Thanks Scott,

I always predicted the Aus going even lower to around 70-75.

Thanks

Thanks Speedy and well done on buying when Aussie was above parity.

I had a mixture if getting all funds to the US lollol

Whoever thinks they can find a true "gem" deal without actually being here in the US i sadly mistaken.

All the best deals are always bought up very quickly by locals.

The 2nd tier of property would get offered elsewehere not saying that these deals are bad but true "gems" as mentioned are always snapped up quickly.

Thanks and have a great day.

Hi Jay I agree

I still like Texas though I worry a little that the market may be a little to hot at present. I really like Orlando because tourism is so strong. If you buy in a LLC then your travel cost do become deductible in the United States is my understanding. However there is no point coming to the United Stats and buying a single family home in Detroit because firstly you may struggle to get any of the rent buy secondly by the time you pay for the travel, the LLC and then lodger your returns you may not any any cash flow left. I generally like apartment complexes because i Florida I believe that you will have both cash flow and capital growth. Some commercial is also good providing that the deal makes sense.

It is also important to remember that once there are more than 5 in a block it also becomes a commercial transaction.

Hi Guys,

I am the President and founder of INPROP USA and I would like to clear a few things up. I have set up INPROP USA as a way for people to extract the best value out of the US Housing market. We are licensed Realtors through our brokerage INPROP REALTY, LLC. and we do charge an arrangement fee of $4,999. This fee includes property research, renovation and closing oversight, market research, purchasing services, etc. as this is work above and beyond what a realtor would normally provide.

After years of doing the turnkey model, I decided the best way to go about things was to act more as a real estate services company. This means we have access to the entire market of inventory and because we do not need to make margins on the product we can provide better prices. Despite what some of you have said above, it is possible to get deals that the locals would usually get using us. We have all the affiliations that everyone else has and through the MLS as well as private connections we can get you the best deals in town. We believe we are better set up for this than anyone else in the market place.

We are 100% transparent in our practices and walk our clients through exactly how we do our research and why we choose certain areas above others.

Engelo you stated that, “If your looking to buy the "gem" from Australia and also project manage the rehab you might as well donate those funds to charity.”

This could not be further from the truth when using our services. We have exactly the same ability and experience to get the same deal as the locals. In fact, since we have 5 day due diligence and a 5% deposit we actually have greater success than locals. To say that the best deals are found on Craigslist has some truth to it, but they are few and far between and we monitor Craigslist daily looking for them. We have short-sale radio commercials in Atlanta and do large pre-foreclosure direct mail campaigns to get the best short sale listings before they’re even on the market. It is very much possible to get a gem without being here and project management is not an issue either.

Scott, The Fed has just tapered off its stimulus while the Australian economy continues to struggle in many sectors. Most analysts predict that the Australian dollar will sit for the next 12 months between 80 & 85 cents. It is currently around 92, so while it is not as good as it was last year, it is still attractive. The Fed’s expected continual slowdown on the purchasing of treasuries should help the USD to strengthen further in my opinion.

Our agents have much more experience than most when it comes to finding profitable single family homes in the markets we work in. They work as if they are finding a deal for themselves and show our clients how to research their properties from their home base. It is actually quite easy to do this once you know where to look. The 3 factors that will always determine a good area no matter where you look are: 1) Schools- http://www.greatschools.org, 2)Crime rate, and 3) Median Household income- http://www.city-data.com

With City Data, you can find medium household incomes for zip codes as well as small communities within these zip codes. This is a great way to narrow down the neighborhood you want to invest in. INPROP does not advise its clients to invest in areas with lower than average state income levels. We also don't encourage investment in areas with schools lower than a 5/10 rating.

I hope this has cleared a few things up.

Also Jacob is on his way back to Australia now. He bought 2 homes, but I will leave it up to him if he wants to go any further.

Thanks,

Reid

http://www.inpropusa.com

Hi Engelo.

We do receive standard Real Estate commission from the seller of around 2 or 3% per property as any licensed realtor does. This is displayed as standard on the HUD. It is illegal for us to charge commissions outside of that paid on the HUD. We get appraisals on all our properties to show the client there instant equity at the end. So far we average around 14%. 

