So I'm in a pickle.
After recently travelling to the USA from Australia for 6 weeks.(I'd lived in the USA for college at Indiana University for quite some time), I learned about how dirt cheap property prices have become over there in some states and cities in recent years.
I mean I'd heard things are bad, but had no idea just how bad the market had gotten in places like Vegas and Florida.
Questions for finance/ real estate savvy C's fans...
1) do you think that the property market in these places has hit rock bottom or is the struggling US dollar (and probable continual struggle) going to mean it gets even cheaper to buy homes there?
2) what are rental markets like in places like this?
I've searched for rental properties and it seems that the average asking rental prices easily cover mortgage repayments- the question being: Is anyone actually renting these houses?
3) What are the best places in the USA to invest in real estate for rental returns and capital growth?
I've stumbled across a significant amount of cash and I'm thinking about gambling on some places over there, but I've only just started the research.
There seem to be a lot intelligent posters here and surely there would be a few people with a real estate knack that could offer advice... anything would be appreciated.
Are you planning on still living in Australia or are you planning on moving to the US? If staying in Australia, how often would you plan on coming to the US? Were you planning on only buying one house, or multiple houses, or maybe multi-family houses or a small apartment building(s)?
When I read your post, the first thing I thought was you’d still live in Australia, which would lead me to wonder how you’d manage any property you bought, so that’s why I asked those questions (which will lead to more questions like: what’s your plan to manage the property, will you hire someone, do you have a local friend/business partner?). I would think if you live in Australia you’d have to have someone in the US to manage the property, hiring someone makes sense for multiple properties or apartment buildings, probably wouldn’t make financial sense for one house.
So I know your still thinking out the whole idea, but I was wondering if you had any kind of plan yet (even if it’s vague). Ideally what would you like to do? Like buy one single family residence for X, (looking to fix up, and would you pay someone or do it yourself, or not fix it up at all?), get a mortgage for Y, put a “for rent” ad on Craigslist, charge Z for rent, etc.