All Forum Posts by: Dean Letfus

Welcome to BP!! Are you looking to invest in NZ or the US @Leanne Webby

@steve, you a kiwi or just lived in NZ? 

In NZ and Oz a house has to have a stove and nobody wants somebody else's fridge. We find it incredibly weird that in the USA people want a fridge supplied. A stove is part of the kitchen so every house has one already. 

@Brenden Mitchum our market is so different it's hard to know where to start. The most important thing to know probably is that yields are VERY low and prices are VERY high and maintenance and rehabs costs 10 times what they do in the USA.  (Things like a roof are even worse. 4K in Memphis is 25K in New Zealand for the same size house!)

The upside is we have pretty much zero vacancy, very predictable growth and high demand. Plus houses pretty much never get trashed and our insurance is far better than the USA.  But it's impossible to realy explain how different it is in NZ to the USA. And you need decent advice these days to get around the ridiculous foreign investment legislation our loopy politicians introduced recently.

@Jack Manning, other than mortgagee sales listed in the Herald, trademe is your best source for deals.  Set up alerts to send you every "private sale" listing, every "deceased" listing etc. There is no secret sauce method, virtually every home for sale is on trademe.  Only other thing that can be a source is to befriend a PM or 2 they do have landlords getting ready to sell from time to time.

I think one of the biggest factors people ignore or underestimate is the cost of doing nothing. I see lots of people retire early only to take up hobbies or activities that drive them back to work.  So I think it's wise to have a plan that you can quantify.

I "retired" twice. Once in my 40s, then the gfc hit and we lost everything.  Now at 57 we are free again.  But our goal was to serve God in fiji so we know what that costs and mKes it easier to know when you have enough. I think many people on BP are still doing RE because it gets in your blood and they haven't invented a  cure yet! 

Well done man. You'll never look back and wish you'd delayed getting financially free. The "instant" generation is going to be the sad, poor, old generation in coming decades.  I have never understood why most people don't "get" the need to set themselves up for retirement without relying on a government.  To me that is like letting your 3 year old do all the maintenance on your car, NOT GOING TO END WELL!

I've known Curt and Craig for years. They are great people, you won't go wrong with them.

@Mike Lambert
"The difference between us is that he thinks that the "risk" is more to the upside while I think the risk is more to the downside. And, since I am risk averse, I prefer to stay away. By doing so, I realize that I might be missing an opportunity but I'm ok with that."

Completely agree with you there Mike.  And of course history is not always the best lens for the future. However int he GFC Auckland prices dropped less than 6% and that was the biggest fright we've had in decades. We have chronic shortage of supply which is ongoing due to our red tape in NZ. So whilst there is lots of hand wringing from poverty groups and the left, the erality is that our real estate has about 100 years of stable growth history and we don't have any issues that can really upset it other than global meltdown. I own property in NZ in several areas and even the no growth zones boom eventually and rents rise with monotonous regularity.
And @Steve K., our new laws are easily circumvented so foreign ownership is still well possible!

@Mike Lambert, so as you have never invested here and clearly don't know what you're talking about, we should take your advice.  Interesting behaviour. You would be hard pressed to find a better, more stable and safe market. Unlike your native Australia and the USA.  So it's your lose. Keep your 10 foot pole close by. I'd rather invest where my risk of loss is pretty much zero, my capital growth and rental growth are virtually guaranteed, there are no tenant issues and landlording is very passive.  You don't like all that positivity?, that's fine, but no point bagging a market you clearly know nothing about at all.  I know a  veterinerian but I don't coment on how to treat sick dogs......