Where to keep rental income / AFEX

[Peter F.]

Hi Guys,

I'm an Australian looking to get into buy and hold in the US market. How do people handle cash over in the states with bank accounts being so hard to get for foreigners? Should I bite the bullet and fly over just to open a bank account?

I've heard of others having trouble transferring funds out of their US bank accounts because they haven't set everything up properly and the bank wants them to come back into the branch to increase transfer limits, etc.

Has anyone had experience with https://afex.com/australia/

Apparently you can have your rent paid directly into the account, held in US dollars, can make payments out of the account and you only get hit with the spread on the foreign exchange when converting back into AUD. Sounds just like having a US bank without any fees, but based in Australia. Sounds too good to be true. Anyone have any experience?

Thanks.

Peter