Tracey's Background:I've been investing in residential property in Australia for 16 years, with a more committed approach for the past 6 years. Having some familiarity with the United States via numerous trips to visit friends and family, I'd been considering investing there since doing a few seminars in 2004 and 2005. Fortunately I didn't jump into it at that time, but have learned a lot of valuable lessons as a result of the experiences of several of my fellow seminar participants, with whom I've maintained contact.
In early 2008 I turned my attention to the US market and for the past 18 months have been very focused on getting a foothold into this market, including a month "on the ground" in April. Whilst I still haven't closed a property there, I have learned a lot and am now ready to take advantage of the opportunities which I feel will be at the absolute peak later this year and into 2010.
The areas that I plan to cover are:
- financing for "non-resident alien" Aussies
- rules of thumb used by US investors for analysing deals, which starkly highlight some of the fundamental differences between our markets
- property management issues, and why I wouldn't consider buying single houses in the USA (I'm focused on apartment complexes and commercial)
- diversity of the US markets - the US market is so huge that some are wonderful and some are woeful; I'll give some hints about where I think the opportunities lie
- websites that I've found useful for researching opportunities
- yes, the cash flow is generally much stronger, and why locals still rent rather than buy when rent is much higher than a mortgage
Geoff's Background:We began our property investing in 2005 when we purchased an undervalued partly renovated colonial cottage within 2 kms of Brisbane’s CBD.
Since then we have increased our investment property portfolio through acquisition as well as building.
In 2008, we decided to expand our property portfolio by investing outside of Australia in positive geared investment properties.
We preferred residential property so investigated different countries and decided it best to invest in an English speaking country to save mis-interpretation.
Once we decided on USA it was then a case of which state? We chose Texas as it seemed to be the most diverse in types of employment. This began our quest for “positive cash flow property”. We did our due diligence and spent 9 months investigating the property market and were extremely surprised at how easy it is.
We set up a Limited Liability Company and a bank a/c. Andrea then set off to see for herself the bricks and mortar on offer with an investment tour group, Global Property Deals. We chose to invest near a prestigious University College, one of the top 25 in the US, as this would provide high tenancy demand and is reliable investing during a recession.
We ended up buying 2 properties in 2009, one brand new 4bdrm, 2 bath and the other a 3bdrm, for less than you can buy one property in Australia. Good property managers are also a must when investing in a foreign country, followed closely by a good taxation accountant.
We invite you to come and listen to our journey where we will share our experiences and tips.
We believe, long term, the USA is the land of positive cash flow opportunity. However with any investment it’s critically important to have the right systems, processes and structures in place.
As part of our presentation, we will be explaining what and how we set-up as well as why!
We look forward to seeing you there.
Date: 29th September 2009, 7:30pm