Real Estate In Colombia - FINANCIAL GOODNESS

Best Destination In South America Is Beautiful Medellín

*Beautiful Medellin. Photo credit: Unsplash.*

Updated April 13, 2024. My family has been living in Colombia, South America for eight years. In October 2016 we visited Medellín, Colombia. I have to say, without a doubt, that Medellín is one of the most gorgeous places I have ever visited. I would go so far as to say that your best destination in South America is beautiful Medellín. In fact, I would actually put Medellín on the short list of places to live in the future.

I know that many of my friends are from the USA. So, when you hear the word Medellín you might immediately think of a dangerous city, cocaine and the Pablo Escobar drug wars of the 1980’s and 90’s and probably you think to yourself, “Why on Earth would anyone be crazy enough to go there?” So let me tell you a secret that many people don’t know.

Experience ‘The City of Eternal Spring’

I honestly believe that your best destination in South America is beautiful Medellín. Below are several great reasons why you should experience ‘The City of Eternal Spring’ at least once in your lifetime.

Top Five City In The World To Visit

In 2022, Medellín has been named by Time Out as one of the top five cities in the world to visit.

Business Owners Working Together

The business owners of Medellín have been very resilient and worked together to move the city forward and create a conducive environment for entrepreneurship and it shows. The government has leant a very heavy hand to see that entrepreneurs, startups, and existing businesses alike are well funded and well facilitated.

Experience The Best Year Round Weather

The nickname of ‘The City of Eternal Spring’ is unexpectedly accurate. The average year-round temperatures of around 22°C (72°F) and daily highs of approximately 30°C (86°F), meaning that the climate is about as good as it gets. Needless to say, it does rain a fair amount because Medellín is in a tropical country, but it rarely gets cold. If you like the spring, you will probably think you’ve gone to heaven.

Beautiful Views & Stunning Landscapes

Medellín is surrounded by natural beauty. The city is located in a bowl in the Andes mountains, meaning that wherever you go in the city you are basically guaranteed a view of mountains and stunning landscapes. In addition, the city itself is home to some lovely parks and gardens and miles of hiking trails. Medellin is an innovative urban space combining home with beautiful nature at the same time. I truly believe that the best destination in South America is beautiful Medellín!

Incredibly Welcoming People

The people are incredibly welcoming and the pleasant atmosphere is contagious. In Medellín, people smile on the street and you get the sense that people are genuinely very happy to see you there and even strike up a random conversations (whether your speak Spanish or not).

The Coffee Is Delicious

Great coffee. If you love coffee you have come to the right place. I was never a coffee drinker, but after moving to Colombia I have fallen in love with the 100% Colombian Vanilla Cappuccino. What’s more, Colombia is the third largest producer of coffee in the world. It seems that the Colombian coffee region is blessed with an optimal altitude and climate, a hand-picked harvesting process perfected over generations, and some of the finest Arabica beans in the world.

Excellent Food & Restaurants

Wonderful food and exotic fruits. As many of you know, I love food and the food here is delicious. You can enjoy grilled meats, fish, seafood, and amazing vegetables. Colombian food is a mix of the regions within Colombia. Consequently, the Colombian cruisine has its roots in the country’s indigenous people, as well as in the Spanish and African cultures that were brought over by colonialism. Over time, these influences have blended together to create a unique and flavorful cuisine that is loved by locals and visitors alike. What’s more, the two best Medellín neighborhoods of El Poblado and Laureles are full of excellent restaurants.

Medellín at Night. Photo credit: Unsplash.

Innovative Transportation

The transportation in Medellín is innovative and has an extensive public transport network which includes the Medellín Metro and the Metrocable cable car system. It probably helps that Bogota (the capital of Colombia and a real rival of Medellín) doesn’t have a metro system yet. For this reason, it just seems that Medellín is very well organized in the big things as well as the small things.

Awesome Exchange Rate For The US Dollar

USA dollars go a long way due to the conversion rate. Traveling and living in Colombia is inexpensive. Forget about the high cost of healthcare, housing, and food that everyone takes for granted in the USA. For instance, a visit to the doctor here would cost you $50,000 COP (Colombian Peso) or around $10 USD.

The Lifestyle For The Price Is Hard To Beat

Medellín is great value for money. In addition, it also helps that many of the most popular tourist attractions, such as Parque Botero, the Botanical Gardens and the Metrocable, are either free or very cheap. To give you an idea, a 3-week trip to Medellín would cost you somewhere in the ballpark between $1,000 to $3,000 USD depending on your taste and amenities. This includes transportation between destinations, entry fees, accommodations, and meals. You asked about the lifestyle of Medellín? Unquestionably, in Medellín you enjoy a good quality of life at a great cost of living.

I genuinely believe that the best destination in South America is beautiful Medellín!

Check Out The Two Great Blogs Below:

Become A High Net Worth Individual

I would like to share with you one of the people that I have been following now for a few years. His name is Andrew Hendersen and he is the founder of Nomad Capitalist. After many years of experience as a global businessman, Andrew offers his expert advice to successful entrepreneurs and investors on ways to reduce their tax bill, grow wealth overseas, and become global citizens. Hence, he believes that the world has changed forever and says it’s time for you to “go where you’re treated best.” Please check out the YouTube video How To Become an Ultra High-Net Worth Individual.

Best Real Estate Strategies To Make 7 Figures

As many of you know, my passion is real estate investment. 90% of all millionaires did it through owning real estate. The goal and dream for many real estate investors is to earn $1 million dollars a year. Your goal: find the best real estate strategies to make 7 figures. The question is: is this possible?

I can tell you without a doubt, that it is possible, and I have seen people do it. For example, Billionaire Andrew Carnegie famously said that 90% of millionaires got their wealth by investing in real estate. As a result, I can saw that real estate is one of the best ways to seek wealth through investing and achieve financial freedom. Please read about the details in my blog: Best Real Estate Strategies To Make 7 Figures. Most importantly, always remember that you are just one deal away!

Verses For Wisdom & Guidance

Psalm 128:2 NLT. ²You will enjoy the fruit of your labor.
How joyful and prosperous you will be!

Matthew 7:8 NLT. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.

Have a great day!

Last Updated on April 13, 2024 by Financial Goodness

Financial Goodness

George Alexander Roy III and our team are experts in helping you to seek wealth through investing and tips on how to succeed. Join us at FinancialGoodness.com to increase your knowledge through education in the areas of personal finance, real estate, and investments. George has been an owner of a real estate investment business that focuses on wholesaling, fix & flip, and long-term buy-and-hold property strategies with a consistent increase of annual revenues. Consequently, as an entrepreneur, researcher, writer, and speaker he has sought the truth in everything he does, no matter how difficult. Hopefully this value and service will help each person achieve their financial freedom sooner.

Great Benefits Of Real Estate Syndication

Real estate syndication could be one of your most lucrative moves. Photo credit: Unsplash

Updated April 13, 2024. Are you interested in the great benefits of real estate syndication? As you may know, investing in residential real estate may be one of the most lucrative moves you could make. Our passion is to help you to actively and passively invest in apartments and hotels. Usually the next question is how do you go about doing it.

Many times investors have been buying, improving, and maintaining real estate with their own funds. These investors want to scale their buying of real estate, but their own funds have been exhausted. These investors realize that they can only scale if they have partners. This is where syndication can help these investors to continue to grow their wealth in real estate. Therefore, let’s take a look at the specific details of the great benefits of real estate syndication.

What Are The Benefits Of Syndication?

Definition: Real estate syndication, property syndication, or real estate partnership are alliances that are made between several investors with the common goal of making a real estate investment in properties such as apartment complexes or hotels.

Two Main Parties Involved In Real Estate Syndication

The Sponsor: The person or company with sweat equities, also known as the syndicator.

The Investor: You and your partners contributing the money and are known as limited partners.

Real Estate Syndication & The U.S. SEC

Real estate syndication is an investment contract between you and the syndicator. The syndicator collects the investor’s funds and performs real estate work such as buying, improving, and maintaining the property. As a result, it becomes a “security” as determined by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Please refer to SEC Rule 501 under Regulation D to attain more information.

Accredited Investor Criteria

An individual must meet at least one requirement related to income or net worth.

Annual income: If you have an individual annual income of at least $200,000 USD or $300,000 USD with a spouse for the last two years and expect to earn the same amount or more in the current year.

New worth: If you have a net worth exceeding $1 million. The $1 million plus is without including the value of your primary residence.

Take Action With Syndications

Many real estate investors have heard of syndication, but they don’t know how to structure a deal. Syndications can be tricky. The time to build a network of investors, partners, and having boots on the ground may seem daunting. That keeps a lot of people from pursuing the syndication route.

This is where mentorships come in handy. What if that mentor already had a real estate network that you could lean on to get a syndication deal done? But what if you could connect with a general partner who already had a mentor who is ready and willing to walk you through the process from start to finish.

A passive investor is one who does not participate in the day-to-day decisions of running a company. Basically, you let your money work for you, rather than you working for your money. As a result, you can sleep well knowing that your money is working for you. Furthermore, participating in real estate syndications will help each person achieve their financial freedom that much sooner.

Let us know if you are interested in the great benefits by becoming a passive investor through real estate syndication. Next time an awesome deal comes up we will reach out.

Investing In Real Estate During A Recession

Real estate investing during a recession can be a very wise move. Investment in properties can be an intelligent decision if your goal is to build long-term wealth and financial stability. As you have probably seen, the stock market and other traditional investment options are extremely volatile with excessive moves in either direction during times of the economic downturn. However, real estate has a history of holding its value and providing steady returns. Find out some of the key Benefits Of Investing In Real Estate During A Recession.

Profit From Substantial Inflation Ahead

Profit From Substantial Inflation Ahead. Let’s take a look at how to profit from the substantial inflation that is already starting to happen. The US government has been printing massive amounts of new money. On January 6, 2020, the US Federal Reserve had around $4 trillion dollars. On January 4, 2021, the number increased to $6.7 trillion dollars. As a result, as of 2021, over 40% of US dollars were printed in the last 12 months.

²You will enjoy the fruit of your labor.
How joyful and prosperous you will be!

Have a great day!

Last Updated on April 13, 2024 by Financial Goodness

Financial Goodness

Benefits Of Investing In Real Estate During A Recession

Wave your magic wand because buying during a recession can be a very smart move.
Photo credit: Dreamstime

Updated April 13, 2024. Real estate investing during a recession can be a very wise move. Investment in properties can be an intelligent decision if your goal is to build long-term wealth and financial stability. As you have probably seen, the stock market and other traditional investment options are extremely volatile with excessive moves in either direction during times of the economic downturn. However, real estate has a history of holding its value and providing steady returns. Below are some key benefits of investing in real estate during a recession.

Benefits of Investing During Recessions

A key benefit of investing in real estate during a recession is a wise decision because property prices are at a low point. As a result, investors can buy properties at a discount. With the mindset of buying and holding for the long-term, this can potentially put the investor in an excellent position when the economy eventually bounces back. In addition, most of the population is unable to have the cash necessary to purchase property during a recession, creating a buyer’s market for those who can.

A further advantage of investing in real estate during a recession is rental income. Everyone needs a place to live. Even in a weak economy, people still need a place to sleep. Consequently, rental properties can provide a steady stream of income for investors. An additional fact is that many people choose to rent instead of buying during a recession, thus creating a strong demand for rental properties.

Lastly, the big factor to consider is price appreciation. The price appreciation of a property can depend on a variety of factors. These details can include big factors such as the location, future development plans, and the supply and demand of the property in a given location. We, and our partners, always look to force appreciation on our properties by carrying out and maximizing repairs and renovations on the residential properties we purchase.

$450 Billion of Mortgages Will Be Maturing

These are some key benefits of investing in real estate during a recession. It has been estimated that $450 billion of mortgages collateralized by apartment buildings will be maturing in 2023 and 2024.

As we see in today’s real estate market, a lot of borrowers will not be able to refinance because of high interest rates and still make have a positive cashflow on the property. This is a huge buying opportunity!

You Will Need Three Things For Success

Get the knowledge on how to do this.
Network, network, network.
Look for real estate investors, like us, that have partnered with other investors. We, and our partners have the private capital available and are ready to buy when great opportunities arise.

