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Timc2462, US citizens can not buy in Mexico, you can lease but not buy. It is a very complicated process. In South Korea it is not very easy to buy property there either, foreigners need to have a corporation status & a bank account in So. Korea to do so and purchasing property in that country can not be used for rental purposes: South Korea Buying Guide - Buying costs are high in South Korea.
Also Costa Rica is shy of being a US territory. You have to invest $50K if you want to buy in Costa Rica and or should be a legal resident. Property Rights (http://sanjose.usembassy.gov/proprigh.html - broken link)
There are provisions to Americans buying in Canada as well & Americans should be residents to buy, they can buy a vacation home only for the purpose of vacationing and not being a resident, it is also difficult to own the land, you can buy property but not the land, they give preference to Canadians to buy land: Can americans buy land in canada? - Yahoo!7 Answers
There are also provisions to buying in Columbia and Americans will not own the land. Can't believe you even went there since the government is not stable. You can buy property there today and the next day be told it is not yours anymore.
In Europe they make it easier for other Europeans to buy before they do Americans. You can buy in Europe but it will cost you. But that is my point, it will cost you. Why doesn't the US charge more for foreigners to buy?
Ndfmnlf, many countries call upon the US to help feed them and keep them out of trouble. The US is not all that bad, come on.
My son lived in Germantown, Md for 10 years...this fall he moved 40 miles away to Harpers Ferry, West Virginia to escape the high taxation there.
His City Income Tax had averaged $25,000 per year.
His home in Germantown was a 2 story home valued at about $850 k. He sold it in the recent depressed economy for $650K.
Around him were his neighbors..over 200 of them...all chinese nationals living in new similar homes paid for by the chinese government while they worked in state dept jobs in downtown DC.
If the neighbors could talk to you privately in the back yard, they were the very best of friends.
On the front sidewalk it was another story. When walking of a morning, if you stopped to speak to someone, a neighbor would run from an adjaicient home to see what was going on...so paranoid.
Everyone was spying on each other...
My son got a belly full of it and found a place without that type of social criteria.
Why did he live there? He was one of the first in that neighborhood and was the only american national for blocks around who's family spoke English.
His job was critical and sensitive...I'm sure they had his number.
Harper's Ferry? Everybody on the new block speaks English and doesn't care if you walk the dog or not...was a good move, for sure.
I am sorry, but where in Germantown Md is this? I have lived here for 10 years myself and there is not a single place like what you describe that I know of.
Germantown is a diverse place, but you are saying that out of 201 neighbors your son was the only American living in that street/neighborhood? The percentage of ethnic chinese in Germantown is only 2%, some of whom if not many I presume will be American, some probably second or third generation Americans. As far as foreign born residents, only 8.8% of Germantown residents were born in Asia (not just China, but the whole continent of Asia). I also presume some at least of these foreign born residents will be naturalized American citizens.
I am genuinely curious because what you are describing would certainly be an anomaly in this town.
We Americans complain that China dumps their cheap products on us via Walmart while our US products have a hard time competing in China (hence the trade deficit). But when the situation is reversed to our favor - when we are actually selling more houses to the Chinese than we are buying from them - we also complain. No wonder we Americans are known as big complainers - nothing ever satisfies us. Americans need to grow up.
ndfmnlf, the problem with your statement is that for one US can't buy houses from China. Second, the US product is too expensive for the Chinese to entertain in buying. Most of the goods they make so why would they buy from us? That's called bad economics and or bad business so there is simply little in it for them to buy from us.
I don't know about you but I work and others I know work our behinds off to be "complaining" about nothing. Americans haven't been asking enough questions about process and how and why things get done in order to complain. To me the American people are not complaining enough to make the necessary changes before this place collapses. Americans need to be outraged instead of jobless and homeless.
ndfmnlf, the problem with your statement is that for one US can't buy houses from China. Second, the US product is too expensive for the Chinese to entertain in buying. Most of the goods they make so why would they buy from us? That's called bad economics and or bad business so there is simply little in it for them to buy from us.
I don't know about you but I work and others I know work our behinds off to be "complaining" about nothing. Americans haven't been asking enough questions about process and how and why things get done in order to complain. To me the American people are not complaining enough to make the necessary changes before this place collapses. Americans need to be outraged instead of jobless and homeless.
If Americans can't buy houses in China, that's equivalent to the Chinese buying all American goods while we're not buying anything from them. The balance of trade is in our favor.
