• About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms
  • Unsubscribe
No Result
View All Result
Live and Invest Overseas
FREE REPORT
BEST PLACES TO RETIRE
*No spam: We will NEVER give your email address to anyone else.
  • HOME
  • COUNTRIES
    • Top Destinations
      • Portugal
      • Panama
      • Belize
      • France
      • Colombia
      • Dominican Republic
      • Thailand
      • Mexico
      • Spain
      • Argentina
    • Browse All Countries
    • Best For
      • Retire Overseas Index
      • Health Care
      • Cost of Living
      • Investing in Real Estate
      • Editor’s Picks For Retirement
      • Establishing Residency
      • Starting an Online Business
      • Single Women
      • Playing Golf
  • BUDGETS
    • Super Cheap ($)
      • Cuenca, Ecuador
      • Chiang Mai, Thailand
      • The Philippines
      • Las Tablas, Panama
      • Granada, Nicaragua
    • Cheap ($$)
      • Algarve, Portugal
      • Medellin, Colombia
      • Boquete, Panama
      • Carcassone, France
      • Buenos Aires, Argentina
    • Affordable ($$$)
      • Abruzzo, Italy
      • Barcelona, Spain
      • Las Terrenas, Dominican Republic
      • Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
      • Costa de Oro, Uruguay
    • Luxury On A Budget ($$$$)
      • Ambergris Caye, Belize
      • Paris, France
      • Panama City Beach Area
  • Real Estate
  • ARCHIVES
    • Living & Retiring Overseas
    • Raising A Family Abroad
    • Foreign Residency & Citizenship
    • Offshore Diversification
    • Our Latest On Coronavirus ⚠️
  • Making Money
    • International Real Estate
    • Banking
    • Employment
    • Investing
  • CONFERENCES
  • BOOKSTORE
Live and Invest Overseas
  • HOME
  • COUNTRIES
    • Top Destinations
      • Portugal
      • Panama
      • Belize
      • France
      • Colombia
      • Dominican Republic
      • Thailand
      • Mexico
      • Spain
      • Argentina
    • Browse All Countries
    • Best For
      • Retire Overseas Index
      • Health Care
      • Cost of Living
      • Investing in Real Estate
      • Editor’s Picks For Retirement
      • Establishing Residency
      • Starting an Online Business
      • Single Women
      • Playing Golf
  • BUDGETS
    • Super Cheap ($)
      • Cuenca, Ecuador
      • Chiang Mai, Thailand
      • The Philippines
      • Las Tablas, Panama
      • Granada, Nicaragua
    • Cheap ($$)
      • Algarve, Portugal
      • Medellin, Colombia
      • Boquete, Panama
      • Carcassone, France
      • Buenos Aires, Argentina
    • Affordable ($$$)
      • Abruzzo, Italy
      • Barcelona, Spain
      • Las Terrenas, Dominican Republic
      • Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
      • Costa de Oro, Uruguay
    • Luxury On A Budget ($$$$)
      • Ambergris Caye, Belize
      • Paris, France
      • Panama City Beach Area
  • Real Estate
  • ARCHIVES
    • Living & Retiring Overseas
    • Raising A Family Abroad
    • Foreign Residency & Citizenship
    • Offshore Diversification
    • Our Latest On Coronavirus ⚠️
  • Making Money
    • International Real Estate
    • Banking
    • Employment
    • Investing
  • CONFERENCES
  • BOOKSTORE
No Result
View All Result
Live and Invest Overseas
No Result
View All Result

How To Vet A Foreign Real Estate Buy

Kathleen Peddicord by Kathleen Peddicord
Jan 03, 2010
in Real Estate
0
real estate key
209
SHARES
3k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

How To Vet A Foreign Real Estate Buy

“Once you understand why you’re interested in buying a piece of real estate in another country,” writes resident global real estate investing expert Lief Simon, picking up where he left off yesterday, “and where you want to own, you’re ready to launch your overseas property search.

