InternationalLiving.com

Lief Simon

Lief travels most of the year in search of real estate opportunities around the world. In addition to excellent potential returns and the opportunity to travel, he feels that international real estate offers two key benefits to the investor: diversification and asset protection. Lief looks for one of two market situations when identifying opportunities to invest: an abundance of opportunity created by a market distortion (crisis investing) or a chance to follow the path of progress (new infrastructure or trends).

For example, Lief told his readers to buy property in Argentina shortly after the 2001 financial crisis, when CNN was busy showing riots in the streets. Lief and several forward-thinking readers who followed his lead have since enjoyed appreciation of at least 100% on buys they made in Buenos Aires…plus rental income. He’s also turned readers on to investments in Mexico, Nicaragua, and Romania, buys that have appreciated 160% in 18 months, 120% in 12 months, and 82% in 15 months, respectively.

Lief has bought real estate in 16 countries and currently holds real estate investments in a dozen countries. He has lived and worked on five continents and traveled to more than 40 countries. His MBA in international management is from Thunderbird, The Garvin School of International Management, and he has worked for an accounting firm, an international oil company, and as the CFO for a hospitality design and consulting firm that renovates hotels around the world.

He is the founding editor of Global Real Estate Investor and is a contributing editor to International Living. Since "retiring" at the end of 2006, Lief has started working more directly with developers, consulting on marketing and project funding.

Lief Simon will speak at the Ultimate Event III.