Most laws in the Euro countries I know heavily favor the tenant to a point where it can seriously mess with your property.

I know basically nothing about RE investing. I don't have a fixed-location situation right now, so don't think that doing fixing up is realistic.

Any opinions/things I should be considering with buying a property in a country where the US dollar is currently very strong? Main two most interesting to me are France and South Africa.

As a foreigner, do I have a major disadvantage at finding good deals? Possibly legal issues wrt not being a resident (I do have EU res)?

Does this only make sense if I plan to rent them out or at least Airbnb them part of the time?

In general, I'm pretty happy with the idea of not owning property and being more flexible, so it will be easy to convince me if this is a bad idea.

I'm looking for some RE career advice and this seems like it may be the best place to get feedback from people familiar with the industry.

After several years playing poker, I'm looking for something new to transition into and real estate appears to be a good fit. However, I live in a very tough market to get started in (Vancouver), so I realize that I won't be able to hop right into REI.

Here's the path I'm considering, and I'm hoping that someone with experience can offer some insight and/or guidance: since I have a BA in an unrelated field and no relevant work experience, I'm thinking education is a good starting point. I've found a 2-year "Professional Real Estate" diploma program at a local technical school. My understanding is that this will prepare me for various entry level jobs in the industry. My long-term vision is to get some experience in the field and then transition into something more entrepreneurial like REI where I can deploy my capital to my advantage. Does this seem like a decent plan?

I'm concerned that the diploma may only offer me the opportunity to become a glorified Realtor (not an aspect of the industry that I'm particularly interested in, and I've discovered that the supply of realtors in my area far outweighs demand). I'm also somewhat concerned about a lack of entry level jobs, as technology continues to replace the need for various roles in the industry. But my hope is that there will always be plenty of jobs in this area due to it being a very active RE market.

Thoughts?

School seems like a waste of time and money. Head over to bigger pockets and creonline, you'll learn 10x as much in a fraction of the time.

I can see why you say that.. The main value that I believe an education will offer is helping me land a decent job in the industry. Without some kind of credential, I suspect it will be difficult to get my foot in the door anywhere respectable (especially with a lengthy resume gap). School should also help to build a healthy network, which is something I'm currently lacking.

completed that program from that school

it will prepare you to enter the industry. it should give you some insight as to what direction you want to go within the industry. it will also provide you with a lot of valuable tools in becoming an entrepreneur. graduates get industry jobs. this job market is filled with graduates of the program. the program is respected. the program connects you to the industry through projects. your professors will be known and respected in the industry and a great reference

i think its a great program and well worth the time/money

you will be with a diverse classroom. lots of people with resume gaps etc. also tons of good looking girls in marketing

its a really heavy work load though. many had a difficult time holding part time jobs etc. if you have credits or want to take some of the courses ahead of time you can lighten the work load but unfortunately it wont lower tuition

lots of group/project work so if you want to get ahead then its best to get something like accounting credits ahead of time. if i could do it over again i would have picked off a few boring and individual courses ahead of time like accounting. having the extra free time just seems worth it to me

you want to be involved in the group projects throughout. by the second year you will see the bad news bears teams forming and their work sucks and they fight all the time. top priority to anyone entering this program is be a good team member and find others that are similar. its actually crucial. being stuck working with the leftovers on massive term long projects is a nightmare. its not just quality of work, its also dealing with screw ups and dickheads. it happened to me once in the first year and year 2 was a complete 180 with great people to work with

lots of presentations and public speaking. very valuable tool irl and in group work. if you want to get ahead or think it might be a weakness then sign up for toastmasters or something like that ahead of time. everyone sucks at presentations at the beginning though

If investing a into only in REITs and stock market index funds and your main priority was to maximise expected returns and second priority to limit volatility:

Where would set the ideal ratio of holding stocks and REITs?

Where would you set the ideal ratio between a US REIT index fund and a global, non US REIT index fund?

IIRC the cap weight of foreign/domestic REIT space is 65%/35% respectively. I just rebalance to 50/50 for my REIT allocation, which is up to 8% of my portfolio as long as if I have enough cheap tax advantaged space for it.

In the first part of this he talks about buying a 100k property than refinance to have access to original 100k again to buy another profitable property that also generates posting monthly cash flow. I'm a total newbe could some explain to me like a 2 year old how you could make an original 100k work over and over again and how refinancing your original property would work? Maybe outline an hypothetical example step by step how this would work? I know this is a basic concept that I am not completely getting so thanks in advance to any replies.

