property-spruikers-flog-dubious-us-properties

[muppet]

http://www.smh.com.au/money/property-spruikers-flog-dubious-us-properties-20111202-1oaki.html

[Marc]

I think the extract below sums it up.

One of the key selling lines used by the spruikers is the rental potential of US properties but as The Economist pointed out, many of the hardest-hit housing markets have now become ghost neighbourhoods filled with dilapidated properties that often have been trashed by disgruntled former owners. Investors have bought what they were told were good rental properties, only to find themselves up for hefty costs just to make the house habitable. Others were in areas that, frankly, you'd be afraid to go to even in daylight. This was underlined in May when the Australian property developer, Greg McNicol, was killed by a tenant in Detroit following an argument about overdue rent.

The spruikers will always make money because there a lots of people out there that don't, won't or too lazy (or stupid) to do just a little bit of research. First and foremost research the people selling this crap especially if they have recently setup shop in another country because they have got themselves in trouble with the law in another.

[eri]

Greg McNicol

very sad

Greg McNicol was taking a break, but found himself in an argument with some female tenants he had evicted but who had not left. The argument became heated. They were outside on the footpath. Benton says he was telling them he wanted them to leave. They were calling him names, waving their arms.''He wasn't going to allow them to bully him,'' Benton says.Detroit police say one of the women then said ''call Daddy'' and only moments later a black Chevy Avalanche ute pulled up, a man jumped out and shot McNicol once from about five metres away, reportedly with a silver .357 Magnum. The bullet hit him in the groin. Family and neighbours now wonder whether it was supposed to be a warning shot in the leg rather than a fatal blow. The man got back in the ute and drove off.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/me...#ixzz1fYNSTh8v

apparently the shooter chose to shoot, kill and spend the rest of his life in jail rather than dip into his $1.5million lottery winnings to pay his daughters rent....

what law change can deal with such stupidity....

[Alex SC]

This is horrible to hear and should make foreign investors realize some of the cheap cash flow areas in the usa. There is a reason investors like myself in the USA stay away from these areas.

just my two cents


Alex

[speights boy]

Correct Alex, just as well Atlanta is so safe.

Here are the 11 most dangerous cities in terms of crime risk:

1. St. Louis	530
2. Atlanta	484
3. Birmingham Alabama (tie)	380
3. Orlando (tie)	380
5. Detroit	369
6. Memphis	361
7. Miami	346
8. Baltimore	339
9. Kansas City, Missouri	337
10. Minneapolis (tie)	331
10. Cleveland (tie)	331

[Alex SC]

being I was born in NYC these stats are a waste a time All cities have places in the USA where you don't go its just common sense .When you buy in war zones and think you can change what Americans failed out. The hood is the hood for a reason.We don't as most americans buy in the hood for a reason....

[speights boy]

Don't worry about moving to a crime ridden neighbourhood in Atlanta, the neighbourhood is moving to you.

[eri]

if all usa cities have these "war zones"

and i've played with pitbulls after wandering through atlanta's cabbage town by mistake about 1990...

of course local investors will keep the best deals for themselves and farm off the 2nd rate stuff to out of towners

who will pick over the remains and, for a fee, farm off the 3rd rate stuff to foreigners

who no one feels are deserved the rights of americans...

" For over half a century Cabbagetown remained home to a tight-knit, homogenous, and semi-isolated community of people whose lives were anchored by the mill, until it closed in 1977. Afterwards, the neighborhood went into a steep decline which didn't end until Atlanta's intownrenaissance of the mid-1990s."

[halfempty]

What's the difference between being stitched into dubious trash property deals by a spruiker and buying a good cashflow deal in a US city on strong fundamentals through an intermediary?

There must be a way for someone to market US deals and not come off like a rip off?

[NovInvestor]

The difference is YOU.

It's like dealing with all the property mentors in New Zealand.

90% of them are out there rip-off your money, only 10% really help out people.

It's the same with everything in life.

YOU need to know how to tell the difference. If YOU can't tell who is good and who is not, then better not give your hard-earned-after-tax-money to strangers...

[Bluekiwi]

I have looked at small towns in NZ, the far winterless (peopleless) north, australia and listened to Dean and Mathew talk about the states....,and yes even considred the endless wastes of west auckland.

In the end, if it aint 10 minutes drive from either my work or my home, I cant drive out there and kick the fence, or drive past and see how many car's are parked outside, then I dont want to know.

The benefit of knowing your area, being able to visit anytime you need to - and sort out any issue what so ever - is GOLD in my opinion.

[Marc]

The USA is in a bit of trouble - have you heard? So a bunch of people go there buy up shit properties that the banks don't even want to have on their books and sell them to you for a profit. Have you heard about QE3? If not then you don't know enough to buy a property in the USA - full stop.

Its not hard people! Search for the persons name that is selling the crap then read up on them. Are they legit? Have they left the country in a bit of a rush of late for an extended period of time? Are there Facebook fan pages devoted to skinning them alive if they are caught.

[PeterTach]

So Marc that your saying that all people who sell US properties to out of country purchasers are corrupt, and every property sold is trash that nobody else in their right mind would buy and all these people are being ripped off? What's being done about this? Where's the FMA on this issue? Has there been a case taken against these people? Are they all crap? Is anyone making any money from this? Apart from the Spruiker?

[speights boy]

Where's the FMA on this issue?

Ahhhh....in NZ ??

[Marc]

Hi Peter,

Sorry - looks liked I grouped everyone together on this one.

Let me re-phase - I personally would not buy a property in the USA right now if the property is either in a 'ghost town', in a state of foreclosure or in any state where the owner is in financial stress.

And yes I bet there are honest people selling this stuff and even then I would not touch it even if I was paid to own the property. USA right now is not a happy place and they will get worst just like the Eurozone. You just have to read a little bit about global finance to understand.

Apart from that - each to their own and sorry for the mass grouping of people and property.

Cheers