archived blog posts (2022-below)

The Strategy for Success – Selecting the Right U.S. Investment Property to Match Your Strategy

An excellent investment portfolio strategy helps you stay on track and work to achieve your financial goals. When you choose to invest in property, particularly in the U.S. as a foreign investor, you will need a well-considered strategy to implement. You want your property investment to be a success, so you need to know your investment strategy before you purchase a property.

 

Your strategy will change depending on your financial goals, current finances, and what you need to achieve from your property investment. When investing in the U.S., you’ll buy a property that matches your strategy. Suppose you need a regular income from a residential rental property in the U.S. In that case, there is little point in purchasing a property that needs extensive renovation before getting a tenant.

 

When comparing properties to buy within your budget, the final decision should align closely with your investment strategy. If you have a property coach, the coach can help you to ensure that your system or plan for investment will meet your financial needs and goals and that the property you select will successfully align with your strategy.

 

How to Start with a Successful Strategy

Investing in U.S. residential property is a great way to make money, but knowing which property you should buy can take time and effort. A successful investment strategy will start by considering what you need to achieve. Your plan will consider your finances, how much you can spend on a property and associated expenses, and when you need a cash injection to meet a long-term financial goal.

 

Do you want a fast profit, buying and selling a property within a few months? Alternatively, do you need a steady and regular income from your property investment? Does your strategy mean you want payments for a few years and then plan to sell when the property value increases in five years? Are you investing in U.S. property to create a deposit for a property in Australia or New Zealand in the future?

 

If you answer the above questions, you’ll know your financial goals – or what you want to achieve from your investment strategy. After setting your financial goals, you will need to define what sort of property will help you to meet these goals.

 

As a new investor, it can be challenging to know all the intricacies of investing in a property, especially when the property is overseas. Accessing local experts and people with the right experience can help you ensure your investment strategy will succeed. A good property coach or a mentor with experience and knowledge of the current U.S. residential property market can help you finalise your process.

 

Matching Your Strategy to a Property

Once you have a strategy to reach your financial goals through property investment, you’ll need to select the right property. There is little point in buying a property with an established tenant happily paying rent regularly if your strategy is buying a property that you can flip within a couple of months.

 

If you want to flip a property, you want to buy a property in an area where the property is becoming more popular or demand is growing for properties in that area. You also want to consider a property with solid foundations, and a few renovations or cosmetic changes could dramatically increase the property value when you sell.

 

Alternatively, if your strategy is about gaining a rental return to increase your income, you would like to buy a property that does not need extensive (and expensive) renovations before getting a tenant to pay rent.

 

Knowing which areas in a city or country region are experiencing growth will affect where you purchase a property. According to your strategy, understanding how much profit is likely when you plan to sell the property will help you choose the right property for your needs. Local knowledge and expert understanding of how properties increase in value in different regions will enable you to be sure your U.S. property investment will be a success.

 

As a foreign investor, investing in U.S. property can be challenging, especially if you need more knowledge of geography, the current housing market, and where experts predict growth. If you connect with a property coach or access a mentor’s or training program’s expertise, you’ll have the advantage of accessing the local knowledge you need. You certainly want to avoid buying a property in a declining town, where shops are closing, and people are moving out of the region.

 

Steps to Buy Your Perfect U.S. Investment Property

 

You have your strategy for U.S. property investment. You know the property you are looking for and have obtained expert advice to locate the perfect property to meet your plan. All good, but how do you move from planning strategy to purchasing your property in the U.S.?

 

You will need to complete several steps before you can buy a property in the U.S.

 

Step 1 – Limit Liability

Creating an LLC (Limited Liability Company) will provide you with asset protection and structure that ensures you can create wealth.

 

Step 2 – Obtain the EIN

You will need an Employer Identification Number to pay people for work completed in the U.S.

 

Step 3 – Set up Insurance

You will need property insurance in the U.S. to protect the properties you purchase. While you may need to finalise the individual property insurance once you have the property address and the sale is complete, researching the company and property insurance you need will help protect your wealth creation business early on.

 

Step 4 – Review Your Taxation

When investing in a foreign country, you will need to know the taxation rules for both countries, so talking to experts in foreign investment taxation can help you with your tax situation.

 

Step 5 – Decide on Foreign Exchange

You will need to use a reputable exchange service or system to exchange your AUD or NZD for USD and vice versa. Minimising charges on the transfer of funds will help reduce your investment costs.

 

Step 6 – Source Property that Matches Your Strategy

After completing the setup, you can now source the property that matches your investment strategy, considering how much money you can spend and the properties that will meet your financial goals.

