Brokers

We like to talk about Americans buying real estate in Mexico.  But what about Mexicans buying real estate in the U.S.?

 

Who Are all These “Americans?”

In a recent article in the Huffington Post,Kathleen Peddicord makes some guesses about American citizens living abroad, which include:

• 1.4 million as the number of retirees
• 2.4 million as the number of expats in total

 

“But the U.S Department of State says six million Americans live abroad,” we might counter.  Kathleen acknowledges this.  But, based on reliable information from an American friend in Argentina, she suggests that up to 90% of Americans who have registered with their local consulate are people who were born in the U.S. to foreign parents. Their parents then moved back to their home country when the baby was an infant.

 

And although so many nominal Americans, citizens just by an “accident of birth” have registered, “most of the expats and retirees I know overseas have never registered with the U.S. consulate abroad,” claims Kathleen.  My experience has been the same.

 

In Mexico, These Are People to Pay Attention To …

While Kathleen’s point is simply that official numbers are useless when estimating the number of Americans who have actually lived a significant portion of their life in the U.S., in the case of Mexico, there is another factor to consider.

 

These people, who have virtually nothing “American” about them other than official citizenship are:

• much greater in number
• legally permitted to enter, work and live in the U.S. without a visa (i.e. as full citizens)
• close enough to the US so they could actually go there one day

 

Combine these facts with the fact that the middle class is growing and many Mexicans are now finding themselves freer to travel and explore life abroad; no one needs to guess as to their first destination.

 

The bottom line is, many of these people could be potential real estate buyers in the U.S.  U.S. brokers should be paying attention to them.  Yet another reason why the international bridges are so important.

Read Kathleen’s full post here.

 

—
Thomas Lloyd graduated from Purdue University Krannert School of Management with a degree in Management/Financial Option Investments. He has been living, investing, and working professionally in Mexico for over 16 years. In the summer of 2009, he received the first federally applied Mexico Real Estate Degree and Mexico Professional Real Estate License S.E.P. #5978657. He is the president of Top Mexico Real Estate. Contact him at (512) 879-6546.

 

The TOP Mexico Real Estate Network; “Mexico’s Leading Network of Specialists for Finding and Purchasing Mexican Properties Safely!”