Chapter 20 internationality

international home buyers Ask any real estate agent -- real life or pretend on TV -- what the key to buying a home is and they'll say "location, location, location."You can tear down a house and put it back up, but you can't create an ocean view, or a mountain view, or the ideal local school environment, if it doesn't exist there.Buying a home is buying a place. It's of particular interest these days that America's most sought-after places are being bought up by people from outside the US.We all know that globalization means that the economic barriers that separate continents and markets are being replaced by a single, unified system.When it comes to buying a home, if you thought being an ocean or two away would keep you from competing with foreigners, think again.Foreign ownership of homes in the United States is perhaps the hottest trend in the real estate market.People used to wonder why apartment prices in New York kept rising even though the number of people living in the city remained largely unchanged?The answer is that competition for the same land has increased, much of it from overseas.The governments of China and South Korea may be buying our bonds, but the upper classes around the world are being drawn to American real estate.Astonishingly, there is no coherent record of foreign ownership of U.S. real estate, so we have to piece together a rough picture from scraps of information.

In 2005, a survey of Florida realtors found that 87 percent had closed at least one business with a foreign buyer in the past 12 months, and nearly 10 percent had one Fully international clientele. In 2005, foreign buyers accounted for at least 30 percent of home sales in Miami-Fort Lauderdale and 15 percent of home sales statewide in Florida. But this trend isn't just in Florida.A real estate expert in New York estimates that in 2004 foreign residents accounted for one-third of those buying Manhattan apartments, up from just one-quarter in 2003.Two Las Vegas developments were at least 10 percent owned by foreigners before they were even built.Increases in foreign home purchases can be seen in Houston, Atlanta, Chicago and Colorado.U.S. real estate firms that list luxury properties for sale are seeing a growing number of international clients, foreigners who subscribe to their magazines and visit their websites, while companies like Century 21 and Christie's Great Estates Such U.S. real estate brokerage firms are opening more and more offices around the world.

The makeup and motivations of people who buy a home somewhere between continents also vary - it depends on the buyer. ▲ Europeans.Over the past few years, the euro has appreciated over 50% against the US dollar and the British pound has appreciated 35% (and even the Canadian and Australian dollars have appreciated 30-40% against the US dollar).As a result, homes in the U.S. appear to be exceptionally cheap compared to homes in their own countries.Have you ever been to those rocky beaches in England or those overgrown beaches in Germany?Florida's soft sandy beaches and Mickey Mouse are huge draws for our European neighbors.

▲Central and South American.Buyers from Venezuela, Colombia, Brazil and Mexico like the political and economic security of the US, and if instability in their own countries continues to increase, they see US real estate not only as a safe investment, but as a secure home .They also appreciate the personal and political freedoms that America offers, not to mention shopping.In addition, South Florida and Texas have a similar climate to their countries and a favorable Spanish language environment, making American houses highly sought after. ▲Asians.With economic growth in Asian countries and increased economic ties between the East and the West, having a place to stay in the United States has become increasingly attractive to many Asian families.U.S. real estate agents have been trying to please them, naming luxury apartments in Chinese and holding press conferences serving Asian food.

In general, the worldwide decline in the price of air tickets first makes it easier not only to travel to foreign countries, but also to travel back and forth between a first home and a second home. — Realtors say this is always the first step in buying a foreign property.Plus, newer things like multi-currency mortgages — which let you get a mortgage abroad in your home country’s currency, then convert your home country’s currency to the foreign currency when interest rates in the home country’s home country become favorable for you ——It also greatly facilitates foreign buyers.Several U.S. banks are changing policies to make it easier for foreign residents who pay U.S. taxes to get home loans.

In New York, Donald Trump is a major factor in opening the city to foreigners.Most buildings in New York have always been co-ops, and since co-ops can turn down anyone for almost any reason, they used to be very wary of not having foreign buyers.But then Trump developed condos, and condo sales are largely unregulated because they offer individual apartment suites rather than shares in companies.The vast majority of new construction is now condos, so foreign buyers are pouring in. To a large extent, buying a house abroad is a costly affair. In 2005, the average price of a home purchased by a foreigner in Florida was about $300,000, and nearly a quarter of those were more than $500,000.But as the middle class grows in Asia and elsewhere in the world, we can expect this business to expand.

The stakes of foreign-related housing transactions are high, and not even just with homebuyers and their agents.The rise in the number of international buyers may have had some impact on the real estate industry, as more and more banks are changing their rules on home-purchase loans (although if foreign buyers stop paying in cash, they may be a problem for U.S. sellers. less attractive).There may also be some adjustments in the home buying culture.Foreign buyers from certain countries like to undercut their offers, haggle aggressively until the closing moment, and ask for extras beyond the home — such as furniture or concierge service.