 

Step 7 – Select the Property 

Once you select the property you wish to purchase, you’ll need to deposit.

 

Step 8 – Perform Due Diligence

When purchasing any property, you must ensure the building is sound and that no pests like termites are invading the property and eating your profits. You need to know that the person selling the property has the legal right to do so, and you won’t become responsible for debts on the property.

 

If planning a renovation or works on the property, you will want to ensure you do due diligence on any tradespeople or companies who will work on your property. Due diligence includes a title search, property inspections and reports, and rental reports on the property.

 

Step 9 – Finalise the Sale

You can finalise the sale and close the deal if everything checks out in the due diligence phase.

 

Step 10 – Connect with a Property Manager

Your property manager will help you to manage tenants and all maintenance requirements. You will need to trust your property manager to manage your property.

 

Step 11 – Obtain Insurance

At this point, you’ll need to obtain property insurance to protect your investment from damage.

 

Step 12 – Source Tenant

You will need to attract the right tenants, including considering the capacity and ability to pay rent and people who will not damage your investment property.

 

Knowing whom to trust and who will protect your investment property can be challenging, primarily when you invest in a different country where you cannot simply walk past the property to see the condition.

 

Your investment strategy will be successful if you can access the correct information and local property knowledge. Access to a suitable property coach, who has become an expert in U.S. property investment, will help you tremendously.

 

Star Dynamic knows the U.S. property market and can help you to set and achieve a successful investment strategy that will suit your circumstances and financial goals. Reach out to us today to discuss how we can help you.

 

2022 – A Year in Review

Christmas might be just around the corner, but not sure what happened to summer?! This year could be the first year in Australia, we experience a ‘white Christmas’ with snow falls on Mt Buller a mere 40-50 kms from here just this week… crazy!

With the year coming to an end, it’s a great time for the Christmas parties to celebrate and reflect on the year that was, and while I am not into ‘New Years Resolutions’ it is a perfect time to sit down and plan out the year to come.

So, in that vein, with just 2 newsletters to go before Christmas, I thought I would do a ‘Year in Review’ and then next week, look out for our 2023 Outlook.

2022 – A Year in Review

If there was one word to sum up 2022 it would have to be – volatility.

From very strong growth coming out of ’21, through to rising interest rates and slowing markets in the back half of the year, it was certainly hard to predict what was coming next. Crypto crashing, stock market volatility, exchange rates wildly swinging, it was certainly an unsettled period in most markets.

Inflation has the be one of the key drivers for the year. After the wind back of the quantitative easing policies of most western governments (read money printing) one inevitable outcome was going to be inflation. Now strangely enough, it was not as much about demand driven inflation (higher prices caused by high demand for items) but more about supply chain shortages and simply manufacturers not being able to keen up with the normal demand level. Primarily though, still a hangover of the pandemic issues.

Then, to try and curb the huge inflation rises seen in the economies, the central banks started on one of the most aggressive interest rate strategies that we have seen in recent times, both here in AU and in the U.S. Four consecutive three-quarter-point rises in the U.S. (7 in total for the year) was capped off by a 0.5% rise this month (December) bringing their central cash rate to around 4.25% now at the end of 2022. Here in Oz, the RBA didn’t want to miss out on all the fun either and moved into a period of 8 consecutive interest rate hikes for 2022 – from 0.1% in April to 3.1% now in December.

Wow…

It’s no wonder why some investors just didn’t know which way to turn. Careful property investors here in Australia who managed to secure a positively yielding property, are now seeing negative yields; crypto investors seeing their net worth plummet; stocks and shares are more of a roller coaster than an investment…

All very unsettling.

And that’s before we even mention floods in Australia; our third consecutive La Nina event causing weather havoc all down the eastern seaboard; war in northern Europe – it just didn’t stop.

Certainly cannot blame people for limping across the finish line of the year, collapsing into the chair of NYE with beer or wine in hand, hoping that 2023 will bring normality or stability…

And while I am not trying to paint a negative picture of the year that was, just stating facts, it has also been a year of opportunity. I believe what we have seen is just the markets trying to get back to some form of normality, after being twisted out of shape by the government responses to a global pandemic, and in trying to get back to ‘normal’ we have seen some wild swings along the way.

For those investors that held on through the bull ride, there have been some amazing opportunities this year and within volatility there is always opportunity. As a good currency or stock market trader will tell you, the volatility in a market (or measure of how wildly prices go up and down) is often seen as a good thing and can give the best opportunity for profit, much more so than stable, flat markets.

