Posted on 10/29/2010 7:58:05 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
On a recent Wednesday night, my wife and I found ourselves in an otherwise empty Beale Street bar surrounded by a group of Australian men.
"You guys from here?" they asked cheerily. "You like the area? What do you do for work?"
Despite the boozy surroundings, what could have been mistaken for friendly banter was actually research. The Australians were on a real estate tour of American cities, sussing them out before pulling the trigger on the latest trend in this hard-hit sector: snapping up foreclosed homes, renovating them, then renting them out.
"America represents an opportunity, and Australians have just jumped all over it," said Andrew Allen, founder of My USA Property, who was leading the tour.
Allen's firm, which has an office in Orlando, Fla., brokers deals between Australians and real estate professionals in the United States.
The real estate pros who find the foreclosed homes also fix them up and then manage them as rentals. The Australians provide the capital and -- hopefully -- collect the profits.
The properties come delivered with a clear title and a building inspector's report. The firm has arranged nearly 300 deals in the last two years in 14 U.S. cities, mostly in the Southeast and Midwest.
Allen, an Australian himself, owns eight properties in the United States. He hopes to have 30 within the next five years.
"The beauty is, the U.S. economy will recover one day," he said. "You guys have hit a rough patch, but we know you'll be back with flying colors."
It's all about natural resources. It's not just the hurting American economy that makes these deals so sweet. It's largely the complex interplay of the global economy.
(Excerpt) Read more at money.cnn.com ...
Here’s the reason why the Aussies are doing what the Japanese were doing in the 1980’s in regards to American Real Estate :
* They are riding a commodity-driven export boom. China, workshop to the world, is gobbling up ever more metal and fossil fuel, much of which comes from Australia. Among Australia’s top commodity exports are coal, iron ore and gold ( We here on the other hand, are making it difficult to extract our own resources with too much environmental regulations).
* Unemployment in Australia is just 5.1%. Home prices, which did not fall, average $500,000.
* The Australian dollar is at near record highs, equal in value to its U.S. counterpart.
Riiiiiiiiight!
Funny so many people can afford to buy property in America. Accept Americans....
RE: clear title
Is there a final authority who guarantees this ?
My point exactly.
They buy our land today, and soon they will make us all drink Fosters!
The title insurer.
Good for the Aussies. Hope China doesn’t get the idea.
What’s the matter with Fosters?
Title insurance is needed.
Then you are protected.
I like Aussies. Even when they’re drunk.
I knew you were probably just giving them a nudge.
Again.....Riiiiight.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/22/AR2010102206757.html
ICBW, but even with title “insurance”, the cost of renovation would not be covered.
I like Aussies. Even when they're sober.
Title insurance.
That is smart of the title insurance companies. I wouldn’t touch a foreclosure or a short sale if someone paid me to take it.
We’ll if it had a year round spring 40 acres and a nice 2,100 sq ft cabin, I might be persuaded if they paid me enough.
I'm thinkin' that this goes beyond short sales and foreclosures. After all, I'm sure it wasn't just the mortgages that have gone south that were put through the meat grinder that securitization became. Those are just the ones we are hearing about at the moment. IMO, once existing home sales pick up, there's gonna be a wholebunchalotta weeping and gnashing of teeth.
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