[MosquiParticipant@mosquiJoin Date: 2010Post Count: 43]

November 8, 2011 - 5:07 am

Good move Terry, I have a Galaxy S and it’s very simple and compatible. I think the apple products are very good quality and very ingenious but they are very expensive and they do not want to be compatible with anything else. I don’t share apple’s idea of marketing, I think they will fail as they did before.
On the other hand Google has all open source and free. I have been using Android for two years and I’m very happy with the software. The galaxy tab is my next step

Just my point of view

Mosqui

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November 7, 2011 - 11:21 pm

Glenn,

Send me a PM and I’ll give you a great accountant in Perth.

Mosqui

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October 7, 2011 - 6:28 am

Can I claim the stamp duty back when I sell the IP? Or the Stamp Duty gets lost?

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October 7, 2011 - 4:41 am

The owner has to trust the PM. otherwise they should not work together. The PM should be able to make some decisions, as sometimes they do not have the time to consult everything with the owner.

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October 7, 2011 - 2:11 am

I’m sure in five years Port Hedland and Karratha will not drop the property prices. BHP, RIO and FMG got contracts signed for the next 5 to 10 years and even if you build a camp for FIFO and for construction all the staff will move their family to town and will require a place to live. I have a house in Karratha and the return is really good. I think the risk is very low.

Just my personal view as I have been working in the Pilbara for the last 10 years and it’s another world.

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September 16, 2011 - 11:01 pm

I think that the financial advisers another kind of salesman, which is a very tough job and very difficult for people to understand it. I usually don’t like any of them, specially real estate agents as I have seen them saying so many lies to very innocent people that make me sick. On the other hand I have meet some valuable people in that area, but I think that they are very few and this is the main reason people don’t trust them.
Also with financial advise the big problem is that you always have a risk, it’s impossible to predict what is going to happen (specially now) with the economy, even if you have 10 MBA and all the studies you can imagine, economy is not something you can study like maths or many other science, it’s all about experience and trying to predict things that could happen.
What I think we need is financial education from the schools, the biggest mistake people make is expending more than they earn, it very simple, but many people don’t get it. Then they go to the banks for help and they don’t understand the value of the money until they get charged with all the fees which I agree they are usually to high, but if people is a bit smarter they can live using the free accounts, paying the full amount on the credit cards and only taking mortgages for houses, that usually is a good investment.
So in this environment the financial advisors could work a lot better and people will understand the value of the advise. And all the banks would have to work a lot harder to get profits

Sorry if I went out of the topic, I just get very frustrated when people make very bad decisions and then blame others, and even more when they get rip off just for not reading forums like this before making decisions.

Hope this helps

Mosqui

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September 11, 2011 - 10:54 pm

MJ,

Great Deal !!!! $42K and $825 a month? this is about 23% Gross?
So, you didn’t need and renos?

You are based in KC anyway, do you?

Mosqui

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September 7, 2011 - 3:36 am

Engelo,

I have to agree that the situation is getting worse, I don’t think the rents are going to go up soon, but I think some people have been a bit aggressive with you.
On the other hand you are young, so you can take higher risk than many people and this is what some people have to realise. Investing in property in this world environment is very risky as they are many other types of investments, so you just listen to everyone and try to work out how much risk you want to take. When you do your maths for any investment, try to get the worse case and put some negative factor as well because you will always find some additional expenses.
Don’t stop investing, try to diversify and move forward, listen to everyone, even the negative comments as sometimes being too positive is not good either.
The world economy is a big mess, but no one knows what is going to happen, as now USA is not anymore the biggest economy and the asian countries (like China and India) are big economies and very unpredictable. I sick of listen to economist all around the world with different ideas and the reality is that they do not know what is going to happen; it is not a science, so they base all the predictions on theories that may not work in this modern era.
We can stop everything and wait until the world economy gets fixed, I live in a country with 1000% inflation, prices were changing from the morning to the evening, and still alive )

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September 5, 2011 - 1:55 am

Once again thanks British Buyer to share your experience with the forum, this information is better than any book anyone can write. As many other people here I’m thinking to buy property in USA and still trying to get info and see when I can fly to see some places, so still doing more research and I hope I can get something done this year but time is very hard to find for me at the moment.
I have a positive cash flow property in a mining town and I hope I can share my USA experience here soon, so I can help more people with investing.

Thanks again and good luck.

