Hi everybody, My name is Anthony and I’m originally from the North of England, I’m 44 years of age and am now living and working in the land of smiles Phuket, Thailand, My background is sales/marketing/networking having worked internationally for large corporate and was working for the largest manufacturer in IT solutions in the UK.

I also have a portfolio of rentals in the UK and India but for the moment, the US is the most attractive market for me.My short-term objective is to build an income stream but the priority in the medium-to-long term is capital growth so I tend to buy good value but better quality units (not the bottom-end high income properties).

Forget about the renovation cost, but here in Houston with huge number of immigrates, labors are like half to 1/3 price.

Follow the trends folks...where do you think this is going to stop.We have 250,000 people immigrating into Canada every year.

We provide enhanced due-diligence services into companies, individuals and projects that are introduced to investors to ensure that they are aware of the pros and the cons with each and every potential opportunity.In the UK investors have the choice of either receiving "advised" or "un-advised" services - Is this possible for Canadian or US citizens to invest outside of their respective domicile without this type of assistance?

I agree that people that want change in Dodd Frank should state their case with reason and facts.Down payments for Home ownership in Canada is 10 percent or more, UK, New Zealand and Australia are all 10 per cent or more.I wish there were some kind of national underwriting supervised by the government the someone's ability to repay could be quantified, there are 800 pages and Dodd Frank just for the ability to repay rules.And seller financing could be done by homeowners without these Draconian penalties  of -36 months of payments plus -down payment plus lawyers fees plus -court costswhich is intimidating any home seller from looking up so if financing, including rrap estate agents.Seller carry backs with reasonable underwriting and no Draconian penalties should be allowed as an exception to Dodd Frank.

Are the majority of immigrants to Canada higher paid, or are there a lot of lower paid immigrants as well? 

For the locals and recent immigrants, there are some great opportunities to invest if you can study the fundamentals and ignore the emotional issues the region shares collectively.

It's where a large majority of immigrants first settle down in Chicago and has about a 50/50 mix of SFR/MFH .

btw:  perhaps the abbreviation is obvious to someone in HR(aka Human Resource dept) working with immigrant labor, but that's a small population.