How to Negotiate the Best Deals in the Worst Situations
Date: 07/27/2007Five siblings are involved in the negotiations for a piece of property I’m interested in buying right now…despite the fact that the father is still alive and holds title to the land.
See More [+]How It's Playing Out in Panama City
Date: 07/13/2007Buying property pre-construction (off-plan) comes with risks, including the big and obvious one that the developer might not complete the building.
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Three ways to invest wholesale and make a profit
Date: 10/02/2007
An investment in real estate, like any other investment, can be made at two levels: the retail level or the wholesale level. Investing at the retail level is as simple as buying a piece of property posted in a real estate agent's window or on an agency's website.
Retail investing can be easy, quick, and even profitable. But it's not likely to make you rich. The most prosperous investors find their way to the wholesale side of the equation.
In brief, there are four ways to make money wholesale in international real estate.
Read OnWhy you should hire an architect
Date: 07/31/2007Renovating a property anywhere can be a tough task. Doing it in a foreign country requires one part dream, one part adventure, one part persistence, and one part crazy. To date, I have renovated five properties in five countries…and I still have enough crazy in me to be working on a sixth.
See More [+]Fractional ownerships
Date: 07/31/2007
Palazzo Tornabuoni, Florence
To be an owner of a 16th-century frescoed Palazzo in the center of Florence is a rare privilege given that these historic estates are passed down from family to family, and almost never come up for sale. This Renaissance palazzo, once home to a Medici cardinal, has been restored to its glory days complete with supreme marble and silk furnishings. As an owner, you can have access to all the favorite pastimes of the nobility, including wild boar hunting, private wine tours of the Tuscan vineyards, and decadent massages and beauty treatments at the new Four Seasons Spa, just steps down the Via X, as well as six weeks a year guaranteed time at home. See: www.palazzotornabuoni.com.
The pains of administration
Date: 06/27/2007Profits from real estate investing are exciting. Not so exhilarating is dealing with the administration and bills.
In the less sophisticated markets, like those in Central America, the government isn't likely to send you a property tax bill. You have to go down and ask for the assessment and pay it in person. In some countries, you may or may not get a utility bill in the post, but again, in Central America you are likely to have to go in person to pay the bill even if one is mailed to you.
See More [+]Beware the markets of the Wild Wes
Date: 05/31/2007Real estate agents outside the States are nothing like their U.S. counterparts. Over the years, I've come to think of them as carpetbaggers.
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