We charge the $4,999 thorough our services company which is separate to the Brokerage and charges its fee for professional services. 

As far as renovation is concerned we have a construction manager who runs our teams of Contractors. There prices are inline with the market for licensed and insured contractors. A client is welcome to get there own quote if need be but beyond that it is difficult for me to prove this to you.

Quite frankly we will do what is necessary to prove to our clients that they are getting value for money. We do not necessarily need to prove this to our competitors which i presume you are. 

Can i challenge you Engelo. You like properties on your website like 5643 Euclid Ave, Kansas City. Do you collect rent and manage the properties on behalf of the clients? Do you or would you live in these areas. A quick search on City-data.com and greatschools.org would suggest this may not be a great area to invest. I know it is a cheap area but experience of over 1000 deals has taught me that Cheap usually just means headaches and although returns look decent on paper they are in fact much much lower in practice and there is really no exit. I think that if you are living in the city and Self manage these things (know here as slum lord) you can make a decent living. You would however need to have a sizeable portfolio in order for it to be worthwhile. Below is some data on that area.  

Median household income ($) : $23,125

Kansas City, MO (income)

64130

Population: 1,097

Households: 367

Family households: 270 (73.6%)

Non-Family households: 97 (26.4%)

Median house or condo value: $68,078

Median contract rent: $450

Unemployment: 10.8%

Residents below the poverty level: 17%

http://www.greatschools.org/missouri/kansas-city/954-Troost-Elementary-School/ 

Thanks,

Reid

I Beleive TRR (top rental returns)  had the same model as Reids new company.. Or they claimed they did… And they procured some nice product from what their videos showed.  Have not heard from them in a while not sure if they are still working Atlanta.. From my standpoint when they started they were clearly acting as real estate agents with no license.  But hey an AU investor really did not care… When I looked at their proforma's  rehab looked to be puffed  IE they probably had an additional fee added or were not very good negotiators vis a vi getting contracts from the contractors.. And the only other things I heard about them negatively is their rehabs took far too long.. Many posted that rehabs were taking 3 to 6 months. When any competant rehabber should have those type of projects done in 30 to 45 days max  2 weeks for the lip stick jobs .. I am sure those that Try Rieds new company in Atlanta will experince this quick turn around.  As well as I read post from people on this site that said by the time TRR rehabbed and finally tenanted a house it took 6 months to a year.. I would very often point out that most likely they were NOT Insured why the house sat vacant that long and were really at risk in case of a fire or wind or storm damage.. In addiiton by the time they spent the money to come to Atlanta and pick there house they were starting their investment hugely in the hole.. Compared to buying a home that was already rehabbed and tenanted.

From what I see from Reid They are Licensed and Licensed agents regardless of Nigel's thoughts or opinions about using a RE agent ( he might of had a bad experince) are almost always a benefit to the buyer.. ONe they have a fiduciary and they have Eand O insurance… A Licesnsed realtor lies to you or sells you a home that is far over true value and you have recourse through the courts and the real estate agency failure to disclose materil facts is grounds for suspension or revokation of a REicense. Any quality agent is not going to risk their livelyhood with and flagerant and deliberate misrepresenation or ommision.. So from my point of view   and of course I am biased  I am a REal Estate broker in 3 states and a licensed Mortgage BAnker (federal) I like to see companies follow the laws of the land.. And negotiating the purchase of a property that one does not own is e definition of acting as a RE agent.. I suspect its the same in OZ.

Regardless I do beleive by and large the riff raff has gone the way of the dodo bird and the better players are those that are still in business.

Hi Reid,

Thanks for your post and no problem at all.

I very much like what you guys have done with Ray White PM. While I was living in Australia I had a brief stint with them. Great company.

Maybe we can schedule a call sometime in the future as I would love to know more about how it works.

In our opinion good property management is one of the most important factors to success in US real estate.

Now if only we can somehow bring the banking system from Aus and NZ here to solve that problem also for the Americans hahahaha jokesss

Thanks and have a great day.