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In fairness to MandyH, that is a commonly used term over there. They are middle men; they're cashed-up (or "credited up" ;)) and are able to negotiate absolutely amazing deals by paying cash for dozens to hundreds of distressed properties, which they then sell off individually (or smaller...

I wondered what the collective noun would be, and found there are several options. I quite like "a flamboyance of flamingos". :)

Or in the US. ;) The US investors I've spoken to can't comprehend that we have people wanting to be property investors in Australia. :D The concept that a cashflow negative property as an "investment" seems ridiculous to them; they consider it incredibly high risk speculation. And I'm coming...

I know a few people who got burned in Buffalo. They: 1) overpaid, and/or 2) used the "recommended" property management company who ripped them off, and/or 3) didn't do due diligence and had prolonged vacancies. I agree with you vis-a-vis government agencies and big organisations, I...

Agreed. But I think the "about the States" is somewhat superfluous; it's largely true everywhere. ;) I constantly see people achieving things that are impossible. :) But I suspect your point was that private enterprise in the USA is more entrepreneurial, less bureaucratic, and thus more...

Amen! I find the USA such a bundle of contradictions; the home to Silicon Valley yet they use cash and cheques (WTF is that all about? :confused:) much more than electronic transfer. It's bizarre - and frustrating, when you find out that first-world technology is not being employed in the very...

An interesting article about a man in the US who traced who actually owned his mortgage. The article includes this chart: Now, they just have to do that a few 10s of millions of times and the confusion over who owns all the mortgages will be sorted! :eek:

The rules of thumb which I've seen - for all expenses except finance eg property taxes, repairs, utilities, management etc - are 30-40% expenses for SFR, and 40-50% for MFR, relative to gross rental income. There's usually so much fat in the deal that when analysing a deal, I allow 50% for...

I thought an LLC, being analogous to a discretionary trust, had to distribute its profits. Or would you have those profits distributed to some C-Corp (equivalent to Australian company) you've set up which owns the LLC? :confused: This may be way too simplistic, but could you use a US credit...

Because on the same page there's an affiliate link to an ebook you can buy, which warns of the perils of investing in the USA. ;)

Yeah, much better to just ask another successful investor to do it for free. :rolleyes: Perhaps this was meant as an introductory post, ingratiating yourself for future specific requests for information, in which case I apologise if this comes across as hostile. But given that you didn't ask...

Buying any property in the USA is not something you should do on a whim; it's very, very different to Australia, and generally much riskier. Buying foreclosed properties requires even more caution and knowledge. You don't have to live in the USA, but you certainly need to spend significant...

The lenders just want to offload these properties. They're in the banking game, not the landlord game, and so they keep the properties empty, meaning the properties cost them money every day in property taxes and the money they have invested in the property. The bad debt shows up on their...

I sure hope to, but I'm looking at apartment complexes rather than houses, and the percentage reduction from asking price is usually smaller. But they're well-priced to start with. I spent a month living in my chosen city last year - took out a proper residential lease, even though short-term -...

That's probably the best offer they could get. Properties going for substantially below asking price is not uncommon in the USA right now.

An LLC is broadly analogous to what we call a discretionary trust, so actually, lots of people do use them in Australia. ;) There's no restriction on foreign ownership of property; the LLCs are usually used for asset protection/tax and for financing purposes. When financing, your LLC is...

I'm sure Andrew Allen - the Brisbane buyers' agent and forum member - would appreciate my pointing out that he is not the same Andrew Allen mentioned in this article. :) If not for the photo, I would have been PMing him to ask more questions! ;)

Yes, I had a fantastic deal crash because even with a wad of cash thrown in, heaps of cashflow and equity in the deal, there just wasn't anybody willing to finance it, under almost any terms. I believe mortgage brokers are having an even worse time than landlords; at least landlords still have...