Finding Good Market Information

Finding Good Market Information

One of the toughest things about international real estate is getting good market information. The USA is great for “transparency”. The tax offices and the MLS in most areas have information on past transactions. Please departments have neighborhood-by- neighborhood data on crime. The census office provides excellent demographics. Talking to owners will normally get the property performance data needed to project yield.

In Scandinavia the situation is even better. Western Europe is still good for the most part. Central and Eastern Europe, much of Asia and South and Central America gets tough. The Middle East and Africa is almost impossible. Jones Lang LaSalle publishes an annual “Real Estate Transparency Index”. This is an excellent guide to how much market information is available.

Without good market data it is almost impossible to make good investment decisions. One of the problems is the way transfer taxes are calculated in some countries. The increase in the price of a property for each seller is taxed. Each seller tries to keep this low; so part of the transaction is “official”. Another part of the transaction take place privately. Since the seller only reports part of the sale price, the buyers have a lower original basis in the property. When the buyer becomes the seller, the basis is low and the sales price is reported lower again.

Getting information in many areas is only possible through a trusted real estate professional. Even the information available to them is mostly hearsay.





David Segrest is a REALTOR in Charlotte, NC

David S. Segrest, CIPS, CCIM, TRC, CEA
david@segrestrealty.com
http://www.segrestrealty.com
Serving the world in the Carolinas, Serving the Carolinas in the World