Brits trying to cash in on US forclosures

This was on NBC and seams like a good move for a Brit. He took a bus tour to look at homes that are in forclosure.

The Orlando prospects included working-class people looking for a family home, speculators seeking a bargain investment and even a Brit trying to take advantage of the weak dollar. To avoid embarrassing owners, the bus stops only at empty homes.

"I thought it would be nice to have a look at some American houses all at once, see how the market works," said Geoff Lamont, a London tanker truck driver who was on vacation and dreams of moving to Florida with his wife.

"You see some nice, nice properties that are much cheaper than you can get in the U.K. It's been good. You can get a feel for how a place is," said Lamont, 50.

I think they should be completely forbidden from buying homes there.

The last thing any country needs is their greedy, buy-to-let absentee landlord mentality.

I made the mistake of visiting my estate agent's Web site. There were four pages of houses in my area for $65,000 (which is the bottom of their range). Lord knows what you could get at auction. I think my prospective MIL's beach hut went for more than that...

And I'm trying to sell an entry-level house here!

Hiya

Expat in Scotland - well, I'm guilty of your mentioned 'crime' ! - I'm actively searching for which state/city/area to buy maybe 1-3 properties to rent out. Whilst I can understand that sentiment, the positives outweigh the negatives - with the USA currency in the doldrums, the housing market at a low 'any' country in a similar position would benefit from outside/international investment to help bolster the economy and hopefully staving off a full blown recession. It's kinda a 'reverse' theory, those who find themselves in obvious difficulty in times like these will not 'spend' except on necessities, those who do have surplus, will spend and continue to spend (with caution of course unless you're ultra rich!) - it's that 'spending' which can help to stop a country going into full on recession, granted it may not be enough but it does help.

It's just the way things work - yes there is a 'moral' side to it, but I'm sure you'd rather have a strong or gaining economy rather than a stagnant one. I'd love to buy another place in the UK, but next to zero chance of that in this area, I could go to much cheaper areas of the UK, except finanically it wouldn't make sense with the rents achieveable - for me and many other investors - the USA is 1st choice for investing strategies. I'd dabble in stocks but I don't know enough about them, it's funny how no one complains about those investors who buy up huge amounts of shares etc compared to property... 

Stoatula - it's unfortunate that you along with many other sellers are in this scenario, I have a family member over in Cali who'se unable to even think of moving (possibly back to the UK) at all with the reduction in her house value - so looks like she's there for a few more years yet. It's a difficult choice, deciding if to hold on and hope for a upturn in values sooner rather than later or to cut losses and sell up now in order to progress with other aspects of life.  good luck which ever way you decide to go.

From a completely financial view - I see nothing wrong with the buy to let business model, it works and provides income and tax revenue for the economy. Renting is 'not' actually 'dead money' as has been traditionally perceived although certainly within the UK, still is deemed to be the case. Like any business, bad or rogue elements spoil it for the rest. Not all of us landlords are bad eggs!

Now back to searching realtor.com and the classifieds.. 

Cheers, DtM! West London & Slough UK!

Oh, I'm definitely selling, even though I'll take a bath on it. I've dragged my poor DF through eleven years of foot dragging. We got an unexpectedly good price for his house in London, so...you win some, you lose some.

My estate agent points out that the market really isn't as bad as the news reports make it sound. People are still buying and selling houses, just at a lesser rate. And the fact that nobody's selling who doesn't absolutely have to reduces supply in my favor.

Also, I'm sacrificing small animals on an altar in the basement, so there's that.

I think they should be completely forbidden from buying homes there.

The last thing any country needs is their greedy, buy-to-let absentee landlord mentality.

Actually, I think US can do with a dose of that. People seem to be forgetting how cruel capitalism is to economic stupidity and we need a reminder.

I think they should be completely forbidden from buying homes there.

The last thing any country needs is their greedy, buy-to-let absentee landlord mentality.

Spot on! The BTL people in the UK are carpet baggers for the most part (80/20 rule). No wonder there is now a program for renters to put their deposit in an escrow account (of such, non interest bearing but a good start if you need arbitration) because the LL's think its free money to never give back. That was my experience and others that I have known renting in the UK....no need for them here in the US!

We have been back in the states for four months and have a great LL (living out of state) who gave us almost two weeks of free rent, paid for the carpet cleaning (1600 sq feet) that I requested as a "nice to have", it wasn't a real need since my sister had previously lived here, it was in good order....and dryer repair a couple of months later without issue....wow, we never had a no-haggle issue back in the UK. Before we bought a house in the England we had a LL that almost gave me a heart attack, (after several issues...no kidding). We now feel so lucky in the states with a great LL that will tend to issues and even gave us a six month lease (rare over here)....because we wanted to buy as soon as we were set up.  Its heaven compared to our UK LL.

