Foreign buyers may help housing market |
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"The Venezuelan, Mexican and Colombian buyers have an awful lot of inventory coming their way; they have a lot of presentations being made, a lot of people coming and trying to move product," says Kirschner. "We're starting to ramp up again on the international side."
Will opportunity keep knocking?
Brian Shifrin doesn't speak fluent Portuguese, but he may soon.
A real estate agent and appraiser whose Global
Real Property Solutions serves Boston's Southborough neighborhood,
Shifrin spends most of his workweek appraising houses and multifamily
properties for Brazilian and Portuguese buyers and investors.
"When I started appraising seven years ago, they were 90 to 95 percent of my business; now they're maybe 65 to 70 percent because I've been trying to diversify just from a business standpoint," says Shifrin. "But if not for that business, I don't know if I would even be in business."
He says the new Bostonians bring with them skills and practices that invigorate the local housing market.
"They tend to really know how to use their real estate," he says. "They're borrowing on their equity to buy another property or make improvements on a house they have. And because they are so handy and trade-oriented, any property they buy is being upgraded and renovated. That seems to be a constant. Then they want to refinance and do something with that."
Shifrin says a network of Portuguese-speaking real estate agents, mortgage brokers and attorneys provides a safety net for immigrant buyers in Southborough. Foreign buyers also have a hold card that Americans do not.
"They are able to do things with a level of risk that maybe I wouldn't do because if it doesn't work out, they can go back home. I don't have that ability; I'm just here," he says.
While the proliferation of foreclosures and "short sales" nationally due to rampant subprime lending has economists worried, Shifrin doesn't expect sales in his neighborhood to slow for long.
"In this market, there is a lot of pent-up demand. The ones that have done well or have some cash are able to buy those short sales and renovate them and increase the value and hopefully start the cycle all over again."
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