Fabacres asked:

India is zooming away in real estate industry no lesser than any other part of the world. In fact India real estate is booming in all directions – be it Chennai real estate, Hyderabad real estate or Cochin real estate, all the cities are skyrocketing when it comes to real estate. A few year back Chennai real estate has shortage of housing options, but now it has superfluity of residential options. Chennai is recognized as a preferred place of corporate people and MNC. This city has earned a benchmark on three major classes – financial costs, expert manpower and outstanding business environment. Chennai is a home of chief automobile sectors also and on the northern area port is gearing up with expansion of housing units. In fact the Chennai residential real estate sector is going though a change in market dynamics and over increase in real estate purchasing activity. City home loans and augmenting rates have resulted in major price escalation in past few months in Chennai.

In the last 12 months Chennai real estate sector has faced an extremely enthusiastic trend. With about magnified costs driven by BPOs, real estate had gone through an incredible growth and it has become a dream of commoner. Such a tremendous growth could be visible in Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad that has extensive plans and lucrative commercial projects. Some places in Chennai such as MGR nagar and Anna nagar, which was about rupees 70 lakhs per ground in 2002, are not quoting Rupees 95 lakhs per ground. When looked on the wider term, Chennai real estate had contributed a lot to the story of increasing over all India real estate. As per a recent study Chennai real estate has added 3.5 million square feet of housing sector in past quarter and now the market is likely to catch up excellent time ahead in winter. Especially, the demand for real estate in Chennai is on a large part obsessed by the growth of IT and BPO industry. It has not only perked up the capital value of commercial property, but also fuelled the demand of residential areas.

Industry experts believe that Chennai real estate has massive demand impending in almost every sector — particularly commercial, residential and retail. It has also proved that investing in real estate Chennai has been providing many investors with activist cash flow, tax advantages and pleasure of making an impact on people’s lives. Investment property is generally the loveliest aspects of your monetary portfolio. Even the foreign funds and investors are now investing in Chennai real estate as it is fourth largest metropolitan city in India and has lot to offer the foreigners. Before investing do your required homework and do consult any expert real estate agent to defend yourself from hidden troubles. Chennai real estate is known as the recurrent wealth builder, but everything has to be done with knowledge and skills. With real estate property boom all across Chennai, you can touch the new heights of money making.

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Phil Laboon asked:

Many people have been asking me “Mark, why would I buy a brand new pre construction investment condo when I can buy an older one and fix it up and sell it?” This is a good question. Some people do very well buying old fixer uppers and throwing in some new carpet and new paint and making a few bucks but this is defiantly not for serious investors. In this article I will go over the pros and cons of the “We Buy Ugly Houses” that has gained in popularity over the last few years with the help of some charismatic real estate “Gurus”.

Avoid the Hype

First let’s analyze exactly what these “Gurus” want you to do. They tell you that you don’t need ANY money and if you use their system they can make you a millionaire in just a few short months. If this was true I would have retired a billionaire a long time ago, the truth is the opportunities they talk about are VERY few and far between and you add in the factor that every major city has at least 15-20 people trying the same technique as you.

(They may even have the same $599 CD set!) And you’ll see the odds are stacked against you. Now these CDs are not all bad, they do educate many amateur investors. But just remember, these “Gurus” do exaggerate the market and do spread a lot of false hope to impressionable new comers. When you listen to the CD’s sets in your car always keep this little fact in the back of your head “They made it rich off selling the CD sets, not from selling real estate” Why would someone who made it rich from real estate want to start selling CDs? It’s like that age old quote says “Those who can’t do, teach”

Now let’s go over the pros and cons of real estate investing. Although I don’t believe there are many drawbacks in investing in pre construction real estate there are some points that scare people out of the market.

I think it will be easier just to bullet the points and explain. This way all the people looking for a quick answer can just browse to the points of Investment real estate – pros and cons.

Pros in Pre Construction Real Estate Investing

It’s the Easiest Form of Real Estate Investing – Investing in pre construction real estate is the easiest form of real estate investing, all you need to do is buy a property wait a few months for it to get into a higher phase of construction then sell it for a profit.

