Investor from South Africa

[Chenell Mangiagalli]

Hi there.

My name is Chenell, I am from South Africa. I am a licensed real estate broker in SA as well as a property investor. (Investor for 15 years)

I want to expand my property portfolio by starting to invest in the States, I have specifically looked at Florida (Orlando, Kissimmee,Lake Mary) areas as I visited Florida last year so I guess I feel a bit more comfortable to start there with my first property. I was thinking a 1/2 bedroom condo.

I have noticed that it is however a completely different ballgame investing in the States - here I make a ROI of 10% plus where according to my calculations I won't even be able to make half of that in the States?

Just an example of why I stated the above - In SA we only rent out the property itself (shell, if you would call it that) no appliances, no a/c system - just an empty brick and mortar unit tiled throughout. I spend nearly nothing on maintenance, only the odd toilet leak etc, the rest the body corporate (HOA) or tenant cover. It seems in the States you have to maintain appliances, the a/c system etc which would probably eat your profit?

So I was looking at a Condo (all of my current investment properties here are 1/2 bedroom condo's) of approx $120 000 with a rental income of $1100p.m

Deduct HOA $300, Managing fee $120, Taxes $80 and insurance $50 I am left with $550 out of which I would still need to fix appliances, a/c etc as well as budget for the CPA fees of $1200p.a as well as the LLC fees.

Am I missing something or do I have it completely wrong? 

What would one need to budget for monthly for appliance/ A/C repairs?

[Christian B.]

@Chenell Mangiagalli Hi Chenell! Fellow Capetonian and Florida RE investor. It’s definitely a different ballgame in the US, but I find it even more lucrative in both the short and long term, especially given the lower interest rates, landlord-friendly laws, tax efficiency, and hard currency income. Happy to chat further - drop me a PM.