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Month: September 2012

24 Sep
Property Taxes And HOA Fees: The Cost Of Holding Real Estate

The Cost Of Holding Real Estate: Property Taxes And HOA Fees

The Cost Of Holding Can Be More Important Than The Cost Of Buying I read recently about a home owner's association in Florida foreclosing on units because owners are delinquent with their HOA fees. The article focused on a couple of condo complexes where the monthly HOA fees had been increased to the point where [...]
17 Sep
How To Buy Real Estate Overseas

How To Buy Real Estate Overseas

Pay For What You See "'Buy what you see,' you tell us all the time, Lief," wrote a reader recently. "Yet, at the same time, you promote pre-construction investments. How does that make any sense?" Perhaps I should adjust the mantra from "Buy what you see" to "Pay for what you see." Taken literally, Buy [...]
13 Sep
Colombia: One Of The World’s Most Attractive Investment Markets

Colombia Qualifies As One Of The World’s Most Attractive Investment Markets

Low Debt, Low Inflation, And Continued Growth--This Is The Third World? In Monday's dispatch, I wrote about misguided misperceptions that persist related to life in Colombia. Most of the world continues to think this country is a no-go zone for safety reasons. Sure, wander off into the jungle regions near the border with Ecuador or Venezuela...or [...]
06 Sep
Panama’s new “Specific Countries” residency program is the easiest and quickest way to establish permanent residency in this country, even to obtain a work permit.

What’s Panama’s New “Specific Countries” Residency Program?

Easy Residency And Even A Work Permit In Panama Here's the most important thing to understand about the "offshore world": The rules can (and do) change fast. You can't assume you understand something today (to do with establishing residency, obtaining citizenship, opening a bank account, etc.) because you researched it a month or two ago. [...]
03 Sep
Establishing Irish Residency And Obtaining An Irish Passport

Establishing Irish Residency And Obtaining An Irish Passport

New Irish Residency Scheme Not A Sure Path To Citizenship In researching the lead article for the August issue of the Simon Letter on Irish citizenship, I came across information about economic residency options the Irish government came up with earlier this year. Some are touting these as economic citizenship options. Unfortunately, that's not really the case. [...]