USA Property Investment

With any investment, managing your risk down as far as possible makes a massive difference to the growth potential.  This makes the correct Financial Structure for your investment imperative! Setting up the Limited Liability Company in the USA.  Registering the LLC and the members (individual shareholders of the LLC) for tax in the USA.  Opening bank accounts in the USA. Sending the money from South Africa to the USA.  This all needs to be done legally, correctly and quickly before a South African can safely purchase property in America.

In order for your property investment business to operate successfully in the USA, you will need to have a bank account opened in the name of the LLC and possibly bank accounts in your personal names too.  

This is one of the toughest hurdles to overcome, being based in South Africa.  It is extremely difficult to open a legitimate bank account in the USA without actually being present in the branch of the bank in the USA.  We have found a bank willing to work with us via mail, fax, phone and email in order to open accounts for our clients.  Terms and conditions apply and there is no guarantee that we will be able to do it for every client, as the criteria for opening the accounts are very strict.

We facilitate your Forex transfer by using a third party company, based here in South Africa, who are registered with the Financial Services Board, to handle the transfer of your capital from South Africa to the USA legally and efficiently.  They also give better rates than the banks and have no fees for certain size transactions.  They also help you obtain tax clearance certificates from the South African Revenue Services in order to facilitate the transfers.

The South African Reserve Bank has strict regulations regarding foreign investment and we make sure every transaction is carried out in strict adherence to the law.  

The Foreign Investment Allowance applies to all taxpayers over the age of 18 years old

We keep our fingers on the pulse of the property market in the USA and get notified extremely quickly when quality bank owned properties come on the market, but we also don't wait for them to land in our inbox.  We are constantly searching, digging, trawling and researching the internet for potential investment properties (of which there are many).  This gives us an edge that we transfer to you, our prepared clients, in order to take advantage of and make offers on these properties very quickly and move you closer to achieving your investment objectives.

We deal with experienced and trusted partners in the USA in handling short sales on our behalf (it's very tricky trying to negotiate a short sale!).  Bank-owned properties sometimes end up in a bidding war due to the amount of foreign investors in the USA buying up the quality properties.  Sometimes, the best deals are where all the other investors are not shopping, in other words, short sales! We have the right people in place, who have been handling short sales for over 20 years, working for us to get the best possible investment properties at the best prices.  

Foreclosures are also a great way to pick up bargains, and once again, this is an area that traditional investors are not exploiting due to the difficulty in bidding against the banks in the auction.  Our partners in the USA bid for properties on our behalf, and even though the quality deals are few and far between using this particular method, it is very rewarding when successful, especially in the higher end of the market.

What we do:

Part of our turn-key service to any property investor is the detailed analysis of every potential property.  We look at it as if it were us laying out our own money on the property.  We analyse everything about the property, from pricing, location and rental income to growth potential, refurbishments, property taxes and more.  We also have our realtors in the USA video and photograph each property that might interest our investors prior to making any offers (when possible - sometimes we need to move fast.  Then we make offers subject to inspection approval). 

But the key to the investment working for you is the money.  The growth rate.  The internal rate of return.  The calculations.  Whatever you want to call it, the analysis of the figures is of utmost importance.  We run the property through a software system designed by one of the most respected property investment educators in South Africa, namely Dr Hannes Dreyer's Property Pro software.  We issue a detailed report to show you exactly what your internal rate of return will be on your property investment.  It incorporates all 27 variables related to property investment and gives an accurate indication of what to expect from your property investment. 

If the figures don't add up, we don't do the deal!  It's really that simple.  

We do the calculations first and only if they make sense, do we go any further with the transaction.  

You will always be able to make a fully informed decision on your property investment.  

*Please bear in mind that we are not financial planners and will never give you advice on what to do with your money.  You are ultimately responsible for any decision you make with your money.  All we will do is analyse the figures and lay them out for you.  What you do with them is up to you.

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Once you have reviewed all the data related to the properties available and settle on which ones to make offers on, we manage that entire process.  Communication will be handled through us with all parties concerned.  Yourself, the realtor, the title company, the attorneys, the managing agents and anyone else involved in the sale will be coordinated by us to ensure a smooth and transparent sale occurs. 

Depending on the type of sale transaction (REO, short sale, foreclosure or standard vendor sale), it can take anywhere between 10 days and 90-120 days to complete a transaction and take transfer of a property.  We will notify you of the potential time constraints in each type of sale prior to you making an offer, so you will always know what to expect with any particular purchase.  

We will strive to maintain clear communication channels at all times, as any lapse in communication can sometimes tear a deal apart.  This is another reason to let us manage this process, as each step is recorded and stored for your records.

With any investment, unless you regularly analyse the performance, how will you know if you are moving towards your goals (making money) or not?  This is even more important when it comes to offshore property investments!

Firstly, we appoint a quality property management company to source and place tenants in the property.  This is what creates the income, so it needs to be researched, qualified and executed with intense due diligence. 

You need be aware of what is happening with the property.  Was the rent paid? What's happening in the complex/neighbourhood? Were other similar properties sold in the immediate area? If so, for how much? Are the tenants happy? Thousands of questions that affect your ROI, and we compile a monthly brief to cover the major ones, as well as a yearly detailed report to measure the investment performance accurately.

We also make sure the bookkeeping is kept tidy and tax returns are filed timeously. 

This is all part of the service we offer to make sure you sleep soundly, knowing that your investment is working for you and you have trusted people in place to let you know how well or how badly it is doing.  

These metrics are vital to being in control of your wealth building exercises, because they give you the power to take action if any particular area needs attention.  If the investment is not performing, you can do something about it but you need to keep accurate record of where the investment started along with it's continual performance over time in order to know if it's actually working or not.  Gut feel has no place in property investment.

Solid fundamentals backed by quality data and measured continually put the power of your investment future in your hands.