“Here are the key factors to keep in mind as you scout opportunities:

  1. The real estate agents you encounter may not be licensed, and they may have next-to-no relevant experience (maybe they were travel agents or mechanical engineers in previous lives…I’ve known real estate agents in emerging markets who were both those things as recently as two weeks before I made their acquaintance)…
  1. The real estate agent you decide to work with probably isn’t working for you. In emerging and unregulated markets (like the ones I direct you to regularly), the property agents don’t work for the buyer, and they don’t work for the seller. They work for the commission, which they want to be a big as possible…
  1. This can lead to something called “net commissions,” whereby the seller tells the real estate agent what he wants to net from the sale. The agent sells for whatever he can sell for. Then the agent pockets the difference (which can be substantial, as much as 20%, 30%, 40% or more)…
  1. Likewise, in the markets where I direct you, you’ll typically find no multiple listing service and no tradition of shared listings…
  1. Don’t take clean title for granted. Invest in title insurance where it’s available. I recommend First American Title Insurance, www.firstam.com…
  1. In particular, be careful about purchasing ejido land, cooperative land, or rights of possession property…
  1. Don’t take the seller (be he local or gringo) at his word. Maybe he owns the land he’s offering to sell you, maybe he doesn’t…maybe the right-of-way through the neighbor’s property has been agreed in writing, maybe it hasn’t…maybe the boundaries are drawn where he says they are, and maybe they’re not… You want to verify all important points of fact with the help of your own independent attorney…
  1. Which means that you need to: Engage your own independent attorney. Don’t use the seller’s attorney and don’t use the developer’s attorney…
  1. Buy what you see. If electrical lines have been run to the property, then you’re buying with electricity. If a clubhouse has been built, then you’re buying into a community with a clubhouse. If you don’t see a marina, don’t count on a marina…even if it’s promised and pictured in all the developer’s materials…
  1. Research restrictions related to foreign ownership of property, particularly in Asian markets…
  1. If you’re buying on the water, understand restrictions on ownership of beachfront property. In most countries, you cannot own the stretch where the water actually meets the land. This strip is called different things in different markets, and it’s measured in different ways (typically working from the high-tide line). My point is, don’t believe someone who tells you that you can “own” it, because, in most cases, you can’t. It’s owned by the state…
  1. Understand all costs of acquisition. These can go well beyond the agent fees. Remember transfer taxes (sometimes called ‘stamp duty’), titling fees, registration fees, attorney or notary fees, etc. These fees are not all relevant in all markets, but you want to understand, up front, which ones you’ll be responsible for paying and include those costs in both your purchase budget and your projections for investment return…
  1. Think through what will be required to accomplish whatever you are hoping to accomplish with the property you’re looking to buy. If you intend to rent it out when you’re not in residence, you’ll need rental and property management. If you intend to be in residence only part of the year but don’t want to rent while you’re away, you’ll need a full-time caretaker on-site. Again, include these costs in your budgeting and your ROI projections…

Kathleen Peddicord

Comments

Tags: 'How To Buy Real Estate Overseas'
Share84Tweet52
Previous Post

How To Filter The Best Real Estate Investment Opportunities Of 2010

Next Post

New Year’s On The Amazon

Kathleen Peddicord

Kathleen Peddicord

Kathleen Peddicord has covered the live, retire, and do business overseas beat for more than 30 years and is considered the world's foremost authority on these subjects. She has traveled to more than 75 countries, invested in real estate in 21, established businesses in 7, renovated historic properties in 6, and educated her children in 4.

Kathleen has moved children, staff, enterprises, household goods, and pets across three continents, from the East Coast of the United States to Waterford, Ireland... then to Paris, France... next to Panama City, where she has based her Live and Invest Overseas business. Most recently, Kathleen and her husband Lief Simon are dividing their time between Panama and Paris.

