New member from Tokyo, looking at US opportunities

[Dmitri L.]

Hi All!

My name is Dmitri, and I'm a new member currently living in Tokyo Japan. I'm originally from Russia, and have lived in France as well as the US growing up (SLC Utah, Upstate NY, and NYC). My day job is in IT (network engineering).

I am quite new to the real estate scene, and found this website by chance. Learning a whole lot from the articles, forums, and podcasts - a great thanks to everyone who contributes to make this an amazing resource!

Investment-wise, I'm planning to start slow with buy and hold properties, learn the ropes, and slowly move to bigger and larger things (multi-family, apartment buildings). The goal is to eventually replace the need for a salary with the mostly-passive rent income. To this end, I'm doing lots of research on how to structure my investments as a business, anything from deal analysis down to hiring out the property management.

Geographically, I am currently split between going full-on remote investing in the US while living in Japan. Or starting out "locally" here - although the reality is that cap rates in Tokyo area are so low due to exorbitant property prices, that within Japan I would still need to invest in other major cities - again, remotely. Japan also poses some issues with language, culture, and less-familiar legal system. I believe there are quite a few opportunities though, especially via foreclosures which are much less well-known than in the US.

I'd love to hear stories of people who have started out their real estate investment by going after "remote" (as in you don't live there / never lived there) markets, and learn from your experience. I'll certainly share my blunders once I start to pull the trigger - hopefully by early next year.

Best Regards,

-Dmitri