Thats one thing I want to look into, unlocking some equity from a property in Oz and investing that into property in the US. In November I made an under priced cash offer on a 3 bedroom house in Geraldton W.A. with the intention Of renovating the property to rent and then later resell or Unlock the equity and reinvest in the area. But after getting a contractor to do an inspection of the property and running the numbers , I decided not to go through with it.
My wife and I would have driven over there from the east coast and stayed in the house whie we did the renovations our selves. The house was listed at $45k , I offered $35k and they came back with a counter offer of $40k . With closing + renovations costs and the cost of time and travel to drive over, I would have come out at an all in cost of around 60-65k. The comps in the area were around $70 >80k with a weekly rental return of $180 > $200.
Not a great return but if we did it, it would have been an interesting experience and we could have spent some down time away from the reno out in the W.A gold feilds camping exploring and metal detecting. Which we have enjoyed doing.
The other bonus woukd have been spending time living in Geraldton. Some where we havnt been before.
