New Zealand Real Estate Investors

[James Capovilla]

Hello!

Is there any Kiwi's that have been doing REI for quite awhile now and know the market relatively well?

I'm looking to purchase buy to lets with great cash flow and am looking for opinions on certain regions.

Any advice would be great.

Thanks!

[Dean Letfus]

@James Capovilla there is really no comparison James they are very different. I spent a year in Memphis and made a million dollars flipping houses so the market is fabulous. In terms of buy and hold you can definitely get better yields than NZ but you have to be pretty thick skinned as there are all sorts of problems in the US we don't get in NZ. Including tenants who destroy homes, property managers who are dishonest and rip you off for maintenance, extended vacancies, no capital growth, terrible insurance, the list goes on. But if you are careful you can get, in Memphis anyway a genuine 7 to 10% net return depending on area. The lower the yield the more likely you are to get growth.

It's only wort doing in my opinion if you can't afford to do anything in NZ.  And if you want ot do the USA you need to be committed to doing it seriously. Unti you have 10 to 15 homes it will drive you crazy with issues. Once you get your portfolio large enough to treat it like a business it can be pretty rewarding. But nothing like NZ in terms of low stress.