Mosqui

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August 12, 2011 - 11:30 pm

For my first home I didn’t like brokers, so I went to all the banks and done my own research. Then I moved house and my wife and a friend convinced me to use a recommended broker. I wasn’t very happy and after a few meetings I liked the idea, so the outcome was very positive. Then I bought an IP and he did all the paperwork, I only contacted him with the realestate and they organised everything, I just sat at home and signed the pages I needed to by email. Great experience.
I’m in Perth

My small contribution

Mosqui

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July 20, 2011 - 4:44 am

vonny wrote:

I am currently building Units.
4 units, Perth, Western australia.
It was a long process of research and many meetings with builders… But i think none of this is ever a waste as you learn something new via almost every person you talk too.
Anyway we had a ‘building broker’ on the job too…….WASTE OF MONEY GUYS…. I also got my own quotes and i ended up coming in ALOT cheaper than the best price the broker got. not bad for a first timer i reckon lol.

I have gone with a well known housing builder, but they were more than happy to accomodate to do units.
i think the proof is in the pudding……. two teams are on site now and things are moving along at a rapid pace.

I think its as simple as you just ASKING each of the builders if they are prepared to do your units…. it also helps to remind them that they may also get future work from you.

I also would not listen to builders that on first meeting just start b#tching about other builders. I found alot out there like that,,,,, yep they didnt get my job.

Oh and another thing i found was that alot of the builders wanted a small deposit (about $1000) to do the quote. I refused (in a nice manner of course) to pay this. Its pretty much to secure that you will end up building with them, and if it is the house of your dreams than this may be fine, however the development world is different. I do understand that a fair bit of time goes into them doing the quote, but I think if they want the job and possibly more work from you down the track then the $1000 can be waived…… and believe me they can waive it.

GOODLUCK

Well Done Vonny, I’m doing some research about units as well and I think that most of the time it’s better to learn from your own mistakes, then you never forget that. You only need common sense and some understanding of basic business to get a project done. I think that this and the motivation are the main keys to success. I know it’s difficult and takes a lot of time, but looking after your own money it’s always more effective.

Mosqui

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July 20, 2011 - 1:32 am

wisepearl wrote:

what am i doing wrong?! can’t open your blog… get this msg:

You’re about to be redirected

The blog that used to be here is now at http://www.propertyinvestinginaustralia.net.au/.
Do you wish to be redirected?

then if i get redirected it says it doesn’t exist. but looks like Elea managed to open it just today so why can’t I get there?

I can’t open it either, it’s not just you

[MosquiParticipant@mosquiJoin Date: 2010Post Count: 43]

June 22, 2011 - 4:09 am

Scott, can you send me the info too.

thanks

Mosqui

[MosquiParticipant@mosquiJoin Date: 2010Post Count: 43]

May 20, 2011 - 4:24 am

What about Android? iphone is not the only smartphone out there. My wife has the Galaxy S and has a few interesting features you don’t get on the iphone.

[MosquiParticipant@mosquiJoin Date: 2010Post Count: 43]

May 7, 2011 - 5:07 am

Alf, I have to agree with you. I know Australia could have a correction or small crash, but I hear this before as well. I’m coming from Argentina, I have been in Australia for 10 years and I can tell you that in all the crashes we had in south america, the more secure investment was always property. The Argentinian property market rises in american dollars even when the exchange rate changed from 1:1 to 4:1, so having cash wasn’t good either. In the late 80s the inflation got up to 1000%, food was more expensive in the evening than in the morning and this is the point USA couldn’t afford to get to, but it’s better to touch bottom and start again, it’s the quickest correction.
I also want to add that if houses are too expensive, the rents go up, because the demand for rents is higher. I’m not an expert but this is what I can see.
Talking about affordability I think Australia is still pretty good if you compare with some other countries. For instance in Germany having a house is something only a few people can afford. The amount of space we have here it’s amazing and unthinkable in some European countries

Only my point of view, thanks for all who collaborate in the forums

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May 2, 2011 - 11:14 pm

Cath Wood wrote:

A few years back I bought 3 properties in small mining towns in WA. 

In one of the towns, everything that could possibly go wrong did. 

1. The mine closed down. 
2. The 'property manager' recommended by the real estate agents turned out to be a crook whose idea of good property management was to collect rent from 50 houses but not pass it on to the owners. 
3. The guys that looked after maintenance left town. 
4. My property was vacant for pretty much the entire time I owned it and was broken into multiple times. 
5. It was uninsurable. 
6. The mining company decided to dump their entire stock of housing on the market at any price they could get for it.
7. I sold it a little while back and had to put money in to allow the sale to go through!  OUCH!!!  However, I still pinch myself with relief that I no longer own this nightmare property.

