Success in the US property market - what are the important details?

Most investors, especially in the earlier days of their investment learning, will look at things such as location, rental return and say the economic views of the location such as employment rates, job prospects and the school district. In the Australian property market these are, but in our larger cities for example we don’t look at the economic views of the local area as deeply as you might say for an investment you will likely never see as is the case in the US property market. The same goes for things such as the local school district, it is not a major driver as is the case can be in the US and same for unemployment. We don’t typically research the unemployment in a suburb of a major city as we might do investing sight unseen.

Therefore, my advice is a lot of the information we read is in the details, but what details exactly are really important. I have found from my experience that the people you employ or work with on the ground in the US are for more important that the details you can source about the school district or economic conditions. Why is that? Well because of the distance, you will require the expertise of key people on the ground to assist you. Following on from this as long as you work with the investment boundaries that you set for yourself then the key contacts on the ground will work for you to ensure there is a solid investment. I spent many years building contacts on the ground initially to assist me with my own portfolio but now to assist others as well.

I have seen investors during my time make a fortune from areas you and I wouldn’t enter for safety reasons, but that does not mean it is going to work for a foreign investor because we require the skills of understanding that market and being able to manage the properties ourselves to make that work. Therefore, this is not a market that you should be focusing on or would you want to. Identify within yourself what market works best for you, understand what grade of market can work for you, for example can the team on the ground manage it for you and can you also be a part of the management team to build a portfolio that you desire.

In my view these are the important details because once you have identified the price point, market boundaries that you want to stay within and team to work with you on your investing adventure in America, then the important details have been covered.

About Mark Rooney

Mark first found out about the advantages in the U.S real estate market in February 2002, whilst on a business trip to Canada and the U.S.A. The initial contacts made were able to assist with learning and studying the market place and how an Australian can invest into the U.S market safely and also have assurance that a team there can protect the asset.

For the next 4 years Mark researched the U.S real estate market and looked for opportunities to build further relationships with people. Over the next few years Mark gained an understanding of the various cities and what investment outcomes they provided a foreign investor.

In 2009 Mark was asked to assist others with purchasing property in the U.S.A. This was the initial beginnings of Investinus Group, whose focus is ensuring that their clients have a safe and secure investment in U.S. real estate. 

The group aims to build strong relationships with their clients and the people who work with them, suppliers, property managers, attorneys, accountants and developers.