Additional Information on Inflation

A Bible Verse From Psalms

²You will enjoy the fruit of your labor.
How joyful and prosperous you will be!

Last Updated on April 13, 2024 by Financial Goodness

Financial Goodness

Yale Fund Pioneer Reshaped Investing

Yale Endowment Fund. Photo credit: Wall Street Physician.

Updated April 13, 2024. David Swensen, the Yale fund pioneer who reshaped investing, has forever changed the way we view investing. Moreover, Swensen completed a 35-year tenure as Yale University’s endowment chair.

Grew the Yale Fund from $1.3 billion to More Than $31 billion

But, more importantly, David Swensen grew Yale’s endowment fund from $1.3 billion in 1985 to more than $31 billion today. As a result, this means the fund generated returns of 13.1% through June 2020. These are outstanding returns. So, let’s take a look at how he did it.

Swensen never commanded the fame of Warren Buffett, Peter Lynch, or Jack Bogle. However, among industry insiders he is widely considered to be in their ranks.

Willing to Play the Long Game to Win

One aspect of Swensen is the fact that he was willing to play the long game. For example, he invested in assets that had much longer time frames to reach maturity, but that had spectacular return profiles. The key is that his approach to investing worked brilliantly!

Swensen Had An Unlikely Beginning

Like many great careers, David Swensen had an unlikely beginning. On the contrary, many people say that he was self-confident, yet selfless. Consequently, when Swensen was first approached by Yale University in 1985, he assumed a teaching career.

At that time, Swensen was 31 years old, and he had the economic theory with a Yale Ph.D in economics. Nevertheless, he was very unfamiliar with investing.

Unshackled From Conventional Wisdom

Even so, being a novice investor proved to be a blessing. Unlike past endowment chairs, Swensen was unshackled from conventional wisdom. Therefore, at the core of what became the “Yale Model” are the principles that Swensen learned from his mentor, Nobel Laureate James Tobin.

In 2009, Swensen wrote the book Pioneering Portfolio Management. In this book, Swensen describes the Yale Model in -depth, also sometimes known as the Endowment Model. I highly recommend reading his book.

The Yale Model

Particularly of interest was his recognition of liquidity. For that reason, Swensen realized that liquidity comes at a heavy price for lower returns.

Therefore, the Yale fund pioneer who reshaped investing is thus characterized by relatively heavy exposure to asset classes such as private equity when compared to more traditional portfolios. The Yale Model is also more heavily reliant on investment managers who specialize in these specific asset classes.

Don’t Try to Time the Market

David Swensen also realized that market timing was not the answer. He realized that market timing represents a losing strategy.

Swensen recognized that there is no evidence of any large institutions having a consistent ability to get in when the market is low and get out when the market is high. He comprehended that attempts to switch between stocks and bonds, or between stocks and cash, in anticipation of market moves have been relatively unsuccessful.

Swensen’s Allocation Thinking Was Nonexistent

Large institutional funds were almost entirely composed of U.S. equities, some foreign equities, cash, and fixed income. Suffice to say that in the 1980’s, Swensen’s type of thinking was by and large almost nonexistent.

The Yale Model is different from other types of investing because it allocates only a small amount to traditional U.S. equities and bonds. To replace these small allocations, this type of investing relies more on alternative investments.

Accordingly, Swensen built a portfolio allocation model that was more heavily weighted in alternative assets.

Yale Fund Asset Strategy & Allocation

hedge funds
venture capital (VC) funds
real estate
natural resources
private equity

Yale Model Endowment Asset Allocation. Photo credit: Financial Times.

Three Strategy Approach

Construct a portfolio with money allocated to six core asset classes.
The investor should rebalance the portfolio on a regular basis.
Invest in low-cost index funds and exchange-traded funds.

Swensen Model Portfolio

David Swensen described his model portfolio in a 2015 interview with NPR. It consists of the following asset allocation:

How To Replicate Swensen Portfolio Using Vanguard

How To Replicate the Swensen Portfolio using Vanguard. The expenses after the fund name are the expenses. *Photo credit: Wallstreetphysician.com/invest-like-yalie-model-portfolio-david-swensen-investment-manager-yale-endowment/*

How To Replicate Swensen Portfolio Using Fidelity

*How to replicate the Swensen Portfolio using Fidelity. The expenses after the fund name are the expenses.* Photo credit: Wallstreetphysician.com/invest-like-yalie-model-portfolio-david-swensen-investment-manager-yale-endowment/

Finding The Best Allocations

If you decide to use the Swensen model portfolio for your investments, I wish you success. In Addition, always remember to invest the funds in a tax-efficient manner.

Put the tax-inefficient REITs, bonds, and emerging markets funds in tax-referred or retirement accounts. Then put your Total U.S. Stock Market and International Stock Market funds in taxable accounts.

Needless to say, David Swensen, the Yale fund pioneer who reshaped investing, has forever changed the way we view investing.

Other Real Estate Strategies To Create Wealth

I would also recommend the strategy of searching directly for houses to invest in. The Three Real Estate Strategies That Work Every Time are: residential rentals; wholesaling; and rehab and resell. These are the most popular real estate strategies that produce consistent results regardless of the timing.

Portfolio of Rental Properties for Passive Income

More importantly, learn the best ways to to improve your rental property cash flows, by reading my blog on the three ways to Boost Your Rental Property Cash Flows. I recommend this strategy because of the excellent real estate tax breaks available on your taxes annually. This strategy will help you build wealth.

Please let me know your thoughts on using his portfolio. Best wishes!

Last Updated on April 13, 2024 by Financial Goodness

Financial Goodness

How To Become A High Net Worth Individual

Updated April 13, 2024. How to become a high net worth individual? To become a high net worth individual it typically means that you have grown your wealth and are holding financial assets with a value greater than US$1 million. However, if you haven’t achieved this goal, can you imagine your life if you had a nice amount of money sitting in your bank account? So now let’s take a look at some individuals who have achieved this goal of $1,000,000+.

“Go Where You’re Treated Best”

Become More Of A True Global Citizen

Updated April 13, 2024. I have to agree with this philosophy of going where you are treated best. As many of you know, I lived in the United States for almost five decades. Without a doubt, I thought that I was doing well. But moving to Colombia, South America more than eight years ago has changed my mind-set completely. For instance, the most obvious realization for me was the drastic reduction of prices in Colombia from the prices that I had grown accustomed to when living for so many years in the United States.

As equally important, I began to realize that there were other countries that offered distinct advantages in other areas of business as well. The problem is, as Andrew Hendersen confirms, there is no one country that offers all these advantages for the entrepreneur and investor. For this reason, you must do research on the topic and, in many instances, seek them out individually.

Consequently, now I view myself as becoming more of a true global citizen. I have recently watched a YouTube video by Andrew entitled, How To Become an Ultra High-Net Worth Individual. I would like to share below the key ideas that Andrew discusses is this video.

Building Long-Term Wealth

Being from the United States, I have felt that the tax rate has been high for many years. If you look at the US, which is considered a high-income country, the tax revenue is high, equaling about 24% of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2018.

Below is a chart that compares the tax rates of the US with other 35 members of high-income countries. These 35 countries represent the member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. The reality of the situation is that the tax rate of the 35 high-income countries averages around 34%.

Total Tax Revenue As A Share Of GDP From Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Countries. Photo credit: https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/how-do-us-taxes-compare-internationally

Countries That Are Tax-Free

If you want to build long-term wealth it makes sense to research countries where the tax rate is much lower. The good news is that there are a number of countries that are tax-free. If you look at Europe for example, European countries, for the most part, have relatively high taxes.

But there are several tax-free countries, territorial tax countries, and countries with tax exemptions that provide a great opportunity for entrepreneurs to keep more of their own money. These European countries include: Monaco, Portugal, Georgia, Switzerland, Italy, Gibraltar, Channel Islands, Malta, United Kingdom, Ireland, Cyprus, and Montenegro. Check out these other tax-free countries in another YouTube video from Nomad Capitalist.

Intentional Mindset

If you want to be truly successful and take yourself to the next level, put yourself in that environment. When you travel overseas, have the intention of seeking out individuals that are living at a higher level. By seeking out individuals that are living at a higher level it will allow you to live more intentionally and grow into that mindset.

Being Wealthy As Your Top Priority

The COVID-19 pandemic is interesting because now no one can say that they are too busy. The world is going through a big reset. Don’t be afraid to give up the good and go for the great. However, always remember that it is more important to be happy than to be rich. I believe these are words to first consider and then to live by.

Passion For Work

If you have a passion for work, you realize that there is no passion to be found in playing small. Don’t settle for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living. Develop a passion for lifelong learning.

Don’t just live for the moment. Think about and plan to have the necessary money for retirement early. Set a goal of retiring early. Right now the FIRE movement (financial independence, retire early) is gaining traction through online communities where people share blogs, podcasts, and online discussions.

Eight Key Points To Become A High Net Worth Individual:

Focus On Goals, Not Numbers
Increase Your Risk Tolerance
Rely On Yourself
Set Targets
Increase Your Active Income
Save More Than You Spend
Live Wealthy, Live Rich
Diversify What’s Left

Diversify With Real Estate

One of the best ways to diversify your assets is to invest in real estate. Many countries have very good tax advantages to owning property. Here is an excellent article on investing in real estate: Real Estate Investing Strategies That Work Every Time.

Conclusions

How to become a high net worth individual is important because it typically means that you have grown your wealth and are holding financial assets with a value greater than US$1 million. Please check out the YouTube video How To Become an Ultra High-Net Worth Individual. This video by Andrew Hendersen is a gem because it contains many tips that will help you to achieve this goal. It contains many of the ingredients to take your life to the next level of success.

What popular articles and blogs do you recommend?

Finally, what if I said that there is actually an equation for wealth. How would you feel then? Please read my blog on how to Build Unlimited Wealth With Money’s Untold Truth. By building unlimited wealth with money’s untold truth you can achieve your dreams and live an amazing lifestyle.

Please leave a comment and share your thoughts on increasing your wealth and net worth. Everyone please stay safe and look for my next blog. Best wishes!

Matthew 7:8 NLT

⁸For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.

Last Updated on April 13, 2024 by Financial Goodness

Financial Goodness

Unexpected COVID Impact On Homes

Unexpected COVID-19 Impacts On Single Family Homes. Photo credit: Unsplash. Thank you Avi Waxman.

Updated April 13, 2024. Many states are loosening their self-isolation orders and are allowing people to return to work. But the road ahead for the US economy coming out of this pandemic induced recession is a long one. I obviously have many concerns about this. Hopefully, the employers have implemented the necessary procedures so that people can work together and still be self-isolated while maintaining distance between the co-workers. Let’s learn more about the unexpected COVID impact on homes.

The Good and The Bad

First, the good news. According to Myles Udland, during the transition phase, the bounce in economic activity we are going to see is now expected to be stronger than previously forecast. We are currently in this phase of the unexpected COVID impact on homes.

But in Bank of America’s view, the impact from the lockdown phase that hit the economy hardest in March and April and the return of the economy to pre-COVID-19 levels of GDP will be larger drag on the economy than previously expected.

Bank of America expects that the second quarter GDP of 2020 to decline at an annualized rate of 40%. Not good. In addition, the 40% decline is a revised estimate from BofA’s previous number of 30% GDP decline. To put the 40% decline in perspective, during the financial crisis of 2007-2008, the GDP decline was 4%. This means that the COVID-19 pandemic is possibly ten times bigger than the previous recession in 2007-2008.

Looking at the next 18 months, BofA sees a soft labor market, disinflation, and a lack of investment conspiring to keep growth below pre-COVID levels into 2022. Disinflation is what happens when price slows down temporarily. Deflation, which is the opposite of inflation, is a decrease in general price levels throughout an economy.

The news media has been covering the effects on the real estate market as the coronavirus has swept the world in the last few months. But interestingly, three surprising and unexpected situations have occurred that effect single family homes. What is even more surprising is that the mainstream media hasn’t really been reporting on these three situations. Taking all these things into consideration, the unexpected COVID impact on homes could surprise you.

