Investing In Paris, Istria And Medellin

The Three Best Places In The World Today To Spend Your Time (And Maybe Your Money)

Sept. 18, 2011, Panama City, Panama: Putting any investment or profit agenda aside, the three best places in the world to think about owning real estate today are Paris, Istria, and Medellin.

Also This Week: Emergency Offshore Summit--"Our Salvation Rests In Ourselves"...The End Of Financial Paradise...Reality Check--Here's How You Are Going To Be Able To Afford To Retire...Fortunes Will Be Made Here Over The Coming Decade, But You Don't Want To Try To Go It Alone...

Dear Overseas Opportunity Letter Reader,

"I'd like to speak with you, privately...without Lief," the gentleman began.

"Uh, OK..."

"Well, I know that Lief is the numbers guy. He's all about pricing and valuations and return projections. And that's all important, I realize. However, I'd like to ask you a question, putting all those things aside.

"I'd like to know your three favorite places in the world right now," continued the attendee at last week's Emergency Offshore Summit in Panama City. "The top three places you'd recommend today, profit agendas notwithstanding."

I replied without hesitation:

"Paris, Istria, and Medellin."

Investment arguments can be made for each of these markets. Paris is perhaps the most recession-proof rental yields market in the world. I believe that values in Istria, Croatia, will move up over time, and, meantime, in this part of the world, Europeans are keeping the rental occupancy rates high. Medellin, Colombia, is one of the most undervalued real estate markets in the world right now, meaning prices are absolutely low. Meantime, in this case, the supply of available rentals is low, and demand is increasing.

Even if none of those things was true, though, I'd still want to own property in these three places.

For me, at this stage of my life and my investment career, that's the litmus test when considering any real estate buy:

Is this a place where I want to spend time?

If it's not, even the promise of a serious profit upside probably won't get my attention.

As the attendee at last week's conference understood, my perspective is different from Lief's. Lief prefers to invest in places where he wants to spend time, but his head can be turned by a straight-up profit promise. And, in truth, if you're buying for investment, it can be dangerous to cloud that agenda with one related to personal use. Serious property investors want to keep the profit objective separate from any others.

The rest of us should buy houses and apartments in places where we want to be.

In that context, again, three places I'd recommend as holding out what amounts to world's best-level quality of life right now, as I suggested to my new friend at last week's conference, are Paris, Istria, and Medellin.

In different ways, for different reasons, life doesn't get any better than you'll enjoy it in each of these three very special places.

Kathleen Peddicord

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P.S. What else this week?

• "Years ago," Robert Bauman began as he opened this morning's sessions of this week's Emergency Offshore Summit in Panama City, "I had occasion to hear Ronald Reagan speak. He told a story:

"A Cuban fled his country, the not-yet-president Mr. Reagan explained. Through great effort and at great risk he made his way to the United States, where he intended to build a life for himself.

"Sometime later, he retold his experiences to an American, who responded to say how great it was that the Cuban man had made his way to the United States.

"'We Americans are very lucky, aren't we, to live in this country,' the American remarked.

"'You're lucky? I am lucky,' the Cuban replied. 'I had somewhere to go.'

"This month is the 10th anniversary of the horrible events of Sept. 11, 2001. It marks another anniversary, as well: Sept. 17, the day that the U.S. Constitution was signed (in 1787) in Philadelphia.

"This second anniversary goes largely unremarked every year, for, I would maintain, the U.S. Constitution is and has been, for decades, largely ignored by the U.S. government.

"Meantime, that same government now consumes nearly 40% of the U.S. GDP.

"There is no shortage of blame to go around for the current state of affairs in the United States, and, frankly, a lot of blame must be accepted by We the People...

• "The G20 countries are blaming the traditional 'financial paradises' for their problems. And these G20 countries are in trouble. They need cash. So they're forcing the world's 'financial paradise' nations to sign information-sharing agreements.

"The bottom line reality as a result," continued one European banker with decades of experience addressing the group assembled in Panama City this morning for our Emergency Offshore Summit, "is that there is no longer any such thing as secret banking.

"This isn't the banking world of 10 years ago or even 5 years ago. It's harder and harder to open a bank account anywhere, and it's going to continue to become harder and harder still. It's no longer reasonable to think that you can say to a banker, 'It's my money. It's none of your business where it came from or what I want to do with it. Just follow my instructions.'

