Buying Property Overseas

Brazil Real Estate a British favourite

Currencies Direct (www.currenciesdirect.com), a British foreign exchange company, recently listed Brazil as the ninth most popular investment spot for British overseas property purchases. Mark O’Sullivan, head of trading at Currencies Direct, notes that Brazil’s “tropical climate, dramatic scenery, upbeat culture and potential annual occupancy rates of about 30 weeks, present plenty of reasons to buy property in Brazil.”

Brazil has abundant land resources, the largest economy in Central and South America and a large labor force. It has almost anything an international investor could want, from spectacular beachfront property to acres of land inland for farming or ranching. The economy is diversified and is on the upswing.Brazil is quickly becoming a very popular place for international real estate investors to purchase property. The climate, culture, low prices and some of the best beaches in the world are attracting overseas investors looking for a great deal, vacation home, rental property or a place to retire. A recent report indicates that Brazil is now in the top ten markets for British investors buying overseas property.

Aracaju Brazil new investment area

Brazil is heating up and I don’t mean the climate, the property market seems to be expanding and areas aimed at overseas investors are increasing. In the last couple of years areas in Brazil such as Fortaleza, Ceara , Bahia Salvador, Natal, Rio Grande do Norteb, and Paraiba, Joao Pessoa have all offered low priced property which is set for good capital gains over a 5 year period. One area in Brazil that many European investors have not heard about is Aracaju Sergipe.

Aracaju Brazil

I got wind of this region from UK investor’s who recently visited the area to see new property developments in Aracaju. Aracaju is the capital city of the Sergipe State in Brazil. It is located in the North eastern part of the country, about 350km north of Salvador. It has a population around 470,000 inhabitants, which represents approximately 33% of the state population.

Great investment potential

The city is already a popular tourist destination for Brazilians with investment set to improve already existing tourist infrastructure. Two large tourist developments, by Brazilian tourist operator CVC and the planned American US$2.1 billion Pueto Christo project, will further vastly increase tourist numbers and demand for accommodation.

Getting to Aracaju Brazil

For UK travellers there are regular flights between Gatwick and Salvador, costing between £250 - £350 return. Flights take 9-10 hours. Flights to Aracaju from Salvador are every 50 minutes, cost around £50 and take 40 minutes. Alternatively, there are regular flights to Natal from Gatwick. Flights to Aracaju from Natal take approximately one hour. Investment property in Aracaju Miramar is one of the latest investment properties aimed at overseas buyers prices start at £55,000 for a two bed apartment which comes fully furnished and offers investors a turnkey investment property in Brazil

More about the Miramar Aracaju Brazil

Overseas property blog survey results

A survey which sought the views of over 3000 overseas property investors who visited an overseas property blog web site reveals that Bulgaria, Brazil and Dubai are the darlings of the overseas property investor.

The survey which was managed by online survey company Vizu.com for Overseas property-advice.com asked visitors to the overseas property advice site which countries they thought would provide the best returns over the next 5 years. The results gave no surprises for first place showing that 20.5% of investors thought Bulgaria was the best place to invest over a 5 year period. Traditional overseas property hot spots such as Spain and France did not feature in the investors top places to invest with France only gaining 1.3% of the online vote.

Nicholas Marr CEO of Marr International the company behind overseas property site www.homesgofast.com writes for the blog. “Online polls are only an indication of what is going on in the minds of property investors and can also be affected by where the traffic has come from to the blogg. However it gives a great indication of the feeling amongst those interested in overseas property. For me the big surprise was Brazil. It is an emerging market that seems set for big things and one that investors seem to be keeping a keen eye on.”

Results of survey

1. . Bulgaria 20.5%
2. Brazil 16.2%
3. Dubai 15.1%
4. Turkey 12.4%
5. Morocco 8.1% 6.
6. Spain 5.9 %
7. USA 5.4
8. Australia 5.4%
9. UK 4.3%
10. Italy 3.2%
11. Barbados 2.2%
12. France 1.3%

Overseas Property resources

• Brazil Property go to Brazilian-homes.com
• Barbados Property go to Barbadoshomes4sale.com
• Bulgarain Property Bulgarianhomes4sale.com
• Cyprus property Cyprushomes4sale.com
• Dubai Property Dubaihomes4sale.co.uk
• French property Frenchhomes4sale.com
• Greek property Greekhomes4sale.com
• Spanish property Spanishhomes4sale.co.uk

Brazilian weather is it a concern?

Buying property in Brazil

Re: 'I have seen some beachfront property in Cumbuco  Brazil Do you know the history of hurricanes and tsunami in this area?

