Residual Income

Wait until the market gets better. Commercial property is your best bet. Do not buy anything that has a large vacancy rate or extraordinary operating costs.

By aecfac on Feb 23, 2009

Donald Trump.

By hottotrot1_usa on Feb 23, 2009

Buy offshore / overseas property. America is dumbfounded by what’s happening on its own doorstep and who’s surprised?!! Lateral thinking and knowledgable property professionals can point you in the right direction. From my experience you’ll need cash to start of circa $150,000 to gain in excess of $75,000 per annum. (Obviously, there’s never a guarantee only past precedent.)

Please don’t be surprised if you can’t extract your annual income for up to 4 years however. That’s not to say you can’t but there are deals which will tie you down. It’s a set & forget situation. Equally, there’s no loan repayments during the 4 year period either. So, it’s typically upfront funding of circa $150K (secured by property - value assessed by bank) and a loan rate if you decide to hold beyond 4 years of circa 2.5%. (Yes, offshore financing can also prove a lot, lot cheaper than the US.)

A side benefit could also be of interest. When buying you’ll pay in a foreign currency. Let’s say British Pounds as an example. The exchange rate at the moment means for every UK Pound it’ll cost you 2 US Dollars. Circa 3 years ago, it would have cost you approx 70% less in Dollars than today. So, when you do come to sell, make sure the Dollar is back at full strength (or close enough) and you could double or more your return on investment. Foreign exchange can play a siginficant bonus to a making a deal at the right. Afterall, think about the same scenario in reverse?!! You could lose all your new found profits from overseas too. So, get good help buying, have a sound exit strategy ready and watch the currency exchange rates from time-to-time before making your decision to sell.

If you want info from my broker, drop me a line.

By PI on Feb 23, 2009