All Forum Posts by: Sam Van Horebeek

hi Jon

Certainly financing is an important factor when acquiring US or UK real estate. However, I would suggest to look at the fundamentals of the US and UK real estate market first.

Looking at the US, you can achieve 10-12% net rental yield on single-family houses in several cities in the US (sometimes even higher but then there is some other risk coming into play).  So if you are looking for buy and hold and create cash flow, this would be a good option.  Potentially you can do financing and this would be an extra return on top of the 10-12% net rental yield. You would also have some capital gain when you sell in a few years (albeit would be low).

I do not know the UK real estate market so hope someone else can cover that.

I agree with Steve - there is a lot of overseas cash available - at least, we see a lot of Chinese cash going to the US.

We have been working with several Chinese buyers for Washington DC.  I believe that there is more to come - even when the market continues to appreciate. Washington DC is still cheap in comparison with Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing.

hi Nick,

thanks for the message.  As in the US, very few buyers will buy a property online - most of them will engage a team that knows the market, neighborhood and can provide excellent service. This concept is the same for Chinese buyers of US real estate.  Chinese will appreciate much more to work with a team in China whom they can meet with or talk to in order to discuss their interest.  As such, a website is just an enabling technology but the deals are being closed offline.  

We are having two active buyers for Seattle right now and you are right that we have seen many in the past year and probably more in the years to come.

Drop me an email if you need more information - [email protected]

Eboni,

we are a US team based in China dealing with Chinese investors looking to acquire US real estate. There might be cooperation opportunities for us.  We have had several clients looking to buy houses in Houston and maybe the interest will continue to increase.

It is a good point that taxes will affect decisions of any investors including the Chinese investors. However, the main reasons of Chinese to buy property in the US remain personal reasons such as education and immigration.  While they certainly prefer not to pay more tax, the interest for US property purchases will remain and frankly it is likely to accelerate - simply because the Chinese are keen to get their child to go study in the US and their family to move to the US to enjoy healthy food and life.  

Neil

HSBC in US provides financing for foreigners with less than 50% down - I believe they require 35% down. Clearly, there are requirements for the foreigner to have a job and income in his/her home country, tax documents of his/her home country, bank statements, etc.  

hi Jennifer

there are no visa or legal requirements for any foreigner to buy a property in the US. We are dealing with many foreigners who do not have a visa/greencard for the US and they can purchase one or multiple properties. Of course, visiting the property or staying there will require a valid visa.

Concerning financing, we have noticed only a few US banks that will provide financing to foreigners who do not have an employment history/credit history. Foreigners typically do not have any credit history in the US so the bank will look for other documentation such as rent history in the home country, credit card payment in the home country, etc.