UK BTL'ers.....please stay away. American's won't put up it! 

UK BTL'ers.....please stay away. American's won't put up it! 

blah! can you please lend me the £350,000 i need for a mid range 3 bedroom house I'd like for my potential family to be in please?!!!  no? thought not! So, to help me achieve what I'd like, I'm searching out and evaluating options to help me do that and would you adam n eve it! I can acheive it by BTL in the US!!!  yes, that looks very feasible right now, market is down and currency/dollar is down - yes, I think the US economy could use investment right now and oh look, I can move ahead with what I'd like to acheive!

Guess what I'm doing! ..   

Cheers! DtM! West London & Slough in too effing expensive UK!

I so wish we were in the position of moving to Houston now. I could get a beautiful house of my dreams.....

Guess what I'm doing! ..   

Cheers! DtM! West London & Slough in too effing expensive UK!

Hi Dennis, I know that you are a nice guy.....have always enjoyed your posts!   

I also remember a few of us setting you straight after someone damaged the window at your rental property (remember that.....we gave you a hard time and you finally gave in to not having your renter pay for it all).  They shouldn't have paid for the vandalism. 

Interesting note, after my post last night....this morning I received an email from our LL saying that he would be in town today and wanted to know if we needed any repairs.... Wow, we are still a bit shocked that a LL is being proactive. He said that he was going to replace the trash bins while he was here....

I love it....its a two way street, we look after the property and he is so good at making sure we are ok. Happy tentant....happy LL.....perfect! 

I so wish we were in the position of moving to Houston now. I could get a beautiful house of my dreams.....

Hi MeShell, I know from reading the theads that you guys are planning to move back in the next few years....no doubt that you will find a great house in Houston! Don't forget the great exchange rate which will be a big advantage

On another note - Congrats on the weight loss...you look fab! 

Hi Jules,

Yep, I remember that incident - I was just as miffed about it as my tenant was and of course it was before I had time to read the rules and tenancy agreement etc etc. Once I knew it was down to me, in went a new window the day after!

For me and many others - value for money in the UK is very very poor when it comes to major elements of life, including property. I'd really like to be in a position where I can get a nice house, big enough for having a missus and a couple of kids negating the need to keep on upgrading and moving every few years in the UK - simple reality is, it'll probably never be like that - so I'm looking elsewhere to 'help' me get that. It just so happens that BTL in other countries is a good way of doing that and the benefits of doing so outweigh the negatives.

It's natural to think if the economy is possibly going into recession that I should 'sit on what I have, save and not spend until things are better' kinda attitude - and 'most' people fall into this catagory. However, for those of us who did that while the economy is booming, it makes perfect time to 'spend' as a better 'deal' and thus 'value for money' is acheived. I'm happy to be in that situation to a certain extent - I can maybe go for 1 or 2 properties abroad (USA and or Canada). Other's I know of are the ones who 'just picked up 17 USA homes last month' !! - surely, by BTL landlords having places readily available for rental for those who unfortunatley are losing their homes is a good thing? they get options to at least have somehwere to live, the local economy benefits as they will need to use local facilities the greater economy benefits as a whole - over here, I can get an income or rental yield much better than anything here, I can then contribute to the same economies here as well...  positives all round !

I agree, careful management is required - but thats true of a rental be it 2 miles away like the one I have here or halfway round the planet - over profiteering isnt good, but a healthy return is - that's what I want to do and sounds like what you have in your new landlord there - which is worlds apart from the nob jockey you had here!

If you ever rent from me, i'll make sure you get looked after and then all your posts will say yer are having an even greater landlord experience!!!

Cheers! DtM! West London & Slough UK!

Hi MeShell, I know from reading the theads that you guys are planning to move back in the next few years....no doubt that you will find a great house in Houston! Don't forget the great exchange rate which will be a big advantage

On another note - Congrats on the weight loss...you look fab! 

I hope so too Jules...I would rather buy a new house or one that someone is selling because they just don't want to live in the house. I don't/would'n't want to profit off of someone's elses misery...I have lived hard times and it would upset me to think I was living in someone's lost dreams...if you know what I am trying to get at..


and Thank you!! 

$65,000? bah!  There are some houses in Baltimore for about $5,000.  Of course, if you don't like former druggie, boarded up places then you'd be out of luck 

$65,000? bah!  There are some houses in Baltimore for about $5,000.  Of course, if you don't like former druggie, boarded up places then you'd be out of luck 

Baltimore? Is that the US version of Liverpool. (ouch)