I think the adage of the year (maybe the past few) is – “That which does not kill you makes you stronger.”

While not an easy year for investors, certainly an opportunistic one if you were willing to brave the waves.

Next week, lets take a look at 2023 and see what might be to come, and how best to tackle our next 12 months.

What are the Benefits of Having a Property Coach?

Have you ever invested in U.S. property? Do you know the risks you take when you invest in property, whether here or in the U.S.? The benefits of investing in U.S. residential property can be impressive, but there are always risks involved when you invest in any property. A property coach gives you access to information and mentoring that gives you the confidence to know that you have made wise investment choices.

 

Have you heard of a life coach or a business coach? A life coach can help you make wise personal decisions – choosing the career, relationships, and lifestyle choices that will make you happy, healthy, and comfortable. A business coach will mentor you through the business and help you to make decisions to progress your business and achieve your goals.

 

A property coach is similar; they will mentor you, allow you to access information, and help you to make wise decisions to meet your property investment goals.

 

People can make successful decisions in property investment without a property coach. Still, those who access the expertise and advice from a qualified property coach often make more from their first investments and will cause fewer costly mistakes.

 

What is a property coach?

A property coach will help you to achieve your goals through property investment. Offering mentorship and advice that comes from having many years of experience in the U.S. property investment market, a good property coach will ensure you are successful in achieving your investment goals.

 

A property coach offers the expertise and guidance to help you successfully navigate the minefield that is property investment, significantly when investing in a foreign country. It would help if you had a coach you could trust because your investment is essential to your life – providing a rental income stream and profit when you sell the property.

 

Since you are investing from Australia or New Zealand, you’ll want to access a U.S.-based property coach who understands the market. You’ll also need someone who knows the procedures you must go through to invest in a foreign country and can explain any questions about your investment.

 

A property coach should provide the following services:

  • Teaching you negotiation skills and sales strategies so that you can successfully apply these skills in future transactions.
  • Regularly update their clients on the state of their investment and advise on the best time to sell the property.
  • Enabling their clients to access the experts in the U.S. and providing the necessary ‘middle-man’ between Australian or New Zealand investors and the people who will work on the property sale and investment procedures.
  • Providing appropriate workshops or other training sessions to give you updates on the U.S. property market and access to information and skills so you can continue making wise investments.
  • Providing a support network of experts and people you can trust to help you with all your property investment questions, concerns, and risk management needs.

 

What are the Benefits of Having a Property Coach?

Whatever you do in life, you want to do it well. There are many benefits to having a property coach, including access to experience, knowledge, risk management strategies, strategic planning, processes that work, trusted people to work with and a reduction of risk.

 

In learning about the market, a good property coach will have the experience to save you time, energy, and money. Their expertise will help you to avoid the common mistakes that rookies make.

 

Knowledge is king, and the property coach who understands the U.S. market, how it works, and how it differs from the Australian and the Kiwi property markets will give you the confidence to make your investment.

 

A property coach focuses on their client’s success. You are hiring them to work for you, and they want you to succeed.

 

Experts in the industry know what they are doing and will have excellent processes and risk management strategies at their fingertips – methods that have been refined by years of experience – that they can share with you. Using these processes helps reduce your risks and take advantage of your property coach’s hard work.

 

A good property coach will have people they know and have worked with previously to renovate or flip property in the U.S. You’ll be able to use these connections to ensure the work gets finished quickly.

 

Signs You Need a Property Coach

Property coaches are for more than just those new to investing in property. Here are some signs that you might benefit from hiring a property coach.

 

  • Are you feeling anxious? Are you new to investing in the U.S. property market? Any new venture that involves your hard-earned money is daunting, so a property coach can help alleviate your concerns and give you confidence in learning about the new market.
  • Has growth slowed in your investments? Whether you are new to investing or a professional investor, if the development you were expecting is not coming to fruition, it could be time to invest in a property coach.
  • Are you looking to invest in a new region of the U.S.? Even if you have invested in the U.S. previously, a property coach can help you understand the intricacies of a new area or market.
  • Are you time-poor or struggling to juggle all the communication across time zones between Australia, New Zealand, and the U.S.? A property coach can become your intermediary and communicate with tradespeople quickly, saving you time.
  • Do you struggle with accountability? A property coach can help you to take responsibility for your decisions while guiding you in the right direction.

 

Where to now?

After reading this article, you could further explore the benefits of hiring an expert in the U.S. residential property market to coach your property investments.  You won’t necessarily fail without a property coach, but the benefits of a coach can save you time, money, and energy in achieving your property investment goals.