Surprise #1: Dramatic Inventory Reduction

The first major surprise that has occurred is that there has been a drastic inventory reduction. The inventory is the available properties on the market for buyers to purchase. This is known as supply. This inventory reduction means that the supply of houses has dropped dramatically.

In some areas, normal sellers on the MLS market have significantly dropped. According to the National Association of Realtors, the supply of homes fell 19.7% annually to 1.47 million units for sale at the end of April 2020. Why the huge drop in home supply from the unexpected COVID impact on homes? What is going on?

It seems that once the virus hit hard enough so that lock downs occurred, what a lot of normal sellers did was to take their property off the market. They did that for a number of reasons. Some sellers didn’t want to move in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic.

Other people thought that buyers were not going to be out and about looking for a new home to buy. Others didn’t want to sell their property when they thought about all the people who would be traipsing through their home. As we all know now, a person could be infected with the COVID and not know it for days.

What does this mean to the selling of homes? As it turns out, the selling of single family homes is a huge deal. When you have to sell your property you compete against all the other similar priced houses. Let’s say that you have done your homework and know the area and the comps in that area and decide to put your house on the market for $200,000 USD. But there is another house that is identical to your property that is in just as good a shape and they are listed at $175,000 USD. What does this mean to you?

That means that any of the available buyers in the marketplace looking for a property like yours are going to go to the $175,000 listing before they are going to go to yours. The offer is going to go to the $175,000 listing first. That’s just how it is.

With a reduction in supply it makes it so much easier. Now you can ask for and get full price or even more than full price for your house. A reduction in inventory is a very good thing to have. If you sell houses this is what you dream of.

Perhaps you are thinking that it is possible that when the coronavirus pandemic wears off and people get back to “normal” life the prices of houses will stabilize.

However, we also have to consider the fact that some of the people who were going to sell decided not to. Why? They have been living in their house for two more months while self-isolating and they have decided to fix the cosmetic problems. Now they have made the decision that they are going to stay in that property and enjoy living there. Why? Because the house is all fixed up and they realize that the house isn’t so bad after all.

Maybe you have been reading the news and have heard that there is going to be a tsunami of foreclosures because of the people who have lost their jobs and are not going to be able to pay the mortgage. This may or may not happen. The foreclosure process is a lengthy process in most US states. So it takes a long time.

Many people are still in their forbearance period and they could stay in the forbearance period for quite a while. So if there is an influx of foreclosures it wouldn’t happen until the end of 2020 at the earliest. As well, many of the lenders could tack the forbearance onto the back of the loan. So it is possible that there might not be this flood of foreclosures.

Surprise #2: Increase In House Demand

Surprise two is the drastic increase in house demand. These are people looking to buy a single family home. When you think about it, it makes a lot of sense. If everyone is self-isolating at home, then people are going to want to have a real home with a lot of amenities.

People are not going to want to be in an apartment building or in a condo complex where they are right next to all their neighbors. Seems pretty logical and this is exactly what is happening. There is now a huge demand for people to have their own home.

But this increase in demand goes a step further. We are talking about people living in urban areas. Now that our society has had to shift to Zoom conference meetings as opposed to in-person meetings. Now more and more people are not commuting to work on a daily basis.

You might be one of these people as you start to get used and like working from home. As companies get used to managing their teams from home it is possible that there’s going to be less of a requirement for someone to drive into the center of a city to go to work in a big office building. It might be possible to commute from a home that’s further away from the inner city core.

What that means is that it is possible to increase demand for homes that are more suburban and even rural houses out in the country. These are homes where people have more room to do more things on their own property. As you can see already, the unexcepted COVID impact on homes is going to have a huge effect on where people decide to live.

Are you worried about unemployment as you read the newspapers? Before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the US had hit record employment numbers. But now in the US the unemployment rate was at 14.7% in 43 US states in April, 2020. However, that means that more than 85% of the people in the US still have their jobs. Many of these 85% of people are moving towards the idea of buying a home.

As we know, we are having an affordable housing crisis in the US. There is even more of a demand on affordability and portability as you move further away from the downtown areas as you find your price point houses in the suburbs or further out. Can you see what is happening? To that affordability crisis we add a much lower supply of houses for sale combined with an increase in house demand. Wow.

Surprise #3: Rising Value Of SFH

Hopefully you came to realize the significance of what this means when you suddenly have dramatically lower levels of supply and dramatic demand. Those of you that have been following real estate probably guessed it: you will see rising real estate values.

Rising property valuations are actually happening right now. Unbelievable right?! Now it is a fact. As you know, the basic fundamentals of real estate values in your area is all about supply and demand.

Right now we have both working in our favor. Even though less people can get a mortgage loan, there’s still so much demand with the people who can get a loan versus the supply. Many experts are looking at what is happening and are scratching their heads saying they didn’t see it coming. But remember in real estate 101, it is all about supply and demand. Check out this article from The Wall Street Journal on single family homes. Here is another article from Forbes saying that the coronavirus effect of lower interest rates and commodities have traditionally been beneficial for real estate.

People are saying that the prices of houses in the future are going to have the same value as they do now or they could rise a little bit more slowly. Either way, make the most of this situation. As a seller, you cannot ask for anything better!

If you are a real estate investor or just like to dabble with properties, I invite you to read my blog on the Three Real Estate Investing Strategies That Work Every Time. I promise that the strategies discussed in this article will definitely help you increase your wealth over time.

Hopefully you gained some insight from this blog on the unexpected COVID impact on homes. Until my next blog, stay healthy and best wishes!

Last Updated on April 13, 2024 by Financial Goodness

Financial Goodness

Everyone Can Buy And Own Property In Colombia

Buy Colombia Property. Photo of Medellin. Photo credit: Unsplash.
Thank you to Daniel Vargas.

Updated April 13, 2024. Everyone can buy and own property in Colombia, South America. If you are looking to invest in property in Latin America, especially if you are from another country, Colombia, South America, should be high on your list of destination choices. The Colombian people are friendly and they welcome foreigner people to Colombia. The climate is also very welcoming, with a variety of landscapes that will meet the needs of many buyers. As well, Colombia has one of the strongest performing economies. In addition, the price points for the real estate properties are particularly affordable in this Latin American region.

Consider Buying A Property Overseas

There are benefits that you might want to consider for buying real estate overseas. Andrew Henderson, from the YouTube blog Nomad Capitalist, emphasizes that people from the United States, Canada or Australia might want to sell their property in these countries and invest in overseas properties. Check out Andrew’s YouTube video called the Benefits of International Real Estate Ownership.

Andrew points out that the problem with investing in the U.S., Canada and Australia are that the property returns are low and the taxes are high. For example, in Australia the returns on rental properties are like 1 to 2% only! If you consider buying a property in another country many times the returns are much higher and you can have a friend run the property management for your off shore properties. But, not in Colombia, South America. The attractive reality is that everyone can buy and own property in Colombia!

Colombia Has Very Nice Rental Returns

Let’s take a look at the Colombian property rental revenues. If you buy a residential apartment to rent in Colombia, I would say you are looking at a minimum of a 12% average return. Then add in the increasing value of the real estate of 10% on average for the last three years. Not too bad, right! I first came to Colombia in 2005. I have watched every year as the economy and housing prices haven’t gone down, they just continue to increase. For this reason, the housing market in Colombia, South America is one of the best kept secrets in the world!

Looking For Global Asset Protection?

Another reason that people look at global real estate is the idea of asset protection. This is kind of like a form of government insurance. You can protect yourself not only on an asset basis, but you can protect yourself from some of the madness that’s going on around the world today because everyone can buy and own property in Colombia. To me, that is a win.

In addition, if you are a U.S. citizen or some other countries citizen that has foreign tax rules, this is one of the few ways that you can legally have a non reportable asset. For example, if you are a U.S. citizen and want to buy a house or some land overseas in another country you can do it. You can wire the money overseas and pay in cash.

There is not an IRS form on which you need to report. There is an FBAR, or an FATCA to report a lot of assets. But not for foreign real estate or in the precious metal of gold. This is fantastic, because in the U.S. you have to pay taxes on the income from any property. But if you want to park money in foreign real estate and enjoy the appreciation you can do it with relative safety and it is non-reportable.

Be Well Diversified In Your Investments

The last reason why you might want to consider buying foreign real estate is because doing so is part of being well diversified in your investments. Perhaps you have always dreamed of having a second home or vacation home in another country that you could go to spend part of your time. In Colombia, it is possible that you could get a residence permit by owning property here.

It is also possible that if you spend some time here in Colombia it can lead to a residency permit. Depending on the size of your Colombian investment, you can apply for a one-year or five-year visa. There is also the possibility that you can become a citizen as well. This citizenship gives you other opportunities as well. To give you an example, your Colombian real estate is also a safe and secluded place to go if you are worried about chaos in the world.

The Legal Process Of Buying Property In Colombia

If you are a foreigner, you can in fact buy property in Colombia. The Colombian government recognizes the importance of foreign investment. The good news is that the procedure is the exact same process for foreign individuals as it is for locals! The only requirements are you need to have a valid passport and sufficient funds for the purchase of the real estate.

No National Licensing Systems

The real estate market operates very differently than your home country if you are from North America or many Eurpean countries. Here in Colombia, there is no national licensing system in place. This is a turn around if you are from a country like the United States or Canada where the agents are always trying to ask for and demand the exclusive rights on your property.

As a result, not having a national licensing system in Colombia has led to a proliferation of real estate agencies called inmobilarias. Many investors will be surprised to find out that it is very uncommon for sellers to have exclusive agreements with what are called inmobiliarias. This is good news if you are used to paying much higher fees for buying or selling properties. If you have been paying high fees to brokers, you are going to really like the commission rates in Colombia.

Nice Commission Rates

The standard commission for real estate agents in Colombia is just 3%. The great news: quite often the 3% fee is split 1.5% and 1.5% between the buyers and sellers agents. In short, here in Colombia, the low commissions are very nice for buyers and sellers!

Highly Negotiable Property Prices

Overall, is important to point out that here in Colombia, in Bogota and Medellin for instance, it is not uncommon for a property to be for sale for many months before a buyer is found. So, the huge advantage is: most property prices are highly negotiable.

Hide The Fact That You Are A Foreigner

Have a real estate professional do the research on the properties that interest you, how long they have been on the market, and how motivated the sellers might be. I recommend always using a local agent to negotiate the price. Hide the fact that you are a foreigner because this may cause some type of discrimination. Here is the secret: only reveal that you are actually a foreigner after the Promesa de Compraventa has been signed.

Three Necessary Tips

Everyone can buy and own property in Colombia. Here are three more tips that you need to do.

Firstly, is to open a Colombian bank account. Again I highly recommend working with real estate team because this step can be a daunting one. So get the right help from the beginning. Your real estate team will be able to help you determine certain details such as whether to buy in your name or in your company’s name.

Secondly, make sure to leave a paper trail. Buying real estate is easy to mess up, but a smooth operation when done by professionals.

Finally, hire an attorney. Having a good attorney will help with the stresses of an international real estate venture.

Legal Process To Buy Colombian Real Estate

I have found an excellent article called How To Buy Property In Colombia: The Legal Process, written by the legal team Colombia at bizlatinhub.com. Below the the steps needed so that everyone can buy and own property in Colombia.

First, find the property that you are interested in investing in. Then acquire a Certificate of Tradition and Liberty or ‘Certificado de Tradición y Libertad’. The Certificate of Tradition and Liberty contains all the information about the property and the properties history.

The properties history includes ownership records, mortgage history, legal claims on the property as well as any works carried out on the property. This property work includes when significant work to the property has taken place.

You can request the Certificate of Tradition and Liberty at the Registry Office. Requesting the Certificate of Tradition and Liberty will cost $15,700 pesos. Or if you convert Colombian pesos to dollars,about $4.60 USD. Nice price right? Welcome to the prices of Colombia!

Taxes and Fees Of Buying Property In Colombia

You want to ensure that the previous owner has paid all of the outstanding taxes on the property. You need to obtain these two certificates directly from the owner:

Tax free property certificate (Paz y Salvo Predial). This certificate guarantees that all the municipal taxes on the property have been paid.
Tax free on value gained property certificate (Paz y Salvo Valorización). This certificate guarantees that all taxes have been paid on the increase in value of the property.

