Apparently, the article called International Appeal says that 22% of all real estate sales to foreign nationals are occurring in Florida. California attracts just 12% of the international market. Nationally, the market for residential property by buyers who owned primary residences in other countries was $41 million, 4% of the total market. At one time a few years ago, our market share of international investors was as much as 26%. Of all international buyers in Florida, 31% are Canadians. Although there were many buyers who bought multi-million dollar home, the average, according to the article, was $219,400. In Florida 82% paid with cash.

So what do all these statistics say to me? They say that foreigners still like Miami. Miami is still hot! So what do we have to do to cash in on all these foreign investments? Before the economic downturn, people just invested, waited, flipped their properties, and collected their profits. So what now? Well, now is the perfect time for that age old concept of "value adding". In other words, we cannot invest and collect money. We have to add value to whatever property we invest in. But there is a market still. The market is lower, but it's still there.

There are foreclosures out there. Labor costs are down. There are opportunities to rehab, to expand properties, to build new. If you can lend the money, there is even more opportunity for those cash buyers who want an improved property. This is the time to buy property, improve, and sell to foreign investors. With less expensive properties, even taxes are down. What are we waiting for?