Globalization may also affect the design of houses.Some Middle Eastern buyers do not like the kitchen next to the hospitality area because it is not customary for guests to watch women prepare food in the kitchen; some Latin American buyers do not like the master bedroom being too far away from the children's bedrooms. But what's more concerning is that, for the rest of us, foreign homebuyers are having an impact on home price increases.When non-citizens bought a third of Manhattan's apartments, it squeezed a large portion of middle-income American buyers into lower-tier Manhattan housing and drove a large number of lower-end buyers to Queens Area.When it comes to luxury real estate, Venezuelan buyers may bid up prices for high-end Miami homes -- but if Caracas (Venezuela's capital) hits an economic backlash and those buyers can't pay their home loans, what they're leaving their American neighbors with It is the houses whose prices have fallen sharply.The ever-increasing interdependence between national economies now extends to the least liquid of transactions — real estate transactions.

Some lawmakers see the trend as cause for concern.In early 2007, banks suggested making loans easier for foreign homebuyers, and a California lawmaker responded by introducing a bill that would make it illegal for banks to issue mortgages to homebuyers without Social Security numbers .The motion has so far been rejected because, for the most part, it has been seen as provincial and unnecessary.But that may not always be the case.While the U.S. prides itself on its role in the global economy, it’s not actually true that foreigners pay much higher interest rates on property in the U.S. than Americans pay on property overseas. Make Americans proud.As long as you try to buy an apartment in Mexico City or Bermuda, you will know how hard they will make you work.

We want to protect our domestic assets. When Americans learned in 2006 that the U.S. was about to transfer ownership of certain New York ports to a company owned by the U.A.E. government in Dubai, there were weeks of nationwide protests that eventually reversed that decision . In 2005, when California-based Unocal was about to be sold to a Chinese company backed by the Chinese state, public protests erupted that prompted the cancellation of the decision.As of 2007, no American was satisfied that Japan and China held more than $1 trillion in U.S. bonds. In some communities in the United States, mansion after mansion is being bought by foreign buyers, which is completely different from "taking over" America's infrastructure, large companies or currency.But now is the time to at least take stock of trends in foreign buying of U.S. real estate.

