All Forum Posts by: Mike Lambert

@Astva Tsaturyan Management companies are local. But this is potentially a great business idea. As my portfolio grows, I'll have to manage properties in more and more countries for my investors so I could do it for other people as well.

@Scott Morris There are 3 ways to go about the management. You can do it yourself, which has become possible thanks to technology but there is work involved. You can also hire a local property management company. It's a big advantage to have somebody on the ground but oftentimes it will cost you 30% of your gross rental income (so even more of your net income). Alternatively, you can invest with people like me, who find the opportunities and take care of everything using their local contacts and share the profits. My objective with the investors who invest with me is to have them make higher returns and take less risks than if they were investing on their own. There are risks involved so it's important that you know what you're doing or invest with people who do and who you can trust. Good choice of countries. Colombia and Uruguay are great countries for real estate investing and they have a great potential.

@Hai Loc Yes there is a lot of construction going and the market is hot. As a result, it's difficult to make the numbers work but there are always deals to be had, like everywhere else.

@Astva Tsaturyan @Scott Morris @Bruce Lynn Thailand doesn’t make any sense since the short term rents are generally super low. I invest in México, Spain, Portugal, Colombia, Uruguay, Brazil and Panama. Cash flow yields can be very large if you know what you do. The Riviera Maya is the absolute best for unlevered cash flow (I managed to get financing through connections). Spain and Portugal are awesome if you can get foreclosures or motivated sellers (through connections again) and cheap financing is available. Colombia is an emerging tourist destination and the local currency is super low.

Unlike Astva, I prefer to manage and do it on behalf of the investors who invest with me.

@Hai Loc Where do you see the multifamily listings?

@Michael Porche Investing internationally is a great idea and I'm doing it myself. What is important to me though is the risk and the return, not the price point (I personally wouldn't invest in low price point properties overseas and you can find more properties with a lower price point in the US). Your risk in higher so you'd want a higher return. In many places, the return is actually lower in the US because you can't leverage. But in certain countries and with certain deals, you can make much more money than in the US. You just have to know what you're doing and have the right access to deals and contacts on the ground.

@Caleb Heimsoth That was 20 years ago. Medellin has had an incredible turnaround and is now one of the world's hotspots for digital nomads, US/foreign retirees. The real estate market is hot because of that and the emerging middle class in Colombia.

@Michael Porche why do you want to invest internationally and why those places?

I forgot to mention that I also buy foreclosures in Europe. In certain cases, you can buy at down to 30% of the current market value. Imagine wat your return would be if you buy and resell and finance 80% through a long term non-recourse mortgage at an interest rate of max 2%. Good luck to find anything like that in the US!

Investing internationally can be very rewarding if you know what you’re doing and have contacts on the ground.

I buy properties in Southern Europe and Latin America together with passive investors using my connections to buy at the right place and significantly below market value, even for brand new or pre-construction properties (provided that I’m personally connected with the developer). This way, out returns are much higher than they would be in the US or Canada. I wouldn’t invest. If it wasn’t the case, as it wouldn’t make any sense.

My advice would be to do your research, due diligence and hire a great lawyer or invest with someone who knows what he/she’s doing.

If you know what you’re doing, it’s the unavailability of (cheap) financing in many markets. Also many markets are overpriced and foreigners oftentimes don’t know that because they don’t do their due diligence properly.