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Australians are increasingly becoming interested in US property due to the opportunities that are currently available as a result of the recent global financial crisis. Current values of US properties are at historic lows, and as with all economic cycles, will recover with time. A recent programme on prime time TV here in Australia showed the bargain prices that could be had with US real estate and how Australians could get involved. Our website peaked after this programme; the website of the company that was actually advertised on the programme which was involved in buying US property for Aussies, actually crashed that night and the following day!
Australian property is expensive in most parts and continues to increase in value. Alongside this, our interest rates have increased twice in as many months and are forecasted to keep heading north. Ordinary Australians who can’t afford to buy Australian properties are looking elsewhere to create their property portfolios – and the US with its current economic climate is the perfect market to be placed for an eventual upswing. But it’s not just about capital appreciation. Being positively geared, where the rent is more than the mortgage repayments is also important for the foreign investor. To be able to sit back and not worry about their investment as it chips away and creates wealth is critical.
What we can offer you as a US real estate agent
Our website www.usrealestate.com.au has been created to provide a one stop info shop for investors looking to buy property in the US. We aim to connect Aussie buyers to US sellers via your listings. Unlike the few Australian companies operating in this area, we don’t charge a fee to the buyer for providing this service.
What we can offer you the agent, is guaranteed traffic to our optimally listed website for Australian based investors. By generating qualified leads we are providing an untapped market to display your listings to and the opportunity to broaden your client reach, enabling a greater opportunity for US property sales.
About us
Brad Greentree, partner of US Real Estate is a guru in Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) ensuring the site is highly ranked enabling Aussie investors to easily find our listings and keep traffic flowing to the site. Brad has had his own businesses for over 15 years, and has had great success due to his sales and business development skills.
Claudette Rechtorik, partner of US Real Estate has a strong interest in property investment and has several properties in her portfolio. Since her father Alex moved to the US some years ago and became a licensed real estate agent in California, she has acted on her intuition to fill a gap in a growing market. She aims to keep adding to her property portfolio by investing in US property.
Criteria for property listings on US Real Estate (Australia)
In order to ensure your properties meet our investors’ needs, and we protect our reputation for providing quality information we have created some criteria for listing property on www.usrealestate.com.au.
1. Properties must be able to be positively geared that is, rental income must be more than the mortgage & preferably management costs.
2. Properties must be accurately described. If the property is rundown it must be described as such. Remember, Australia is a long way from the US and our buyers will be relying on the property descriptions for their decision-making and number crunching to see if it is a viable investment for them.
3. Honesty is the ultimate policy. If we are able to provide accurate information and valuable investment opportunities we will all have repeat business through referrals and multiple purchases.
4. Property sales history must be included. This gives the foreign investor an idea of potential capital gain, an important factor when investing in an unfamiliar market.
Displaying your listings – what we need from you:
Following are what we require from you when you advertise your listings with us.
1. An agent profile will be created. Information about the agent including license number, plus a bio of not more than 100 words, and including a recent image will be placed on the website when you list your properties. We will also need all your contact details for our database.
2. We will create the listings on the site for you. With each listing at least one attractive image of the front of the property will be required along with multiple images of the rest of the property (limit of 10 images/property). Remember, people may be buying site unseen so the more visual information you can provide, the easier it will be for the investor to do their due diligence research.
3. Address information for our Google Map software.
4. The MLS listing if available. This will provide additional information about the listing.
5. Rental potential for the property based on comparable rents for similar properties in the area.
6. Other costs associated with the property such as property tax.
7. Information of whether repairs or renovations are required and the approximate costs to carry out this work.
8. Prior sale information of the property. For example if you have a listing for a property that is around $300,000 but last sold for $650,000, this gives a foreign investor an idea of potential appreciation based on what has occurred in the past.
9. Vacancy rates for the area. This is important information for foreign investors determining if the property is financially viable.
Our fees
As mentioned, we are interested in providing as many potential Australian (and other foreign) buyers as possible hence we do not charge fees to the buyer/investor.
The fees to take part in our advertising programme are as follows:
1. US $100 per month for up to 10 property listings (interchangeable)
2. US $500 per 6 months for up to 10 property listings (interchangeable)
3. US $1000 per year for up to 10 property listings (interchangeable)
4. US $1000 referral fee upon sale of the property from a client originating
If you refer our service to another agent and they choose us to display their listings we will give you one additional month FREE to display your listings.
To take part in our agent programme please select your payment option to make your payment. We will then contact you for the information listed above.
If you require further information on how we can help you please email us info@usrealestate.com.au.
US$100 per month for 10 listings
US$500 for 6 months 10 listings
US$1000 for 12 Month 10 listings
