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Georgep23, because what I am basically saying is that we end up giving back the money we borrow from the foreign investor and with that money they come back and buy when we are weak. Then either sell it back to us for a higher price or rent it to us. Why are they not taking as much of a hit as we are taking? Any way you slice it they are making money off of us. Being in business is a risk why not let the cookie cumble the way it should?
TM2C3462, I'm not sure if you have been following the entire thread. Anyways, this is not about Chinese buying my place it is about a published article that I thought would be an interesting topic to discuss. I constantly reference foreigners and not Chinese but I guess there is a sensitivity you have around this issue. I do however believe that it should be more expensive to buy US property especially when you aren't required to even be a resident. Since the image of America is still desirable and is one of the few things the US has to offer other countries it should be a bit more costly. People will pay for it and that is money that will circulate to the US people.
ndfmnlf, the first bailout was suppose to help banks work with the homeowners and to get the borrowing process going, in addition to clearing up the liabilities (bad loans) that the banks had, but the banks instead held onto the money which they will most likely do for the second bailout that is if they don't spend it first. I am against the bailout because the bailout was and will not be properly regualated. There are many things we as people think we know is going on but we don't have a clue. I am not for printing money. The bailout should have gone to the people and struggling small business and or businesses that can't get loans because of the economy. This mess got started because of greed. The US government should have worked harder to directly work with the homeowners to save their properties. What I guess I really don't like about the foreigners buying American property really relates to how we are proceived globally. That we are worthless, deperate, and that everything is for sale. Something is better appreciated when you have to work harder to get it. Being in the US is a privelege.
Not every foreign investor buys property here though. Just because they invest in securities doesn't mean they buy property here. If it wasn't for foreigners investing in the secondary mortgage market do you think this many Americans will still be able to buy homes? Probably not.
GeorgeP23, the foreign market investments go beyond real estate but that is not the point. The secondary lending is to blame for what is happening now to our economy. If prices weren't driven so high and people not able to use their homes as ATM'S we certainly wouldn't be in this mess we are in today. It was better when you either had to have the entire cash or get a higher interest rate to buy a home, that was responsible lending/purchasing. I think you are missing my point altogether, I have nothing against foreigners as I am a product of immigrants and am married to one. I am just trying to find solutions to the bigger problem. A better circulation of money is to make those who can and want to pay for something a bit more costly and or have some sort of standards. Americans have always been able to buy homes without secondary lenders and or foreign investors.
Why is it so easy for foreigners to buy US property but it is difficult for the US citizen to buy in other countries?
The Chinese are coming, to buy bargain US homes (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/02/12/international/i083518S78.DTL&type=realestate - broken link)
GeorgeP23, the foreign market investments go beyond real estate but that is not the point. The secondary lending is to blame for what is happening now to our economy. If prices weren't driven so high and people not able to use their homes as ATM'S we certainly wouldn't be in this mess we are in today. It was better when you either had to have the entire cash or get a higher interest rate to buy a home, that was responsible lending/purchasing. I think you are missing my point altogether, I have nothing against foreigners as I am a product of immigrants and am married to one. I am just trying to find solutions to the bigger problem.A better circulation of money is to make those who can and want to pay for something a bit more costly and or have some sort of standards. Americans have always been able to buy homes without secondary lenders and or foreign investors.
I was talking about foreigners investing in secondary mortgage markets, not secondary lending.
I know what your point is, your saying it should be more expensive for foreigners to buy land. I just don't understand what foreign investors buying securities has to do with it, all they are doing is helping us by putting money in circulation.
Why is it so easy for foreigners to buy US property but it is difficult for the US citizen to buy in other countries?
The Chinese are coming, to buy bargain US homes (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/02/12/international/i083518S78.DTL&type=realestate - broken link)
The answer is we're a lot more open to foreign investment then most other countries. That's a good thing which attracts a lot of foreign capital into the US and we desperately need it since US citizens don't seem to save very much even Americans who make six figures often live pay check to pay check. I'll leave it to you to figure out why Americans are so poor at finances but the fact that we, as a group, are is indisputable.
Oh, and less then 1% of Chinese citizens are wealthy enough to be able to afford something like $1,000,000 (normally paid in cash because without established credit histories in the US they can't get that kind of financing even in the best economic times) for a house in the US. The truth is the the long history of China and it's periodic instability has taught Chinese to save, save, save for a rainy day because all to often something happens in China and those who don't plan ahead die in China. Those was true even in recent communist history such as the Great Leap forward where some 50 million people starved to death because the communists took so many farmers out of field to work in factories during Mao's sudden push to increase Chinese industrial output. A few smart people, even in the communist party itself (there are several notable governors), planned ahead by storing food for the people of their province while other officials made no plans and millions of their people starved to death when the food shortages happened. This was just 40 years ago and it reinforced the Chinese cultural preference to be compulsive savers; so much so that many Chinese save up to 50% of their income forgoing even things like a second pair of clothes just because they're taught that a man without savings is doomed to die if a crisis hits.
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