All Forum Posts by: Mike Lambert

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!

Hi Tatsiana, I will soon travel to the South of Portugal and Spain. I am going to organize syndications in North America and go buy distressed properties from the banks there. I might come across some interesting contacts for you, in which case I will let you know.

Some results are shocking, especially the AirBnb ones: a lousy return, that would be even lower than long term rentals, with much more work to do on the latter. Is this for real?

Hi Patrick,

I just sent you an email to ask for more information.

Mike

@Ryan Horne Let us know about the condos. I didn't know you could get a condo in a nice area for as low as 120 K. But even then, you might need a very high occupancy to get a return better than that of renting a cheap house in the burbs long term, having to spend more time and energy with more income uncertainty and the risk of having the city or building regulations turn against you. Also not sure you could make it cash flow positive if you're forced to go long term.

Great posts. Does the occupancy rate lead to a high enough income for the time and effort spent and compared to long term rentals? I guess Atlanta doesn't have too many tourists and they, along with people coming for conventions or business, would probably want to stay in a nicer  part of town?

@Mark J. Journal Square "rough around the hedges"? If it is, not for long with the huge residential and commercial developments planned!

Foreigners are not allowed to own Mexican property less than a certain distance from the coast, which is precisely generally want to own property. But it's possible through a trust indeed. When you invest in countries like Mexico you better know what you're doing.

@Brianne H. Sure I'll let you know. My purpose is to use my contacts and knowledge to give investors higher returns through my syndications than if they were investing themselves. So investors would get the work for them, with the knowledge that it's done properly.

There is a massive construction boom ongoing in Los Cabos at the moment and billions of dollars are being invested. The population is expected to almost triple by 2040. Going there in February and will see if there are opportunities for syndications there asI'm sure many investors will want to invest but don't have the knowledge or contacts necessary to invest and get financing there.

Is Savannah a good market for short term rentals?