No Head Aches – Pre construction real estate doesn’t have nearly the number of problems/headaches as traditional fixer upper real estate investments. With fixer upper real estate you have to worry about a furnace going, re-paving a driveway, insect infestation, or a whole world of other problems. Pre construction investment real estate is brand new out of the box housing, there are no major problems that commonly accompany older houses.

Free Vacations – Buying pre construction investment real estate in Florida or Las Vegas means you have a free vacation house when the family goes on vacation. Fixer uppers are usually close to your home for easily access and typically not a place your family wants to vacation too. Most people do not have the luxury of buying a fixer upper house halfway across the country and flying down every weekend to work on it.

Rental Income – Rental income is a huge factor for many pre construction real estate investors. The fact that once the condo or townhouse is built and they can rent it out for more money then they pay a month is very appealing. Think about it, if you receive $2000 a month in rental income and you only pay $1300 for your mortgage and upkeep AND your house is skyrocketing in value… Is that a good investment?

Cons in Pre Construction Real Estate Investing

* You Need Money to Make Money – Because pre construction investment real estate is so sought after developers are demanding a higher percent for down payment. Often times developers want 10-20% of the property sale price as a down payment, also just to hold your spot (a reservation) often requires between $2000-5000.

Not Every Project is a Winner – The biggest downside to investing in pre construction real estate is with so many projects popping up it’s hard to find the most profitable investment. Although at the current time most pre construction investments will make you money it’s important to do your due diligence and research the developer AND the management company. Make sure your real estate brokerage has your best intentions at heart, many investment brokerages only focus on a handful of projects where they make the biggest commission.

Money for Nothing – One reason that some people stray from pre construction investment real estate is the simple fact that they do not feel comfortable buying a property that they can not see the finished product. Remember, when you’re going to buy pre construction investment real estate it usually hasn’t even been started yet. This tends to scare amateur investors because spending that much money for them is usually an emotional buy, the seasoned investor understands that the reason they are getting the price they are is because it’s in the pre development stage. If the property was already finished the price would be more. I hope these basic Pre Construction Investment Real Estate Pros and Cons help you to make smart investments in the future..

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Eric Bramlett asked:

“When you meet with a real estate agent for the first time, you might be a bit nervous or even uncomfortable. This is particularly true if you have never sold real estate before and you are uncertain of what to expect.

In order to relax your nerves, you should come prepared to interview the real estate agent on your first meeting. Don’t feel awkward about conducting this interview, as the real estate agent expects you to ask plenty of questions so you can determine if you are a good match. Similarly, the real estate agent is likely to ask you plenty of questions in order to learn more about your home and to determine a plan for selling the real estate you are looking to sell.

Questions to Ask the Real Estate Agent

When you meet with the real estate agent for the first time, there are several questions you should ask in order to determine if you are good match. These questions include:

• How long have you been in this business?

• What is your list-price-to-sales-price ratio?

• What is your marketing plan?

• What are your references?

• What separates you from the competition?

• What do you charge?

• What type of guarantees do you offer?

Although it is possible to get good service from a real estate agent that hasn’t been in the business for a long time, you are better off dealing with a real estate agent with experience in the business. If you are considering working with a newer real estate agent, find out more about that agent’s mentor or supervising broker in order to see if he or she has someone with experience to help with the process.

The average list-price-to-sales-price ratio is also an important consideration because you want to choose a real estate agent that will be realistic about the asking price and that will work hard to get you the amount you are asking for. Similarly, you want to learn more about the real estate agent’s marketing plan, such as where and how he or she advertises.

The real estate agent should also be able to provide you with references, and you should be sure to follow up with those references and to ask them questions as well. In addition, the real estate agent should be able to clearly explain to you what he or she can offer that the competition cannot. Finally, the real estate agent should charge a reasonable fee while also providing guarantees, such as allowing you to cancel your contract if you are unhappy with the agent’s services.

