All Forum Posts by: Sam Marquez

Hey Kai Yap,

Welcome to BP! I'm US expat who's living in Singapore.

This is a great resource for getting started. Kiyosaki's books are decent for mindset, and the BP books are a good start for learning the mechanics of real estate investing. I'd say start by learning how buy-and-hold investing works (while saving up to purchase). Once you've got a sense for the mechanics, then the folks around here can help you map out the next steps. 

I also run a meetup group out here for folks who want to learn how to invest in the U.S. I just scheduled our first meeting of 2020, we'd love to have ya:

https://www.meetup.com/U-S-Rea...

Bunch of people posting about just jumping into larger MF.. my question is how? For those less experienced, the gap between SFH and 2-4 units is small enough that the course is pretty easy to plot.

How does one get into these larger multifamilies? Is it always going to be trading up or syndication? I'm looking to get in the space but don't know how. I was looking at smaller multis, similar to OP, but y'all have me reconsidering.

@Joshua Khoo

Hey Joshua. I'm a US expat working in Singapore who invests in buy and hold rentals in the Southeast US.

I think the first step is going to be identifying your target market(s). Since you're building out from overseas, you can pretty much go anywhere. Personally I'd recommend looking into the Southeast - places like Atlanta, Raleigh-Durham, or Memphis - or the Midwest (I don't know these submarkets as well, but a quick Google search or forum search should lead you in the right direction).

Market analysis is going to include some key indicators like population growth, economic development, crime statistics, and school district quality. Property taxes could be a consideration as well.

Once you have a market identified, you can work on building out a team, but that really is a whole endeavor in its own right. Just take it one step at a time. Market first, define your strategy, then build the team.

I'm happy to meet up to dig into this more if you like, just drop me a PM.

Hi everyone, just got the first event set up. It will be occurring, Wednesday, July 17. More details can be found here:

https://www.meetup.com/U-S-Real-Estate-Investors-i...

For all the other folks interested in investing abroad from Singapore, I'd love to see y'all out there!

Hey folks, I'm an expat real estate investor who is currently living and working in Singapore. There aren't any good meetups or REI groups for people focused on the U.S. market out here, so I decided to start one! Currently planning to meet at least once a month, starting July 17. I'll post more details once I solidify them - waiting on meetup to approve my group.

For everyone in Singapore interested in learning more about U.S. real estate, investing while overseas, or just how to get started - feel free to join. All experience levels welcome. 

• For the en bloc you might be waiting awhile, as they just implemented cooling measures to slow down the market. Most en bloc sales occurred last year before they went into effect.
• Central being immune to falling prices... hard to say. I mean, I suspect it's highly unlikely that they would go down given their proximity to the action, but it depends. There's always potential black swan type events. I think you should analyze the area based on it's fundamentals -> growth potential, future trends, development, etc. and see what it looks likely to do. Then see whether that aligns with your investing strategy.
• Westerners like 999-year and freehold for psychological and cultural reasons. I prefer to own my property outright - I don't like the idea that it will revert to someone else's ownership after a specific time. As for being worth a premium, it depends on your market and strategy. If you are only planning to hold for a limited period before flipping a property, then freehold doesn't matter much to you. If you are a long-term buy and hold investor, it becomes more important. Also, I don't know how the leasehold terms affect the price of the asset. I assume that buying a property with 2 years left is different than one with 25 years left. With freehold you don't have to worry about that factor so price is simply based on comps (or financials for commercial).

@Svetlana Ivanova I can't speak to life insurance as I don't know much about it.

As for medical insurance, you pretty much have to have it as an American. Our system is so screwed up that a single major health issue can ruin you financially for the rest of your life. In fact, 2/3 of bankruptcies are due to medical issues (https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/11/this-is-the-real-reason-most-americans-file-for-bankruptcy.html).

It does feel like you aren't getting much for your money. In a day to day sense that's true. You'll likely have a high deductible and have to pay a good deal out of pocket. The key is that basic insurance isn't meant to protect you much against this stuff. It's for the big, catastrophic occurrences. Surgery, cancer, broken bones, diseases. The stuff that can ruin you financially.

So, I'd say it's really not optional. It's a bummer, but the cost benefit is heavily weighted in favor of keeping it.

@Allan C. True, but it is highly location dependent. You cannot own property/land in Thailand, but you can own a condo. Malaysia allows foreigners to freehold houses. I believe you can own land in Japan and South Korea as well. Vietnam and Indonesia both have leasehold systems and only allow for ownership of condos, but Vietnam is friendlier to foreign investors.

Again, it's not really fair to lump SEA together as every country operates quite differently. The only reason I did so earlier is because I believe it's much easier for a Singaporean to operate in that geographic region than, say, jumping to the US market. As someone who is traveling home in a week, the trip is a SLOG.

Just want to note that Airbnb is illegal in Singapore. I completely agree with the rest of your post though.

I'm an expat who lives in Singapore. I did some market exploration when I first got here, and the numbers simply don't work. Sky high prices combined with low relative rents mean most properties are likely negative cash flow. What's worse is rents have actually decreased the last couple of years, and market interest has been cooling. None of these are promising signs.

Combine that with strict regulation and the leasehold ownership and you have structural disadvantages which make it very hard to profit as an individual investor.

I know other expats and locals who are investing in Vietnam, Thailand, Taiwan and Malaysia. I would look into emerging markets in SEA as you're likely to be able to find other investors here who are doing the same. Also, most of the countries I listed are a quick plane ride from SG.

One final note, avoid Indonesia as their property rights for foreigners are nonexistent. They purposefully make it risky and difficult for outside investors to own real estate.

Sounds great Alan - welcome to Sing!