All Forum Posts by: Andrea P.

I strongly believe you could make a good deal in joining a foreign market since the criteria you use for evaluating a deal are likely to be different than the local people due to the cultural differences. The deal is when you purchase something valuable for you but it is considered worthless by the seller (and in general by the local market).

I spent few years in the US during the Real Estate crisis. During 2007-2011 the Euro was strong and it was convenient for Europeans to invest in the US. As Italian, I took the opportunity to enter in the US market at that time.

I learned what was behind the US house prices since I had to understand the local people criteria to evaluate a property which was somehow different than mine.

Nowadays the situation is reverted: the US dollar is strong and Italians are understanding that the Real Estate is not the safest investment anymore. Furthermore the property taxes recently re-introduced by the Italian governments pushed the owners to sell their unused properties.

In my understanding, certain Americans loves living in authentic medieval villages on vacation.

There are several famous medieval places already known to the foreign investors and tourists: Tuscany (San Gimignano, Volterra...), Cinque terre, Santo Stefano in Sextantio, Calascio... In those known places is pretty hard to find a good deal since the local market is already joined by foreign investors pushing the price high.

You can find others places unknown to the foreign investors. You can find entire medieval village for sale: http://vallepiola.com

Since the Euro is weak I stopped to search rental property in the US and I am becoming curios about the criteria US people use to evaluate vacation rentals in Italy:

- Airport proximity

- Transportation

- Famous cities (Rome, Florence) proximity

- Local people speaking English

I bought a SFD when I was in the US when the Euro was strong. I still keep it for renting. The US legislation together with the competition among property mangers, allow pretty remunerative/safe investment.

I am out of Nation investor having a SFH house in Huntsville. I left the house in 2011 and I had just 15 days vacancy.

Usually high credit score people (un-risky tenant) do buy houses rather than rent. In Huntsville you have a special situation: the people working in the Red Stone Arsenal do spend 2-3 years there, so they rent the houses because of the short period (not because of low credit score).

I think you have good (un-risky) tenant (high credit score) with pretty high rent.

Nevertheless, if you choose a 4-plex, you will have a strong apartment building competition in Huntsville.

I was thinking about 4-plex but I can not afford higher risk than SFH since I live in Italy.

I left the US in the 2011. Up to now I had no problem with my rental house. I had 2 tenants and just 15 days of vacancy.

I bought the house on the regular market (no flipping) because as European I was not enough familiar with the US houses (wood instead of concrete) and the market.

I did not purchased another house in the US just because the EURO is weak.

I am the landlord.

The yearly rental contract expires on May and having an attractive backyard on May it could increase the chance of having better tenant.

Current tenant rented the house last May, at those time the shrubs were already overgrown so it could be unfair to request him to cut the shrubs.

So, I could make an heavy trimming now (winter) and request tenant to maintain the shrubs in a good shape.

Yes, I am the landlord.

The rental contract expires on May and I 'ld like to have an attractive back yard when the house will be on the market again.

I am not an gardening expert, but I think the best time for an heavy shrubs trimming is now (winter), then I could ask to tenant to keep them trimmed.

As far as I know, the landlord is responsible for shrubs trimming and trees pruning. I live oversea and I periodically ask to the property manager to take a picture of the yard for having an idea about the status of the yard.

Every time I ask him to take care of shrubs and trees, he ask me:

I will deduct the expenses from the rent, are you sure?

It looks that my request is unusual.

Do I have to take care of shrubs and trees?

I noticed the property manager company name is "NAME".Inc. I believe it is a corporation. I should not issue the 1099 to corporation.

For the same reason I do not need to send 1099 to Insurance "State Farm".

Is it correct?

My property manager issued me 1099s with gross income. He kept for himself the management fees which are greater than $600. Did I have to issue a 1099 form to my property manager for management fees?

I manage from Italy, since I left the US in May 2011. I feel more confident in renting a house in the US from 5000 miles rather than in here Italy. Furthermore having an asset in dollars it could be very helpful in case of Italy leaves the Euro.

I do not know if it was a matter of being lucky, but in 2.5 years I had 15 days of vacancy and I had only minor damages. My US house is a perfect tool for learning how to invest.