Real Estate Prices In Usd And Ars - Help

[Ries]

Based on your feeble ass description I doubt that you have been anywhere near Tampa. Or for that fact much of anywhere. But at the end of the day who cares. Someone asked about where you could make some money. Where? Have you ever done that?

I have been to Florida over a dozen times, and driven around most of the state.
But tastes vary, even feeble ass ones.
If I was going to live in Florida, it would be in Miami. Or Captiva, if someone gave me a million dollars.
I was last in Tampa just a couple of years ago- I was making a proposal for a project in Bradenton.
I was there for two days, for a one hour meeting, so I drove around Tampa a fair amount.
Bad modern architecture, soul less cul de sac residential neighborhoods, strip malls and white trash.
You are welcome to it.
I did like the Dali Museum in St. Pete, though.

Currently I own a fair amount of real estate, I have a couple of tenants. I have property in more than one US state, as well as in Argentina.
And I still stand by my earlier statements.
Making money as an absentee landlord is NOT easy or automatic. Some people succeed at it, many get blindsided by unforseen expenses.
I would not say that buying a house in Tampa or Orlando is a sure thing.
That is not to say that there are not people who have made money at it- but, generally, they are american citizens who have experience in the area, experience buying and selling, getting loans, hiring contractors, and working with property managers.
Not expats from Italy who dont know the USA.

Just my feeble ass two cents, you can ignore it at will.

 

[GS_Dirtboy]

I have been to Tampa many, many times. Most recently in June for an inline skate clinic given by Joey Mantia (Olympic athlete). I second Reis' description.

 

[rickulivi]

Investing in real estate, like investing in any business, is a business, which means you have to work at it. It should not be called the real estate business; it should be known as the maintenance business. If you are going to manage it yourself, you better be good at removing tampons from toilet pipes; children's toys, and replacing toilets. You better be good at repairing water leaks and all the damage water produces, like dry rot. And you better be good at managing demanding people: your tenants. Most of them think they are staying in a hotel, not an apartment. You don't allow dogs? They will get them in and then what are you going to do about it? You tell them no satellite TV, they agree to it and then a few days later you see the dish on the roof. Sure, you can kick them out, but that will cost you a month's rent and some other aggravation.

Making an income? Forget it unless your property is mortgage free. If it is, you can assume 35% of your rental income is going to cover operating expenses: the plumber, property taxes, water, etc. If you hire a property manager, add another 7% or more to your expenses, and your operating costs will shoot up because they will hire service people that provide good service, and they tend to be far more expensive than your local self employed guy. This 35% assumes you don't need to put in a new roof this year, or a new a/c unit, and you don't need to replace the old galvanized pipes that turn water into a redish liquid. Or that you don't have to replace the bathtub becuase it's clean but yellowish, and some people find that yucki (is that how you spell that word?).

If you have the property 100% paid off, or mortgage free, you can expect 50% of the annual rents to go into your pocket. But, it might take you 30 years to become mortgage free, and during those years, you will unplug toilets, deal with flooding, and so on.

I have bought property in Buenos Aires, Sacramento and Orange County over 40 years. Never lost money; actually, made a small bundle but I worked at it. Not a lot of work, but it's dirty work. So far, I have not had to call the police to remove a cadaver from any of my properties, but I have had that happen to a neighbor. I have had to deal with neighbors that are ex-con, who inherited their house free and clear, and generate money by renting rooms by the day to excons, homeless people, and all sort of drug peddlers.

Good luck in finding an investment that makes you money and dependable income. Or, you can do as I did: marry a rich woman. Bestadvice my mom ever gave me!

 

[Matiasba]

Yes, the real estate market is one of the investments that more or less works here.
It is relatively safe and as Ries says, not very volatile (excepting 2001, when prices went down like 70%).
The problem with these is that today, as happens everywhere, has became very expensive. In the sixties, buying an apartment was easily half of the price than it is today, measured in average salaries.
And theres also this grand players that get in the market and distort prices, like money laundry and huge capitals investments, *coughcough* Puerto Madero towers, they put out and distort the actual prices.

 

[Ries]

Yes, the real estate market is one of the investments that more or less works here.
It is relatively safe and as Ries says, not very volatile (excepting 2001, when prices went down like 70%).
The problem with these is that today, as happens everywhere, has became very expensive. In the sixties, buying an apartment was easily half of the price than it is today, measured in average salaries.
And theres also this grand players that get in the market and distort prices, like money laundry and huge capitals investments, *coughcough* Puerto Madero towers, they put out and distort the actual prices.

I would disagree that anybody is "distorting" the "actual prices".
There is NO actual price for real estate- it is entirely supply and demand.
It is based on emotion, psychology, politics, local events, global trends, fads, the weather, disasters, wars, and a million other things that change daily.

There are parts of the United States where you can buy a house for 1/10 the cost of building a new house the same size. There are other places where you must pay 10 times the cost of building the house, or 25 times.

There are cities where apartments sell for thousands of dollars a square foot - multiply that by 9 to get a square meter price. There are other places where they give houses away. I knew people who bought very nice homes in Pittsburgh, in pretty decent neighborhoods (Hunkytown!) for a few thousand dollars- half what a new car would cost (not now- in the early 90's). I know other people who have paid over a million dollars for a one bedroom apartment (not in pittsburgh).

in none of those places, nor in Buenos Aires, are there "actual prices".
there is only the price you can get today, on the market.
it is what it is.
if you dont like it, dont buy, or dont sell.