"And I believe that right now is only the beginning. Everyone is signing agreements with everyone. The global banking landscape is changing very quickly. The United States is pushing its weight around in an unprecedented way. The provisions of the HIRE Act related to banking are the most extra-territorial in history. In effect, the United States is forcing the world's bankers to become IRS collection agents.

"The rest of the world seems to be going along. It's an extraordinary thing, but countries seem to be reconciling themselves to the idea that they're going to comply with the relevant provisions...

• Jay Wintrob, president of SunAmerica Financial and the guy behind the group's recent "Retirement Re-Set" study, concludes, after surveying 1,000 Americans age 55 and older, that would-be U.S. retirees are proving themselves "to be both resilient and resourceful." They're embracing a new strategy, Wintrob explains, as follows:

"Work longer, save more, spend less, and adjust your lifestyle expectations..."

That's one approach.

Here's another:

Dive into a richer, more adventure-filled life. Reinvent yourself at this important stage. Imagine the life you want and then go find it.

It's possible, market meltdowns, downgraded credit ratings, shrinking home equity values, and spiking unemployment notwithstanding. These things are all current realities, but they don't need to define your life or your retirement.

You need to define your life...

• Some Brazil fundamentals:

• Brazil is a big market that operates largely unto itself. It was barely touched by the crisis of 2008 and today is booming...

• Brazil's real estate market is driven largely by Brazilians, meaning, again, that it is not suffering as a result of what's going on in North America and Europe...

• Brazilians like real assets, including beach condos and productive land. That's where they continue to park their available cash...which is why prices for beachfront condos, for example, are higher than you might expect them to be (more than US$3,000 per square meter along the front line in Fortaleza, for example)...

What does all that translate to for the individual investor?...

Also This Week...from Resident Global Real Estate Investing Expert Lief Simon:

I've been beating this drum for some time, but I don't think the point can be made too strongly or too often:

It's a yields market. All over.

With very localized exceptions, I don't see any opportunity anywhere today for big capital upside.

That's why, this week at our Emergency Offshore Summit in Panama City, one of our themes has been investing in productive land...land that can throw off a yield...including farmland.

One of the best places in the world today to shop for farmland is Uruguay. As Uruguay attorney Juan Federico Fischer explained in his presentation to the group this week, Uruguay makes sense overall as a solid market choice right now because:

• It's the safest country in South America...

• It's politically stable, with a solid democracy...

• You don't find big social differences...there's not a big gap between the have's and the have-not's...

• The country boasts excellent, affordable health care...

• Corruption is not an issue (very uncommon for Latin America)...

• The infrastructure is developed and reliable...

• No restrictions are placed on capital flows in or out of the country...

• The country imposes no inheritance tax (a nice plus if you're looking to build legacy wealth)...

• The banking system is solid...

• You have a number of interesting, safe, and solid investment options...

Including, again, farmland.

Uruguay is a country of 3.5 million people...12 million cows...and a lot of very fertile land. Main crops include soybeans, wheat, corn, and sorghum.

Investing in productive agricultural land is a more appealing idea right now than it's been in a very long time...in theory. However, investing in productive agricultural land as a practical matter? That's something else.

Maybe you like the idea of retiring to a small finca of your own down Uruguay way (which could be great)...or maybe you have no interest whatever in becoming a farmer.

Your options then would be to invest in land that you could lease out to someone else to farm for you. Or to engage farm management. Leasing your land to someone who'd like to run cattle or grow soybeans on it could be a straightforward strategy, but it lacks a big upside. Going this route, you'd make a regular but probably modest return.

Engage someone to manage your farmland for you, and you would be positioned to benefit from rising crop values.

How would you organize this in Uruguay? Juan Federico could help, connecting you with the right people in the country both to buy right and then to maximize your yields over time.

You can contact him here.

Editor's Note: Juan Federico Fischer's complete presentation on current investment, banking, residency, and land opportunities in Uruguay will be included as part of our Emergency Offshore Summit Home Conference Kit, which will be available two weeks after the close of this week's live conference in Panama City.

Meantime, while the conference continues, you can arrange for the pre-release purchase of this bundle of "going offshore" resources at a discount of more than 50%. Note that this discounted pre-release offer is available only until Friday, Sept. 23. Details are here.

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