Latest Foreign Property News

Arizona Foreclosures

September 17, 2008

Tom Ruff of The Information Market is THE guru for Arizona housing foreclosure data. Tom thinks that residential foreclosures in Maricopa County peaked in August, although foreclosures will remain high for months.

Tom also found:

• Nearly 46% of all resale homes sold in August were sold by banks.
• The median sale price for non-REO’s was $229,900 and for REO’s was $156,000.
• Over 10% of all properties sold in 2006 have already been foreclosed upon.

You can subscribe to Tom’s Arizona foreclosure data at TheInformationMarket.com

How to Earn Huge Profits From Costa Rica Property

August 18, 2008

New government infrastructure developments in the works in southern Costa Rica are about to turn an isolated patch of jungle into a land of million-dollar properties.

All of this development means one thing to investors: opportunities for huge profits.

Right now, Costa Rica’s southern zone presents a perfect opportunity for pioneer investing; buy before an apparently isolated region is opened up to everyone else. Read more...

Costa Rica's Outlook Raised on improved, fiscal, debt position

August 13, 2008

Costa Rica's Outlook Raised on improved, fiscal, debt position (Thomson Financial) - Moody's Investors Service it revised the outlook on Costa Rica's key ratings to positive from stable following 'significant improvement in fiscal and debt positions and the likelihood of the improvement continuing in the medium term'.

Moody's raised the outlook on Costa Rica's 'Ba1' foreign and local currency government bond ratings.

The outlook on the 'Baa3' foreign currency country bond ceiling and on the 'Ba2' foreign currency bank deposit ceiling was also revised to positive from stable.

'Costa Rica's remarkable fiscal performance over the past few years has been driven by significant expenditure restraint and an improvement in revenues, reflecting not only the business cycle but also a concerted effort to enhance collection,' Moody's said.

'As a result, the fiscal and debt positions have improved to such a degree that it would take a major crisis to reverse the virtuous debt dynamics seen in recent years,' Moody's added.

Costa Rica’s “Forgotten Coast” Could Boom

August 13, 2008

Every day it seems like Costa Rica’s Caribbean coast attracts more visitors—not just tourists from other countries, but also Costa Ricans themselves. Restaurants, hotels, nightclubs, and beaches are all surprisingly busy at a time of year when the pace usually slows down. Other parts of Costa Rica are certainly getting their fair share of visitors, but the Caribbean coast—especially the southern part of it—is more popular than ever.

Real estate prices already reflect that optimism. The property market on the Pacific has taken a slight hit from the downturn in the U.S. economy. Prices on the Caribbean coast, however, are rising at around 5% a year.

For the time being, bargains are easy to find around the Caribbean. In an upscale neighborhood of Cahuita, just north of Puerto Viejo, a two-bedroom house was recently for sale for $125,000. The residence is a five-minute walk from the beach. Closer to Puerto Viejo, a larger two-bedroom house on property with a tropical garden was listed at $168,000. Not far away, in the beachfront town of Cocles, a new one-bedroom house had a list price of $142,000. The house is a 10-minute walk to the beach and close to restaurants and grocery stores.

Puerto Viejo is a village on the coast known for its gorgeous beaches, superb surfing, and Caribbean music. At night, many of the streets are also crowded in the provincial capital of Puerto Limón, about 35 miles up the coast. In Limón, there’s often music in the streets, and hotels are doing a brisk business.

So what’s attracting people to the Caribbean? For decades, so many visitors have flocked to Jacó and Quepos on Costa Rica’s central Pacific coast that busy weekends in these towns can remind you of Ft. Lauderdale. While not as crowded, the north Pacific is getting the reputation of a “millionaire’s playground.” Whether the description is justified or not, the area has definitely become expensive.

The Caribbean, by contrast, is a bargain. Dinner for two at a fine restaurant usually costs less than $30. Most hotels in Limón charge less than $50 a night for a room for two. On the beach, an air-conditioned cottage for two costs about $80 a night during the summer and not much more during the winter, when temperatures are slightly lower and there’s less rain.

The Caribbean coast is easy to reach. It’s about two and a half hours by car from San José, and a flight from the capital to the Limón regional airport takes around 20 minutes.

When you visit the Caribbean coast, you’ll see a part of Costa Rica that’s not widely known. It’s home to many of the country’s native American residents, as well as those of Jamaican origin. As a result of the Jamaican heritage, the area’s cuisine, music, and architecture are very different from what you’ll find in other parts of the country. Moreover, English is spoken by a high percentage of the population.

But right now something else is attracting visitors to the Caribbean: curiosity. Costa Ricans and foreigners alike are eager to see the first stages of work on a multimillion-dollar project to enlarge the port near Limón and add important infrastructure to the city. The project, partly funded by the World Bank, is designed to make the Caribbean coast competitive with the Pacific. If the current surge in visitors is any indication, the Caribbean will easily succeed.

No one in the area thinks that deals like these will last. As one hotel owner put it, the Caribbean is hot—and he wasn’t referring to the climate.

International travel to U.S. jumps 19 percent

July 01, 2008

HiFX Newsletter

As the U.S. dollar weakens, America's tourism sector appears to be reaping some benefits. According to the U.S. Commerce Department, 4.7 million international visitors traveled to the United States. In March, an increase of 19 percent over March 2007. Total visitation year-to-date in 2008 was up 15 percent from the first quarter of 2007. Overseas arrivals, not including visits from Canada and Mexico, increased 10 percent in March and for the first quarter. Visitation from overseas markets has grown for 11 consecutive months, and international visitors spent a record $11.4 billion during the month, up 20 percent from the same month last year, according to commerce data.

Summer Deals

$300 Billion Foreclosure-Rescue Bill Advances in Senate

June 25, 2008

Arizona Republic

WASHINGTON - A major foreclosure-rescue bill cleared a key Senate test Tuesday by an overwhelming margin, with Democrats and Republicans both eager to claim election-year credit for helping hard-pressed homeowners.  The mortgage-aid plan would let the Federal Housing Administration back $300 billion in new, cheaper home loans for an estimated 400,000 distressed borrowers who otherwise would be considered too financially risky to qualify for government-insured, fixed-rate loans.

An 83-9 vote put the plan on track for Senate passage as early as today, but President Bush is threatening a veto, and Democrats are fighting each other over key details.  Those challenges will probably delay any final deal until mid-July.

Borrowers would be eligible for the housing rescue if their mortgage holders were willing to take a substantial loss and allow them to refinance, and if they could show an ability to make payments on the new loan.  They would ultimately have to share with the government a portion of any profits they made from selling or refinancing their properties.

If you have interest in a home here in Arizona our foreclosure market might tighten up very quickly if this bill passes. And because it's an election year, some form of this bill will likely pass.  All I can say is, you might want to act quickly if you want to save some serious $$ on your Arizona real estate opportunity.