Foreign policy experts are quick to point out that most Americans favor international engagement and reject the notion of isolationism, the notion that the United States should "mind its own business and leave other countries to act as best they can." A good way to deal with your own problems."It should, but on the other hand, the number of Americans who agree with the isolationist stance climbed dramatically between 2002 and 2005 — from 30 percent to 42 percent, the highest level of approval since the survey began in 1960 Rate.Clearly, more Americans agree with foreign "investment" (53 percent) than with foreigners' "ownership" (33 percent), but it's hard to tell if buying a home is an investment or not. Ownership – In particular, more than half of foreign buyers in Florida in at least one survey in 2005 said they were buying for vacation and/or temporary work, while only a third said they were buying For investment. On the other hand, if you are a foreign buyer of US real estate, you might want to carefully research your investment - did they sell you the ground floor of an ocean view apartment with no ocean view at all?Are you the only one who pays the full commission on the house while everyone else takes a discount?Since many foreign buyers are spending money just for some fun, or to find a safe place in case their home economy fails, they can move quickly without breaking the bank like American buyers do.On the other hand, although there are pitfalls in buying a house in the United States, according to American regulations, buying a house requires a social security number and endless credit checks, so in fact, buying a house is more reassuring than buying stocks and bonds. Foreigners are coming to the United States to buy houses.No wonder Borat said "Welcome to America". LAT couple [UK] Earlier we talked about women who date men younger than themselves, who date younger men, but usually don't need to be in a long-term committed relationship.We also studied commuting couples who were married but lived in different cities, at least during the workweek.Now there's another unexpected twist in the unconventionalization of family life: couples who live in the same city but live in separate residences, maintaining long-term, monogamous relationships. The leader of this trend is the United Kingdom, where, as of 2006, there were exactly one million committed and dedicated couples living under different roofs. Marriage is outdated.Britain's marriage rate (the number of people married per 1,000 people) fell from 12 per 1,000 people in 1991 to 9.2 per 1,000 in 2005, according to the Office for National Statistics.But now, even cohabitation outside of marriage seems too intimate.In several Western European countries, the fastest growing lifestyle is the LAT – couples who “live apart but live together”. There are a million such couples in the UK - three in 20 people aged 16 to 59.This means that there are as many committed long-term couples who do not live together as there are committed long-term couples who live together. LAT couples are also rapidly increasing elsewhere.In the Netherlands, almost a quarter of people aged 55 or over who consider themselves in a relationship are neither married nor living together, nor do they have any plans to change their status. 63% of Dutch people of all ages agree with this form of "semi-attached couples". In France, an estimated 2% to 3% of married couples and 7% to 8% of non-married cohabitants live in separate residences.In North America, it is reported that nearly 10% of Canadians aged 20 and over maintain a relationship where they live in different places but live together.The US isn't officially tracking this yet, but you can bet it will be soon. LAT couples are the latest players in today's ever-changing family life scene. According to demographers and sociologists who are tracking LAT couples, the causes of LAT couples are diverse.Most LAT couples are young, new homeowners unwilling to give up their newfound independence.Experts say that in the UK in particular, home is prized as one's comfort zone and safe haven, and even those in love are reluctant to give up their home or flat. On the other end of the life cycle, LAT couples are often older adults who don't want a common-law marriage — let alone a de facto marriage — to complicate their plans to leave an estate to their children. Other LAT couples are middle-aged — they have children from a previous relationship, or elderly parents already living in their home.Having a live-in lover or spouse living at home can overcomplicate matters, and it can be more comfortable for both partners to be dedicated to each other than to be glued to each other all day. In the end, other LAT couples choose to live in separate homes because, frankly, one home is a bit cramped.She really is your soul mate, but if she moves into your house, she'll make you do the dishes more than once a week.Thank god he's the one for me, but if it's his house too, he'll ask you to stop incense, or ask you to do all the cooking.Many people in their second long-term relationship want to avoid the mistakes or pain of their first failed marriage. LAT is a nice, unambiguous way of saying: I love you right now, but in my own castle, I'm king. Many of the "kings" in the public eye have been known to separate from their lovers.Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy had a man-woman relationship for decades, but they lived in separate residences (although, it should be admitted, this was partly because of Tracy's married to another person).Woody Allen and Mia Farrow lived in separate apartments in New York (not an ideal marriage, either, as Allen later claimed he was in love with Farrow's adopted stepdaughter). This trend may seem a bit shocking to those happy cohabiting couples who would willingly give up the warmth and intimacy of their nightly embrace with their life partner, which is almost unimaginable.But the truth is, having separate bedrooms is becoming more and more common, even among happy couples living under the same roof.In the U.S., homebuilders and architects expect more than 60 percent of custom-built homes to have two master bedrooms by 2015, according to a survey conducted by the National Association of Home Builders.Some of the builders surveyed said more than a quarter of their new projects already do so. But whatever the reason for living apart, LAT couples are on the rise, and many people are paying attention to the phenomenon.First, there are those who are still lingering.In the past, a wedding ring used to mean "not parting from each other"; but unmarried cohabitation has become more common, so you can't just look at whether you have a ring on your finger, but also pay attention to how people talk about their living conditions of.Even if they have "roommates," they may not be a dedicated, romantic couple.But it's all over now.Your crush may not be wearing a ring and live in a bachelor pad, but the last thing you know is that she's been married for 10 years. Second, parents will pay attention to this phenomenon.You may think your child is a loose person and unwilling to take on the responsibilities of marriage, but the truth is, he's more likely to be monogamous than most of your friends.Perhaps you may consider yourself lucky that your child doesn't take that girlfriend you don't like too seriously, but the truth is, they haven't dated anyone else in years, and they never intended to. From a religious or cultural standpoint, the rise of LAT couples may herald a new, and supposedly troublesome, chapter in what is expected of male-female relationships.If "love," or even "monogamy," doesn't mean daily intertwining with another human being's needs, pleasures, and interests, then is there any need for fidelity?Shouldn't sacrifices be made for love?Shouldn't there be a necessary mutual adaptation for the sake of love?Of course, in the 1970s and 1980s, this was a concern for those who were opposed to just "living together".If people only live together without being faithful to each other, how far is it from having sex without living together? (Oops, this kind of thing will happen soon.) Apparently, compared with the general couples, LAT couples are more casual about the relationship between men and women.In a Canadian study done in 2003, only 53% of men and 62% of women among LAT couples believed that a "long-lasting relationship" was important to a happy life, in contrast, in general couples, 76% of men and 81% of women feel this way. Questions will be raised about the effect of LAT couples on their children.If there were children, would those children also shuttle back and forth between their parents like children of divorced couples?Or, to put it bluntly, is LAT part of a larger trend in Europe—the trend of not having children? From a business point of view, the LAT couples create new opportunities.Like a commuting couple, they need to shop for household items in two places instead of one—clothes, makeup, and favorite CDs and DVDs; need two sets of pots and pans; in their building or on a nearby street Need a guest parking spot; need someone to turn off the heat, collect papers and mail, and walk the cat when they won't be home for days at a time.These are the people to keep an eye on—after all, if they can afford two apartments, they likely have some discretionary income on hand. Perhaps most importantly, LAT couples mean doubling the number of dwellings required.The population of Europe is decreasing, but even if the population is reduced by half, the demand for houses will not decrease. This may be an important development direction of the European real estate market. Finally, from a larger sociological perspective, we would be wrong if we thought that single people were eager to find their other half; We would be wrong to sell the house; in the real estate market, all life-cycle-based expectations are likely to be adjusted.Our understanding of "family" is incomplete if we think of families as pairs and independents - in most Western countries there may be more single-person families than ever before, but regardless How, people may prefer to live "together". Perhaps, the LAT couple answers a bigger question.The researchers believe that although both LAT couples don't trust their partners much, they are also shrewd and independent people, and they have enough confidence to create a new way of life.They may seem more like absurd young people who only date on Saturday nights and enjoy the happiness of being newlyweds than the average couple or live-in partner.Perhaps, as long as there is mutual loyalty, the passion will last, but when it comes to incense and dirty laundry, the situation is not good.