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As a first time property investor in USA we purchased (through a LLC) a duplex in Pittsburgh last December which was fully tenanted. It was in a lower- socio economic area however we saw the potential (we hope) of it being 8mins drive to the CBD of Pittsburgh. We chose Pittsburgh solely because our son , who is our property manager lives within an hour of the city. We purchased a 1bdrm and 2bdrm apt ,duplex for $58,000 which returns $1000 mth rent. Tenants pay utilities and we pay water. It needs some cosmetic updates but they can wait for a bit. Our major obstacle was trying to get reasonable property insurance without a credit rating consequently we paid over the top at around $1600. There was no leverage for my husband who is a non-residential US citizen. This will be our continuing challenge, I think. If he buys a company vehicle or another property it seems it will build the credit rating even though we were able to pay cash for the property. So far we are happy but feel so much more confident in having our son as the property manager. He has established a satisfactory relationship with the tenants. I did make an earlier trip to view some Pittsburgh properties and orientate myself to the city, however with the help of Trulia.com and Zillow I was able to send a shortlist to my son to do the actual viewing. Our plan is to build on this property and maybe purchase one similar within another year.