Questions Your Real Estate Agent Will Ask You

In order to best serve your needs, your real estate agent should ask you several questions as well. For example, the real estate agent will want to know whether are not the real estate you are trying to sell is currently occupied. If so, the real estate agent will need to make special arrangements when showing the house to prospective buyers.

The real estate agent will also want to know if there is anything special about the property that you think should be highlighted while showing it to potential buyers or if there are any problems with the home that need to be repaired. Similarly, the real estate agent might want to know if you are willing to spend any extra money in order to make improvements on the home in order to improve the chances of making a sale.

In all, you should expect your real estate agent to communicate with you effectively and to make an effort to make the entire process as convenient and as profitable for you as possible.”

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Tony Seruga, Yolanda Seruga And Yolanda Bishop asked:

For those who are looking for an excellent way to generate outside income, the commercial real estate industry is a great way to go. Many people have begun to invest in commercial real estate, and since this type of real estate is continually being purchased and sold, it has become an excellent way to invest money for a guaranteed return. Before one becomes involved in the commercial real estate market, it is highly important that they understand the commercial real estate industry and its many surrounding components.

A Basic Definition of Commercial Real Estate

First and foremost, it is imperative that one understands a basic definition of commercial real estate. Essentially, commercial real estate includes various real estate properties that have the potential to be able to generate outside revenue or even income for the owner. Whether the property has immediate potential for generating income or revenue immediately, or perhaps in the future, it can still be labeled as commercial real estate.

A Desirable Investment

Commercial real estate is an excellent choice for investors for a variety of different reasons. One of the main reasons that investors find commercial real estate to be such a pleasing investment is that is brings about both long term and short term financial benefits. In the short term, commercial real estate can help you bring in a better cash flow from the use of the property, and at the same time, in the long run the property will only appreciate in value, which will result in long term benefits should you choose to sell. Most investors also find that there is a lot less risk involved with commercial real estate than there is when dealing with other types of real estate. If you purchase apartment buildings or a strip mall, the risk of your investment will spread out among those who are renting from you, and even if you lose one of your renters, you still will be making money and seeing a return from your investment.

Commercial Real Estate Properties

Another positive benefit of commercial real estate is that the scope of properties that you can invest in is quite large. Commercial real estate includes various different properties that make excellent investments. As long as the building consists of more than four units, it can be considered a commercial real estate property. Commercial real estate also includes other properties such as strip malls, apartment buildings, RV parks, industrial parks, mobile home parks, and commercial centers.

Jobs within the Commercial Real Estate Industry

There are a variety of different jobs that are included within the commercial real estate industry, and all of them benefit from this excellent market. The investors have a very important job within the industry, since it is their money that is being used to make the property develop and become prosperous. Builders too have an important job, and many times they work within the commercial real estate industry to build new structures on commercial property such as apartment buildings or shopping malls. The lenders have a very important job, and they work to make sure that investors get the loans and mortgages they may need to be able to purchase commercial real estate properties. Also within the industry are the brokers who represent the owners and deal with the sales and property transfer issues. Last of all, but certainly not least, are the users who actually put the money in the investor’s pocket.

Financing Commercial Real Estate

Those who are planning on being involved in commercial real estate need to consider how they can finance any commercial real estate purchases. While few people can actually just purchase the property with money they already have, most people are going to be turning to other methods of financing the property. More than likely you are going to need to go to a lender to be able to finance any commercial real estate that you want to purchase, but there are a few things that you can do to make the process smother.

First of all, you will want to make sure that you have a business plan. You need to be able to show the lender why you want the property and how you plan on making it a successful investment. It is also important that you have at least a portion of the money needed for the property saved up so you can show that this is a serious venture and you are ready to make a personal investment in its success. Also helpful is a current appraisal of the property you are considering. This will help show the value of the property to the prospective lender. Having an attorney to help you and to check out legal issues will also be important, and in the end you should always compare several lending offers before making a final decision.

