Tips for buying an investment property?

Hello. I would like to buy an investment property. Either a cheap unit or cheap holiday house. Does anyone have any advice or words of wisdom?
Preferably answers from Australian people due to market knowledge of this area.

Thanks

Yeah, show up in the swimsuit you have on your icon when you show up to see a For Sale by Owner...then just sweet talk them into selling it to you cheap using your feminine wiles....

The old addage is true: location, location, location.

Try to find an area that is on the upswing. I have a coupls of houses and luckily bought 'em when prices first started to rise. It doubled in value in 7 years.

Here, the market is very soft, but I'm looking to buy something in this depressed market... Either that or Europe. You can hire a managment firm to handle the property - no one says you HAVE to buy local.

Real Estate is real estate anywhere in the world. If you buy an investment property, make sure you stay within your budget for fixing it up to sell. If you buy in a middle class neighborhood, make sure you don't invest so much money that you are outpricing yourself in that market. If you buy in a lower class neighborhood, fix up the essentials in the home, such as kitchen, baths, lighting, electrical, roof and heating system. If these are fixed up you will sell your home quickly, but keeping within your budget so you make a profit and you don't outprice your property for that area. I don't know if you get American TV in Australia, but there is a show on HGTV that is called "Flip that House", exactly what you are doing. Buying investment properties, fixing them up and selling them for a profit. A great teaching tool also.

Get information on the property liked who's owe it the previous the worth of it and if Internet ready look up what you want and get advice that you can trust about the property experts and properties free property organizations that may help you.

Make sure the numbers work (ie. more monthly income coming in than the monthly expenses).

Hope this helps...

Check out TaxSaleWealth
http://www.taxsalewealth.com

Buying an investment property is the same regardless of where you live. A good 'rule of thumb' as to what type of offer you make is:

1. Have the property/house appraised by professional.
2. Once the house has been appraised, MINUS 70% from that number
3. Take into consideration the need for any 'repairs' that you may need/want to get done.
4. MINUS the cost of REPAIRS from the 70% and there's your offer.

Example:
3-bedroom, 2-bathroom home at 1800 square feet is appraised at $350,000
MINUS 70% = $245,000
Home needs roughly $25,000 worth of repairs

$245,000
- $25,000
--------------
$220,000 = OFFER


Of course, if you want to then turn around and RESALE the property for an instant PROFIT, then MINUS from $220,000 anywhere from $5,000 - $10,000...Which would be how much YOU would make on the instant resale of said property.

Thus, making the final offer anywhere from $215,000 to $210,000

This may sound REALLY LOW compared to the APPRAISED VALUE, but the key is to find existing HOME OWNERS who are MOTIVATED TO MOVE RIGHT NOW for one reason or another! Get to know them, find out their 'wants/needs' and become personally responsible for helping them obtain those 'wants/needs' and you'll be surprised as to how many homeowners would take your offer.

You may THINK an offer is too low, but you won't know until you ASK!


On the other hand, if you want to BUY/HOLD said property, then you have to make sure that unless you're going to live in it yourself and make the mortgage payments, that you can rent it out for a price that gives you a PROFIT every month and not force you to dip into your own wallet t make-up the difference(s).




Hope this helps?


RME, Jr

I am a real estate investor and a mom.

1. Attend a real estate investor's club in your area for several months.

2. Network outside the meeting with people who seem to be "making it happen." There may be a smaller group who invest and/or share more detailed information.

3. Your first deals can be as a partner. You may use your time, effort, money, credit, or connections as your partnership "share." For instance, I find deals and pass the information on (bird dog) as one of the dozens of ways available to make money and be a partner.

4. Don't trust anyone else's numbers - check their work - even if you're related. You should always hire your own appraiser if you're basing your decision on someone else's. Check with 3 or more mortgage lenders and make the one you want to do business with match the best one.

5. Learn how options can help you be the one to find properties and then sell your option. This allows you to profit without taking out a mortgage.

Get as educated as you can. Feel free to contact me for more.

The simplest way to acquire a good investment property with very little effort is to meet fellow investors at your local investment club and let them know you're willing to take an assignment. They'll do all the hard work of finding the motivated vendor, negotiate with them, and contract the deal, then you simply pay them a fraction of the discount (usually about 10 to 12%). That's a great deal for you. Since they do all the work for the 10% fee and you keep 90% of the profit with little effort.