Professionals Realty Group USA (ProsUSA), a Scottsdale, Ariz.-based national real estate franchising company, has teamed up with its Australia-based sister company to launch a network of brokerages specializing in investment properties.
The Professionals Invest USA Network is comprised of real estate investment-property providers that have also joined Professionals Realty Group USA as full franchise members, "maintain a strong reputation in the investment and property management industries, and have historical data exemplifying a proven history of consistently yielding significant returns on investments for their customers," according to the network’s website.
The network includes a Web portal that will provide information on acquiring investor-related U.S. tax documents and credentials, legal entity formation, estate planning, and opening bank accounts, the brokerage said in an announcement Monday.
"There is a pressing need for such a network of highly qualified investment-property providers that offer real estate investment opportunities in major cities across the United States," said Glenn Melton, ProsUSA’s president, in a statement. "There are spectacular opportunities for overseas investors, yet foreign investors are often confronted with a dismaying array of misinformation and obstacles in their pursuit of U.S. opportunities."
Glyn Morgan, CEO of Australia-based Professionals Real Estate Group, sister company to ProsUSA, added that real estate brokers in Australia and New Zealand routinely devote a "significant portion" of their businesses to property management and investor services.
The network has already signed up 10 franchise members and is finalizing agreements with another eight providers, the company told Inman News. Each provider buys and manages hundreds of properties in states such as Alabama, Arizona, North Carolina, Ohio, Florida, Nevada, Tennessee and Texas, according to the announcement.
A recent Inman News report, "10 Hot Spots for Global Homebuyers," highlighted 10 markets across the country most popular with foreign buyers, most of whom buy for vacation or investment purposes, or both. Six of those markets are in Florida and one is in Arizona.
Professionals Real Estate Group launched Professionals Realty Group USA last year. Professionals Real Estate Group has more than 350 offices throughout Australasia.
Morgan announced the official debut of the Professionals Invest USA Network on March 13 in Brisbane, Australia.
"The U.S. investment real estate market offers some of the best values in the world today. Prices, together with rates of return on cash investments in many sectors, are extraordinary right now, and frankly superior to even our historically strong market," Morgan said.
"In addition, many currencies are valued at historic highs compared to the U.S. dollar. In 1999, the Australian dollar was trading at 70 cents to the U.S. dollar; today it is trading at $1.09. I would be very much surprised if such a confluence of favorable factors will be seen again."
Melton also noted "higher demand for rental properties by new renters" as a reason the U.S. real estate market is attractive for investors.
Investors led a surge in second-home sales in 2011, according to a separate, recently released report from the National Association of Realtors. Sales of investment homes climbed 64.5 percent in 2011, to 1.23 million, or 27 percent of all homes sales last year.