3 Reasons to Invest in Overseas Real Estate

I have been investing in real estate overseas for close to two decades, because when you look overseas, there is always opportunity somewhere.

If you are willing to look beyond your home borders, you really can have your cake and eat it…low risk and huge upside…

It’s an idea that’s made sense to me for so long now, that I sometimes forget it’s not a strategy that’s obvious to everyone.

So, why exactly should you invest in real estate overseas? Let me give you a few reasons…with a bit of history.

Back in 2008 during the last crisis, many of my friends and acquaintances around the world were in a state of panic.

Their retirement savings were being decimated.

I was sitting on a beach in Brazil buying condos with a 1% down-payment at launch—the equivalent of just $736.

The weekend I bought my condo, the whole condo community sold out. Having made some more payments along the way I later sold, for a gross profit of $43,500.

Northeast Brazil was undergoing a massive transformation. There was no financial crisis there. In fact, northeast Brazil was booming as it emerged as a strategic logistics, tourism, and manufacturing center with a strong agricultural hinterland.

In the U.S. and Europe, banks collapsed, pensions disappeared, and real estate markets crashed. I looked on while news footage in my hotel showed teary-eyed bank employees carrying their stuff out of abandoned offices in boxes. Then in Brazil, I went back to work bringing “double your money” deals to members of newly founded Real Estate Trend Alert. (I founded RETA in 2008.)

And that’s the most important reason to invest in international real estate. You get to follow big “once in a lifetime” transformations and play them far more often than once in your life.

In 2008, while the rest of the world was gripped by crisis, I was on a beach in northeast Brazil buying condos that delivered exceptional gains.

Just a few years before the 2008 crisis, I sold one of my properties in Ireland. Values had risen to a level that made no sense to me. In just one decade, between 1997 and 2007, prices for new houses increased by more than 200%. (No, that’s not a misplaced zero—that 200% figure is correct.) Already-built homes sold for even more. The increase was a whopping 280%.

I made a killing when I sold. And when I invested the profits in Panama I multiplied my money AGAIN. And yes, my friends and family thought I was crazy investing overseas.

But by doing so, not only did I protect my gains, I multiplied them. I made a profit of over $72,000 in one deal in Panama. Not so crazy then…

Wearing an investor hat, it’s difficult to see much sustainable upside in most markets in North America. I look to invest in places where I can see a decade plus of upward growth. Most U.S. and Canadian markets are highly leveraged and expensive relative to incomes, very susceptible to interest rates rising or employment falling. I’ve watched over the last two or three years as “little guy” property investment and speculation has come back in vogue. News articles and hundreds of blogs cover investing in Atlanta or Austin. Television shows feature baristas or graphic designers turned house flippers.

My point is this: better to look for markets with huge upside and little risk. Markets where even in times of global crisis, we can still do well.

I’m not looking for any old international opportunity. I’m focused on the very best ones. The ones that give the biggest upside for the lowest risk. Every now and then, you get lucky and they’re in your back yard. Mostly, though, you need to open your mind and get a little bit adventurous…get out there and start having some fun.

Here are three more reasons to invest in real estate overseas…

1. The potential profits. When you look overseas, you open yourself to bigger opportunities. Much bigger potential gains. Eleven years of RETA deals go a long way toward proving that…you can double your money in a few short years, see rapid five-figure gains, even six-figures…generate rental yields ranging from 12% to 20%…

2. Protect your wealth. When you invest in real estate, you diversify your assets. When you invest in overseas real estate you go a step further and reduce your exposure to your home market. If things hit a speed bump in the U.S. both real estate and the stock market will fall. As my Brazilian experience shows, while much of the world can be in freefall, if you find the right place and the right deal, you will still be making money.

3. You can travel. Yes, the current crisis has restricted travel for most of us. But I bet you’re craving that feeling of touching down in a tropical paradise more ever before. There’s nothing sweeter than traveling the world for fun and profit. I’ve been doing it for decades and I’ll never tire of exploring and scouting.

When I’m not scouting for new opportunities I stay in what I call “my bases.”

I enjoy average temperatures of 80 F during the winter in Cabo. Spring and fall I’m in Portugal. I spend time in Ireland in the summer when the days are long and balmy And usually my bridge between Cabo and Europe is time in one of my homes in the Riviera Maya. I love golf, the beach, nice food…and perfect weather.

Portugal’s Algarve has a red-hot rental market. During peak season, a rental home can make as much as €7,000 a week. And over the last few years, the peak season has been getting longer as Portugal’s tourism sector booms.

Investing in overseas real estate means I can have the life I want and live in and own homes that make money. When I can travel again, I’ll hand the keys of my condo to my rental manager. When I come back all my stuff will be back where I left it…my home will have been well cared for.

Investing overseas is how you can make a lot of money and be financially free.

I got to ride big transformations in Ireland, Panama, along the Riviera Maya…there’s always opportunity somewhere…opportunity to take advantage of the dollar’s strong currency position…to buy a dip in a destination that’s seeing long-term growth…or to buy silly-cheap property in countries with weak economies.

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