Hi Steven thanks for the question,

I have an answer written by Steven Glazer a property agent based in Brazil Fortaleza his web site is at Port of the Sun.com he states:

“Yes, we DO know the history and we have memorized ALL the data: There is NO history of this kind.  There has never been any meteorological or seismic activity of this kind.  There never has been a hurricane reported in all the time that records have been kept, much less a tsunami.  There are no extreme weather conditions of any kind, unless you want to include relentlessly, oppressively, beautiful weather year ‘round. 

About the biggest concern for extreme weather conditions at 3°47” South of the Equator-that would be roughly 200 miles-is the very high ultraviolet index, at 13, on a scale of 1 to 16.  Fair-skinned Caucasians can tolerate no more than 5 minutes of unprotected exposure.  A sun block with a Sun Protection Factor of 50 will therefore allow 250 minutes of exposure that would otherwise result in a painful sunburn after just 5 minutes.  So stock up. Better yet, keep your shirt on.  It’s no joke-this is the equator.

Apart from that, extreme natural phenomenon of any kind are unheard of.  There has never been a report of a shark attack, for example.  There may have been unreported attacks, but it seems unlikely as all the beach activities are concentrated in a few popular places and those are heavily frequented by foreign tourists, such as Cumbuco.  It seems unlikely that an incident would go unnoticed and unreported. 

In fact, and you may find it hard to believe, but there are no flies or mosquitoes the vast majority of the time on the beach front in and around Fortaleza.  Best of all, there are virtually NO BAD HAIR DAYS!

RE:Can you tell me where you think the best place to invest in Brazil is?

Bob-In our opinion, you heard right!!

In simplest terms, the Northeast of Brazil is cheaper and offers in my view better prospects for growth than other parts of Brazil

Brazil is divided into 6 regionals officially designated by the Federal Government of Brazil.  In the Northeast region there are nine states of which Ceara is without doubt the Jewel in the Crown. 

Fortaleza is a booming city of 2.5 M at about the center of the state, with 576 kilometers of pristine beaches. 

Fortaleza lies about 200 miles South of the equator meaning the climate is ideal summer beach weather year round-it hardly varies through the year.  Some call it endless summer.  Never hot,  but always about 87-88 Farenheit, and with ocean water temperatures of 80-82 degrees farenheit year round.  Humidity seldom rises above 60% and there is always a breeze from the sea.  There are about 30 days per year of rainfall meaning you have ideal weather on holiday 90% of the time, regardless what time of year you take your vacation.  In short, the climate is ideal.

• The people are friendly, warm and welcoming. 
• The food is out of this world-not to mention absurdly cheap.
• The quality of life is wonderful-no stress. 
• The cost of living is not more than 20% of what you deal with in UK.
• Crime is disproportionately low. 

Though the fifth largest city in Brazil  Fortaleza lags the rest by far, ranking 23rd amongst all major Brazilian cities in the incidence of serious crime, according to the Ministry of Justice.  You are probably more at risk where you are right now. 

Add to this that the price of property is still cheaper than anyplace else in Brazil , also according to Brazilian government statistics.

We visited recently and found all of the things that we heard to be at least as good, if not better, than we hoped.  A good start would to you get in touch with Steve Glazer at www.portofthesun.com. 

You can learn more about our trip at Marr International visit Fortaleza Brazil.

Can I get my money out of Brazil?

Jason thanks for your question. This is a concern for many investors and like you I always consider my exit strategy when buying property abroad. I have given this question to one of our agents based in Brazil. Here is your answer:

A.Absolutely.  But you must do it properly and that is not difficult at all.  You must first apply for and get a Brazilian tax identification number (CPF) and that takes about a half an hour at an actual cost of R$ 4.5 or a little over £ 1.  Be sure to use a reputable broker or you could wind up paying hundreds if not thousands of dollars for this “service” The money, assuming that you are applying it to the purchase of property, may be sent to the Bank of Brazil in your name against a properly executed contract of purchase and sale. 

B.The Euros, pounds, dollars, or what have you will converted to Real at the prevailing official rate of exchange on the day of execution of the currency exchange.  You will be credited with having “registered” that  much money with the central bank and therefore be entitled to remit it and any associated capital gains, if any, resulting from a future sale.  There are exemptions to the capital gains tax particularly as applies to foreigners.  But that’s another story for another time.

C.There are any number of variations on this most basic scheme.  You may wish to establish a Brazilian holding/operating company to hold you property, or a Brazilian subsidiary of your own company.  But in the end it comes down to this: as long as the money enters Brazil through the central bank and is exchanged there at the official rate on the day of exchange, it is deemed “registered,” it is eligible for repatriation, no questions asked.

Answer source: Steven Glazer from Port of the Sun you can email Steven here