Over here at TOP Mexico, we’re always giving people great reasons to live in Mexico; the country truly does offer many lifestyle advantages, over and above the great quality and low prices of Mexico real estate. But just earlier this month over a Nuwire Investor (a site I contribute to regularly), they posted an article (“Investing In Real Estate Doesn’t Have To Be A Local Endeavorâ€) explaining why those interested mostly in the investment side of real estate actually should look away from home – in places like Mexico! Here are some excerpts from the article with my comments interspersed:
If you are looking at investing in real estate, please take this word of advice – real estate investing doesn’t have to be local. Many real estate investors make this mistake, and as a result miss out on a world of opportunity. Sure, there are some appealing reasons to buy properties in the city your live in, but there are even more reasons to expand your borders.
I couldn’t have said it better myself! I know many Americans and Canadians who have done very well in investment, simply since they were willing to look south of the border. Unfortunately, I’m sure there are still many who stick to their home town, as this writer says.
This is typically the #1 reason investors state when we ask them about why they choose to invest locally. When we ask them what it means to “know” an area, they tell us that they know all about the home prices, rents, and so on for their neighborhood. When we ask them how they learned this information, though, they tell us they keep an eye on things via the internet. … [but]the internet can provide you with all sorts of information on property values, rental rates, schools, crime, and so on – pretty much everything you could possible need to “know” an area.
This is the main purpose of the TOPMexico website and blog – helping people know areas and markets in Mexico even before visiting. And what about viewing properties?
Sure viewing properties a long distance away from where you live can be tricky. Do you really want to fly around the country checking out real estate opportunities? Most investors probably don’t, but there is a compromise. The key here is that you need to have some people in the area to help you out.
This is what we specialize in!
If you can’t be there to personally see every property, what you can do is have your agent send you a detailed video tour of the house. This video should go through ever part of the house and give you an adequate understanding of the general condition of the home and its features.
Get this:
We’ve found that this process tends to work out better anyway, as many real estate investors get too caught up in the details that they like to see in a property, rather than what a tenant wants. Remember you aren’t going to live in the house. If you don’t feel comfortable buying a house sight unseen (sort of), then use this process to weed through potential homes and save the trip out to physically view the property until you are ready to buy.
And what about risks in buying somewhere else?
There are going to be risks involved no matter where you invest. In fact, at the end of the day if you only invest in one place your risk is going to be much higher than if you invest in multiple locations – a little thing called diversification. We find that when investors talk about “risk” they really mean “comfort” – they are more comfortable investing locally and therefore in their mind it is less risky. In reality, this argument is actually one for why you should invest in multiple real estate markets.
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And guess what their #1 advice is about all of this? “Finding a trusted partner.†This what we’re always telling people who are concerned about buying in Mexico; this is also what dozens upon dozens of satisfied buyers will attest that we do for expat buyers in Mexico. (See our Testimonials.)
Read the rest over there at Nuwire. There’s also some great advice about property management, etc.
TOPMexicoRealEstate.com; Mexico’s Leading Network of Specialists for Finding and Purchasing Mexican Properties Safely