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Buy Overseas to Diversify Your Assets, Protect Your Wealth, and Avoid Taxes while Creating Cash Flow and Profits
In April 2000, my husband, Lief, drove the southern coast of Spain from France to Portugal while scouting real estate investment opportunities. This was in the early days of focused development along the Spanish costa, before property markets in this part of the world bubbled up and boiled over. It was a time when it was possible to buy preconstruction (off-plan, as it's referred to by European developers) for little down and then sell on the contract before having to close on the purchase, walking away with impressive returns for not much capital out of pocket. Lief met with a developer who had just launched a new project on the beach in Estepona. The terms were typical of the times, with a down payment of 5 percent and further 5 percent deposits at key points throughout the period of construction until reaching 30 percent. The balance would be due when the unit was completed and delivered. Lief sized up the market and the developer and signed a contract.
At the time, foreigners could get easy financing in Spain for up to 70 percent loan to value, meaning we had a security net for coming up with the balance due beyond the preconstruction payments. However, the exit strategy was to flip the unit before completion (as is the goal with most preconstruction investments). Construction was scheduled to take 24 months. After signing the contract and making the initial 5 ...
