Has anyone used a Property Broker to buy in US?

Hi there

Thanks!

Hi M,

What area in the US were you considering ?

Robert King
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Just wondering if anyone has used a broker and what their experiences were..... I take it from the big silence that no one has!

I've bought 3 houses in Syracuse, NY through a property broker. Randomly, he was actually based in Spain not Australia or America (something it took a long time to find out as everything was phone based), but I guess some of my points might still count.

First thing I'd say is that every broker is different. So you're going to get dodgy ones and your going to get good ones out there. I'd say do your research but I guess that's what you're doing now. The property I was going for in the US was pretty small - all around the $20 - 30k mark for a 4 brm multifamily house, so my research took the form of buying something cheap and waiting to see how it played out before dumping all my money in.

As far as my actual experience:
1. My agent was great, though not perfect.
2. Everything went well with the purchase etc. But time frames were *grossly* longer than suggested. I think this came primarily from the agent not being based in the city I purchased. So you'll probably have the same problems with australian agents as with international. For example, it took 3 months to settle not 4 weeks, it took 3 months to renovate not 2 weeks. It took 3 months to find tenants not 2 weeks. That sort of thing
3. Exchange rates are a b*tch. No matter when you convert your money you'll always find a time when you could have made a better exchange.
4. An agent is expensive but useful. Ours cost $4000 US per property. And realistically they don't actually do much. But you're paying for their contacts ie lawyers, builders, agents, renovators etc and that makes the expenditure more than worthwhile.
5. It may also pay to point out here that I found it impossible to get a loan in the US or Australia. So I used equity in existing property in the form of a RLOC to fund my purchases.

hope this helps...

Why not get in touch with Nigel Kibel from the forum.

Nigel has answered 101 posts about such and has lived and worked in a large Real Estate Agency in the US so knows his stuff.

Richard Taylor - richard@tayloredfinancialsolutions.com.au Tel: 07 3720 1888
Residential Mortgage Broker providing structured home loan advice for investors and owner occupiers all over Australia.
Thinking of buying your next investment property using a SMSF. Email me for a copy of my SMSF EBook.

Try Mike and Bron from Top Rental Returns.  They are aussie brokers that have setup in Atlanta.  They are flipping houses to Aussie investors by assisting with the closing process, sourcing property mgrs, attorneys, contractors etc.  They are just starting out in the US, but experienced in property in oz. 

toprentalreturns@gmail.com

It is also important to do your own research. For instance I have not been to Atlanta however the reports I have read state that the vacancy level there is over 16%. Clearly this means that unless you are buying in a prime area renting the properties out may be difficult.

Nigel Kibel
Australian and New Zealand The United States Property Researcher and education
www.propertyknowhow.com.au

Hi Nigel

Agree that the Atlanta vacancy rates on the sites, (such as bestplaces, yahoo real estate, redcapital etc) look high in comparison to other large metro areas but i havent seen 16% quoted.  Closer to the 10-12% mark.  Where did you see that out of interest?  

Also agree on the independent research.  Suggest to anyone purchasing buy and holds or properties to flip in the US that you do research on the US real estate forums (i use www.biggerpockets.com - its the best ive seen), and look on US private sales sites (such as craigslist).   Craigslist is where i found my place in New York state.  
 
Cheers
Josh

Hi All,

I am researching buying foreclosures in the USA and one of the key indicators for me is vacancy rates.  I have come across an excel spreadsheet with the 2009 vacancy rates in the cities and it is from an official agency - US Census Bureau.

And yes, Nigel is correct - for 2009 Atlanta had a vacancy rate of 16.6%.

http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/housing/hvs/annual09/ann09ind.html  (Table 6)

Hope this helps.
Natalie

Why use a broker just buy direct from the banks, it not that hard.
Get yourself over there in an area you have researched and be careful buying sight unseen.

Best of luck
Do your homework!

www.cashflowgold.com.au
Thank you for your time
Jason Simpson

The idea of using a buyers agent is to deal with someone experienced. Most people do not have the time to spend months researching the market. Your comments Jason are more likely to get someone to buy rubbish and waste there money.

If you want to buy property you have three choices.

Buy it yourself- You need to spend at least a month in one city to understand it.

Secondly use a buyers agent that has already done the work to build the networks. Having done this I know how much money this has cost me.

Thirdly do not bother

Remember when the banks are flogging off property that they will not finance what does that tell you.