Kathleen was a partner with Agora Publishing’s International Living group for 23 years. In that capacity, she opened her first office overseas, in Waterford, Ireland, where she managed a staff of up to 30 employees for more than 10 years. Kathleen also opened, staffed, and operated International Living publishing and real estate marketing offices in Panama City, Panama; Granada, Nicaragua; Roatan, Honduras; San Miguel de Allende, Mexico; Quito, Ecuador; and Paris, France.

Kathleen moved on from her role with Agora in 2007 and launched her Live and Invest Overseas group in 2008. In the years since, she has built Live and Invest Overseas into a successful, recognized, and respected multi-million-dollar business that employs a staff of 35 in Panama City and dozens of writers and other resources around the world.

Kathleen has been quoted by The New York Times, Money magazine, MSNBC, Yahoo Finance, the AARP, and beyond. She has appeared often on radio and television (including Bloomberg and CNBC) and speaks regularly on topics to do with living, retiring, investing, and doing business around the world.

In addition to her own daily e-letter, the Overseas Opportunity Letter, with a circulation of more than 300,000 readers, Kathleen writes regularly for U.S. News & World Report and Forbes.

Her newest book, "How to Retire Overseas: Everything You Need to Know to Live Well (for Less) Abroad," published by Penguin Random House, is the culmination of decades of personal experience living and investing around the world.

Related Posts

Beautiful view of Tulum beach during sunrise in Mexico
Mexico

Buying Property In Mexico: Step-By-Step Guide For Expats

by Lee Harrison
April 20, 2021
0

This is my sixth year in Mexico, and I’ve never seen real estate action like I’m seeing now. And the...

Read more
Carvoeiro town and beach in the Algarve, Portugal.

Some Helpful Tips Before You Buy Real Estate In Portugal

April 14, 2021
White sand beach in Playa del Carmen, Riviera Maya, Mexico.

Move To America’s Most Popular Expat Destination In 2 Weeks

March 15, 2021
Sea of Cortez, Mexico.

Top Countries Where U.S. Dollars Get You A Big Discount

March 9, 2021
Alfama at night, Lisbon, Portugal

The Perfect Time For An Overseas Property Purchase?

February 5, 2021
Colonial style buildings line the Plaza Machado in Old Mazatlan, Mexico

Why Mazatlán’s Historic Center Is The Ideal Second Home

February 4, 2021
Cathedral at Plaza de Armas, Durango, Mexico.

Introducing Durango: Bargain Real Estate In Authentic Mexico

February 1, 2021
Next Post
amazon river

New Year’s On The Amazon

A world full of fun, adventure, and profit awaits! Sign up for our free daily e-letter, Overseas Opportunity Letter, and we'll send you a FREE report on the 10 Best Places To Retire In Style Overseas Today.

Start Your New Life Today, Overseas

how to retire overseas

LIOS Resources


  • New To LIOS
  • Ask An Expert
  • Media Center
  • Contact Us
  • FAQs

Quick Links


  • Best Places To Live
  • Best Places To Retire
  • Finding A Job Overseas
  • Real Estate

Sign up for our free daily e-letter, Overseas Opportunity Letter, and get your FREE report: The 10 Best Places To Retire Overseas In 2021

  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms
  • Unsubscribe

© 2008-2021 - Live and Invest Overseas - All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Countries
  • Budgets
  • Archives
  • News
  • Events
  • Bookstore
  • Newsletters
  • About Us
  • Members Area
  • Contact Us

© 2008-2021 - Live and Invest Overseas - All Rights Reserved.

WANT TO RETIRE OVERSEAS?

Sign up for our free daily e-letter, Overseas Opportunity Letter, and we’ll immediately send you a free report on the 10 BEST PLACES TO RETIRE in style overseas. Each day you’ll learn about the best opportunities for international living, retiring overseas, offshore diversification and asset protection, and investing in real estate around the world.

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.