There are a lot of Canadian and international investors that have bought properties in the US since the downturn of 2007-2008. However, there is a lot of uneducated money buying up properties in “sexy” markets such as Florida, Phoenix, Las Vegas that are only buying in these areas based on the hope that the properties will appreciate and then they can sell for a profit. This was certainly the case in phoenix about 2 years ago and those that bought in saw over 30% in appreciation – however this is not something that you can count on, what the market will do and when is something that no one can know for certain. There are always the fundamentals that can be monitored such as job growth, transit projects, population changes but no one can know for sure when exactly the changes are going to start. In real estate the speculators are the first to go broke when the tides of the market change, having properties that cash flow very little or not at all hoping for the market to go up. There is a lot of money to be made in US real estate but you have to pick the right markets where you can get quality properties for a good price such as Atlanta, Texas, and Kansas just to name a few. These two markets have very strong economic fundamentals which is what you need to ensure your properties cash flow both now and in the future. Many Canadians are afraid to invest south of the border worrying about taxes and liability issues. I can tell you for sure that these two things are nowhere near as hard to compensate for as people think, but you do need to have a excellent team on the ground to help you invest from abroad. Properties in Calgary need a down payment of around 80-90K for investment property and in Houston Texas you can buy a whole house for cash for the same amount! Doesn’t that kind of perspective make you wonder what it could be like to invest in the US? In Houston you can buy tax lien properties for as little as 8000.00 and at that price the property would cash flow around 500-700/month there are not many places in Canada where you can get 1 unit to cash flow that well. There are places in Canada that make a lot more sense than Calgary and Vancouver for buy and hold – if you are looking in Canada places such as Ontario and Winnipeg and Saskatoon are worth a look for sure. I highly suggest that if you are afraid of investing in the US for whatever reason give us a call to answer all your questions about how you could get started and put those fears to rest!
To you success!
Tim R