Roberto Mazzoni

Dealing with foreigners that want to invest their money in the United States, I have come to recognize six basic questions that need to be answered before the relationship can really progress. Each of this question requires some research that has to be specific to the country the investor is coming from and you need to be able make comparisons between how things usually work in real estate in the US as compared to how they work in her own country.

US real estate can be attractive to international buyers if properly presented.

You are likely to be asked any of these six questions, maybe all, so you’d better prepare an answer ahead of time.

1. How do I invest in the USA? It includes describing the type of properties and markets you suggest and the reason why they should chose the USA instead of some other international real estate market.
2. How to you purchase a property in the US? The methods and contracts used to buy and sell properties in North America are fairly different from those used overseas. For example, in Italy, the market where a come from, there is no listing agent, no broker, no MLS. There is just an agent that both lists and sells the property, occasionally in cooperation with other agents.
3. Which protection systems should I look for? The answer can be extensive as there are many wealth protection systems in the US which simply don’t exist elsewhere. I would suggest you to provide information about the basic elements, like the various types of deeds, mortgages and promissory notes, insurance policies and company paperwork. Always suggest to your investor to purchase a property from within a US company created as a container for this purpose. It will simplify greatly the closing and the subsequent management.
4. How to read the key documents? This expands on question 3 and it is intended to explain the various components of the paperwork being used. Try to provide some form of translation of the key elements and spend some time to explain them.
5. How to save on taxes? This is a very big one. You don’t realize how much a foreigner can save on taxes by properly investing in the US. This takes some knowledge of the tax systems both in the US and the investor’s original country, but it is an hot subject.
6. How to multiply my return on investment? Any investor who plays in the international real estate field is looking for returns that are substantially higher than those he could get in his own country and that are more protected, considering the distance factor. This is the most challenging of the questions and it requires a deep knowledge of all the five points above and close understanding of your market.

If you can provide quality answers to all of the 6 points above you will gain respect and attention from international buyers and you will be able to expand your potential market.
Roberto Mazzoni

Yesterday night I have been to the monthly meeting of my mastermind organization, The Wealth Building Annex in Tampa. Chris Krimitsos, the founder of TWBA always manages to bring in some very interesting speaker, and this time the stage was taken by Aaron Fodiman the successful publisher of Tampa Bay Magazine and a very interesting person overall. His extensive background has seen him working at the White House in the staff of several presidents of the United States, then he has been the president of a major restaurant franchise, he owned and managed a chain of restaurants himself and eventually devoted himself to publishing.

Roberto Mazzoni with Aaron Fodiman and his wife Margaret Word Burnside, both directly involved in running Tampa Bay Magazine

The personal story of this gentleman is amazing since he has been extremely successful at three totally different activities, none of which he has chosen before hand. But he was able to excel by focusing on each one of them when the time came by also applying the first of his 12 success rules which is: “if you chase two rabbits, both will escape”.
…

…

The video that I am presenting here shows a short piece of the interview done by Chris with Aaron Fodiman. You will see how the true path to success sometimes presents itself after some trial.

During the one hour speech by Mr. Fodiman I learned many things about the publishing business, to which I belonged for three decades, and my current international real estate business. And the lesson is this: the more you know about the area where you live and operate, the more you can describe its culture, art and way of life, the more chances you have to succeed. I have also learned that Tampa Bay is the 12^th metropolitan area in the United States and that it is even bigger than Miami in terms of economical power. The best way for me to attract international buyers in this area will be to team up with people like Mr. Fodiman so to fully represent the emotion and lifestyle that can be experienced here, which will make investing in this area even more attractive.

Roberto Mazzoni

Banks and lending institutions have been at the center of the US real estate storm for the last three years and it is no wonder that many of them have gotten into trouble. What surprises me is that there is an “Unofficial Problem Bank List” that now includes 644 institutions for an aggregate assets value of $326 billion. A very informative article to this effect was just published by calculatedriskblog.com and it gives full detail on which institution is in trouble and the reasons for it.

Actually it is no surprise that these banks are in trouble considering the sharp reduction of lending activity, just dropped to the low levels of 1997, and considering the staggering amount of foreclosures still waiting to come out. What is actually amazing is that many banks still manage to survive despite everything, thanks to the support funds they are getting form the government and that would be intended in promoting lending and reducing foreclosures.

