Structure US real estate investment with international investors

[Chris A.]

Hi Bigger Pockets community,

I have some high net worth friends in Greece that have expressed interest in investing in real estate in the states. I've found some tax law surrounding investors from the UK, Canada, Germany, and Asia but nothing on Greece specifically. Does anyone know of any requirements that would be specific to Greek nationals regarding investing in U.S. real estate? Any insight on requirements, optimal ways to structure a fund vehicle or one-off JV, etc. would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

[David Besins]

I was having some issues as well. Being from France and working in the US (real estate), High net worth in Europe are terrified of filing anything in the US and they most likely will.

If they are OK and easier approach is structuring the investment as a loan. Most European countries have double tax treaty with the US (usually 15% taxed on both end for a total of 30%).

The upside you can pay out 6-7% and pocket the difference the downside you have to stick to a loan Fixed returns over a fix period of time.

Return are lower in Europe (so are loans) so we tried to simply borrow at 6-7% and do hard money loans for 10-12% great idea, little work. But almost everyone with money walked away after talking with their local advisors because: " Do you really want to be filed in the US for an extra 30-50K/year"...