Real Estate Topics Forum :: View topic - Buying Property in the USA, an outsiders view

SarahK · Guest

Buying Property in the USA, an outsiders view

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I participate in a property investors forum called PropertyTalk and this has thread has been started about buying investment properties in the USA.

http://www.propertytalk.co.nz/posts2113-highlight.html

I'm sure you realtors are aware of how they operate, compete with other agencies etc but I found it fascinating. What's with the realtors not replying to emails? Not wanting to deal with someone if they were talking to another realtor? This guy ended up buying a stack of property!

Of importance to webmasters:
* should forms be able to handle someone who chooses not to enter a SS#
* should forms be able to handle non-US phone numbers

Sarah
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chachi · Guest

Re: Buying Property in the USA, an outsiders view

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Sarah, that is a pretty funny read. I don't broker real estate deals anymore, but I can tell you that I probably would not have replied to this guy either. The chances that some guy in Australia is going to fly here to buy a bunch of $40k properties is about 1 in a billion. and, I don't think anyone is going to lose sleep if they "lose" a 40k deal....40k x 3% x split with the house = very very little....and the guy is in Australia....and he wants to buy "somewhere in the USA"....pretty funny if you think about it.
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SarahK · Guest

Re: Buying Property in the USA, an outsiders view

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Must admit the $40k thing was interesting. You can't even buy a shoebox apartment down here for that - let alone multi household properties.

But then, as I've been checking the sites I exchange links with I've been amazed at how cheap property is generally.

As for why he's gone to the States, we (NZ & Australia) get alot of info about US property from the Kiyosaki types and even Donny Osmond's nephew who was flogging something about paying someones rates for a couple of years and then seizing their property (nice, that). We get the One Minute Millionaire and suddenly property investing seems so much easier up your way, than down here.

Sarah

ResaleBroker · Guest

Re: Buying Property in the USA, an outsiders view

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Sarah,

I didn't make it past the third page. I couldn't take reading it because I've seen it so much before.

Personally, I would have walked this guy. In a nutshell, there are plenty of agents out there who are willing to work with inexperienced, therefore unrealistic, investors like this but I'm not one of them.
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Duncan Pollock · Guest

Re: Buying Property in the USA, an outsiders view

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Well Sarah, I enjoyed his story, not the least because he ended up buying stuff just over the (Niagara) river from my neck of the words. Moreover, he worked with a buyer agent (who certainly had her work cut out working for him!), but she did end up with a strings of deals and, by all accounts, never bothered to have him sign a Buyer Agency Agreement because, without doubt, she earned (and deserved!) his loyalty.
And I can't agree that he was an inexperienced or unrealistic buyer. Sure, he was interested in stealing something if he could, but he had clear cut objectives and managed to meet them well enough.
There is, as we all know, more than one way to make money in real estate, both as a buyer and as an agent. And I suppose the moral of the story is You Can Do It If You Want To.

Duncan
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fourthring · Guest

Re: Buying Property in the USA, an outsiders view

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Yeah it is definitely an interesting thread. $40k for a property is pretty low, although I have heard of such deals from a friend in Arkansas. It's funny because you can't even buy a small apartment (brand new) for that much in Beijing.
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quiggles · Guest

Re: Buying Property in the USA, an outsiders view

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Good day.

In case anyone was ever interested in doing biz with me or one of the few like me, I'd like to make a few comments. (I know a couple of guys coming over from Oz in the next few months, and of course I'll be back.)

The RE agents who didn't talk to me, or who wouldn't operate with me if someone else was too, didn't miss one deal, they missed 7. In 2 weeks, or actually 7 days. All small deals, true, but by the same token another agent had spent weeks selling a single property only to have it fall through at the last moment over a difference of (get this) $1500 on a $150,000 property. And it looks like her agency has decided to hire my property manager as well and buy his rent roll - so it's ongoing income for the agency.

I'm neither unrealistic (except that I exceeded my expectations spectacularly) nor inexperienced. I've been investing in Australia for years now and there are many more similarities than differences.

I wasn't asking agents to 'find me something in the US', I was asking them to respond on specific identfied properties that I'd found on Loopnet or through the MLS. Some agents wouldn't respond on properties that they themselves were advertising - and I had the cash and inclination to buy a larger property that yielded well for anywhere up to $350,000.

For each property I bought, I signed a buyer's agreement with my realtor (7 in all). I'm not sure if that's what Duncan meant. This was after I'd asked someone to act as a buyer's agent and he declined.

Sure, a lot of this was very unfamiliar territory for me (I'd like to see some of you guys do your job properly while getting used to new laws AND driving on the wrong side of the road ) but if you don't try, you lose. GROSS yields in Australia are hovering around 4% nationwide, interest rates are 7% - you do the math.

I only logged in here as someone pointed out to me that my adventures had travelled as far as I had, and I'm unlikely to return to the forum. If you wish to email me, however, that's fine - happy to talk as ever.

Cheers, and happy trails,

Quiggles

quiggles · Guest

Re: Buying Property in the USA, an outsiders view

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Since I am here, why not ask you guys a question (especially the ones who would have walked me)?

What I had: US$300,000 - 400,000 (exchange rates were a bit wild) CASH.
What I asked for: Financials on particular (specified) properties in the range $70,000 to $500,000, so that I could know whether to make an offer.
What I got: A full response from an RE agent who turned out also to be the vendor in Florida, and apart from that either nothing or a flat refusal to deal with me. Until my Buffalo realtor, god bless her, came through.

Question: What does it take to make a US realtor take someone seriously enough to respond.

One person wouldn't send me the financials until I'd signed the contract for sale. Since I needed to know the financials before I could agree a price, it was a stalemate. Others wouldn't take offers from me because I wasn't 'qualified' - I may have misinterpreted this, but since when does a cash offer need qualification??

The reason I ask is that RE Agents are the lifeblood of investors - they are not the enemy. The best deals satisfy everyone (within reason). So I need to know, what does it take to get an email response which doesn't read 'Not interested'.

BTW in Australia and NZ such a response would have had the realtor up before the Ethics Committee in a flash - they are bound to present ALL offers to the vendor. Not to imply that the same thing necessarily holds true here, but if it does...

CafeMonkey · Guest

Re: Buying Property in the USA, an outsiders view

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You have an interesting story quiggles.

I'm not an agent, so I can't answer your "agenty" questions, but I am an investor.

Quote:
One person wouldn't send me the financials until I'd signed the contract for sale. Since I needed to know the financials before I could agree a price, it was a stalemate.

The tradition for this type of situation is for the seller to provide "basic" financials. They give you rent amounts and expense amounts. You make an offer on those numbers, contingent on approval of the financials.

It's very common to have the contract signed, and while you are reviewing the numbers, find that the seller "fluffed" the numbers. Then you take this back to the table, and you renegotiate the price and terms.

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Others wouldn't take offers from me because I wasn't 'qualified' - I may have misinterpreted this, but since when does a cash offer need qualification

This is a point of discontent with me, as well. They want a piece of paper that says you have the money. That's all. So you can:

1. Get a prequalification letter from a lender.
2. Take them a bank statement showing the balance.

I don't like this either, but we are in a paper-shuffling society. Just show them your paper and they'll shut up.

I hope I helped, and if you have anything else, ask!

-Andy
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