You have $100k in cash. You buy a property for $70k cash. You spend $30k for repairs. Your property now has a value of $125k. Now you can finance the property. Get a loan for it, pull out $100k cash and repeat the process.

Okay that makes sense. To do this do you have the home appraised after improvements in order to get a loan for 80% of the the new improved value? Pulling out your 100k of a new appraisal of 125k? After doing this several times over and over again does it get to a point you can't take a loan out on the equity of your latest house you purchased because you have do many existing mortgages? If someone has a link that explains this process of using an original 100k nest egg to work repeatedly I would appreciate it. I understand all this is predicated on finding distressed properties that can be improved upon and that the money is made on finding those deals. This is very new to me so again thanks for any replies to my very basic understanding of RE.

You can have issues with too many mortgages. Some banks will allow you to have 4. Some banks will allow 10. Some other lenders will allow as many as you want, provided they have enough positive cashflow.

One of the most informative & helpful threads on 2p2

Hey guys, first post itt but i've been following for a while and it's been extremely helpful.

I'm about to pull the trigger on my first rental property. It's a 2br/2ba townhome in a lower income neighborhood with no hoa and right behind an elementary school.

The place is a cash only buy listed for $43,900 with an A+ renter paying $650/month that has been there for over a year and doesn't want to leave. I got the place down to $37,500 giving me a cap rate of ~12% after an estimated 45% for expenses. There's two others in the neighborhood that're very similar listed at 50k and 53k.

It seems to be in pretty descent shape with no repairs needed to be done as far as I know. I'll have it inspected this week.

Thoughts or any concerns that I may be missing? Sorta feel like i'm jumping right into this so any feedback helps.

Figure out why he's selling. Some things are impossible to avoid (rent roll fraud), but if he's got personal issues, is old and trying to divest a large portfolio, etc then you atleast have a somewhat sensible reason as to why he's selling for 26% less than the next cheapest listing. (Unless that is the going rate in your market, which would be.... unusual.)

Essentially you just want to understand what your counterparty is gaining from being able to sell to you at such a low price.

Congrats on finding a decent property.

Maybe you can help explain what a "Cash only" buy means. Is he saying he won't provide secondary financing or is totally unwilling to deal with a client with a bank? All loans are essentially cash for the seller, so I've never understood this terminology.

Usually "cash only" means that there are issues with the property that make it uninhabitable, so a bank won't finance it. For example, there are some places where a house is considered uninhabitable if it doesn't have an oven, finished flooring or a working A/C unit.

There may be people who don't want to wait the extra time it takes to deal with financing, but I think that is a small percentage of the cases

Thanks for the response Mihkel.
What is the best way to go about reaching out to the current owner? I asked my realtor and she says it is probably a group of investors that own multiple properties...

Fwiw I put a bid in for $35k and they countered quickly as $37,500, which is exactly what they bought it for.

What other factors would make the place uninhabitable? I've gone to look at it twice and seems to be in pretty descent shape as far as everything working, roof looks good, etc. Like I said though i'm not experienced and this is my first property so I could be totally missing something.

It's likely that the house doesn't meet the FHA minimum property standards. Could have foundation issues, plumbing ripped out, in a flood plane, really could be a hundred different reasons. Maybe the seller just doesn't want to deal with a financed buyer.

I'd contact the listing agent and ask. If you do put an offer make sure to read all disclosures and have an inspection contingency (allows you to back out if the inspector finds a major issue that you missed)

Lots of these syndicated out of town investors are the biggest dumbasses ever. They probably have no idea what they're doing and are divesting.

I would just tell her to find out. (Or look in property records at the courthouse, etc. Just basic stalking.)

Ya, your inspection should turn this up.

Fire your realtor if your contract doesn't include this and tell her boss mean things.

What does the phrase "something more entrepreneurial like REI "
mean?

If you are going to do REI in Vancouver it would help tremendously if you spoke fluent Mandarin.

Are all the Chinese buyers in Canada now from Mandarin speaking areas? Or whoever is representing them?

thoughts on crowd funding real estate investing?

Capital is everywhere right now, and cheap. I'd be highly skeptical.

Question;

Person A wants to buy a house with person B. They are approved for 500k loan. 20% down payment of 100k is put up in full by Person A. Does that person own a higher % of equity or anything? For example if A & B decide to sell in 5 years at 600k, is B obligated to give 100k to person A first or is it just in good faith that person B gives an extra 100k to A?