But now, despite the government props, banks are actually starting to fall off the chart again, some just disappear and other are acquired by other banks and merge with it. Many of the recent additions are banks traded at the stock exchange, so the crisis is getting also to the bigger institutions.

Roberto Mazzoni

Warren Buffet, the billionaire entrepreneur become very famous for his foresight, recently sent his annual letter to his shareholders. This year he has a special section dedicated to real estate where is is directly involved because Berkshire Hataway Inc, his company, owns the house manufacturing company Clayton Homes.

According do Buffet’s analysis the manufactured homes market is in very serious trouble because the economy is still slow and because of the number of new houses that started production in 2009 (housing starts) is the lowest in 50 years in the US. The overall figure being: 554,000 compared to the 2 million annual production that was going on a few years ago.

New house starts (new construction beginning) is at the lowest in 50 years.

It is a dramatically strong reduction that has serious impact on employment (it is actually pretty easy to find tradesman and construction people available for work today) but that is helping the recover of the general real estate market.

Indeed, with so little new homes being constructed or manufactured, the inventory on the market as a chance of being unloaded faster. Actually January has been a very slow month after the rush of the buyers who wanted to take advantage of the tax credit that was supposed to end in December 2009, but Buffet sees the dramatic drop in new houses as a very good indicator for the overall real estate market and he estimates that within a year “the residential housing problem” should largely be behind us.

Looking at the figures, 650 thousand net housing units were added during 2009 and during there were not as many new households: about 650 thousand, therefore just enough to balance the houses that had been added but not enough to seriously reduce the inventory, which should instead start reducing for real in 2010. How fast? It depends on what the banks do with their foreclosure backlog and how people will take advantage of the tax credit and of the government support to new first time home buyers.

Roberto Mazzoni

I have been working on expanding the reach of my marketing in selling houses and I have been collecting some useful advices of which I provide the first ten which would be valuable for both a local as well as an international real estate buyer.

The luxury kitchen of a ghouse for sale in Texas

They all require some work therefore it is better to learn them early, before you get to the actual sale, but you can always catch up later on. Some of them are particularly relevant for distant buyers, that is people who are not in the area and cannot see the house directly but that are interested in moving or they want a second investment home for vacation or for getting cash flow from the rent.

1. Research the area for any type of touristic amenities that could attract the distant buyer and collect videos or pictures of the most interesting ones and make them available online, possibly on your own site or on a free platform like blogger.com, tumblr.com, Facebook and so on. You will use this same platform to also make available pictures, videos and text about the following points.
2. Network with people in the area so to gather information about the neighborhood that would make the house more interesting.
3. Research the school district where the house is located and check to see if there are private schools that can provide assistance to foreign students of any age. If you’ll sell to a family, this is an important aspect. Sometimes international investors buy properties in the US near a university where they plan to send their kids. The more information you have and you can make available, the better.
4. Locate the major centers of entertainment that are available. Restaurants and movie theatres should be close by. But major attractions can also be at some distance from the house: up to two hours of traveling by car would be acceptable for somebody planning to buy a vacation house.
5. Any fitness center in the neighborhood? Do they allow seasonal memberships? Any park, tennis court, swimming pool can be an important element while making the decision.
6. Level of maintenance. Within reason, the house should be in move in condition. A remote buyer won’t have the time, resources and willingness to make repairs.
7. Have a professional photographer produce a visual tour of the house with a wide angle lens that will show clearly every room. This element alone can procure you a sale when you are dealing with a distant buyer.
8. Is there a hospital or a clinic near by. When you have families moving over or you have elderly buyers, this can be an important element to research and advertise.
9. Evaluate the market and determine a correct price. If the pricing is way off you will delay markedly the sale. Also be ready to explain to a remote buyer how did you determine the price.
10. Study ads by your competitors to see what buyers are responding to and stress these elements in your communication.

These are general advices that work also for you when you are evaluating a house that you want to purchase as your main residence or an investment.

Roberto Mazzoni

P.S. I have found a booklet that lists 89 more tips that you can employ. Is part of a whole package on how to sell your home and is available on Clickbank (click here for the affiliate link). I have got the whole package and found it quite interesting for the price. You might want to check it as well.

A tribute to my family that is supporting me in many ways during this awesome adventure.