Hi,
I'm currently in the US from Australia, investing in Real Estate. WE are fairly new with this and are learning lots along the way. I'm writing a blog about our investment travels, what we are learning, our success and pitfalls along the way if anyone is interested in learning with us
its at http://camakos.blogspot.com Hope it helps
Are you saying you did not invest in property in Australia before moving to the US? Or that you are learning the US market after gaining some prior experience in Australia?
No, we invested in Australia(a PPOR and investment property) but it was very minimal and some time ago.
We lived in the States before this trip over so felt comfortable in coming over to invest here. Not only that there is so much more opportunity here to find positive cash flowing properties. It's very difficult in Oz. Plus there is no stamp duty here in the US where in Oz its quite high, the costs for coming over to the US are less than what we would have paid for that.
Its been more challenging of course but we love a challenge!
Stamp duty is no fun. The UK has stamp duty. @ 500K Sterling the duty is 4% when you buy. Nothing when you sell. It is a big chunk of change in many deals.
Even leases of 30 years or more now have stamp duty attached.
Bulk purchases can be considered 1 transaction so they max out the stamp duty at the 4% level rather than having the stamp duty applied per property.
What part of the US are you investing in? What has been the biggest surprise?
We are in the process of closing on a property in Raleigh, North Carolina. This is where we used to live and so know the area really well.
We are now in San Antonio, Texas looking and then we move to Santa Fe, New Mexico. We have some friends there who are going to show us around there and Alburquque.
I'm not sure what the biggest surprise is, probably the low prices and what you can buy for your money. Property is so expensive in Australia so we are constantly stunned by what you can buy here, and so many are cashflowing really well.
We've just had a bit of trouble organising property management too, I guess its very easy and professional in Oz. One good thing at least!
Thanks for the update as to what is the most surprising. Like you I feel it is both fun and rather scary to learn a new market and a new country. What you do not know you do not know. Some days go better than others. Frustrations when you hit too many speed bumps :badwords:.
I took a look at your website. I put it on my list of sites to check so I can hear more about your travels and investments.
Good luck. Stay in touch. If you look at the UK market let me know as I am active there. London makes Oz look like a bargain.
Camkos- I look forward to hearing more as I have just returned from USA where I went to assist expats buying in australia but ended up researching manhatten market for australian buyers
Try investing in the UK Market. The prices are starting to bottom out and you should see prices start rising soon. Best time to buy property investment in UK because of the market bottoming out.