International Investor Success Stories
Entrepenuer · Bulga, NSW · Member since 2015 · 6 posts · 0 votes
Hi, I would like to hear from Non US Citizens investing in the US on how they are going with their investment strategy, what strategies they find are most successful for them with being a remote investor and the hurdles they have had to overcome to achieve success?
Thank you
ok. Have sort of been putting off answering this, as I have found it a mixed bag, but as no one else has commented....!
I am from Australia and first invested in a couple of 'turn key' properties in the U.S after attending a 'boot camp' over here. Everything that could go wrong did, and I basically lost all my money over a period of about 2 years. Could blame a lack of 'due diligence', but I really didn't know what I should have been diligent about, or how to go about it.
As they say however, you learn from your mistakes, and I thus learnt a hell of a lot!
Despite this experience, I could still see there was money to be made over there, but it requires a much more 'hands on' approach. Having no money left, I started playing around with tax liens (can be had for only a few hundred dollars, but you only get the interest), and tax deeds (where you actually get the property). Got a few blocks of land which have appreciated nicely, but found houses were too expensive for me in the markets I was looking in, and often required a lot of work.
Kept researching markets and persevering ( again learning a lot from my mistakes along the way!), and about a year ago, got my first house which I 'flipped' in 3 days for a 6k profit (paid 14k for the house, which needed a lot of work). Am on my next deal now, which I got under contract for $43k. Needs 20-30k for a full rehab, has an ARV of apx $110+k.
I am planning on organising the rehab on this myself, but I have made several trips to the area already, met and talked to people locally, and started building a network of contacts.
This project has taken a long while to get going, as I had to get finance for it (I think I mentioned I had very little money!), which is EXTREMELY difficult if you are not a U.s citizen. 'Find the deal and the money finds you' does not apply to non-citizens!
Generally:
The banking system is really hard to negotiate for non citizens- you are a 'foreign alien' and treated as such. Strong reliance on paper cheques, notary signatures and the time the post takes between countries complicates matters to a surprisingly high degree.
You will have to travel over there a LOT, particularly in the beginning. No amount of Google earth or internet searches replaces actually seeing and getting a feel for neighbourhoods / properties / areas in reality. Areas you thought would be great can turn out to be duds and vice versa. You can't trust other people for this - where you finally choose has to suit what YOU are looking for and you have to be comfortable with it.
Once you have settled on an area, you will need to make MORE trips to develop personal relationships with locals.
If you do all this, you will find people who are really helpful, and keen to see you succeed (and hear your funny accent!). My loan has come through the help of people I have met over there, as have many other recommendations / suggestions. This has given me the confidence to attempt my first 'remote rehab', although it will still probaby need another trip soon.
If finance was not a problem you could probably do this much quicker than I have (I had to save up between trips!), but you might also be more prone to not finding out everything yourself from the ground up. There is a hell of a lot to learn, as there is really no point of similarity between the way the u.s. And Australian real estate markets operate.
Don't know if this was the sort of info you were looking for, but hope it helps!
I see you're really not in favor of the "lower end" investments. I just got an offer for a refurbished condo in Philly, for $55,000 renting at $800. It's in Southwest Philly, Chancelor street (bet. 55-56). I'm overseas and trying to find a second opinion on this deal - do the numbers make sense, is it something that will appreciate over time etc. Noone has responded from BP as of yet. Do you know how I can get it checked out?
Stephen that's just my personal preference folks like the lower end .
Feel free to PM and more then happy to discuss.
Alex
Hi all, happened to be searching for Australia posts, and stumbled upon this thread. My husband is Australian, I'm American, we are based in Dubai. We will leave next year, and haven't decided if we'll go to Brisbane or Upstate NY, but will have had 10 years in Dubai, time to finally say goodbye.
2 years ago I started looking into finding rentals in the US, and got a ton of good advice from people. But my concern, as a long time long distance tenant, was around dealing with tenants & repairs from far away. Been doing it for over 20 years, it's a pain. It's also hard to know what market to invest in, and who to trust with management and maintenance locally.
Long story short, someone on BP, can't remember who, pointed me in the direction of syndications, and the rest is history. Spent several weeks investigating, then not only invested in a deal in Dallas, but I went on to raising capital for syndicators, became SEC registered (some hard tests involved), and could pretty much shout about syndications from the rooftops to anyone who will listen. Great way to be in real estate with all (often better), of the tax benefits, passively. Just sold my rental and about to invest in 4 more deals. Plan is to exponentially invest in them over the coming years.
Also found some great syndicators in Australia, after lots of digging around, and planning to set up a part of my husband's super in a SMSF, to invest in the Australian commercial real estate market. Super excited about it.
Shares will still be half of our portfolio, but real estate, especially in inflationary times, is a great way to diversify, and will always be part of our holdings.
I have a few cpas that work with foreign investors, and to invest in deals like these, the process is have a cpa set up a LLC, get an ITIN (tax id number), and help you get an account with a local bank. We have HSBC here in Dubai, so opening in the US was pretty easy. I know there are regional banks that are pretty foreigner friendly. The cpa does first year tax returns, as well, for an all in fee of $1600 US. There are plenty of cpas that work with foreign investors. I like syndications because I don't have to get a mortgage, I can invest in the best growth markets (all data driven, no guesswork), I get monthly distributions & tax deductions, and the returns have ranged from 15-30% annualized.
Just another thing to think about. Happy to share the companies in Australia (no affiliation with them at all), as well as info on some of the projects/funds I raise for.