Archive for November, 2019
Going Global with California Real Estate
Going Global!
The world just keeps getting smaller! We attended a great forum this week by Orange County Association of Realtors Global Committee – they went over 4 of the most common countries that Californians move to and from. Have you ever considered an international investment property? Such fascinating info, read on!
United Kingdom buyers
- Usually they hire an independent buyers agent that they pay 1-2% out of pocket to.
- There is no MLS system. Right move & Zoopla are the platforms most listings are on.
- Agent helps search for properties, viewings and makes offer.
- Sellers agents only works for the seller.
- Buyers can ‘outbid’ and existing buyers offers and its allowed in a sellers market, so it can be tough.
- When it comes to loans & financing, buyers typically put 5-20% down, the rest can be financed
- There is no such thing as escrow, lawyers executing the contracts once a price is agreed upon
- Buyers receive title deeds 2-5 months after completion / closing.
The UK welcomes US buyers. HSBC is best bank for a smooth mortgage – its in both countries. A warning about age….a 36 year old got 2.5% rate and a 50 year old client got 4%, so they literally practice age discrimination over there. Buy young!?! The exchange rate as of the date of this post is low, and college towns are great to invest in, as there are many international students. Birmingham, London, and others are all good.
UK buyers are very self reliant to buy in US, and they frequently buy in Florida, California, Texas & New Jersey. Most tend for suburban areas, but 20% are still opting for in urban areas and cities. UK buyers need to be able to trust the agents and feel educated by them. We also need to remind them that they receive our services for FREE.
Tips On Buying Investment Property In India
Raj Rajpal, CIPS in India offered us some international business tips . India is the 8th most secure country, and India is the fastest growing economy in the world, at a GDP of around 8% for 5 years in a row. India is building over 10M properties per year, which gives plenty of inventory!
Price points in India are very similar to CA, 300K – over 1M. You can search India properties on Realtor.com. They don’t have an MLS either, but seem to be working on one. Many of the homes range 1000-2000 sq ft range, are concrete, and take about 6 months to build.
India uses both buyers and sellers agents. Commissions there do not have to be disclosed. It’s common practice to buy homes cash, but they do offer financing options.
When it comes to Indian buyers in the US, the numbers consistently increase every single year. They don’t tend to sell their homes as much as other buyers.
Planning on buying in or from Canada, Eh?!
Tricia Lehane is a CIPS Realtor well versed on Canada and US real estate, and helped us with some great stats today. Canada’s average price is around 500K. Canada’s population is smaller than the state of CA, and they have Provence instead of states. Putine for heart attacks haha.
There IS an MLS in Canada, and they have a Canada Real Estate Association (CREA), which is nice to see the structure and organization ahead of some of the other countries discussed here. Realtor Quest in Toronto is a great conference to go to.
Canadians hate winter and they love California… Don’t we all?!
As a Michiganer who used to go to Canada regularly, I can feel your winter pain and I now only visit the cold. If you’d like to accomplish this migration as well, simply call me!
Canada financing can happen in 10 days – 2 weeks, so its important to make sure Canadian buyers understand the difference in a California timeline. Canada doesn’t do Home Warranty, and they usually require 20% down. RBC bank and bank of Montreal are good banks to use for financing.
US is the main country that moves to Canada, and China is also has high stats.
For foreign sellers in Orange County, Escrow leaders has a great program that doesn’t tie up your profits with the IRS for a year like many other escrow companies do.
Our Final Presenter: Luis Mendoza About Buying In Mexico.
Luis’ advice is to work with the system in the country you are buying or selling in – don’t 
try to change it to the system you know. Mortgages are available but tough to obtain. No FICO scores.
Mexico has a new president and a lot of people want to bring their money here to the US, and get a green card. Did you know Mexico City has more billionaires than any other city? And Tijuana has 72 cranes right now???
You can own land(ish) through a bank trust called a Fedicomico. Mexico uses escrows and a Notario Publico who has been appointed by the government. See this video interview for more info. Cabo is one of the most popular cities right now. San Felipe, Rosarito, and Los Alamos are all up and coming affordable cities. One thing to note is closing costs are 9%, so PLAN ACCORDINGLY. Property taxes are basically non-existent – they make their money off of sales tax. Proxio is a great international platform.
Orange County Real Estate Success 