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By Kathleen Chiras, on November 3rd, 2011
Proposed Legislation could help foreign nationals who want to spend $500,000 or more in the US on residential real estate. The person must be willing to spend at least $250,000 on a primary residence where they are willing to live for at least 180 days out of the year. During this time, the individual must also pay US taxes. Because those with enough cash to buy $500K worth of US real estate are spending at least 6 months in the US, they are spending money on gas, groceries and other goods and services that bolster local economies.
Financial guru Warren Buffet came up with one of the original suggestions that the US consider altering their policy for wealthy immigrants. This measure is seen as one way to boost the US real estate market and provide more incentive for foreign capital to flow into the United States. Analysts believe this measure could help east the US housing crisis. Currently, foreigners made up mostly of Canadians, Chinese, Mexicans, and folks from the UK and India spend about $80 billion on home purchases in the US annually.
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By Kathleen Chiras, on December 3rd, 2010
Should a real estate buyer agent point out negatives with a potential house purchase if the the buyer hasn’t already noticed them? Apparently some real estate designation classes are advising licensees to protect themselves first. Should the buyer just rely on an inspection to cover these items, or are buyers wanting more from their agents?
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By Kathleen Chiras, on September 15th, 2009
We are seeing a steady stream of first time home buyers continue to request the services of a buyer agent to help them see if they should buy now before the $8,000 tax credit ends or interest rates climb back up.
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By Kathleen Chiras, on September 9th, 2009
I read through news articles every morning to get a temperature reading on the state of the US economy in order to make a judgment about what is going on. One article says the recession is over, while the next one says all dynamics point to another big dip in the not too distant future. Where is the safe harbor for real estate investors?
It helps to remember that news thrives on controversy and unpredictability. My personal safe harbor is to read articles from sources I trust and by authors with whom I have a basic philosophical alignment. When it comes to real estate purchases, the safe harbor for personal investment is, “can I really afford this property and do I really want this property” For both personal and non-personal investments, it is simply, “do the numbers work“? right now?
I have added “right now” because it is clear to me that there are as many good arguments for a recovery as there are arguments against it. No one has a crystal ball.
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By Kathleen Chiras, on July 6th, 2009
A CNN report says that Costa Rica is the happiest place in the world. An independent research group in Britain says Costa Rica is “centered on people and the environment.”
This group ranks nations using the “Happy Planet Index,” which seeks countries with the most content people.
In addition to happiness, the index by the New Economics Foundation considers the ecological footprint and life expectancy of countries.
“Costa Ricans report the highest life satisfaction in the world and have the second-highest average life expectancy of the new world (second to Canada),” the organization said in a statement.
They “also have an ecological footprint that means that the country only narrowly fails to achieve the goal of … consuming its fair share of the Earth’s natural resources.
If you are thinking of visiting or possibly living in Costa Rica, feel free to visit my websites, CampingInCostaRica.com and Costa-Rica-Land-For-Sale.com
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By Kathleen Chiras, on July 3rd, 2009
Here’s today’s assessment of the real estate market in Puerto Vallarta Mexico from one of our SmartHomeSearch buyer agents who lives there. Yikes!
Jim says,
The market; what market? First the recession and mortgage crisis, next the border (1,000 miles away) drug war, then the crazy swine flu scare (haven´t seen anyone sneeze here for 6 months!), and now it´s summer (hot, humid, and raining). The real estate market and economy in general has been devastated in Vallarta.
We have an inventory of 7,000 new condos on the market. Most of the new projects are either continuing at a snails pace or being abandoned. Real estate sales in PV this past year have been so close to zero that at this rate, the current supply of condos and villas will last for 20 years with no new construction.
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By Kathleen Chiras, on June 13th, 2009
I’ve been out of the loop here for a while. Took some friends down to Costa Rica to have fun & look at properties. Like other parts of the world, lotsa good deals down there right now. Condos near the beach for around 100K, little farms with cash back crops for $120K. 200K and up buys some amazing properties.
I spent some time setting up my tent platform in Dominical for use for those who want to make a charitalbe donation, and am just now working on putting together a site for it. The slideshow of the walk down the beach is on this blog! Fun playing with the new media stuff.
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By Kathleen Chiras, on April 7th, 2009
I spoke today with a person who is looking for a buyer agent to help him locate property in Las Vegas Nevada. He says he keeps loosing out on bidding wars. Apparently the homes are priced very low for the purpose of causing a “feeding frenzy” so the property will gather a lot of attention, and then a lot of people will bid the price up.
This buyer also think there is more buyer demand in Vegas now from an unlikely source: people who may soon be foreclosing on their current property. He said, “I’m sitting in my car right now in front of a 2,000 sf home that is fairly new and is listed for $80,000. What I am seeing is that the people with $300-house mortgages are deciding to buy these houses up, & then just go ahead & default on their current mortgage. They figure their credit will be shot anyway by the time the foreclosure happens, so the strategy is to get into a newer bigger home now with half the mortgage payment. They will then just let the $300K house go back to the bank”
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By Kathleen Chiras, on April 7th, 2009
We received a request today from Jonathan, who is in the military and planning to relocate to Anchorage, AK in the next three months. He was hoping to find a 3 bedroom 2 bath single family home for sale.
Unfortunately upon checking with our buyer agent there, we heard that prices have not really gone down much even with the economic recession. Inventory is low, and there are no single family homes in the under-$100K range. Properties between $200-500K go quickly. The only properties staying on the market for very long are over $500K.
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By Kathleen Chiras, on March 26th, 2009
–Mortgage rates are expected to drop further. And I thought 5% was a great rate.
–Federal Reserve Board will more than double its purchase of mortgage-backed securities. The DOW is responding favorably. This is expected to improve the housing economy.
– We are very busy here at the office referring people to buyer agents, as there seems to be more confidence. People are no longer waiting on the sidelines. They are jumping back in, especially if they have a good job. More investors are starting to show up.
–This combination of big governement spending and low interest rates, is expected to be temporary, with anticipated bigger inflation years ahead. Many are wondering if now is the perfect time to buy.
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