Australian investing in US properties
Investor · Gold Coast, Queensland · Member since 2015 · 4 posts · 2 votes
Hi,
My name is Armand and I live in Queensland. I am an Australian who currently buys US investment properties and am hoping to connect with like minded Aussies who are currently investing (or living) in US and/or looking to invest in US.
It would be good to connect or get to know you and network - as 2 or more minds are always better than one.
I've had pitfalls in learning how to invest in US along the way but have learnt a lot of things in the process and am always learning in the process. Happy to share my knowledge with you and learn from you.
Have a good day all and look forward to meet you.
Cheers,
Armand
Hi i am a fellow Aussie who is currently investing in the US and also have obtained finance in the US. It seems near impossible when you first start out, But don't give up it is worth it.
Do you need a LLC? - i would say this really depends on your financial situation and the tax benefits you are looking for, and how many properties you have. When we commenced our biggest concern was protecting our assets here in Australia I did not want to take the chance of loosing everything we had worked so hard for here so started with a LLC - which cost $550, all states are different so it will depend on where you are interested in buying property as to where the LLC is set up and you must have an agent in that state there are companies that do this or it could be the property manager. The state has to have a local person to contact if required, and any mail addressed to the LLC will also go to this address which then needs to be sent on to you.
Do you require a US bank account - Yes - you don't want to have to pay fees for transferring money all the time, once you have a few rental properties generating income, and bills to be paid it soon adds up and all your profits will disappear. Opening a bank account is not as easy as it once was but still can be done, the big banks such as Bank of America, Wells Fargo etc will want you to open an account in the LLC or C-Corp (business account) and a personal account (in your name) which will require a monthly balance to avoid fees just like here! the Personal account is to start a credit rating in the US. Another option is looking at the smaller banks in the state you are interested in buying they are easier to deal with for example: Enterprise Bank & Trust in Kansas. It can be done on line but if possible it is best to take a trip over there and check things out, face to face is always best.
Getting finance in the US is possible but the rates will be around 6 - 7% and until you have a few properties and a credit rating in the US you will be asked to put down a high deposit, my first was at 50% down, you will also need to work with a broker to achieve this.
It really comes down to your current situation and do you have the financial backing to get started, do you require the income now or are you planning for the future.
Always happy to chat have learnt a lot since starting, and still learning it is so different to here.
Cheers
Gaynor
Hi fellow Aussies,
Aussie investor living in Montréal, Canada here, which makes it much easier for me to invest in the US than for you guys.
If you can't do everything by yourselves, you have two other options that I can think of.
1. Buying from a turnkey company. I don't know about Morris invest but I can warmly recommend my friend Aaron Adams and his company Alpine Capital Solutions. They're simply fantastic and super honest and have investors from all over the world. Almost every month, they have an educational weekend in Indianapolis. They host you at their own cost, i.e. they pay for your hotel and some meals. You learn a lot and meet their team and visit typical properties. You can then invest with them but it's your choice there's no hard selling. If that's of interest to you, you can tell them I sent you and I'm sure they'll treat you like gold. Aaron would hate having any of his clients lose any money so he sort of discourages borrowing (this is something he and I disagree on) but you can leverage if you can get a loan.
2. There is a way you can get leverage without having access to bank loans yourself: participating as a passive investor in syndications. My business partner and I organize syndications. We buy apartment buildings. Investors are responsible for the downpayment. We do all the work and take the loan. We buy value add properties and increase their values and then we refinance a few years later and give investors their money back. But, since they own half of the building, they keep receiving half off the cash flows after they got their invested money back. This way, the investors get higher returns as they benefit from leverage but the beauty for them is that they're not responsible for the loan and on top of that they get their money back after just a few years (provided the the deal allows for that) and keep getting their share of the cash flow. Plenty of people do syndications in the US with US investors. Since some of my friends in Australia have expressed interest in investing, we will most likely have Australian investors.
Let me know if I can do anything else to help I can imagine how difficult it can be investing from that far!