Urgent Update for Realtors that have Foreign National Clients

I have a Canadian couple under contract right now on a short sale and if this situation gets worse they will probably withdraw the offer.  I also have several other Canadians that are putting their search on hold.

We live in some scary times.  We also are working with foreign buyers that cannot take funds out of their country to buy here.  They are now limited by law in their own country!  If they remove or transfer funds they will be taxed exorbitantly!

Nope!

International buyers in Manhattan usually pay cash. Right now Latin Americans are buying follwed by the Russians followed by the Chinese. A few years ago The Irish were buying and trying to flip new condos. There is much less inventory now. They are back but looking for long-term real estate investments. Manhattan real estate is a better bet to park your money right now than in Europe.

Your right Lenn - the foreign nationals are loving the prices!

@Jim #2. I had a foreign buyer recently that bought one of my listings. They couldn't take personal funds out of their country to buy. The funds were wired through a business to a business partner or supplier here. The funds came from the business based here. Aparantly that is allowed. Also foreign buyers set up and buy through LLC's here for tax purposes.

It just goes to show that we are involved in international trade on different level... We don't export jobs!

There are many different foreign exchange companies, you usually need to open an account, and their rates vary by the minute, not like banks who may have a weekly rate or worse. When I was an antique dealer in my old life I was always transferring funds back and forth, there is usually a way to do it even when governments say no. Like many above we had clients who paid cash when their governments were strict. These laws usually encourage people to go outside the normal transaction routes and today it is harder with all the anti-terror rules.

Lenn - The Canadian / US exchange rate has been very favourable to Canadians over the past couple of years.  About 8 to 10 years ago (I'm doing this from memory and have not checked actual dates), we would pay $1.60 CAD for $1 USD.  In the past couple of years, it has hovered around par, but usually a bit more CAD for $1 USD.

Two months ago, right before I went to the US on vacation, I paid $0.96 CAD per $1 USD cash at a local bank which I think was about the best rate in quite a while.

The rate has since gotten worse and is now around $1.05 CAD per $1 USD (I haven't looked at rates very closely since I'm not currently in the market for USD).

In the grand scheme of things, the current CAD / USD exchange rates are still extremely good for Canadians and Canadians are still doing a lot of cross border shopping. 

Three are a bunch of rules and regs depending on the country the buyer is coming from. My advise would be to establish a dollar account with a bank in their country that has a US foregin correspondent or clearing bank. This way they will not get hammered by a change in the exchange rate. Also they should be able to have the funds readily available when it comes time to close

Exchange rates are something that all foreign buyers have to be very aware of.