 

If you are ready to take charge of your finances through residential property investment in the U.S. with the right coaching and guidance, check out our Global Investment Coaching Program to achieve your property goals today. You’ll get full coaching and support from a U.S. property coach, including weekly one-on-one calls with your property coach and strategy sessions to build your investment strategy. With the right help, you’ll have the mindset to succeed as a property investor in the U.S.

 

Our STARR Methodology is Your Key to Investing in the U.S. Residential Property Market

You’ve read some information online and decided that investing in the U.S. residential property market makes sense. The trouble is that you are just not sure how to go about getting started. You want to invest, but it can be hard to know what a good investment is and how to ensure you are doing the right thing with your hard-earned money. That’s why treating your investment as a business is an intelligent decision. A company, even a sole trader, will have a team working with them: accountants, experts in marketing, and financial gurus. A good businessperson knows when to ask for help and knows when to trust an expert in the field. A sound methodology is key to running a successful business because it covers the how-to, giving you steps to follow to make your business successful. Similarly, the STARR methodology gives you all the correct measures to ensure your investment in U.S. property makes money.

 

STARR stands for Strategy, Team, Acquisition, Renovate and Realisation. When you have all these things in place, your investment in U.S. property will be a success, and you will realise the profits. While there is a risk in any investment, a sensible investor minimises the risks using a sound and tested methodology when investing in something for the first time. Why make mistakes you could avoid by downloading and using the STARR methodology to help you with your investment?

 

Without taking the right advice or using a sound methodology to choose the right investment property for your portfolio, you could make an expensive mistake, buying a property that won’t provide the turnover or profits you expected. Avoid making the usual rooky mistakes by taking advice from the experts at Star Dynamic. You can read more from Star Dynamic about investing in U.S. property here: https://www.stardynamic.com.au/how-to-invest-in-u-s-property/.

 

What is STARR, and why is it effective?

Let’s take each of the components of the STARR methodology and see why it works.

 

Strategy

No intelligent person invests their money without a strategy. This strategy will examine what you want to achieve and consider the best ways to acquire your financial goals. Investing in U.S. property makes sense because it is cheaper to buy property there than Australian property. Consider whether you invest for a rental income or will turn the property over quickly after making some renovations so that you achieve a fast profit. Planning your strategy here will ensure you buy the right property.

 

Team 

As mentioned above, even sole traders will have a team of experts working with them to achieve their business goals. Using the STARR methodology ensures you have the best team of experts in U.S. property investing behind you, giving you the guidance and advice you need. The team will take you through the steps a foreign investor needs to have sorted and provide advice on available properties that suit your strategy.

 

Acquisition

At this stage in the methodology, you acquire your investment property. The STARR methodology ensures you tick all the boxes when acquiring your property and will make the process as easy as possible, especially when you are unlikely to inspect the property you buy in person.

 

Renovate/ Rehab

At this point, you get in the local tradespeople to help you to renovate, update, or rehabilitate your property ready for rental or resale. Sometimes quite a simple investment in renovation can make a massive difference to a resale price. For example, spending $5000 on updating a kitchen or bathroom could add $20,000 to the property value, giving you higher profits if you sell and more rental income if you want a positive cash flow.

 

Realisation

Here you sell the property to realise the profits from your investment. The STARR methodology lets you know when it is the best time to sell and how to bring your financial goals to fruition.

 

The STARR methodology is effective because it offers an organised, focused vision, helping you to zone in on your financial goals and to get the team working to achieve them with you. STARR provides indicators so you know what success looks like, and you’ll know you are going in the right direction. It also outlines the threats and opportunities, giving you a chance to reduce risks and increase your profits.

 

Ways You Can Implement the STARR Methodology

 

1. Get in touch with experts in the U.S. Real estate agents and experts in the U.S. will be a valuable part of your investment team, as they are the ones who have a clear understanding of what is happening with the local property market. The input from U.S. experts will be helpful, even if you need to adjust some things as an Australian or Kiwi investor.

 

2. Consult with local investors who have successfully invested in the U.S. property market

An easy way to learn how to do anything is to talk to those who have already been successful. Finding investors to chat with could mean linking up on social media, such as Facebook groups. You can also connect with experts in the industry who work with clients like yourself to grow their finances through U.S. property investments. From people who have already invested in the U.S. property market, you can learn how to do the same successfully.

