Does anyone invest internationally?

[Ben Bymaster]

I was recently thinking about how many investors don't limit themselves to their local market, and they even invest out of state. Soon after, I thought to myself, why limit yourself to only one country? Is it possible to invest on an international scale? If so, does anyone here have that experience?

[Marcus Auerbach]

@Ben Bymaster - just a little bit. Lending is the issue. When you buy property in the US you will need a US loan and for that you need US income. US lenders will not lend on outside of the US properties, because it's hard for them, maybe impossible to forclose on the collateral. By the way - we are blessed with 30 year fixed rate mortgages - most other countries in the world do not have anything like this. It's all short term ARMs. We are also lucky to have high rents. In Austria, where I am from, the goverment is running non profit housing organizations that build and own multi family homes - and the rents are very low - about a third of a percent of value. So in many ways the US is the shiny city on the hill...