[Texas Cash Cow Investments AustraliaParticipant@texas-cash-cow-investments-australiaJoin Date: 2011Post Count: 71]

February 25, 2013 - 10:50 pm

Jay,

Welcome back buddy. We have been missing you !! Your right. The markets have changed. Dallas is much like others where the hedge funds have moved into town making it hard for the individual investor to get a look in. Prices have risen and it's hard to compete against the billions of dollars that hedge funds have. Pretty well all our inventory these days is sold direct to the hedge funds.

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February 7, 2013 - 12:23 am

King-co,

As a foreign national you cannot get a SSN….these are for US citizens unless you have a classification that allows you to work in the US on a valid visa. Foreign Nationals that invest in real estate need an ITIN

[Texas Cash Cow Investments AustraliaParticipant@texas-cash-cow-investments-australiaJoin Date: 2011Post Count: 71]

January 24, 2013 - 9:26 am

Hi sonic81,

For single family homes you will find it very hard as a foreign national to get anything but private finance usually having terms from 50% down and rates at 8.25%.

As far as I know we are the only company that has access to a bank in Dallas that gives finance to foreign nationals. 30% down with a rate of 5.75% over 15 or 20 years. All you need is a Texas LLC & EIN in place….no SSN needed.

[Texas Cash Cow Investments AustraliaParticipant@texas-cash-cow-investments-australiaJoin Date: 2011Post Count: 71]

November 16, 2012 - 11:03 pm

ivanc,

I can also back up Nigel's referral to Donna Shaw who is based in Melbourne. Not sure exactly where your from but you might also find this list useful

http://photos.state.gov/libraries/australia/5/tax/TaxConsultants.pdf

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November 13, 2012 - 12:28 am

The real problem I see is that you don't have title to a motel room under US laws so exactly what is it your buying into ? Look the return if it is true sounds good but what about an exit strategy ? As the old saying goes…the higher the returns the higher the risk

[Texas Cash Cow Investments AustraliaParticipant@texas-cash-cow-investments-australiaJoin Date: 2011Post Count: 71]

October 25, 2012 - 9:59 pm

gazz,

I have a couple of sources for setting up bank accounts and no it's not a myth….it can be done. One bank will only open LLC accounts and not personal accounts and another bank does both a LLC & personal accounts but they both need to be established at the same time (i.e. won't open up just in personal name without opening one for LLC as well.

Just do yourself a favour and don't think you have to pay for the service !!

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October 18, 2012 - 11:35 pm

Looks to me like a Tigers & Cardinals World Series !!

[Texas Cash Cow Investments AustraliaParticipant@texas-cash-cow-investments-australiaJoin Date: 2011Post Count: 71]

October 18, 2012 - 11:01 pm

Hi Richard,

We'd all love it if you can expand a little on this topic of a SMSF borrowing oversea's to purchase oversea's property…..not necessarily US property as I know you work for buyers of UK property as well don't you ?

Seems there are two trains of thought & it depends who you speak to as to what answer you get.

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October 4, 2012 - 10:41 pm

Jay,

Agree 100%. It's all about what expectations they have been sold from the beginning. Investors do need to appreciate that there are some major difference between property management in the US & Australia. It is unrealistic and naive of these investors you mentioned to expect otherwise.

My guess is that they know they have been sold a lemon and are anxious each month that at least rent is being paid to make them feel better.

In my experience most tenants do & will pay their rent on time but there are always going to be a few that are late. My latest property that I purchased late last year…the tenants hadn't missed a beat but then the head of the household lost his job in August and rent was half paid for that month. Fortunately this month he is back on track.

[Texas Cash Cow Investments AustraliaParticipant@texas-cash-cow-investments-australiaJoin Date: 2011Post Count: 71]

September 24, 2012 - 6:15 am

jayhinrichs wrote:

PS this forum has gotten pretty dull here last 2 weeks other than my two articles I don't think there has been anything new posted in a month or so… Save how to set up a bank account. Which is important yet not really riviting stuff.

Agree Jay….the forum has been looking pretty dull of late. What can we do to rev it up ??

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September 18, 2012 - 10:30 pm

Adropro

I have had this discussion with BMT. They will prepare a Depreciation Schedule for US property. They just need as much information about the improvements to the property as possible and dates etc. Cost I recall was in the vicinity of $500

[Texas Cash Cow Investments AustraliaParticipant@texas-cash-cow-investments-australiaJoin Date: 2011Post Count: 71]

August 27, 2012 - 3:16 am

Thanks speedy gonzales (Byron),

Your spot on. All of our homes are sold at or below a normal market value and we can show anyone interested plenty of comparable sales (not sold by TCCI) to back up the prices asked. We are not a fly by night company and have operated for over 12 years and pride ourselves on our honesty and intregrity.

I have many clients just like Byron who have purchased multiple homes through us after starting out with just one….that to me speaks millions.