Buyers Fees

At the time of purchasing the property, the buyer must pay different taxes and fees which total 1.65% of the value of the property. The 1.65% value of the property consists of:

1% tax on the property’s value for the registration of the property.
0.5 % fee of the property’s value for the registration of the property.
0.15% fee of the property’s value for the notary.

Sellers Fees

The seller of the property must pay between 3.63% and 4.79% of the total value of the property in taxes and fees:

0.15% fee of the property’s value for the notary.
3-4 % (including 19%VAT – value added tax) fee of the property’s value for the real estate agents.

Final Step For Buying Property In Colombia

The final step to buying property in Colombia is the signing of the Public Deed or ‘Escritura pública’ and this will confirm you as the new legal owner of the property. The Public Deed is a written legal instrument and you must hire a notary to produce it. The following taxes and fees apply:

Public Deed Fees

0.25% fee of the property’s value for the notary.
1% of the value of the transaction as an advance payment to be applied to the Income Tax.

Once the Public Deed is paid for and signed, it gets registered at the Registry Office and then consequently at the Cadastre or ‘Subdirección de Catastro’ where you will be officially registered as the new owner of the property.

Buy And Own Property In Colombia

There you have it. In conclusion, everyone can buy and own property in Colombia! To prepare, I would definitely recommend doing more due diligence on specific property regions and areas that you may be interested in. I would also recommend looking at property in Bogota or property in Medellin. Both of these locations have the potential for excellent returns. If you have a question or need more help, please send me a message.

Did you know that there is actually an equation for wealth? I invite you to check out my blog on how to Build Unlimited Wealth With Money’s Untold Truth and achieve your dreams and living an amazing lifetyle.

Until my next blog, best wishes!

Deuteronomy 8:18. But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day.

Matthew 7:8 NLT. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.

Last Updated on April 13, 2024 by Financial Goodness

Financial Goodness

Buy Houses Without Cash Or Credit

Updated April 13, 2024. Say that you want to buy houses, but you don’t have cash or credit. In addition to not having cash or credit, you don’t think you would qualify for a home mortgage. What is the answer? You have read books and videos about investing in real estate. Again, are there any options available to buy houses without cash or credit? The answer is yes! You can be buying houses right now using creative financing without any cash or credit.

Three Ways To Buy Houses

Here are three ways that you can buy houses without cash or credit. All you definitely need is a really motivated seller. If the seller isn’t really motivated, the answer is simple. Wait for the next deal to come up.

The three options to buying houses that we will go over in more depth are: owner financing, subject to, and lease options.

Owner Financing

Owner financing is a transaction in which the property owner finances the purchase directly with the person or entity buying the property, either in whole or in part. This type of arrangement can be advantageous for both the buy and the seller. Basically, it eliminates the costs of a mortgage from a bank. As the real estate investor, ask for $0 down payment, and an interest only payment.

If you have ever purchased a house before, you know that when the house ownership changes hands it seems everyone wants a piece of the pie, so to speak. The mortgage is part of this equation because a part of the mortgage each month always goes to pay down the principal. If you can negotiate an interest only payment with the seller, you will pay down the price of the property more quickly.

Subject To

Subject to means that the investor will offer to take over the original owners payments because the owner was falling behind. Why would anyone agree to leave their name on the loan and let you become the new owner? There is a rule in business that says “you are not your customer.” So you can’t really put yourself in the owner’s shoes. For whatever the reason, the original owner is highly motivated to get rid of their property. The good news is that luckily you are there to creatively solve the issues and problems so the owners can get on with their lives.

You agree to take over the original owners payments. Why would you do this? There are two reasons. One: time is of the essence. You don’t have time to see if you qualify for a mortgage. The owner’s want out now. The second reason: the original owners payments are less than the bank would give to an investor by a few percent points. So use the mortgage that is already in place. Basically, the bank doesn’t care where the money is coming from each month to pay the mortgage. The bank just wants the money each and every month. After you take ownership of the property, then you can start to consider if having your own mortgage makes sense for this property.

Lease Options

Lease options. The buyer investor pays the seller option money for the right to purchase the property at a later date. The buyer and the seller can agree to a purchase price at the inception of the agreement. Perhaps the buyer might agree to pay market value at the time the option is exercised. As a result, owner financing and subject to do not work.

If owner financing doesn’t work because there is already a mortgage on the property, and in addition, subject to doesn’t work because probably they owe too much based on the value of the house. If that is the situation, then a lease option could make the deal work.

Lease Option Agreement Example

The value of the house or apartment is $150,000. The loan on the property is $140,000. The investor would agree to lease the property for a period of say five years for $1000 a month with the option to purchase the property for $145,000. Then you, the investor, can rent out the property. Keep the original owner’s mortgage in place and just make payments. Check the numbers and make sure you are positive with your cash flow.

Depending on the location of the house, if the area is appreciating, in five years you could exercise your option and purchase the property. However, if the area is depreciating you may be better off deciding to not purchase the property. In this instance you can always try to renegotiate the price of the property to an agreeable value.

No Excuses For Owning Multiple Properties

So there you have it. These are three awesome ways to buy houses without cash or credit! Many real estate investor professionals use these three ways exclusively in their careers. If you are looking to invest in real estate or looking to take real estate investment to the next level, seriously consider the techniques we have just talked about.

I know real estate investors that stick to these three buying techniques and have the profits each month from hundreds of property rental houses that they control. Therefore, if are interested in finding out how they do it, please read my blog on the best three ways to Boost Your Rental Property Cash Flows.

What popular articles and blogs do you recommend?

Finally, if you are interested in Becoming A High-Net Worth Individual, please read my blog and watch the YouTube video by a fancinating guy named Andrew Hendersen, founder of Nomad Capitalist. He believes that the world has changed forever and says it’s time for you to “go where you’re treated best.”

Best wishes to you in achieving your financial freedom sooner!

Last Updated on April 13, 2024 by Financial Goodness

Financial Goodness

Boost Your Rental Property Cash Flows

ATM. Photo credit: Unsplash and johny vino.

Boost Rental Property Cash Flows

Updated April 13, 2024. Ever wondered if there was a way to get more money from your rental houses? In my opinion I believe these are the best three ways to boost your rental property cash flows into a real cash flowing machine.

There are three ways to dramatically increase the rental income for a property. Do you have rental houses that are close to colleges or universities? Do you have a vacation rental property that is close to the beach? The three kinds of rental properties that you could be making more money are student housing, vacation rentals, and my favorite: rent to own.

Let’s take a look at the 3 ways to boost your rental property cash flows into a real estate cash flowing machine.

Difficulty Finding Good Rental Tenants?

If you have or are thinking about buying other houses as rental units you can significantly increase the rent from these houses. Let me show you how. Let’s suppose that you decide to rent out a property. One of the problems is the occupant. What if the tenant decides not to pay the rent? You are getting no money on that unit. This is a huge problem because on most properties you still have taxes, insurance, maintenance, management fees, etc. On top of that many times you have a big mortgage to pay every month.

So if the tenant decides to move out you have a real financial issue on your hands. If you think about it, if the family moves out of the rental unit for one month so that it is vacant, a lot of time that will remove all the cash flow for the entire year for that property. So basically you have to have a 0% vacancy on the rental houses to make them work. But 0% vacancy is not realistic. In the real world, the reality is that some renters don’t always pay you.

Problems With Rental Cap Rates And NOI

The other problem is a lot of the time the rental houses will have a low cap rate. Say you rent out a property to a tenant for $1,200 a month. But then say you have to deduct the $100 for the taxes, $75 insurance, $100 property management fees, and $125 for maintenance. These costs total $400. So $1200 rent – $400 = $800 NOI (net operating income). In this example, after paying all the expenses you will have $800. Then multiply the $800 x 12 = $9,600 is what you receive each year for renting out this house. BUT this is assuming that you do not have a mortgage.

Determining Property Cap Rates For Rentals

To determine the cap rate you need to take the NOI of $9,600 and divide by the purchase price of the house. The typical family single home prices vary widely in the world. But let’s say that the cost for purchasing this house is $150,000. So $9,600 divided by $150,000 = 6.4 cap rate. A cap rate of 6.4 is bad. Most real estate investors look for a cap rate of 10 or above.

Blueprint To Boost Cap Rate On The Same Property

So here is the millionaire dollar question. How do we increase the cap rate above 10 on the same property? The cap rate is so bad in the example above we just looked at because the cost to purchase the house is so much more than the rental rate. Therefore in order to make this house a cash flowing machine we are going to have to get very creative.

Now let’s take this very same house and not change anything at all. We want to have a house that a person could move in and live in that home as their primary residence. Basically we still have the highest and best use of the house: a single family residence has the highest and best use.

There are three ways to boost your rental property cash flows. These three techniques will greatly improve your cash flow each time you find another house to buy. Let’s take a look at the 3 ways to boost your rental property cash flows into a real estate cash flowing machine.

3 Ways To Boost Your Rental Cash Flows

Idea #1 Student Housing

Are there universities, colleges or specialty schools in the area of the rental house? If the answer is yes, then get some more furniture and you can rent out the house by the room. The furniture for student housing can be bought very inexpensively at a second hand store and that will be fine for student housing.

Say the rental house has four bedrooms. You rent the house for $550 per room. 4 bedrooms x $550 = $2,200. Not bad right? $1,200 to a family or $2,200 for student housing and you market the student housing directly to the college or university.

Now usually you have to time it right because there are certain times of year that students will be looking for their housing. Once the students find their housing they are locked in for a year. You just have the parents co-sign, that way you are going to get paid no matter what. Once the students are there at the rental house, they will tell other students and the student rental house will be all set for years. This is an awesome way to turn a rental house into a cash flowing machine!

Idea #2 Vacation Rentals

Vacation rentals are the perfect way to rent your house if you are by the beach or by a beautiful place in the mountains. For most vacation rentals you are renting by the night. Let’s again use our example of the rental house with four bedrooms. This four bedroom rental house could easily rent for $4,000 a month. Compare $4,00 a month vacation rental to $1,200 a month for a normal typical family! What a huge difference between $4,000 a month versus $1,200 a month!

Remember though that there are a couple of expenses. One is furniture. This furniture needs to be a little bit more expensive. You need to be thinking about people writing positive reviews of your vacation rental. A little bit nicer furniture will positively impress the photos when people are looking online to decide which house to rent for their vacation. You may have to spend $5,000 or more on furniture depending on your location.

The other expense is utilities. Depending on the location of your vacation rental property, the utility bills could be a larger expense. Factor in air conditioning, gas, water, electricity, as well as internet and cable.

Earlier I was talking about cap rates for this four bedroom rental house. I was saying that to rent this unit to a typical family produces a cap rate of 6.4. A 6.4 cap rate is lousy. But here are the cap rates for student housing and a vacation rental.

Student Housing & Vacation Rentals Cap Rates

Student housing with purchasing second hand furniture: Double the cap rate of 6.4. Here you are looking at 10 or 12+ cap rate. Now you have a much better rental solution!

Vacation rentals with nicer furniture and possibly larger utilities: The cap rate can go to 20+. As you can see, a 20+ cap rate is awesome! But the best part is this. People come, stay, and then leave. You don’t have to worry about evictions because the people are there on their vacation! You have so much money coming from your vacation rental that you can afford some of the hassles (like little things getting broken) that will happen when people stay.

Idea #3 Rent To Own

Rent to own is a beautiful way to build nice profits in residential real estate. The big secret is this: so few people are doing this technique! People don’t know about it. The other real estate investors are concerned and there are not that many professionals that the other investors can call and ask for help. Please check out the laws of your rental properties to make sure that their are no laws against rent to own properties.

This technique is huge because for the most part student housing or vacation rentals are not an option for many cities and locations. There is no school nearby and it is not a vacation destination. So what do you do in these cases to turn the house into a cash flowing machine?

Setting Up A Rent To Own In Order To Boost Cash Flows

You have to offer the house on a rent to own rental agreement. Here is how to set up the rent to own strategy:

Get an upfront, non-refundable option payment. When the people are first moving in, they are getting a lease with you (one document), and another document which is the option to purchase the property at a specified price when they first move in (second document). To get that option they are going to pay you upfront.

