All Forum Posts by: Mark Masiel

"Plenty of people will tell you this is a dumb approach, but I couldn't care less what kind of taxable "golden egg" is waiting for me at 65 if I'm generating plenty of passive income for the rest of my life on rental properties."

Great point Michael!

I do however think a young person should also be investing in a retirement account so that they can utilize time value of money. Just a little every month from a young age can provide excellent return when you are of retirement age.

Yes, banking in other countries can be an easy way to gain income though there are of course the risk/reward scenario.

I was getting paid in Thai Baht in 98 and woke up one morning with the realization my currency was worth half the amount it was the day before. Of course my salary stayed the same. It was not a good year.

As far as the initial question, I had looked into Australia a few years ago (my daughter was born there) and it seemed that Queensland offered pretty good deals as they suffered a bit of the housing bubble that the states did and Aussies bought into the North for investments and second vacation homes. However with the currency exchange the prices did not seem within my humble reach. The U.S. was still cheaper.

I don't know how Singapore can even be a possibility unless you are independently wealthy as they were rated I think # 6 most expensive city for real estate in the world recently.

When I lived in the Emirates there was a ton of development in Dubai and Abu Dhabi that was very fashionable to purchase/invest in. Last I recall the bubble burst around 2009 but now has been creeping up again. I personally wouldn't trust the construction for a moment and they were basically built on slave labor in my opinion.

My experience tells me that people in England and Europe invest overseas lots in places like Egypt, Tunisia, etc, so you could always go on U.K. websites to see where they are flocking to. There are incredibly cheap prices in some areas of Italy but I do not believe a US Citizen can buy them-not sure about that though.

We have dual citizenship in Peru and I can tell you we would get nothing near 3 percent and cash is still king.

Most is cash and property taxes are cheaper though in Peru at least there is always another document to get stamped or whatever. Our relatives just paid a lawyer 1500 dollars for some issue they had with a title from our family house and that was talked down from 10K.

Plus, I just don't see myself paying cash for some tiny ill built apartment for 110K in a not very special area just because everyone else is doing it. I would think that 110K would go farther in other investment vehicles. I know very few Americans with 110K in their pocket anyway.

How about investing in international Cd's? The PTA of our school in Indonesia made great income on Indonesian cd's at 7 percent. Sure you have fluctuation in currency (can go both ways) but investing in real estate overseas has similar risks, and if you are not a citizen your have very little protection, unless of course you are a foreigner investing in the U.S.!

I have lived and worked (not in real estate) all over the world for 20 years in 7 countries. When I first started out I noted how cheap properties were in other locations, which were mostly "third world". Wow have things changed. Outside of say some reasonably priced areas of Europe (and I don't think it would be easy to purchase if you are not a citizen of the EU, but I am not sure) I find real estate as a whole, far cheaper and investor friendly in the US than most places of the world. I was looking at Costa Rica the other day and financing seemed doable but at 9-10 percent.

My family lives in Peru and it is way out of our budget, INSANE prices and they love cash. A beach house 2 hours north of Lima can cost 600000, the quality is nothing great and it can be used due to weather really only 3 months a year. Who buys that in cash? Financing is just taking off but you don't get anything like you would here. with high interest rates and stricter control, which is good I guess as they are hoping not to repeat the past errors in the U.S.

However, I mean does it make sense that my wife and I have an upper middle class US income right now and there is no way we could afford to buy property in Peru but we can buy in SOCAL or South Florida or whatever? And I don't mean just the capital Lima, it is expensive everywhere.

One of the reasons why I have become more interested in real estate lately as that I see that in the U.S., even though there aren't as many deals these days, the property is still so much more affordable than just about anywhere else. I know that is not reason enough to invest but sooner or later something has to change as I just don't see the combination of low interest rate and the relatively low prices of the U.S. practically anywhere else on Earth.

I hope I am wrong and look forward to biggerpockets.com users telling me where to invest, because I love traveling and living overseas!

I maxed out my 401K for five years, and right now I really regret it. Sure I made great money last year but Ill see it in 20 plus years and pay a heck of a lot of tax when I pull it out. I would have been much better investing in real estate during that time period, especially with so many deals that were around (but I would have met my company match for sure). I mean whatever money I have in my 401k when I retire (assuming I even make it that far) wont be as valuable as the passive income that was passed up. My only concern is to make sure you really stick to your goals and use the money for other investing rather than to fund your next trip or next "emergency".

For sure meet the company match because thats free money!

Welcome Jim! I grew up in Ormond Beach. My father actually sold a ton of properties in Palm Coast-back in the day when it belonged to ITT.

I am looking at Central Florida as one possible place to invest. I love the area, probably because it reminds me of my youth!

Best of luck and I look forward to following your successes.

Hi Rufus!
I am originally from Daytona Beach but went to FSU in T-Town.

Although you are in D.C. now are you still planning on investing in Florida?

Congrats Andre! I hope to one day follow your lead!

"I assume he meant that he purchased using his own cash, did the renovation using his own cash, and then did a cash-out refinance with a local portfolio lender to pull out some percentage of his cash."

Awesome, thats what I was thinking. What a great idea!

HI Martin,

Could you kindly explain "Once I have the homes fixed up I get a loan from a local bank" ?

I thought you bought them full in cash?

Thanks!