The road to security and economic freedom through American real estate
# Entrepreneur of the Week Amnon Bar
# Post 1
Hello, my name is Amnon Bar, an electronics engineer, a graduate of the Technion and holds an MBA from Ben Gurion University, a retiree from Elbit Systems / Tadiran for three years, married with 3 children, a lover of music and poetry.
I thank my father Ben Mordechai for inviting me to write here about my activities and experience in investing in real estate (houses for rent) in the United States, and the way I did to achieve economic freedom through American real estate. I know there are many investors in the forum like me and even much bigger "guns" than me, I hope I can still innovate for them, and especially to wise and advise those members of the group who are not yet convinced that with a little patience and perseverance can be given through American real estate. While taking a lower risk compared to investing in Israeli real estate, to reach financial freedom which means not being dependent on salary and in case you are interested, then even quit your job and engage in what you really like.
I was born in Israel, from a young age I was exposed to the Israeli economy which in the 60s was not at its best and went through many hardships until it reached today's economic situation, I went through all the revolutions, devaluations, and economic crises in the country in the last 50 years. But I always managed to recover.
Investing in another apartment for rent in Israel seemed to me already in the 90s a good way to diversify investments and indeed in 1991 I bought an apartment for investment and rented it out pretty quickly. As nowadays even then it was difficult to get to know the tenant before signing a contract with him. After a few months the tenant started to delay paying the rent and I had to find a way to get the tenant out of the apartment. As is well known in this country, it is not an easy task, but fortunately I also signed the tenant's mother's contract as a guarantor, and a threat in a lawsuit against her helped get the tenant out of the apartment. The tenant left water and electricity debts and I had to sue him in court.
In light of the economic crises in Israel, for example the banking stock crisis in 1983, the great inflation in 1984/5 while losing the shekel, the dot com crisis in 2001, and the deterioration in pension conditions in 2003, I came to the conclusion that I can trust the government to help me when I need it. old age. Around the year 2000 I told myself it would be good if I had a variety of investments in other economies as well because there is a danger that my pension money will erode over the years and not be enough for me when I get there. The only factor that can make me financially secure is first and foremost me.
In late 2001, I saw an ad in a newspaper inviting me to an investment conference in American real estate. In light of my poor experience investing in real estate in the country I thought it would be a good idea to go and hear. The lecture was very interesting and made me want to delve deeper into the subject. I read the book "Rich Dad Poor Dad" by Robert Kiyosaki, and I realized that you have to invest mainly in other people's money, I visited American real estate sites, I went to more lectures, I realized that in US countries it is easier and faster to evict a tenant who does not pay. And I decided to give it a try.
It talks about buying a home in Phoenix Arizona, renting it out through a management company, receiving a monthly cash flow and expecting an increase in the value of the home each year following inflation. Why buy alone and not join a professional investor? Why in Phoenix? How do I manage the house remotely? I will explain everything later, but bottom line, this is one of the most important steps I have taken in life. It is true that there is a risk involved, but as is well known, risk and chance go hand in hand, and investing in the stock market is not an insurance certificate.
The company connected me with a realtor, I received offers for several houses from a contractor, I flew to visit the houses for display and from them I chose one. On that occasion I opened a bank account in Phoenix. I returned to Israel, the broker sent a contract to sign, I carefully reviewed the contract, signed with my wife, exchanged savings in the country for dollars and prepared a bank check in dollars attached to the contract. The documents were sent to the broker and the purchase was executed. A few weeks later the house was rented and my wife and I were both happy. A year and a half passed and I learned that you can get an American mortgage to finance real estate there. The appetite came with the food and I repeated the process but now funded by an American bank when I bring in equity of 30% of the price and Shachad pays the mortgage repayment. From then on I started working independently.
Recall the US economy and real estate market experienced a major crisis in 2008 in which property values fell significantly. As one who has experienced strong declines in past stock markets that ended at the end and stock values kept rising, I told myself there is no point in selling, on the contrary this is a golden opportunity to buy more assets and that is what I did. In retrospect I say today, how stupid I was that I did not take the opportunity and did not make an effort to purchase then another 2-3 properties.
The first house I mentioned earlier I bought in Phoenix in the summer of 2002 for about $ 143,000, it was rented continuously all those years and he repaid the mortgage and yielded a nice return. In light of the crazy rise in house prices in Phoenix in recent years, I made a profit, and sold it 5 months ago for $ 470,000. In the last months of the lease, the house generated a rent of $ 1900 per month. With the money I buy without financing two houses in another country where the house prices are cheaper when the rent for each will be about $ 1600. Hope the motivation is clear, how do I describe later.
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