How much are they going to pay you? Could be anywhere from $5,000 to $10,000 or even more. Can you believe it?! Anybody could ask for $2,000. If you are good at marketing you can get even more. A lot of people have mattress money (more than you think). They have this money, especially around tax return time when they are getting a tax refund. Around the month of April in the US is a huge time of year for the rent to own strategy.

Move All Maintenance To Tenants & New Owners

Push all maintenance to the tenants. As a result, there is no more maintenance. They are becoming the owner of the property. If something bad happens, that is all them. For this reason, you can push all maintenance off to the new owners. Important: there are certain tenant and landlord laws that will supercede this. For example, even though the tenants signed an agreement saying that they will maintain the property, if the HVAC goes out, the owner might have to fix it.

So be wise and check and see what the laws in your area look like. But for the most part, this will save you $125 in maintenance that we were talking about previously in the four bedroom rental house example. This is awesome because now the tenants are handling the maintenance!

Higher rental amount. Usually the tenants want to pay less rent for the house. Normally. But here you can do rent credits. Check with your location to see if this is allowed. Rent credits allow you to raise the rental rate. Say rent is normally $1,200 a month. You bump that up to $1,400 a month. Then you give the tenants a credit of $300 a month. The tenants can use the $300 credits to reduce the price of the house when they are going to purchase.

Big Secret About Rent To Own Properties

Here is the big secret to rent to own properties. Ready? Over 90% of the people who do a rent to own will NEVER EVER exercise their option to purchase. They are NOT going to buy the property in almost all cases. So relax and do not worry. The probability is that no one will buy your rental home.

Now if you keep renting the rental house out, the probability will increase that someone will eventually buy your rental house. But if you keep doing the rent to own strategy, the rental house profits should make you very happy. If one out of ten buys your property, it’s ok. Just go and buy another property. It is a win-win situation.

What I love is this. With the rent to own houses I get the money up front. What if there is a problem and you have to evict the tenants? If that’s the case you already have money up front to do it. As well, what if you have to replace the interior of the house with new carpet and paint? Again you have the money to do these renovations as well. Whatever happens, with the upfront money you already have, you are covered!

I often get the question: why do people do the rent to own and then change their mind? The reason is because these people typically don’t have a better financial situation tomorrow than they do today. Typically these people are just not trying to better and improve their lives like you.

Advertise Your Rental Property

The rent to own is so exciting because so few people are doing it! If you put up a signs around town that say:

With this sign you will get hundreds of phone calls. You will have to get up a different phone to handle taking the messages you will receive. The phone will ring off the hook. This Rent To Own sign will work in urban or rural areas. It really doesn’t matter. Why? Because there is a huge population of people who want the OPPORTUNITY to rent to own their own home and almost no one offers it!

Examples Of How To Make The Phone Ring

So when you do it and the phone starts ringing you will find out that the majority of the people have some problems. Examples? No jobs, and no money to put down. Get a voicemail message machine. I say in the message on the answering machine that I am looking for people who have $5,000 dollars to put down and $3,000 dollars earnings a month. Please leave your information. You are going to have to filter the people because you will get hundreds of calls. Believe me, you will not have an issue with potential people to screen when looking for the right tenant.

Improve Your Cash Flow Today

There are three ways to boost your rental property cash flows. The best three rental properties are student housing, vacation rentals, and my favorite: rent to own. These three techniques will greatly improve your cash flow each time you find another house to buy. These strategies are the foundation of any creative real estate investor, and in my opinion, these strategies will build you wealth as a real estate entrepreneur.

What popular articles and blogs do you recommend?

If you are interested in finding out the secret to buying houses when you don’t have the necessary cash, please read my blog: Buy Houses Without Cash Or Credit to get you on the right path for creating wealth.

If you are interested in Becoming A High-Net Worth Individual, please read my blog and watch the YouTube video by a fancinating guy named Andrew Hendersen, founder of Nomad Capitalist. He believes that the world has changed forever and says it’s time for you to “go where you’re treated best.”

Best wishes! Until then, watch for my next blog….

Last Updated on April 13, 2024 by Financial Goodness

Financial Goodness

Real Estate Investing Strategies That Work Every Time

*Stack of $100 US dollar banknotes. Photo credit: depositphotos.com*

Real Estate Myths

Updated April 13, 2024. There are a lot of myths in real estate investing. One of these myths is the most successful real estate professionals have perfect timing. However, if you think of this, it is absolutely not true. This would mean that these “professionals” buy when the economy is down and sell when the economy hits the absolute peak. Well this my happen sometimes, but the vast majority of the most successful real estate professionals apply specific strategies that always work. Here are three real estate investing strategies that work every time.

Three Strategies That Work

These three real estate strategies are: residential rentals; wholesaling; and fix and flip. These three strategies are among the most popular real estate strategies that produce consistent results regardless of the timing. Think about this for a moment, when you are doing your best financially it is usually in a good economy. Why? The prices of real estate are going up. For example, right now in January 2020 the prices of real estate are trending higher.

The Secret For Real Estate Guru’s Timing

The question is: how can you time it so that you can buy when the prices are low and sell when the prices are high? Well…

You can’t do it. It doesn’t make any sense unfortunately. You cannot take advantage of something like that. Clearly, you are not in that type of situation. If you think about it, it is really impossible to predict the future six months or a year from now.

The Future Is Not As Certain As The Past

Everyone knows the past. But how about this: right now are we in a real estate bubble? Some will say yes and others will say no. The point is no one has a crystal ball and can predict the future. No one really knows until we can look back six months or a year from now and can see what really happened.

What makes these strategies so important is that regardless if you have enough money in your pocket, and regardless if you can time the market, you can do these three strategies to increase your wealth.

Gain More Wisdom As Time Passes

As you get older you get smarter. You gain wisdom, knowledge and understanding. So with each year you are better and have more tools to be a real estate investor. Therefore, with each potential year you can apply the wisdom you have gained so you can apply it quickly to each house or apartment.

These three strategies will transform the way you look at real estate investing in the future. That way you can apply them at any moment in time. Then with more experience you will get better and better at them over time and become successful.

Here Are The Three Real Estate Strategies

Let’s get back to the three real estate strategies. This is my blueprint of the three real estate investing strategies that work every time and in any market. So our strategy is a combination of residential rentals, wholesaling and then balance that with rehabs to resell.

Residential Rental

The first one is rentals. But more specifically we am talking about residential real estate where people live in the property. People always need a place to live in good times and bad times. Typically when the economy goes down more people will rent. Residential rentals will always work if the numbers work. In fact, buying rentals will increase a person’s wealth more than any other strategy out there. If you do this correctly, are you ready to be a millionaire??!!

Need For More Capital

But the problem with rentals is that you need money. You need money for the down payment, money to fix up the house in some cases, money in the form of something like a line of credit so that if a tenant doesn’t pay you have to pay the mortgage temporarily while you evict and the related legal fees.

Wholesaling

This is where wholesaling comes into place. You put a property under contract directly from the seller. There are no agents listing the house on the MLS, these are off market deals. You go directly to the seller and made a deal.

Then you need to resell the property to a retail buyer or an investor. Basically you’re getting the property under contract at a wholesale or lower price and then you sell the property to another investor or at retail. Look to buy single family residences if possible. We recommend single family houses because they are the most plentiful. But depending on your market this could be apartments or condos. Here is the good news, in this real estate market right now, this strategy is working very well!

Right now, after 2018 and 2019, when a lot of people made money in the stock market, people are looking at real estate after the shakiness they saw in 2019 in the stock market. A lot of these people are in there 50’s or 60’s and are looking to invest their money wisely and some are looking to park their money in real estate.

When selling the wholesale properties, look for what are called sucker buyers. These are people that will offer you the most for the house that you have under contract. These people are willing to pay ever more for the house than you know it is worth.

If the dollar value from these buyer’s is the best price for the house, ask if they have all the documents to do a mortgage with a lender. Also, be sure to ask if they have approval for a mortgage. Obviously time is of the essence.

90% Of Investors Only Do 1 Deal

Have you heard that over 90% of real estate investors do one deal only? One deal! This means that only 10% are doing one deal after the other. The 90% may have lost money or not make much money. These 90% come in and buy one house. They go fix it up themselves. Then they realize it was a lot harder and a lot more work than they thought. Then guess what? They go and move on to something else in life.

So these 90% are always new people every time you wholesale a house. Can you believe it?! Remarkably this is very much the case. Therefore, take advantage of this never ending source of retail buyers!

Wholesaling Will Always Work

Wholesaling will always work because there will always be new people wanting to buy houses to fix them up. On top of this, houses are always deteriorating over time. For example: bad roofing, exteriors, the look of the houses is constantly changing, floor styles, paint colors, kitchens, bathrooms, etc.

Houses always need to be remodeled on a consistent basis. Always. If the houses are not constantly being maintained and improved, then the house becomes more difficult to sell and falls into the wholesaling category.

There are people that are looking to buy real estate thinking they are going to get rich quick. You absolutely cannot lose if you buy these wholesale houses at the right price. These three real estate investing strategies that work every time are a no-brainer, win-win-win situation!

Fix & Flip / Rehab And Resell

The third way to make money on houses is fix and flip or it is also called rehab and resell. This is where you buy the house, fix it back up and resell it. The reason why this always exists is again the fact that residential real estate is always deteriorating. Once you buy the house and get everything in your home, generally people are reluctant to fix everything.

For one thing, it is expensive, and it is a difficult task when you have all of your stuff in the house already. So the majority of people that buy homes normally don’t fix them up continuously to keep the market value increasing as the housing that are looking to be resold.

Look For Distressed Properties

There are always going to be deals in the real estate markets. One reason for these deals is that something happened that is completely separate from the market. These are what we call personal issues. A perfect example of this is a grandparent passes away and deeds the property to a son or daughter.

In case the son or daughter is extremely happy, but a lot of the time the son or daughter is broke financially and doesn’t have the money to handle this house. Often the son or daughter just wants money and they want it right now.

To top it off, the person who owned the house originally hasn’t done repairs in a long time. The house is old and outdated. This is a personal issue that is always going to exist. There will always be people passing away. This creates a consistency that will always need to be filled.

You may have the question of “What if I am in a market that is no longer hot. When people are no longer selling their houses for top dollar. Properties are sitting on the market longer. How do I buy a property and make sure I can do the rehab and resell and still make a profit?”

First of all, it is very important that you move quickly. You have to have all of your contractors lined up and ready to go. If you are not in a position of rehabbing the property in one to two months and get the property back on the market, you want to consider wholesaling.

Put Houses Back On The Market Quickly

So be careful about sitting on a property. One thing is fixing the property as fast as possible. The other factor is how fast you sell the property. You need to put the property on the market for as low of a price as possible. By doing this, you can generate instant offers. It has got to be fast. The rehab and resale of the property will always work consistently as long as you move fast.

If you need to get permits and other government documents you better consider your options. Sometimes the government is going to take months to approve things. That will slow down progress substantially. If you work on a property for six months, let me ask you a question. Do you know what is going to happen six months down the road? The answer is no. I have no idea what the economy is going to be like six months in the future.

Sometimes you can get fortunate when the market continues to go up. You can make a lot of mistakes in the last few years and still come out nicely when the market continues to go up and you have been able to fix your own problems. But now certain market in the upper price points things are not like that anymore. Builders have built enough inventory. An example is the coastal markets in the United States, especially in the west coast where prices have leveled off when you get up above the prices for affordable houses. You tend to see a lot more inventory in the luxury house markets, so be careful.

Do All Three Strategies To Create Wealth

There are a lot of myths in real estate investing. However, the vast majority of the most successful real estate professionals apply specific strategies that always work. We hope you liked my blueprint of the three real estate investing strategies that work every time.

What is nice about wholesaling is that you have a lot less risk. The problem with wholesaling is that you don’t make as much money. You will make a fraction of the price that someone is going to pay in the end to own the house. When you buy a property wholesale, then rehab and resell the property you are selling to a retail buyer. Retail buyers pay the most money. So you can make more profit.

But wholesaling has less risk. So a strategy that works very well is a combination of wholesaling and then balance that with rehab to resell. This way you are always flipping properties. With this strategy you can build up enough cash and capital so that you can start buying some residential rental properties. The residential rentals can then create long-term wealth.

