G’Day! My name is Ben Gray and my journey with real estate started in my family home as far back as I can remember. My mum and dad bought their first house when I was a baby and continue to actively invest in real estate to this day; renovations, construction, subdividing land, building apartment blocks and more. As you might imagine, real estate was a household conversation topic yet while I was, and obviously am, very interesting in real estate I simply loved technology and computers and took that direction in my career. It’s hard to admit it, but I even have *gasp* a 9-5 job! Shame on me for not listening to all the real estate gurus who told me I was supposed to quit! Haha! But the joke is on them, I love my work and get to deal with the worlds biggest organizations and governments, solving billions of dollars worth business problems with technology AND I get to build my own personal real estate empire while I do it!
In addition to traveling the world as a tech specialist and growing my own real estate portfolio I founded a real estate investment company here in the US in 2014 called American Properties International LLC. It capitalized on the subprime housing market crash by helping international investors purchase fantastic investment properties at deep discounts. We coordinated all of the hassle of “Getting Setup in the US” (my chapter in our book!) including tax and legal matters, mortgages, property sourcing, and more. Before you might ask, SORRY, but as real estate prices have significantly rebounded the interest from international investors has slowed to a trickle and the business now only serves our existing client base. Accordingly, my focus has shifted to my own real estate investment activities in the US in addition to exploring opportunities elsewhere in the world – particularly Australia. As the real estate market in Australia continues to decline it becomes an increasingly attractive investment proposition. One that myself and the Real Estate Mates are primed to make the most of! Expect to hear more about this real bloody soon!