Nigel Kibel
Australian and New Zealand The United States Property Researcher and education
www.propertyknowhow.com.au

Nigel

So you can get finance in the US then?
Please tell us more.

www.cashflowgold.com.au
Thank you for your time
Jason Simpson

Well Jason

A great person to deal with on this matter is Richard Taylor who is a regular poster hear. His experience on lending in the US is first class. I also deal with several people out of Houston which Richard also has.

However banks will not lend on $30,000 to $50,000 properties because they deem them to be high risk.

Nigel Kibel
Australian and New Zealand The United States Property Researcher and education
www.propertyknowhow.com.au

Nigel

I have worked with Richard in the past, and will talk with him further.

Thank you

www.cashflowgold.com.au
Thank you for your time
Jason Simpson

Yes, Richard Taylor would be the man to speak to, or you could also buy "Subject to" deals, then the finance is in order  and the interest is fixed for the term of the loan.

Peter T

On the subject of vacancy rates, what about getting your property listed as a section 8 property? then there's not much worry with vacancy, right? 

Has anyone had dealings with 'Axis' property investor group, or at least looked into them?

Thanks for all your valuable comments guys. Has anyone bought a property via Michael and Bronwyn? I am seriously considering it.

Hi Moggiee,

I recently purchased a propert y through Michael and Bronwyn. Although its early days still I have been really happy with the experience. My property settled late April and renovations are being done on the property at the moment. I thought that if I was able to have it tenanted 4 weeks after the reno was complete that would be a good result. I was extremely happy when I got a call from Michael to advise (about 10 days after settlement) that we had received an application for rental from a good quality tenant wishing to take the property on a 2 year lease.  In terms of the quality of the property purchased I would have to say its amazing value. Michael and Bronwyn took care of everything, they set up the LLC , attended to settlement , connected the services after settlement, organised the reno and quotes  and property management team and of course answered all of the my questions, and I am certainly not a low maintenance customer, I ask lots of questions!

All I had to do was sign the contract and wire the funds to the attorney. Everything was very transparent, I was given details of all of their contacts so I could ask whatever questions I needed to ask.  I have met Michael and Bronwyn on 2 occasions now and I would have to say that I feel that they have their clients best interests at heart. They genuinly want to create a win win situation for clients by sourcing the best wholesale properties direct from the foreclosure market at the best price to achieve tenancy and a strong yield. They also have an eye for value as they themselves are experienced investors having undertaken many renovations and other property related projects here in Australia.

This is the first time I have ever used a buyers agent. I have many properties in AUS but always sourced them directly myself and never thought I would ever engage a buyers agent to buy on my behalf . There is an incredible amount of knowledge required to buy well in the US and doing it remotely without a team on the ground in the US I feel is just too difficult. I have been wanting to buy in the US for sometime now but never really knew how to go about it even after investing a considerable amount of time researching deals in the US. I am very grateful to Michael and Bronwyn for sharing this opportunity with me and other investors. I feel their service is great  value for money and they are worth every cent of their fee. They truly are offering investors an opportunity to buy at WHOLESALE foreclosure prices (direct from the banks) . I have looked into other groups that offer assistance in buying in the US and i feel a lot of them are selling at RETAIL prices, by that I mean they are flippers, they buy the foreclosed properties themselves at wholesale prices (so now they own them) , renovate them and then on-sell them at much much higher prices to investors like you and me, they are not true buyers agents although they represent themselves that way. Yes its a turn key service as they also organise to get a tenant for you but who is making the profit??? They are..., a very different service to what Michael and Bronwyn are offering , that is an opportunity to buy WHOLESALE, and then add value through the renovation plus all the other services right through to tenancy.

My personal opinion on buying in the US right now is that it is an opportunity of a lifetime, houses are selling for 1980, 1990 prices, way way below replacement value. These prices wont be around for ever, there is a window of opportunity for those willing to have a go. For those of you that have ever played Robert Kiyosaki´s cashflow 101 board game and picked up the opportunity cards in the game where you could buy 40k houses and achieve a monthly positive cashflow of $200 a month and thought thats great in theory but they don´t exist in the real world, right now in the US they do.... These exact deals are available everyday , its just a case of picking up that opportunity card, deciding to take action ,  and putting it into your assets column to start building the passive income to free you from  the rat race.

Of course there are risks with anything in life but if you never take risks you will never achieve great things... Some of my greatest achievements in life have come through taking risks both on a personal and a financial level.

Good luck to all of you that decide to have a go. I have no hesitation in recommending Michael and Bronwyn.
 

Thank you Munecita.  That's great to know.  If you don't mind I would like to pm you in a few weeks to see how things are going?

no problem feel free to drop me a PM