What popular articles and blogs do you recommend?

Further Reading on FinancialGoodness.com: For more articles and blogs on real estate investing, check out our guides to Boost Your Rental Property Cash Flows and the Best Real Estate Strategies To Make 7 Figures. These strategies will help you build wealth as a real estate entrepreneur.

If you are interested in Becoming A High Net Worth Individual, please read my blog and watch the YouTube video by a fancinating guy named Andrew Hendersen, founder of Nomad Capitalist. He believes that the world has changed forever and says it’s time for you to “go where you’re treated best.”

These three real estate investing strategies that work every time are the keys that have made real estate investors very wealthy. They are the win-win-win strategy to real estate wealth. I have made very nice profits with these property strategies and I am sure you can too. Until next time, best wishes!

Last Updated on April 13, 2024 by Financial Goodness

Financial Goodness

Buying Stocks Versus Real Estate Investing

Stocks Versus Real Estate. Photo credit Pixabay.

Which Is Better?

Updated April 13, 2024. Which is potentially better? Buying stocks versus real estate investing. The best answer is that the stock market tends to increase in value faster than real estate. Historically, from 1968 to 2009, the S&P 500 has resulted in returns of 7.5% annually. But real estate prices head in the direction of outpacing inflation, but just slightly. After accounting for inflation, home prices have increased by 1.5% per year.

But, after accounting for inflation, stocks have returns of approximately 7% per year. Remarkably, the stock market gain of 7% is 4.65 times the rate of real estate. But there is more information to think about. In reality, stocks have experienced more peaks and valleys, making them a far riskier investment.

But numbers don’t tell the whole performance story. You also have to look at the impact of tax advantages, income yield, and the fact that real estate investments often allow for significant leverage.

Which investment is best depends on more than just their returns; other factors must be considered. But if history is an indicator of future performance, both stand to produce attractive gains in the long run.

The Benefits of Investing in Real Estate

In real life, real estate has higher risk-adjusted returns than the stock market. Despite their potential to generate sizeable returns, stocks have no tangible value; on the other hand, real estate is a valuable, tangible asset and profit generator.

The Big HOWEVER…

One reason why real estate as an investment has better annual returns is leverage. With real estate, the investor can do a significant amount of financing to leverage the property and purchase the property without adding a lot of risk to the investment.

However, real estate as an investment has a much stronger return POTENTIAL, especially with rental properties. Not to mention the awesome tax advantages.

Tax Advantages of Rental Properties

Operating expenses are deductible
Mortgage interest is deductible
Depreciation deduction of 27.5 years for buildings
Defer capital gains tax
Owner expenses are also tax deductible
Avoid FICA taxes
Qualify for pass-through deduction

Two Real Estate Investment Scenarios

This leverage can amplify small returns greatly. Let’s say you decide to buy a house or apartment for $100,000 using your own money. Say the value of the house increases by 3%. $100,000 times 3% equals $103,000. This means you have earned $3,000 on your initial investment of $100,000.

Now let’s say you find a house or apartment and purchase it for $500,000. But you only invest $100,000 of your money. Then you finance the other $400,000 with a mortgage. Let’s say again that this property increases in value 3%. $500,000 times 3% equals $15,000 profit.

Leverage Your Way To Big Profits

So, let’s take a look at difference in the potential profits. In both cases you have made a $100,000 investment. The big difference is the leverage that you use. In the first scenario, you purchased the house with your $100,000 and did not ask for a mortgage because you already met the buy price.

Conversely, in the second scenario, you also invested $100,000, but you asked for a mortgage of $400,000. The $400,000 mortgage that you asked for here will give you more leverage when you own the $500,000 house or apartment.

In the second scenario, you are using more advantageously using leverage. In the second scenario, you have now increased your potential profit to $15,000 versus the $3,000 with the same $100,000 investment in both cases.

Big Difference In Returns Is Leverage

In the second case, the leverage increased your returns by $12,000 for the same initial investment. Not bad…. But keep in mind that when you borrow money from a lender you usually have to pay the lender an origination fee at the closing as well as possibly other closing costs. Also, usually you will have to make monthly payments for each month that you own the property.

Nonetheless, most people choose to use leverage. When dealing with real estate, leverage can completely increase your returns when looking at potential investments. The idea behind leveraging real estate is to use other people’s money to increase your returns without having to put as much capital into buying the property yourself.

Many people still ask the question of which is better: buying stocks versus real estate investing? Real estate has a much stronger return POTENTIAL because of leverage. For myself, I like leverage. You can have $0 dollars and no credit. All you have to do is find the right property and put it under contract and the leverage of real estate will make you a nice return on that property.

Rent Out The Property

The other big reason that investors choose real estate is that investment properties can be rented out to generate more income. Look at the total money needed to make the mortgage and other payments each month. If you can justifiably increase the rent to cover the cost of the property, the rest is profit before taxes.

Real Estate Has Greater Potential Returns

In my opinion, real estate investments have a much greater potential return over the stock market if you look at the long-term returns. However, be that as it may, investing in real estate is arguably time consuming.

You or your management team will need to factor in the time spent to maintain your properties in order to justify having a portfolio that includes real estate. But if you take the time to set everything up properly, the investment returns on your real estate properties will dramatically increase your wealth for the long-term.

Greater Initial Time Commitment For Real Estate

If you are looking to buy houses or apartments that need to be renovated before you sell or place a tenant to rent out the property, going through this process is very time consuming. If you are perhaps younger, and have a lot of energy, this could be feasible way to invest and make nice returns. In addition, in many countries real estate investors also have enjoyed greater real estate tax advantages than have the investment in stocks.

Perhaps Best Scenario Is Invest In Both

On the other hand, if you already have a job or other time commitments, you might not have the time or energy to focus on real estate investments. I completely understand this perspective. In this scenario, maybe it would be better to focus on the stock market and buy the S&P 500 on dips.

Which is better: buying stocks versus real estate investing? Real estate has a much stronger return POTENTIAL because of leverage. Honestly, I would invest in both.

Invest On A Regular Basis In Stocks

Investing on a regular basis rather than trying to time a lump sum investment can help you become a more disciplined investor. You’re forced to invest regardless of whether the price is high or low. This takes some of the emotion out of investing and avoids any delays in putting your money to work. Most financial planners advise saving between 10% and 15% of your annual income. If you want to learn some key stock market investment strategies, please read my blog on How To Invest Wisely In The Stock Market.

Invest In Real Estate

Conceivably the best scenario is to invest in both real estate and the stock market. This way, if you have some rentals and regularly invest in the stock market, no matter what happens to the economy annually you will have a better chance of coming out ahead in the long run for retirement.

However, time is always a factor and many people have to choose. Which is better: buying stocks versus real estate investing? If you feel you are in this category, then we highly recommend real estate. We would say real estate because it has a much stronger return because of the leverage factor.

What popular articles and blogs do you recommend?

A strategy that works very well is a combination of wholesaling and then balance that with rehab to resell. This way you are always flipping properties. Please read my blog on the Real Estate Investing Strategies That Work Every Time. With this strategy you can build up enough cash and capital so that you can start buying some residential rental properties. The residential rentals can then create long-term wealth.

If you have ever wondered if there is a way to get more money from your rental houses, please read this blog on the three ways to Boost Your Rental Property Cash Flows. This article goes in-depth into the three kinds of rental properties that you could be making more money are student housing, vacation rentals, and my favorite: rent to own. This will make your rentals into a real estate cash flowing machine.

Santa Barbara Is The Best Neighborhood In Bogota

Enjoy Living In Santa Barbara

Updated April 13, 2024. Santa Barbara is the best neighborhood in Bogota. Colombia’s capital, Bogotá, is brimming with hotspots that draw more and more locals and visitors each year. For example, Usaquén, and more specifically Santa Barbara, are definitely experiencing a renaissance. As a result, Santa Barbara is by far the city’s most vibrant one, packed with antique stores, modern cafés, outstanding eateries and a popular Sunday market.

Real Bogotanos Live In Santa Barbara

To illustrate the culture of the area, if you want to know how real “Bogotanos” live, look no further than Santa Barbara. Consequently, this is by far one of the most authentic and energetic neighborhood in the city. Additionally, if you look at the architecture of the buildings, the new urbanism is shaping the area with the property owners making the transitions with the construction companies to construct newer design buildings.

Map of Santa Barbara Neighborhood. Photo credit: Google Maps.

Santa Barbara Lifestyle

For those looking for new apartments for sale in Bogotá, Santa Barbara is the area to that promises exciting news. Accordingly, the northern neighborhood of Santa Barbara is taking a large move towards modern architecture. Furthermore, the new buildings have many amenities as well, including security, entertainment and community services rooms such as business suites that are all equipped with the latest smart technology.

For this reason, if you would like to find out more information go to Properati.com.co. Or click on the Neighborhood Guide and scroll all the way down to Santa Barbara, because for me, the best neighborhoods in Bogota include Santa Barbara. Quite simply, Santa Barbara is a gem of a neighborhood.

Price Comparisons

Let’s look at a price comparison of properties in the Santa Barbara area and compare that to the prices of properties in Cedritos, Bella Switzerland, and Chico. Likewise, if we glance at the website properati.com.co/guia_de_barrio/santa-barbara we can see that the price for apartments in Santa Barbara is just below $6 million.

Overall, the price of apartments in Santa Barbara is more than those in Cedritos and slightly more than those in Bella Switzerland, but less than the apartments in Chico Norte, which is just to the south of Usaquén on the south side of diagonal street named Diagonal 92.

In my opinion, Santa Barbara is the best neighborhood in Bogota. Santa Barbara’s new modern urban buildings are a buy for the price, the value, and strength of the U.S. dollar.

Price Comparison Of Santa Barbara

Price Comparison / m ² Properties

*Property comparison of prices of Santa Barbara with Cedritos, Bella Switzerland, and Chico Navarra. © Photo credit:* https://www.properati.com.co/guia_de_barrio/santa-barbara

Colombia Pesos To US Dollars

Let’s calculate the Colombian prices to US dollar prices. As of today, Tuesday, December 12, 2019, 1 US dollar (USD) equals $3,382 Colombian pesos (COP). By the same token, let’s also assume that the average price for Santa Barbara neighborhood is approximately $5,950,000 COP. Doing the math $5,950,000 divided by $3.382 equals 1.759 per m ². For those of you not used to thinking in square meters let’s take a look at what this can buy and you will probably be very surprised at the affordability.

Updated June 27, 2022. The US dollar exchange rate continues to climb against the Colombian peso. As a result, currently 1 US dollar (USD) equals $4,135 Colombian pesos. In short, this is an awesome time to invest in Colombia and take advantage of the great exchange rate!

Why Invest In Colombia?

The World Bank catalogues Colombia as the fifth country in the world, among 183 countries, and as the first in Latin America, to protect investors. In fact, the Colombian investment atmosphere has been considered as one of the most favorable for foreign investment. In addition, Colombia is one of the most open economies, in terms of percentage of property own by foreigners, in Latin America.

Four Apartment Examples In Central Santa Barbara

In our opinion, Santa Barbara is the best neighborhood in Bogota. Take advantage of the strength of the US dollar and invest in a residential home. Clearly, Santa Barbara’s new urban buildings are a buy for the price, the value, and strength of the U.S. dollar.

Here are four apartment examples that I found online today. To show a comparison, the first apartment is a brand new one bedroom apartment. However, the other three apartments were not new, but they are similar, modern apartments.

Finally, I was quickly able to find a one bedroom, two bedroom, and three bedroom apartments for comparison. All of these apartments are listed on the website by LA HAUS at lahaus.com.

Example Of A Brand New Apartment

The first apartment is located at Vita 118 location in central Santa Barbara. The unit has one bedroom, two bathrooms, and two parking spaces for a total of 73 m ². The price is $511 million.

You can see this apartment online at www.lahaus.com/p/vita-118-apartamentos/bogota. The description of the new apartment at Vita 118 says the amenities include a swimming pool, fitness center, and a jazucci. As equally important, the outside aesthetics of the building are quite simply beautiful and amazing.

New one bedroom apartment in Santa Barbara Central, priced at $511 million COP. Photo credit: lahaus.com.