The other 2 properties, in another town, have fared much better.  They have still been challenging, but nothing like the first one.  I have long term tenants in one of the properties who want to buy it and therefore treat it like their own.  The other property is lower quality and the level of tenant has reflected that. 

Both those properties have theoretically increased in value significantly, however there are currently no sales comps because the agent (from a town 200km away) who was servicing the area suddenly disappeared and it took a while for another agent to succumb to the pressure to take on this place.

Personally, I would not invest in a tiny mining town again.  There are so many challenges to overcome and everything is difficult because tradies and supplies have to travel a long way.  Plus, mining companies seem to pull in and out of these towns on the slightest whim.

Having said that, there are also some upsides so I have had some fun along the way. 

• The people are WAY different to your average Jo. 
• Tenants understand that a mining town house will not be the same as a city house. It is NOT uncommon for tenants to organise repairs themselves then just casually tell you in passing. 
• The locals are very friendly and helpful.  Once you befriend the right person, you'll get random texts saying things like "hey I notice your house looks pretty quiet, do you want me to go and check if your tenant has done a runner?" 
• The cops and the people in the shire will actually tell you stuff you need to know. 
• The towns themselves are pretty funky and quite fun to visit for maintenance trips.  Having dinner in the local pub after a hard day of work is…..memorable.  If a groovy modern song starts up on the jukebox, one of the locals will go and hit it, and everyone else will cheer.  You will be the only one who wished to hear that song, so naturally you will stay very quiet.

I think this is not a real fair comment. You can not compare Ravensthorpe (where all this happened) with Karratha and Port Hedland. This is a clear difference with a mining town and a future mining town. The Ravensthorpe mine never worked. I can only talk for WA because is where I have all my experience and the pilbara and mid west is full of mines which will be here for many years. Two weeks ago BHP announced that they are investing 7 billions in WA, so Port Hedland has construction for the next 5 years and operations for another 10 to 15 easy. Karratha has Rio Tinto, Woodside, Dampier Salt and Burrup Fertalizers, so if all these industries go down, don’t worry because all Australia stops anyway. I think it’s fair to say that the risk on the north of WA is very low and the returns are very high, very uncommon, but real. I have a house in Karratha and looking into my second IP in Port Hedland at the moment. Also the people up there go for work, so the houses are usually kept pretty well.
I was also looking into the Qld mining towns, very interesting as the properties are a lot cheaper.

This is my point of view.
Happy investing to everyone

Mosqui

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April 28, 2011 - 11:42 am

My 2 cents.

I think that as long as the property is cash flow positive (or gives you at least 10%) is good investment and in long term the USD will be back, it may not be as strong as it used to be, but it’s always good to spread your investments. I have a cash flow positive property in Australia and looking into the american market right now, so hopefully I can share my experience when I get something done.
I really appreciate all the information shared by the people in these forums and even the more stupid question can help and teach the more experienced person, so don’t be afraid to ask anything.
Investment is all about risk and unfortunatelly nobody is going to make decisions for you, so do your own research, listen to everyone and make your mind.
Good luck and happy investing

Mosqui

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February 14, 2011 - 11:41 pm

streamlineinvesting wrote:

I see this thread is a bit old, but it is still relevant to many I assume.

We have recently sent off our information to set up our Florida based LLC. Have sent off the application for our Australian based Citibank Transaction Account. At the moment am enquiring about getting a US based Citibank Account. With the free currency exchange transfers we are hoping to limit our expenses for our investment.

The US account will be in the LLCs name so I guess the Property Manager can deposit the rent into this account. And we can transfer it back to Australia if we need to. However not sure if we would need to, depends with the AUD/USD conversion rate is doing, as well as the interest rates in Australia. We can link the Australian based account to a savings account with decent interest as well, with the US bank accounts getting next to no interest comparitively.

It would be nice if we could set up the US bank account over the internet, but I doubt this will be the case, and in which case we may have to get an attorney to set it up for us, either that or use the registered agent company we used to get the account for us. Either way, few things to do yet but getting close to having everything set up and ready to purchase.

I think this thread is still very interesting for many people. Please keep posting to see how your account goes.
thanks for sharing your experience with us.

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January 31, 2011 - 11:59 pm

BB,
Very happy to see all your journey, all the best with your house and please keep posting. I’ll be in Miami in a few months, still working on details and getting some money ready.

Simon, It’ll be good to know how your progress is as well, so please keep us in the loop.

Mosqui

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January 13, 2011 - 6:41 am

Thanks Steve and Judith, this is very valuable information for people on the other side of the globe.