To answer your original question, the Chinese are buying houses in the US coz they have the cash while Americans don't. If Americans had the cash, they'd be buying American houses too.
I am sorry, but where in Germantown Md is this? I have lived here for 10 years myself and there is not a single place like what you describe that I know of.
Germantown is a diverse place, but you are saying that out of 201 neighbors your son was the only American living in that street/neighborhood? The percentage of ethnic chinese in Germantown is only 2%, some of whom if not many I presume will be American, some probably second or third generation Americans. As far as foreign born residents, only 8.8% of Germantown residents were born in Asia (not just China, but the whole continent of Asia). I also presume some at least of these foreign born residents will be naturalized American citizens.
I am genuinely curious because what you are describing would certainly be an anomaly in this town.
I think David Kennedy was just being paranoid and xenophobic. Funny how he accuses the "Chinese nationals" in Germantown of paranoia when his post actually reeks of it. Apparently, all Chinese in Germantown look alike and they must all be agents of the Chinese government. How Kennedy knows this to be the case (did he look at their passports? did they confess to him?) is perplexing to say the least. Not all Chinese come from mainland China. There are Chinese who are native to the US (who have been here for generations, whose ancestors built the railroads in the western US 200 years ago) who have never set foot on China and don't speak a word of Chinese. There are Chinese from Taiwan, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, and even Hawaii....how the heck does David Kennedy know who's who?
Xenophobia always rears its ugly head during times of economic stress.
ndfmnlf, we buy most everything from China what are you talking about? But I agree with everything else you said. We Americans don't have the money to buy American because we don't have any money. true. But the US should make it a bit more difficult to buy property that is all I am saying.
ndfmnlf, we buy most everything from China what are you talking about? But I agree with everything else you said. We Americans don't have the money to buy American because we don't have any money. true. But the US should make it a bit more difficult to buy property that is all I am saying.
The US can't make it difficult for foreigners to buy American property. Strictly speaking, foreigners already have a lien on US houses. Who do you think buys our mortgage backed securities? It is China, India, Europe, Latin America.....etc
When an American buys a house in the US, he gets a mortgage, right? His mortgage is pooled by his bank (eg Bank of America) with thousands of other mortgages and packaged as mortgage backed securities (MBS) which are then sold off to foreign investors. These foreigners buy the MBS ftom B of A, giving the latter the cash with which to originate new mortgages. Without these foreign buyers, it would be harder for banks to lend money to Americans to buy houses. Foreign investors provide the liquidity, the grease, to keep the mortgage industry's wheels a-turning.
When Americans default on their mortgages, the people who are ultimately left holding the bag are these foreign investors. That's why this credit crisis is global, affecting many countries. Iceland is practically broke because of this. If I were China, I'd be mad as hell for having been sold these toxic MBS by American banks. I'd put a lien on these foreclosed homes.
So when you say you want to make it hard for foreigners to buy US houses, remember that foreigners already own the mortgages to these homes. It is the foreigners which enabled us Americans to have the money to go on a house buying spree over the last 7 years.
The US can't make it difficult for foreigners to buy American property. Strictly speaking, foreigners already have a lien on US houses. Who do you think buys our mortgage backed securities? It is China, India, Europe, Latin America.....etc
When an American buys a house in the US, he gets a mortgage, right? His mortgage is pooled by his bank (eg Bank of America) with thousands of other mortgages and packaged as mortgage backed securities (MBS) which are then sold off to foreign investors. These foreigners buy the MBS ftom B of A, giving the latter the cash with which to originate new mortgages. Without these foreign buyers, it would be harder for banks to lend money to Americans to buy houses. Foreign investors provide the liquidity, the grease, to keep the mortgage industry's wheels a-turning.
When Americans default on their mortgages, the people who are ultimately left holding the bag are these foreign investors. That's why this credit crisis is global, affecting many countries. Iceland is practically broke because of this. If I were China, I'd be mad as hell for having been sold these toxic MBS by American banks. I'd put a lien on these foreclosed homes.
So when you say you want to make it hard for foreigners to buy US houses, remember that foreigners already own the mortgages to these homes. It is the foreigners which enabled us Americans to have the money to go on a house buying spree over the last 7 years.
you're right to some degree.
they only package mortgages that the govt(fannie mae, freddie mac, fha, hud, etc) wont underwrite.
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