More Apartments In Santa Barbara Central

Firstly, I scrolled down the web page of Vita 118 until it said “More Properties in Santa Barbara Central” and clicked to enter to search for more real estate for sale. My computer immediately went to lahaus.com/propiedades/bogota/santa-barbara/santa-barbara-central.

Secondly, I was looking for a one, two, and three bedroom apartment. Ideally, I was looking for apartments that were newer and modern as a way to reduce overhead maintenance costs. Moreover, I was also looking for better priced deals. For this reason, I found these four apartments to do a price comparison, but there were other apartments in the same price range, as you can see in the chart I created below.

Santa Barbara Central Apartments

Bedrooms m ²Price COP Price USD

1 BR – New	73	$511,000,000	$151,094
1 BR – Modern But Not New	55	$315,000,000	$93,140
2 BR – Modern But Not New	79	$480,000,000	$141,928
3 BR – Modern But Not New	117	$540,000,000	$159,669

Comparisons: Santa Barbara Apartments

In general, the price for the brand new one bedroom apartment was definitely higher at $511 million COP or $151,094 USD. In addition, the outside of the apartment complex is beautiful, possibly has a more exclusive address, and the amenities could make a difference.

However, from a real estate investment point of view, the one, two, and three bedroom apartments, that are also located in the same Santa Barbara Central area, were all newer and modern. In addition, the total prices were much more affordable.

In conclusion, if you are looking to purchase one of these apartments for yourself as a home or as a rental, we would have to suggest that the better deal would be to buy a newer, modern apartment for a much better price.

Furthermore, for the last ten years the prices of real estate continue to increase in value annually. Therefore, going forward, if the prices of real estate continues to increase, as it has been doing in the last ten years, you will be glad for the future equity in your property.

Below are the details of the modern residential apartments that are for sale with the current owners. However, please do your due diligence to determine the IRR for these properties. In conclusion, our outlook is that there are some good deals for buying a house for your family or for added rental income if you look in the Santa Barbara area of Usaquén neighborhood.

One Bedroom Apartment:

Firstly, this one bedroom apartment that I found at lahaus.com, says it has one bedroom and two bathrooms, with one parking space. Also, this apartment has good lighting and ventilation, with a functional fireplace in the living room. Additionally, it is close to a wide range of shopping centers, restaurants, and banking. This one bedroom apartment is near Carrera 15, Calle 127, and Autopista Norte. Finally, the price of this one bedroom apartment is $315 million COP.

Two Bedroom Apartment:

Three Bedroom Apartment:

First, I scrolled down and found a three bedroom, three bathroom apartment that looks new and modern. In particular, the description says this duplex penthouse is strategically located close to the Unicentro Bogotá Mall and is close to supermarkets and parks.

Second, the area is quiet and well lit. The first level contains dining room, remodeled kitchen, laundry, and bathroom. The second level contains the three bedrooms, a study, and two bathrooms, one with a jucuzzi. In addition to this, there is an elevator and two parking spaces. Finally, the price for this three bedroom 117 m² apartment complex is $540 million.

Modern three bedroom apartment house in Santa Barbara Central, priced at $540 million COP. Photo credit: lahaus.com.

Conclusion

In our opinion, Santa Barbara is the best neighborhood in Bogota. At this time, Santa Barbara’s new urban buildings are a buy for the price, the value, and strength of the U.S. dollar.

What popular articles and blogs do you recommend?

Further Reading on FinancialGoodness.com: For more articles and blogs on real estate investing, check out our guides to Real Estate Investing Strategies That Work Every Time and the Best Real Estate Strategies To Make 7 Figures.

In conclusion, are you interested in taking advantage of the excellent opportunities in the capital city of Bogota, Colombia? In this case, if you are interested in purchasing a rental property, but are not sure about how to complete the process, please read my blog on how Everyone Can Buy And Own Property In Colombia. Overall, this article has many details about how to buy the affordable real estate in Bogota or Medellin that have the potential for excellent returns.

Last Updated on April 13, 2024 by Financial Goodness

Financial Goodness

Best Real Estate Neighborhoods In Bogota, Colombia

Updated April 13, 2024. Let’s meet the best real estate neighborhoods in Bogota, Colombia! Bogota neighborhoods in the northern part of the city, or what are called Bogota North neighborhoods, are absolutely exquisite. As a result, the North Bogota areas are definitely the nicest when looking for a real estate home or an investment property.

In addition, these homes have a higher level of security. Thus, the Bogota North neighborhoods are the best and safest neighborhoods to look for a home or apartment in Bogotá, Colombia.

Similarly, let’s take a look at some of my favorite neighborhoods for buying a home or for investing in real estate. In my opinion, they are the neighborhoods of Usaquén and Chapinero.

Usaquen and Chapinero Neighborhoods

First, we will focus at the beautiful neighborhood of Usaquen and then we will take a look at the trendy neighborhood of Chapinero.

Usaquen

The best real estate neighborhoods in Bogota, Colombia would not be complete without Usaquen. Usaquen is a beautiful and charming area in the Northern part of Bogotá. Nevertheless, Usaquen still has a nice small-town feel.

Specifically, Usaquen is among the 20 localities that make up the Capital District of Bogota. However, Usaquen was a separate municipality of Cundinamarca until 1954, when it was annexed into the city. As a result, Usaquen is the 1st locality of Bogotá, capital city of Colombia, and is located in the northern part of the city.

Similarly, today Usaquen is home to more than 474,000 inhabitants as of 2017. In addition, this district is mostly inhabited by upper middle and upper class residents.

Usaquen Location

Usaquen is bordered on the north by 240 Street. To the south by 100th Street in the town of Chico. In the west, by the North Freeway, located in Suba. Finally, on the east by the Eastern Hills, a long chain of hills forming the eastern natural boundary of the Colombian capital of Bogota.

Map of Usaquén neighborhood. Photo credit: Google maps.

Usaquen Sites Of Interest

The Country Club of Bogota, in fact, is the largest golf course in Bogota (the green area that is just above the word Usaquen on the map.)
Hacienda Santa Barbara, a colonial style Hacienda that now serves as a shopping mall
Unicentro, Bogotá shopping mall, dating back to the mid seventies
Santa Ana Centro Comercial, a shopping mall

Awesome Restaurants in Usaquen

Usaquen has many outstanding restaurants housed in colonial buildings. For example, Trendy Usaquen is a foodie hotspot. In particular, the Asian fusion eateries, upscale French bistros and mellow garden cafes cluster around Usaquen Park, the district’s focal point. Similarly, the brew pubs and chic cocktail bars keep the scene buzzing until late.

Usaquen Sunday Morning Stroll

If you need rest and relaxation combined with a little exercise after a night out on the town in Bogota, the neighborhood of Usaquen is the perfect place for a Sunday morning stroll. For instance, the neighborhood of Usaquen is known for its Sunday flea market. You can walk around to see hundreds of artisans, featuring street musicians, gourmet food stands and stalls selling handmade jewelry.

Excellent Urban Cycling

If there’s one area in which Bogota is a world leader, its urban cycling in Bogota. Moreover, the great news is that the cycling route goes right through Usaquen! The metropolis of Bogota is credited with initiating the world’s first ciclovía in 1974.

As a result, Bogota has one of the world’s most extensive bike-route networks, with more than 375 km of separated, clearly marked bike paths called CicloRuta. In addition, free Bogota maps from PIT information centers show the CicloRuta paths. PIT stands for Punto de Información Turística Centro Histórico. PIT is located at Cra. 8 #9-83.

Photo of Ciclovía Bogotá. Photo credit: https://www.bicitravesiasbogota.gov.co/ciclovia-bogota

In total, about 121 km of city roads in Bogota are closed to traffic from 7am to 2pm on Sundays and holidays for the citywide Ciclovia, a well-run event to get Bogota out and bicycle around the city. If you feel like biking, you can rent a bike at Bogota Bike Tours.

Ciclovia runs along Carrera 7 all the way from La Candelaria to Usaquen. In particular, I have seen the Autopista Norte, in Usaquen, many times on Sundays. The left lane of traffic is closed with a long line of orange cones to separate the cars and the bicycles. Besides the bicycles, the bicycle lane also contains some rollerblades, scooters, skateboards, pedestrians and anything else without a motor.

Indeed, this much-copied two-wheeled happening regularly attracts around two million participants – 25% of Bogota’s population! In fact, it is amazing that so many people who ride their bikes on Sundays have smiles on their faces. Consequently, it makes me proud of the people of Bogota and their innate happiness for life.

The Ciclovia bicycle route. Photo credit: https://www.bicitravesiasbogota.gov.co/ciclovia-bogota

Usaquen’s Beautiful Park

Torca, located at the extreme north, is the largest park of Usaquen. Notably, the Country Club’s polo area was acquired by the District and transformed into a metropolitan park for northern Bogota. Undoubtedly, the Torca area is a place of absolute beautiful.

The Estratos Of Usaquen

The social classes of Usaquen are primarily the upper middle class and upper class. Hence, the socio-economic estratos are four, five and six. Consequently, in the highest estratos of five and six (six being the highest estrato), the residents pay an increase in the utility bill price for water, gas, and electricity.

Yet, when I drive around the Usaquen neighborhood it reminds me of the nicer, beautiful neighborhoods in the larger metropolitan cities of the US; London, England; Paris, France; or Madrid or Barcelona, Spain. Consequently, I really love the Usaquen area and believe it is one of the best real estate neighborhoods in Bogota, Colombia.

Usaquen Malls And Business Center

Unicentro Mall: being one of the largest malls in the city with people not only from the town of Usaquén, but from the entire city of Bogotá.
Hacienda Santa Bárbara Mall: unites the modern with the colonial architectural styles. Built on the grounds where the hacienda (the estate) was originally located.
Santa Barbara Business Center: a set of nine modern buildings between Calle 112 and 116 and between Carrera 7 and Carrera 9.
Santa Ana Mall: located on Avenida Carrera 9, is one of the most exclusive, upscale retailers in the city.
Cedritos 151 Mall: located on Calle 150 with Carrera 16.
Palatino Mall: located on Calle 140 with Carrera 7.

Unicentro Shopping Center in Usaquén. Photo credit: https://www.semana.com/contenidos-editoriales/esta-bogota-promete/articulo/unicentro-bogota-y-sus-programas-de-responsabilidad-social-y-ambiental/548004

Santa Barbara Business Center in Usaquén. Photo credit: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centro_Empresarial_Santa_B%C3%A1rbara#/media/Archivo:Centro_empresarial_St_b%C3%A1rbara_Bogot%C3%A1.JPG.

Important Neighborhoods in Usaquen

Furthermore, if you are interested in this area, I would highly recommend further research for the important neighborhoods in the Usaquen area. These great neighborhoods include:

Lijacá
Verbenal
San Antonio
Servitá
San Cristóbal Norte
Toberín
Barrancas
Cedritos
Bella Suiza
La Carolina
Santa Ana
Santa Barbara
San Gabriel Norte
Cantón Norte
Francisco Miranda
Las Margaritas
San Patricio
The colonial heart of Usaquén

Chapinero

The best real estate neighborhoods in Bogota, Colombia would not be complete without Chapinero. Indeed, Chapinero is touted as the hipster area of the city.

As an example, in this neighborhood, you’ll find Bogota’s under 30 creatives, young professionals, students, and a large LGTB community. Overall, the feeling of the area is a bit more underground. Specifically, enjoy the hip eateries, coffee shops, and independent design boutiques to discover around every street corner.

Map of Chapinero neighborhood. Photo credit: Google maps.

Chapinero Location

Chapinero is located in the north of the city and is one of the more affluent districts of the city of Bogota. Consequently, this district is mostly inhabited by upper class residents. Thus, the boundaries are Calle 39 in the south, Avenida Caracas in the west, Calle 100 in the north and the Eastern Hills in the east.

Chapinero is the 2nd locality of Bogota, capital of Colombia. As well, Chapinero is among the 20 localities that make up the Capital District of Bogota. Hence, Chapinero has its own local administration that is under the jurisdiction of the District’s Government secretariat.

