VIP Property Secrets Revealed

Date: 05/17/2006

International Living Postcards--your daily escape

Thursday, May 18, 2006
Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic

Dear International Living Reader,

The drive from the airport to Sun Village Resorts, the site of our Global Real Estate Forum, took us around some major infrastructure work--$10 million in new water and electricity lines being laid in Puerto Plata to ready the area for an anticipated tourism boom from North America. The Brits and Australians are already here, and everyone seems to be waiting for the good news about the Dominican Republic--great weather, world-class beaches, low prices--to reach the U.S. vacation and condo-buying market. The government certainly believes the news will break soon and is putting money into bringing the infrastructure in line to meet U.S. expectations…tearing up streets in the meantime.

But once we were all assembled at the Sun Village Resorts, it was down to business. On the table during these private sessions were frank discussions on the best current thinking about global opportunities in real estate. The nuggets of practical, actionable info flew fast and furiously during this first day.

Here's a small selection of the speakers and ideas everyone's talking about this evening…plus a sneak preview of what's happening tomorrow (I was able to get an advance look at a few presentations while attendees and speakers mingled over cocktails):

* Paul Reynolds of Reynolds Properties in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The potential in Uruguay remains untapped. The Uruguayans don't know what they have in Montevideo and Punta del Este. Quality colonial town homes, and beachfront and beach view lots are cheap, even compared to neighboring Argentina.

* Stacy Blair of Everbank talked about a simple way to mitigate currency risk when buying real estate overseas.

* Tuey Murdock of First American Title Insurance Company. You can buy foreign real estate through your retirement account--whether you currently have an IRA, SEP, Keogh, 401(k), 403(b), 457, or Roth. You can combine IRA's if you don't have enough value to purchase the real estate you want on your own, and the whole process takes 45 days. If you expect significant capital growth, a Roth IRA is a better option (because no capital gains tax is levied). Tuey co-presented with a developer from Nicaragua who currently offers IRA ownership as a standard option (something almost no-one else in Latin America is doing). Together, they've made the process virtually painless.

* Robert Kroesen of United Nature. The Panamanian government has revived the forestry investor visa. Robert detailed the recent changes in the reforestation investment residency laws in Panama and explained how you can get Panamanian residency in two years.

* Nace Cohen of Exchange Experts. You can defer capital gains tax on foreign property through Section 1031 of the Internal Revenue Code. A common pitfall of this process is "flipping." Selling your foreign real estate immediately for profit isn't allowed under Section 1031. But holding the property for at least one year--the period commonly accepted as owning for appreciation--before you sell is allowed.

There's much more going on here in Sun Village…too much to report in this brief e-mail. After today's full schedule, we took advantage of the restaurants, bars, pools, and beaches here. Dominican beaches rank with the best in the Caribbean, and Sun Village has a stretch of white-sand that is among the best on the island--a great setting for mulling over the day's information and establishing contacts with other attendees. Some of these contacts will last a lifetime, as will the impact of the ideas and insights shared in today's forum sessions and workshops.

Dan Prescher
Roving Latin America Property Scout, International Living

Editor's note: We're half-way through the presentations, workshops, and breakout sessions that will arm every attendee at this Global Real Estate Forum with the tools he needs to help him on his way to an international property portfolio. But if you couldn't make it to the Dominican Republic, don't worry--you can still get access to the same knowledge and ideas shared by International Living's international real estate guru Lief Simon, and his land expert pals.

For the first time ever--and only for the duration of the Forum in the D.R.--membership is now open to The Ultimate Real Estate Buyers Club.

Members of this club will have access to the tips and techniques that have already made thousands of international property buyers rich…including VIP discounts not available to the general public when buying certain types of real estate.

This is serious, insider advice and research from Lief Simon and his team of experts. Membership is now open…but hurry--it closes in 4 days.