Who's spent time in US , what did you think ?

Hi People.

I was just reading some Jon Giaan stuff about the US property markets and I also have some mixed US friends in general .
It's always sounded fascinating to me , so cheap in so many ways , so many options , variety , sounds about 1/4 of the prices of here over all , living , items , although some things seem about the same.
And then there's their property market , holy hell I mean 10 -20 and 30k houses.
This Giaan guy reckons a fully installed new kitchen is 800 bucks, reno tradies are dirt cheap .
So with our housing and cost of living prices being some of if not the dearest in the world - which many do say that , what exactly is it that makes us the lucky country ?
Obviously right now over there well, you may wish you were here but then eh , what if your into property , imagine , going there with our budgets we'd all be rich.
But then I suppose you'd have to be new at it or you'd be broke right now.

Another thought . What if you or I spend 10 or 20yrs collecting and building , and that happens here ? How do we safety net against that ?
If they can have it with over 300mil to house then how can we possibly have a shortage anyway with only 22mil ?

Cheers
 
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You mean Jon Giannopoulos, spruiker extraordinaire? I hope you haven't given any money for this rubbish.

I lived in the USA for two decades. It's unbelievable what nonsense people in Australia are falling for. Fully installed kitchens are not $800. That would buy 8 handles and a crap faucet. Tradies? Sure they are cheap if they don't speak english and you picked them up from a street corner, but don't do it without a loaded gun under your feet. $20K houses? Just go on youtube to see what you get and the neighbourhood you get it in.

Ask yourself why so relatively few Americans are investing in such cheap property. Easy. They know the areas, they know the nasty twists & turns of the legal system, they know that they don't understand the foreclosure system and they know how ghastly PM is.

It's a minefield unless you are on the ground, know exactly how to play the game and have money to burn.
 
G'day Amadio.

His with Knowledge source , signs his free emails , chuckle , Jon Giaan .

Very interesting anyway , sounds nasty , thanks for that.
Two decades , so how have you found it here , anything to add on why we are supposedly the lucky country , well as compared to anywhere else ? Not too crowded I spose is a good start eh, mostly no firearms needed that's gotta be a plus !

Cheers
 
I've heard that American's wont change their own light bulb, they call an electrician...which you , as LL pay for.

Rick Otton invested their and talked about it to the audience at Boot Camp a couple of years ago, warning people off it.
"Quiggles" (I think that was his forum name) had a few houses in upstate New York a few years ago, do a search on his posts if you like.
 
The USA is what you make of it. Lived there, worked there and have had holidays there. Like everywhere else it has its good and bad points. Up to you to make it good and not bad.
 
My wife is American so we visit her family there fairly frequently. Over the last 10 years all I have noticed is New York is still New York, and California is still California! There aren't really extroadinary "blue chip" bargains to be had, although on my last visit to Ca (last year) there were a lot of houses being foreclosed around LA and San Diego....but not where I would necessarily want to invest. The major impact of foreclosures (generally due to non recourse lending) is that the poorer areas have been hit the hardest. Personally I find Americans very similar to Australians, although the humour doesn't always translate!
 
Hi Guys,

Jon Giaan here...

Interested in your comments, and sure - I take it all on board.

I actually went over there and spent a full week checking the place out, and I suggest that you don't buy in the US sight-unseen... Even though, I've done it here in Australia.

So far so good. I bought 5 properties over there, 3 have been finished from a rehab/reno point of view and all have been tenanted within 2 weeks. The rest will be finished in a couple of weeks, we'll see what happens.

So far one of the reno costs have blown out, what was quoted to me has been delivered.

I'm amused with the comments of, "If it's so cheap, why aren't the Americans doing it?"

Let's face it. Only 3% of the population is ever going to do anything, and you can make the same argument of, "If the Aussie market is so good, why aren't more people doing it?"

That's all, I'll keep you guys posted. Within a couple of months I'll have a lot more information as to the good, the bad and the ugly.

Keep an open mind. It's more profitable that way. Skepticism is healthy, cynicism will keep you broke forever.

All the best.
 
Hey Jon,

Welcome to the forum.

Look foward to hearing about your US deals and how they progress over the next few months.
 
Keen to hear about your US investments also.

Where are you buying?

I lived in Oregon and Alabama back in the 80s.:D

You can count me in the skeptic category for the moment....;)

Hi Guys,

Jon Giaan here...

Interested in your comments, and sure - I take it all on board.

I actually went over there and spent a full week checking the place out, and I suggest that you don't buy in the US sight-unseen... Even though, I've done it here in Australia.

So far so good. I bought 5 properties over there, 3 have been finished from a rehab/reno point of view and all have been tenanted within 2 weeks. The rest will be finished in a couple of weeks, we'll see what happens.

So far one of the reno costs have blown out, what was quoted to me has been delivered.

I'm amused with the comments of, "If it's so cheap, why aren't the Americans doing it?"

Let's face it. Only 3% of the population is ever going to do anything, and you can make the same argument of, "If the Aussie market is so good, why aren't more people doing it?"

That's all, I'll keep you guys posted. Within a couple of months I'll have a lot more information as to the good, the bad and the ugly.

Keep an open mind. It's more profitable that way. Skepticism is healthy, cynicism will keep you broke forever.

All the best.
 
G'day Jon , welcome.

How did you do that by the way ? At any rate I've been enjoying your knowledge source stuff and the US business , I can't help but be fascinated and looking forward to hearing more.

Cheers
 
can i ask then, Jon, why you picked Detroit?

as in, a fundamentally poor city with a deteriorating lack of infrastructure, 50% real umemployment (figures of 20% only take into account those looking for less than 12 months) and a whitebelt state (snow area) that has known problems with blackrot and fluctuating heating oil costs?

i follow you with Knowledge Source and i gotta sya, when you said you were investing in Detroit my jaw hit the floor.

I understand that US RE is about the dividend - like Aussie shares - but buying individual houses with an LLC or C Corp still leaves the primary shareholder exposed to any lack of rental income - which on a one-by-one basis, is very real in a city with 50% UE - because the W8BEN is designed to expose trustees etc.

In fact, i would be interested to know if you managaed to purchase these outright on the higher non-recourse interest rate or if you took the full recourse route and got the lower rate? If it's non-recourse - then your credit rating still gets smashed if you default, but hey, you can walk away at least.

Over to you.

Cheers,
A.
 
Investing wise I wouldn't see the point. The amount of effort , d d , travel and the rest of it involved , could easily be focused on just doing a better and bigger money deal here than you might normally look for. You'd mostly know exactly what you were getting and it's on your own turf in easy reach at any time.
No one really knowing just where the US is headed either but there is some pretty ugly and long terms scenarios about. High probability too with the incredible debt they're racking up, Obama on L plates.

Cheers
 
I have purchased and almost completed renovating my first US property. Two years research, a total of 10 weeks spent there and it was still a HUGE learning curve. I have yet to sell, but to date the indications are very positive of a solid return on my investment. I'm hoping to put up the "for sale" sign in March. I am currently looking for my second property.
 
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