 

3. Hire a property coach

A property coach who works between the two markets will be in the best position to help you to understand the differences between the U.S. and the Australian or New Zealand property market. Your property coach can give you comprehensive advice and will be able to carry out some of the complex tasks you can face as a foreign investor. Like Star Dynamic, a property coach will have the right system, a strategy they know works, and experience in the field to help you realise your investment potential in the U.S. residential property market.

 

Investing in property in the U.S. makes sense because it is easier to buy into the property market there, and you can realise your financial goals sooner by renovating and flipping a property. You do need to know what you are doing or use a comprehensive methodology that works to avoid buying a dud property or losing your hard-earned investment money.

 

If you are ready to take that first step and learn about all the ins and outs of investing in the U.S. as an Aussie or Kiwi, have a look at our Fix and Flip Academy here.

 

Why Investing in U.S. Property Makes Sense (and Dollars too)

Are you looking for a way to make money and get your income working for you? You work hard to earn an income, and you’ve been saving to get a deposit for a house, but buying property in Australia or New Zealand seems so hard these days. Have you considered the benefits of investing in property in the United States of America? There are many reasons why investing in U.S. property makes sense, and of course, dollars for your bank account. Here are just a few reasons to get you thinking.

 

  1. Stable Market

The U.S. property market is far more stable than the Australian market, as there is always a need for more housing. If you are concerned about the effect of interest rate spikes in Australia, borrowing from a U.S. lender will mean you avoid the changes in interest rates locally. The U.S. has many major large business hubs, giving stability to the economy. People in America are used to travelling from home in the suburbs to work, health care facilities, and educational facilities, with sound public transport systems, meaning that wherever you choose to buy a house in the U.S., it will be a good investment. Housing is always needed, and it is easy to lease the property.

 

  1. Exchange Rate

Currently, one U.S. dollar equals 1.58 Australian dollars and 1.76 New Zealand dollars. While the exchange rate means a higher cost in the initial purchase, when you sell the property in the U.S., you’ll receive far more when you convert it back to Australian or New Zealand dollars.

 

The exchange rate between AUD/NZD and USD will increase the profits when you sell U.S. property. For example: If you purchase a property worth USD$100,000  today, you’ll pay AUD$158,028 or NZD$176,521, cheap compared to here. However, if you sell the property in one year for $150,000 in U.S. dollars, you’ll receive AUD$236,950 or NZD$264,600. That’s a profit of AUD$78,922 or NZD$88,115 if the exchange rate stays at a similar rate.

 

Another benefit of the exchange rate is that your property rental income will give you more money when converted into your home currency. Monthly rental payment of USD$1500 equals approximately AUD$2378 or NZD$2659.

 

  1. Cheaper Buy-In Rate

Did you know that in some areas of the U.S., you can buy a three-bedroom house for less than $100,000 Australian Dollars? There are properties listed on real.estate.com.au for less than AUD$95,000 as on 14 October 2022. While there are other more expensive properties, the value for money for property size is often far cheaper than Australian property. This more affordable buy-in rate means you need a lower deposit saved, and you could be investing in U.S. property, earning rental income far quicker than waiting to buy a house in Australia or New Zealand. While there are other more expensive properties, you’ll find the buy-in rate relatively cheaper for the size of the property.

 

  1. Ability to Flip Property Quickly

You’ve probably seen television shows where Americans buy a property, make some simple and cost-effective cosmetic changes, and then quickly sell the property, making a considerable profit. Flipping a property can work for investors too. You can purchase an older property in a good location, and investing a few thousand dollars on top of the purchase price in renovations can increase the property value, allowing you to sell it faster.
This is exactly what we teach you in the Fix&Flip Academy!

 

Even if you don’t want to invest in renovations, you can flip a property quickly by changing how you market and list it for sale. Finding a cheap property, paying a local to make the necessary renovations, and flipping the property can increase your wealth, especially considering the favourable exchange rate between New Zealand, Australia, and the U.S.

 

Investing in U.S. property makes sense, but it is a big financial decision to make, and you will need to investigate more to ensure this is the right decision for you. One of the best things you can do now is to invest a short amount of time learning more about investing in U.S. property. Star Dynamic offers an online course for Australian and New Zealand investors to learn about the U.S. property market. The training provides all the details you’ll need to know, including tax requirements as a foreign investor. Click here to find out more.

 

You know you are ready to make your hard-earned money work harder for you. Investing in U.S. property makes genuine sense. You can invest in a stable market, take advantage of the exchange rate, and buy property cheaper and sooner than you could in Australia or New Zealand. The ability to flip property means you can turn over your investment sooner, making a genuine profit in a short period.