Getting Started

For those who are interested in commercial real estate and the financial benefits that can be enjoyed, there are many ways to get a start in the business. One of the keys to getting started is to glean all the information about the business that you can, whether from reading books, searching the internet, or speaking with friends and business colleagues that may have experience in commercial real estate investing. Checking into the area you live in and getting a look at what kind of commercial real estate is available and what the prices are running can help you begin to get a closer look at the costs and the availability of commercial real estate in your area. Attending zoning and city planning meetings may also give you insights and ideas for getting started as well. Lastly, one of the best things you can do is to start building a network of friends and business acquaintances that already have their foot in the door of the commercial market. Learning from their successes and mistakes can help you on your way to becoming a successful commercial real estate investor.

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Mejo John asked:

When it comes to investing in Canadian real estate properties, anytime is considered to be the best time to invest! Today the Canadian real estate is so wide and high it gives you numerous opportunities for real estate investors across Canada. Sometimes it can be easier or difficult to discover the right properties, but there are always some properties that are neglected or in poor condition which you can choose. These properties simply wait for the motivated buyers! Properties like this make a great buy at any time no matter what the status of the market is.

Real estate investors who always make money are the one who makes it a practice of buying and holding. While it comes to the right time that money is tied up and it is true that a slow market or slow economy does cause any harm to the investors. All they need to do is, simply hold on to the properties and ultimately when the upside of the cycle comes back they can start selling the properties. In the meantime investors can continue to earn money by leasing or renting out properties. The Buy and Hold investors are generally very patient and usually have lot of experience looking at the market than the short term investors. This shows that such Buy and Hold investors are much better at predicting the up and down cycles. Hence know when they can expect the ups and downs in the market and plan according to their actions. They are also much good at reading the signs and taking the right decisions when buying or selling. Being continuously active in the real estate market for a long time, shows that they have a good knowledge of what is available in the market, and keep things moving in and get things working!

The real estate markets in certain countries are quite sluggish, apart from few countries like Dubai, India and some places in China. But the Canadian real estate market is always good. For instance, the real estate properties in British Columbia took a big jump recently, where many commercial and industrial properties rose in value by 50 and 20 percent. The Okanagan and Alberta real estate sales have also increased significantly. The sales of properties in Alberta have touched $25 billion during the end of the year 2007. According to the Canadian Real Estate Association, in 2007, the property sales have touched to 19.6 percent.

Generally in BC the mortgage loan provider offers long-term real estate investment funding to individuals, partnerships, limited companies, and offshore companies obtaining residential properties. You can contact any one of real estate Company located across the country and talk to a dedicated team of expert lenders who share your British Columbia real estate in the property market, offering you local knowledge with national expertise. You also go through some of the tips and articles on investing in British Columbia so that you’ll determine how to get started, make money, save money, increase cash flows, and skyrocket your real estate success.

When it comes to real estate investing in British Columbia and its surrounding areas, data information is the chief key to organization your risk. British Columbia Real Estate Investment Property is a type of amazing property. In the common law systems personal property might as well be documented as property. It is distinguished from real property, or real estate. Touring around BC would be a truly fun experience with mind-blowing shopping option and personalized culinary experience. So tour around British Columbia and it is as well a good option to purchase a piece of land out there. So just go ahead and travel around and find a unique real estate for yourself in the British Columbia areas.

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Ronald Edwards asked:

The goals of Real Estate Asset Protection are:

Keep the ownership of the real estate anonymous. Anonymous Panama Corporations and Anonymous Panama Foundations do this extremely well; in fact better than any other jurisdiction we are aware of. Anonymous ownership of real estate reduces your profile as a target for lawsuits and collection attorneys can not go after something they do not know even exists.

If a structure of Anonymity is not practical the next best solution is to take away the attachable equity through the use of lawful mortgages and other encumbrances filed on the property locally by anonymous Panama Corporations or Foundations.

