Investing outside of United States (Costa Rica)

[Bradley Gudim]

I've heard some investors are scared to invest outside of the United States. Are their reasons justified because of lack of information or strategy? We can invest with hopes of property value increases. Or we can invest in rental properties that realize ROI on regular intervals.

[Alex Washburn]

John's anecdotes are important but I think the country you invest in is really they key. So I'd categorize it as a mix of fact based legitimate concern and accessibility.

I just purchased a condo in Costa Rica that we are going to have up on Airbnb fairly soon. However, even in CR I might be hesitant to buy a large property in the country without more systems in place.

As for Honduras, Nicaragua and El Salvador - I don't trust their legal systems enough but Belize would be great!

Part of why we made the leap to purchase in CR is because we live in the SF Bay Area ($$$$) and any reasonably priced markets would require a plane flight anyway. Since I speak Spanish and had been to CR several times there wasn't any real fear or concern with that.

Note: an issue that will keep many US investors in a post 08' world out of international deals will be the difficulty in securing financing. US banks will not loan on a property in CR and what we think of as traditional mortgages does not exist in the country. Cash is king!