I don’t usually pay attention to exchange rates on a daily basis. However, being in Europe for the last month, I’ve been watching the U.S. dollar rate versus the euro. The euro has dropped from US$1.13 to US$1.115 since I arrived about four weeks ago. The difference of a penny-and-a-half—or a bit less than 1.5%—isn’t […]
I don’t try to predict currency exchange rates when shopping for real estate investments overseas. I focus on finding a good opportunity in a market I believe in. I don’t then wait to make the buy depending on whether the local currency is over- or undervalued relative to the currency I’m shopping with. In 2011, […]
A developer I work with in Brazil wrote to me this week to say that several recent reservations he’s received from would-be American buyers have been cancelled after the buyers have spoken with their financial advisors. Reasons these financial advisors have counseled their clients to pull out of purchases after having signed contracts include: It’s […]
A friend I caught up with last week in Medellin, an American, told me with a grin that he’d already completed and filed his FBAR for this year. He was pleased with himself for getting it in early…until I reminded him that, starting this year, the FBAR must be filed electronically. My friend had filled […]
One of the benefits of hosting conferences around the world is the chance they give me to spend focused time with key contacts in key markets. It’s at our conferences that I find out about ear-to-the-ground kinds of opportunities that usually don’t make it beyond a small circle of investor-friends. This week in Medellin, for […]
The first viewing was a one-bedroom, two-bath apartment with a den on Avenida Balboa. The den could be converted into a small bedroom to make the unit a two-bedroom. Why did the developer not package the property this way in the first place? Probably due to concerns over zoning density. Other apartments along Avenida Balboa […]
A reporter from the mainstream press contacted me recently asking if I could introduce him to an American who has given up his (or her) citizenship. The reporter is doing a story on the growing number Americans expatriating and wanted a firsthand story to tell. Unfortunately, none of the people I know who have expatriated […]
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