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August 10, 2012 - 2:03 am

Hi Joel,

Very observant of you !!

Yes you are correct. These are Texas Cash Cow homes that we own and have been refurbished by us.

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August 10, 2012 - 1:56 am

Hi Jamie,

Referring to the USA. Zillow & Trulia are sites that offer computer modelled estimates of values of homes. Sort of like a realestate.com.au on steroids !!. They also include homes for sale or for lease.

Zillow provides what is called a "zestimate" of value. They don't offer a high degree of accuracy but do provide useful information like what labrador mentioned. In a state like Texas (which is a non disclosure state….meaning sales prices do not get recorded at a county office) and 9 other states….zillow estimates are completely out of whack and their website disclosures tell you such.

labrador…..try another called sawbuck.com

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August 7, 2012 - 12:44 am

Obviously that hardest thing to do on forums such as this is to be as constructive as possible without being seen as being critical or negative. I'll do my best……

Jeff let me first of all congratulate you for admitting your a "middleman". Your a link in the chain that  perhaps isn't necessary but you see yourself as a conduit between the actual seller and the buyer and provides advice and customer service. Would you be brave enough to tell us if you charge a fee for providing this type of service ? Again I am not being negative nellie….I just think that should be clarified.

Unlike most…. I can tell you for a fact that we do own every property that we sell to buyers. I am based here in Australia but am simply an outpost of the US company based in Dallas TX. So when you deal through me your dealing directly with the sellers. Same price, same service just a different time zone. There are a few Aussie companies that sell our inventory (one in the past even tried to sell them at a higher price then what we were selling them for until they had all agreements terminated as a result). It makes me laugh when I look at their websites and they claim "exclusive listing" and how they can unlock all the secrets in exchange for a hefty fee in the thousands of dollars just to assist you. That's the part that I think most on the forum are critical of. Paying all this money when if you go straight to the original source and cut out all the sales companies you find you get the EXACT same services etc for free.

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July 26, 2012 - 2:39 am

labrador,

Sorry to hear of your situation with the HOA. What was the HOA annual fee of $600 covering ?

How were you getting the invoices from the HOA for the fee's you were paying ($50 a week)

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July 26, 2012 - 2:34 am

Hi MillaLou,

Welcome to the forum. I am sure if you search the forum you will find plenty to hear about users of MyUSAProperty. Plus they of course featured on the ABC's 7-30 report due to this actual  forums members perseverance.

It would help if you posted some actual figures so you can get some informed opinions from forum members & experts. Plus the numbers would assist anyone contemplating investing in the US.

I guess if you went via MyUSAProperty then your using the Accountants from Geelong ?

<edit>

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July 26, 2012 - 2:22 am

labradorinlove wrote:

To put an end to the story I sold all 3 properties at a profit of $50,000. However then you have to minus the $20,000 that the con artist tradesman stole which brings the profit down to $30,000. At the end of the day I came out on top but there is still a con man walking around continuing to rip people off on an ongoing basis.

Hey labrador,

Congratulations. It must feel better now they are sold ? Have you taken into account Capital Gains Tax on your profit the IRS will want a share of ?

So was your plan when you set out to invest to buy refurb and flip ?

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July 26, 2012 - 2:18 am

ben1990 wrote:

Thanks for that mate! I will certainly have a look through and soak in as much info as I can. Last thing I want is to go ahead and spend a lot of money building a foreign portfolio and for it to turn to nothing faster than I can blink. Is there other countries that are worth while looking into?

You would need a couple of bottles of red to go through this forum alone and by the end of them none of it will make any sense. As far as other countries….not my field of expertise. There is a mortgage broker in Brisbane named Richard on this forum and I think he assists with UK purchases. Then there's zmagen on this forum who specialises in Japan. I'd check with them about opportunities they could assist with.

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July 23, 2012 - 12:13 am

Tony,

It really all comes down to your own personal level of risk tolerance and understanding of what's on offer. Something that we don't appreciate in Australia is that the buying and selling of notes in the US is just as big as the buying and selling of real estate. As you say…we are brought up on bricks and mortar. Just as big a factor to consider is that owning and operating an investment property in Australia is nothing like owning an investment property in the US. By & large most Aussies pay their rent on time and don't treat their homes the way that US tenants do & will. When you take into account vacancy and maintenance and repairs it all eats into your cashflow and it wouldn't take much to go from a positive net cashflow to a negative net cashflow. If you had that situation so many months in the year… each year then all of a sudden what Jay say's and offers makes sense.

To the hands off investor or someone that is only going to buy 1 property in the US or dip their toe in the water or perhaps that couldn't afford to cop vacancy and maintenance issues that eat in to the cashflow then Jay's model is perfect.

To the investor that is willing to run this like a business and buy multiple properties and has a higher degree of risk tolerance then go it on your own after plenty of due diligence.

The old RISK / REWARD ratio at play