Find your Latin American dream home but beware of scams
Latin America has many great places to invest and buy real estate and the process is generally smooth however there are a few things you need to watch out for. Besides the fundamental cultural differences in business etiquette you need to make sure that the deal is legit. Of course there are real estate scams in other parts of the world but the problem is often exacerbated due to differences in laws, your rights as a foreigner, and the difficulty of researching and verifying the history of a property.
Domenick Buonamici, an American expat living in Ecuador, recently posted a article entitled “Real Estate Scams in Latin America to Avoid” which outlines seven of the most common complications/scams that foreign investors come across when purchasing real estate.
One situation mentioned in the article is what is referred to as the “Uncle Larry Scam”, when the house is sold and the current tenant either wasn’t informed, or for whatever reason simply refuses to leave. Since the authorities usually don’t serve much help in these sorts of cases, Buonamici advises that the buyer makes sure the house is tenant-free before shelling out any cash to the owner or the agent.
Other scams mentioned in the article are those that involve falsification of documents, (it is ridiculously easy to forge pretty much any kind of document in Latin America) or failing to follow the local registration protocol, rendering your recent property purchase invalid.
The good news is that most of these situations can be avoided by simply hiring a good attorney to help you with the process. So one should not be dissuaded from buying a beach cottage on the Mayan Riviera or a mountainside chalet in Patagonia, because as Buonamici states, investing in Latin America has been “the best choice many people, myself included, ever made”.
Its also a good idea to get advice from other foreigners who have experience purchasing property in the country you are interested in before making any sort of investment. Online expat forums for the country that you want to buy property in are often a good source for this kind of information.
To see the complete list of scams and tips, check out Buonamici’s article.
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Kudos:
- Thanks to alvez for the photo
About the Author
Currently residing in Argentina, Stephanie has lived and traveled throughout the Americas and Europe. She holds a Bachelors' degree in Business Administration from Babson College in Boston, and is currently pursuing a Masters degree in Sustainable Development at the Universidad de Ciencias Empresariales y Sociales in Buenos Aires.
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