Chapinero’s Economy

Generally, the Chapinero economy is one of the most important commercial and economic zones of the capital city of Bogota. Banking and financial centers are headquartered along Calle 72, Carrera 7 and Calle 100. Whereas, the major shopping areas located along Carreras 11 and 15.

Furthermore, several universities are based in the located in Chapinero, including:

Chapinero Restaurants

As well, the zone of Chapinero also includes popular dining areas and nightlife centers. For instance, look for the Zona Rosa, the Parque 93, and the Zona G (G stands for Gourmet), known for its wide selection of upscale restaurants.

Chapinero Points Of Interest

Chicó Museum (Museo del Chicó): which includes an old manor house and a surrounding park.
Our Lady of Lourdes Basilica (Basílica de Nuestra Señora de Lourdes)
93rd street park (93 Park; Parque de la 93): which is also a hot spot for upscale restaurants, bars and nightclubs.
Shopping centers:
- Avenida Chile (formerly known as Granahorrar)
- Centro Andino
- Atlantis Plaza
- El Retiro

Chapinero Alto

Finally, the best real estate neighborhoods in Bogota, Colombia would not be complete without mentioning Chapinero Alto. In contrast to the flatness of the city, Chapinero Alto (Upper Chapinero) is located between Carrera 1 and Carrera 7, as the streets begin to slope up into the mountains.

Chapinero Alto lies roughly between Calle 40 in the south and Calle 70 in the north. As a result, a lot of students live around Calle 45. This is due to its proximity to the Universidad Javeriana, one of the country’s oldest, most traditional, and prestigious institutions.

Likeable Neighborhoods In Chapinero

Finally, I would highly recommend further research for the likeable neighborhoods in the Chapinero area. These neighborhoods include:

El Nogal
El Chicó
Antiguo Country
Rosales
Villa del Cerro
Chapinero Central
Chapinero Alto
La Cabrera
El Lago
El Virrey
Quinta Camacho
Pardo Rubio
Marly
La Salle
Bosque Calderón
La Porciúncula

Conclusions

In conclusion, the neighborhoods of Usaquen and Chapinero are my favorites whether you are buying a home or looking for investments in real estate. Therefore, please research these neighborhoods further and I am sure that you amazed by the amenities and possibilities that these locations have to offer.

Again, the best real estate neighborhoods in Bogota, Colombia are in the north. The Bogota North neighborhoods are absolutely beautiful. In my opinion, the best neighborhoods are located in the neighborhoods of Usaquen and Chapinero.

Neighborhoods For Investment

If you are looking to invest in Colombia, please read my blog on the Real Estate Investing Strategies That Work Every Time. Therefore, these three real estate strategies are: residential rentals; wholesaling; and rehab and resell. All in all, these three strategies are among the most popular real estate strategies that produce consistent results regardless of the timing. Additionally, these investment strategies will increase your families long-term wealth.

If you are interested in learning the best ways to to improve your rental property cash flows, please read our blog on the three ways to Boost Your Rental Property Cash Flows. As a result, these strategies will help you build your long-term wealth as a real estate entrepreneur.

What popular articles and blogs do you recommend?

In addition, if you are interested in Becoming A High-Net Worth Individual, please read my blog and watch the YouTube video by a fancinating guy named Andrew Hendersen, founder of Nomad Capitalist. In short, he believes that the world has changed forever and says it’s time for you to “go where you’re treated best.”

That’s it for now. By and large, I hope you have received value. Lastly, I look forward to providing you with more information and value on the great real estate investments in Colombia. Best wishes.

Last Updated on April 13, 2024 by Financial Goodness

Financial Goodness

Invest In Real Estate In Bogota, Colombia

Why Invest In Bogota, Colombia?

Updated April 13, 2024. Bogotá is everything a capital city should be. It is the economic, cultural and artistic heart of Colombia. Bogota should be thought of as a vibrant core and a beam of modernity. This mix is the quintessential feel of a country that is held together between the exotic Caribbean and the captivating Andes. Bogota is so much more than a mere springboard to South America. Bogota is, in fact, one of the best Colombian experiences! But the big question is, why should you invest in real estate in Bogota, Colombia?

Facts About Bogota, Colombia

Colombia’s capital city of Bogotá, the Capital District, is the country’s largest city. The population of Bogota is estimated to be at 8 million. 3 million of these people live in the areas immediately surrounding Bogota. Meaning there are 11 million people living the greater Bogotá area.

Moreover, it is also interesting that Bogota is the fourth highest capital city in the world. The altitude of Bogota is 8,600 feet or 2,640 meters above sea level. For people reading from the U.S., the city of Denver, Colorado, also called the Mile High City, has an altitude of 5,280 feet above sea level or 1609.3 meters. So, Bogota is a high city!

A view of the center of Bogotá with the Andes in the background. Photo credit: Unsplash

Bogota, Colombia Is Rapidly Growing

In the last few decades, Bogotá has been expanding rapidly. Bogotá has rising tourism, a booming economy with high consumer confidence, an expanding middle class, and falling interest rates.

Not to mention, the cultural, historic highlights that make Bogota one of the of Latin America’s most rewarding destinations. “It’s a city that’s starting to catch up and come up after being held back for a long time,” said Sam Miller. Miller is a Canadian that moved to Bogotá years ago. He loves living in Bogotá, Colombia because the air temperature is so much better than living in Canada.

Sam Miller co-founded a real estate investment company called Colombia International Real Estate (a subsidiary of Lifeafar). Miller said in a recent interview, that there are tremendous opportunities “with a growing middle class and one of the largest English-speaking populations in Latin America.

As a result, Bogota, Colombia now completes for international home buyers. The sprawling metropolis of Bogotá now has sleek skyscrapers, and some of the finest restaurants, nightlife, museums, and shopping scenes in Latin America. Let’s look at those opportunities now in Bogotá for tourism, economy, and the real estate property market forecast predictions.

Growing Tourism In Bogota, Colombia

In Bogotá and across all of Colombia, tourism is on the rise. Over the last decade or so, tourism in Colombia has soared by more than 300%. The tourism has risen from one million foreign visitors in 2006 to more than three million in 2017. Colombia is a country that has seen unprecedented tourism growth over the last ten years. Consequently, Bogotá continues to lead the way as Colombia’s most popular destination for foreign visitors.

According to Ministry of Tourism data in 2018, Bogota receives 51% of the country’s total tourist traffic, followed by Cartagena at 11%, and Medellin with 10%.

Between 2011 to 2017, the number of annual passengers arriving at Bogota’s El Dorado International airport jumped from 20 million to 31 million. Airlines have added new direct flights to Bogota from destinations like Amsterdam, Europe, and Los Angeles to accommodate the rapid increase in Bogota travel.

In 2019 and beyond, we expect steady tourism growth to continue across Bogotá and all of Colombia. Likewise, Colombia continues to shed its dangerous reputation. Subsequently, Bogota will continues to receive glowing press releases and is building its name as South America’s hub for technology and culture.

The ever-evolving city of Bogota is forecasted to continue to attract a steadily growing stream of business travelers and government workers. These business travelers and government workers are in addition to the tourists, vacationers, and remote workers attracted to the city. If you would like to invest in real estate in Bogota, Colombia, please let us know.

Economic Growth In Bogota, Colombia

All of Colombia has seen tremendous economic growth over the last ten years. The country’s economic prosperity is evident in Bogota’s positive indicators. As the seat for government and business in Colombia, Bogota averages around 30% of the country’s GDP. In particular, the city is home to most of the multinational corporations. As well as national and governmental agencies in the country.

In its American Cities of the Future report for 2017/18, the fDi Intelligence research center recognized Bogotá as having the second-best strategy for promoting foreign direct investment in South America. Bogota was second only to Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Currently, the local economy is primarily based on the service sector, including financial services and telecommunications. Looking to 2019 and beyond, we expect to see solid growth in Bogotá’s tourism and agricultural sectors.

Over the next ten years, a steady economic upturn is forecasted to continue in Bogota and across the country. This is due to increasing oil prices, steady private consumer consumption, and recovery of non-oil exports, among other variables.

Real Estate Investment Opportunities

The Bogota real estate opportunities are fantastic. Bogotá (and all of Colombia) has enjoyed historic real estate growth over the last ten years. Under the administration of President Álvaro Uribe in 2003, Colombian real estate prices took a massive uptick after crime rates have decreased. Since then, property market prices have gone up steadily across Colombia, rising an average of 8% per year in Bogotá.

In our opinion, Bogota is definitely a very exciting global investment opportunity to consider. If you would like to invest in real estate in Bogota, Colombia, please let us know.

Understanding Housing Estratos

To understand real estate opportunities within the city, let’s understand how the government housing stratum system works.

In Colombia, homes are ranked in socio-economic categories known as estratos. Estrado 1 are the least expensive and Estrato 6 are the most expensive properties. Bogota has four or five estrato 6 areas versus the single estrato 6 area in Medellín. According to Rich Holman, chairman of Lifeafar, Bogota properties in estrato 6 can be as much as 40 to 60% more expensive than the same properties in Medellin.

In particular, the Bogota’s rapid economic growth and expanding middle class are putting pressure on the upper estratos. This in turn is driving up demand even further in these already pricey areas. As a result, as real estate becomes more difficult to obtain, opportunities lie in new upcoming neighborhoods that have been previously overlooked.

It should be noted that with the majority of its properties in estrato 3 and 4, the increasingly trendy Chapinero Alto is a great example of an emerging barrio.This emerging barrio has a lot of room for growth (the term barrio in Colombia is used to describe any urban area neighborhood whose geographical limits are determined locally).

Therefore, more home buyers, renters, and business owners seek affordable pricing in neighborhoods like Chapinero Alto. The increased demand and urban renewal are likely to translate to increased property prices. Consequently, investors who purchase properties in up-and-coming neighborhoods now will likely see substantial returns as real estate prices continue to climb in Bogota and across Colombia.

USD Strength Compared To The Colombian Peso

Yet another attractive reason to invest in Bogotá real estate is the current currency exchange of the Colombian peso (COP) against the U.S. dollar.

Total real estate housing units sold each year from 2018 to 2021.
Photo credit: BBVA Research.

November 8, 2022 update. In Colombia, people see the purchase of housing as a great investment. The current currency rate against the US dollar continues to be a favorable opportunity to acquire new housing with exceptional financing conditions and interest rates. New homes in Colombia grew by 9.4% in 2021.

In addition, the vision for 2022 continues to be encouraging. In 2022, is projected that investment in housing will grow by 10.6%, with more than 240,000 units sold.

March 26, 2019 update. As of March 26, 2019, the COP is trading at 3,144 to the USD compared to 1,872.5 on this day eight years ago.

To illustrate, the present-day U.S. dollars investor holds 67% more buying power than investors eight years ago. Similarly, for 2019 buyers with U.S. dollars, the undervalued COP makes high-quality real estate in a rapidly appreciating market a global bargain. Furthermore, with the great exchange rate these days for the US dollar, the Colombian markets are very appealing when looking to purchase real estate.

The Bottom Line For Real Estate Investment

In conclusion, tourism and economic factors continue to improve in Bogota. In our opinion, we do not expect the rate of real estate to slow down in the next five to ten years. Sam Miller says that “in emerging neighborhoods like Chapinero Alto, we see unparalleled opportunities for substantial returns as real estate demand continues to climb.”

Thus, imagine five to ten years of growth in real estate as demand continues to climb with an average of 8% a year in Bogota! So, invest in real estate in Bogota, Colombia! Bogotá is everything a capital city should be as the tourism and economic factors continue to improve.

In future articles I will investigate different neighborhoods for investment. We will explore the neighborhoods of Usaquen, Chapinero, and Chapinero Alto. We will give you our thoughts as we look at potential properties for growing wealth through real estate investments. In our opinion, Bogota is definitely a very exciting global investment opportunity to consider. If you would like to invest in real estate in Bogota, Colombia, please let us know.

Please read my blog on how Everyone Can Buy And Own Property In Colombia. We recommend doing more due diligence on specific property regions and areas you may be interested in. We would also recommend looking at property in Bogota or property in Medellin. Both of these locations have the potential for excellent returns. If you have a question or need more help, please send us a message.

Last Updated on April 13, 2024 by Financial Goodness

Financial Goodness