They may be investing for appreciation mainly which is a financial form of russian roulette in my opioion but does work for very savvy investors.

I'm in Bloomington studying Russian for the summer, so the schedule can be pretty packed.1. 

It is not a good idea to play Russian roulette with hard money loans.

If you are playing Russian Roulette with a hot market, perhaps you need to rethink that policy and/or develop a safety net.

I know some Russians that will lend me money cheaper than that and I'll keep the spread lol.To the original post - find a realistic partner under the terms that the others posted here or get a hard money lender for a year at 15% or less... it will be way cheaper than what Aaron is proposing. 

I am going to follow your advice, I was able to find many good books of American authors that are mentioned on this forum in Russian and I was able to download them for free.

Real state market is divided into main 2 category, old soviet Russian style apartments, newly built apartments and houses since 1990.

I tried to get in touch with  Russian community and realtors in Florida but so far no results

Another tip is to check social media--you would be, well maybe not, surprised what some idiots will put on their Facebook page.Also, as Ronny Reagan said about the Russians, "trust but verify." 

. - it is in Russian Hill on Green Street....Small condo... off market from OOS owner.... $560K...