But its my guess that, unless the global population begins to fall, by a billion or two people, that there will be more and more demand for those grand departmentos in Recoleta, and that the prices will continue to go up and up.

 

[Ceviche]

I have heard it say that in Argentina, you are considered "middle class" if you own a car and "rich" if you own a house.

I am a Argie and I own none. Poor me!

 

[Ceviche]

marry a rich woman. Bestadvice my mom ever gave me!

Any rich woman reading the forum and ready to mingle?

 

[ghost]

I have been to Florida over a dozen times, and driven around most of the state.
But tastes vary, even feeble ass ones.
If I was going to live in Florida, it would be in Miami. Or Captiva, if someone gave me a million dollars.
I was last in Tampa just a couple of years ago- I was making a proposal for a project in Bradenton.
I was there for two days, for a one hour meeting, so I drove around Tampa a fair amount.
Bad modern architecture, soul less cul de sac residential neighborhoods, strip malls and white trash.
You are welcome to it.
I did like the Dali Museum in St. Pete, though.

Currently I own a fair amount of real estate, I have a couple of tenants. I have property in more than one US state, as well as in Argentina.
And I still stand by my earlier statements.
Making money as an absentee landlord is NOT easy or automatic. Some people succeed at it, many get blindsided by unforseen expenses.
I would not say that buying a house in Tampa or Orlando is a sure thing.
That is not to say that there are not people who have made money at it- but, generally, they are american citizens who have experience in the area, experience buying and selling, getting loans, hiring contractors, and working with property managers.
Not expats from Italy who dont know the USA.

Just my feeble ass two cents, you can ignore it at will.

Serifina asked where she could make some money. I gave her a suggestion. If you are a true investor you aren't concerned about "liking" somewhere that you make the money. My friend who recently invested in the Tampa area lives in Panama. But only a pro would understand such. For example, I have several properties in Buenos Aires. I don't like Buenos Aires and these properties are the least profitable portions of my real estate portfolio and 3 are commercial buildings. If I ever invest in Argentina again it will not be in BA. There are some better opportunities elsewhere in AR.

 

[Matiasba]

I would disagree that anybody is "distorting" the "actual prices".
There is NO actual price for real estate- it is entirely supply and demand.
It is based on emotion, psychology, politics, local events, global trends, fads, the weather, disasters, wars, and a million other things that change daily.

There are parts of the United States where you can buy a house for 1/10 the cost of building a new house the same size. There are other places where you must pay 10 times the cost of building the house, or 25 times.

There are cities where apartments sell for thousands of dollars a square foot - multiply that by 9 to get a square meter price. There are other places where they give houses away. I knew people who bought very nice homes in Pittsburgh, in pretty decent neighborhoods (Hunkytown!) for a few thousand dollars- half what a new car would cost (not now- in the early 90's). I know other people who have paid over a million dollars for a one bedroom apartment (not in pittsburgh).

in none of those places, nor in Buenos Aires, are there "actual prices".
there is only the price you can get today, on the market.
it is what it is.
if you dont like it, dont buy, or dont sell.

But its my guess that, unless the global population begins to fall, by a billion or two people, that there will be more and more demand for those grand departmentos in Recoleta, and that the prices will continue to go up and up.

Sorry, I didnt express myself correctly. My point on "actual prices" was that these grand players, these huge capitals that bet for the real estate market and buy properties not to live or rent but to make a profit or laundry money, or evade taxes, etc, etc, this is one important factor that explains why prices go up. As I said 4 or 5 decades ago, homes where much more accesible; the working class, for instance, could easily buy a home with a number of salaries. Now this number has doubled or triplied. I know this because I studied the housing problem. Every city has increased a lot its prices and made it inaccessible.

 

[Girino]

Serafina asked where she could make some money. I gave her a suggestion. If you are a true investor you aren't concerned about "liking" somewhere that you make the money. My friend who recently invested in the Tampa area lives in Panama. But only a pro would understand such. For example, I have several properties in Buenos Aires. I don't like Buenos Aires and these properties are the least profitable portions of my real estate portfolio and 3 are commercial buildings. If I ever invest in Argentina again it will not be in BA. There are some better opportunities elsewhere in AR.

Exactly, I am just thinking that my money sitting in a bank account are going to lose value over the years, whereas if I put them on a property, I could at least avoid devaluation (and maybe turn it some profits in the meanwhile). I.e. if today with 100,000 USD you can buy a single house, in 10 years I doubt that money will buy the same house.

Some people like to invest in property with the thought of one day living there, such as people buying a place in a vacation destination, renting it out and looking forward to live there once they retire. Other people seek investment that will provide them with cash and that are easy to sell once they are tired of them, so they buy an apartment in a strategic location (i.e. near hospitals or universities), and it doesn't matter if it is not likable as long as it draws the right crowd.

I have some cash to invest, but I am open to seek financing to create a credit score in the US or for other reasons. I suppose there are people giving out these suggestions for a living (not that I don't want to do my homework before going into this), and I will be looking for them, I just wanted to collect few experiences from other forum members as part of my data collection part of my homework.
I was thinking about the US because that's where the money are, whereas I don't see Italy in a good spot right now for investing money. Also, I'd like to cut bridges with Italy, since I am fed up with its politicians and doing.

I got time, I got money, there is a market out there... and though I am -quote- just an expat from Italy -unquote- I think everyone was "just" something at some point of their lives, but that didn't prevent them to do something in their life.