You should only use a Law Firm for asset protection so you have attorney client privilege. The law firm used should be out of the reach of the court where the real estate is located. If a lawyer in your country forms an offshore structure for you what are you going to do when he winds up in the lawsuit with you – defrauding creditors would be one possible allegation, or if he has the judge order him to open up his records concerning you. If you felt the courts, laws, judges, lawyers etc. in your country were fair and equitable you wouldn’t be reading this. Don’t make the mistake of using a law firm in another country which also has flawed privacy laws. The courts in his country will probably cooperate with the courts in your country.

As a last resort but still a valuable one the asset protection structure should present itself to your pursuing financial adversaries as so burdensome, onerous, confusing, time consuming and expensive that they will accept a settlement from you for a mere fraction of the debt in question. This is an often overlooked positive outcome that lets you keep your property and settle the debts for pennies on the dollar, sort of a bankruptcy without going bankrupt.

Detailed Information Follows:

Today many people in different countries are very worried about their real estate being lost due to court actions leaving them homeless or without their real estate portfolio. Real estate is not portable and unfortunately is one of the first things aggressive collection attorneys go after. Since the ownership of real estate in many jurisdictions is open and transparent, the real estate ownership rolls are often used to determine if a person has enough wealth to go after in a civil lawsuit, in other words it flags you as a target. Real estate ownership records are also used to accomplish identity theft since a lot can be learned about the owner from the public records like when the mortgages were taken out, from which company and for how much, the full names and addresses of the owners, etc. This information is then used combined with other public databases like driver’s licenses, phone and utility records etc. to create a profile of the victim which is used to steal their identity. Lack of privacy is invasive and also encourages litigation and criminal activity.

So how do you protect your real estate in as anonymous manner as possible? Some sample strategies are briefly described below.

Mortgages:

One real estate asset protection strategy is to borrow against the real estate using mortgages or trust deeds. Typically in most jurisdictions the borrowed money is not taxable as income since it must be repaid. Usually one can borrow up to 80% of the value of the house. Collection attorneys will not spend money to go after a house with 20% or less available equity. This is also true concerning government collection agencies. It is felt that auctions in the courtroom or on the steps of the courthouse will not bring in more than 80% of the appraised value since these auction buyers are looking for a substantial discount. One important point to be considered is the collection attorney may want to know where the borrowed money from the mortgage is to see if it is within his reach like in the country concerned. If the money is offshore they rarely will pursue it. They are not lawyers outside of their country and must retain local lawyers who usually smell deep pockets and charge high fees for this type of service which will rarely ever has a happy ending for them. The country where the money is may be hostile to such collection actions as is very often the case and makes it hard for these cases to be pursued. These countries often dismiss these cases for lack of venue or jurisdiction. Also the collection attorney from your country often has to post a cash bond to cover court costs if they lose which again deters such actions. The potential problem with the above scenario is now you have a mortgage on property that may have been free and clear. You need to go through a credit check and reveal personal information much of it will wind up in public or semi-public databases like credit agencies databases. Now you have to make the payments and pay the interest rates. There are usually penalties involved if you terminate the lease early. Many of these loans have variable interest rates which can go up and now you have a blood ******* Mortgage Company on your property title. There is a better way.

Your own Mortgage Company:

There is nothing wrong with borrowing money from an anonymous Panama Bearer Share Corporation that to protect its interests places a mortgage on your property. You basically write a mortgage through your corporation to yourself to record on the title of the property you wish to protect. This requires a lawyer in the city where the real estate is to advise you as to how the mechanics and local laws will work when recording your mortgage and pertaining to it. You may need to fund an escrow in the area where the real estate is in some countries to validate the mortgage, but there are work arounds for this as well. After the escrow closes the loan is recorded against the property tying up the equity in the property reducing your profile as a target greatly. You could make the loan at more than 80% of the value like 99% if you so desired. The corporation or an additional corporation could be used to make a second or even a third mortgage. Of course your borrowed money is not taxable and but you do need to make payments with interest to your own corporation. This is a real loan. If one researches you or your real estate they will see encumbered real estate and someone thinking of suing you may think you are not worth the time and expense which is one of our goals. If someone does try to levy or auction your real property they will have to pay the mortgage off from any auction or sale proceeds and if the amount of the mortgage (LTV- Loan to Value) is at least 80% of the appraised value a sale for enough money to pay off the mortgage will be extremely unlikely thus they will not bother spending the legal fees and auction fees. Auction buyers are price buyers, not people looking for a certain home in a certain school district etc. Remember the Panama Corporation owning the mortgage has no listed owner anywhere so it is impossible for ownership to be looked up by a potential financial enemy sizing you up. In any event the obstacle of the mortgage makes normal collection actions immensely more difficult for them if they should try to pierce through the corporate veil. Panama corporate veils do not pierce. They do not know this is your mortgage and that you own the corporation that wrote the mortgage and the only way of finding out would be to take your deposition and ask you. Well for all they know you don’t own the corporation, perhaps you did and transferred the ownership, or they might assume you would lie and they could not catch you in your deception, or they may assume it is owned by a friend or relative or whatever else comes into their mind. You are not responsible for their thoughts; this is something they do all on their own. One thing to be perfectly clear on is now collection costs for your financial adversary has now gone up, way up and the person going after your assets has some decisions to make as to how much money they want to spend. The collection attorney is going to be anything but encouraging because he is now in an environment that he does not understand – welcome to the jurisdiction of Panama Counselor. He is going to tell your financial enemy that more money is required to pursue this, in the back of his mind not really wanting to pursue this and if he does have to do it he is going to want to get paid big time. When lawyers do not want to do something they charge a lot. Now if the attorney gets into it and finds out the corporation ownership is non-transparent and soon discovers that Panama has tight bank secrecy etc. he will become more frustrated and this means higher fees for your financial enemy. What will the other side do if a Panama Private Interest Foundation owns the Corporation and you can legally say you do not own the Corporation? Panama Foundations really have no owner so you could also say you do not own the Foundation. Welcome to Panama Mr. Collection Attorney. You are not responsible for providing the other side ownership details of a foundation or corporation that is their problem. You can say you do not own the corporation or foundation and that is where it stops as far as you are concerned. Folks when they see a Panama Corporation or a Panama Foundation on the mortgage they are more than likely to drop it right there because they know they are spinning their wheels and will more than likely never get anywhere and spend a ton of money getting nowhere. Remember the collection attorney doesn’t deal with Panama Asset Protection scenarios everyday, or even every decade for most of them. He will see things as a brick wall, blind alley, etc and not know what to do. Remember the attorney that is doing the collection can be sued by his client for frivolously spending his client’s money and running up a big bill when chances for a positive return are most unlikely.

Line of Credit Mortgage:

There are other ways of protecting real estate assets where no actual funding of a mortgage is required. A line of credit is set up through a Panama Financial Institution that records a trust deed based on the size of the line of credit. This is very similar to what finance companies in the USA do with home equity lines of credit. This also requires you to retain a local attorney in the area where the real estate is located to ensure that proper papers are filed with the local government registry. The line of credit need not be drawn down upon, yet it can still be used to protect your real estate equity, or boat equity, car equity, airplane equity, art collection equity etc. The line of credit can be cancelled at any time by you and within 30 days the mortgage on the property will be released. There are safeguards put in place to ensure you have control over this.

Real Estate Asset Protection Annuity:

Another way to protect real estate or other assets is through the use of an annuity. Basically the anonymous Panama Corporation or anonymous Panama Foundation would receive your real estate or other assets in return for an annuity. The annuity pays you a certain specified sum of money monthly, quarterly or yearly. The money can be paid into a secure Panama Bank account even in the name of another Panama Foundation which is acquiring and protecting assets for you to retire on and for the eventual benefit of your beneficiaries. So if you were asked in a lawsuit in your home country why you transferred the real estate to this Panama Corporation and what consideration did you receive for the transfer, you reply the transfer was done in return for an annuity of so much money per month for as long as you live, or 5 years or whatever you decide for a term. Now they say where is this money paid thinking about garnishing it. You say into a Panama bank that my Panama Private Interest Foundation maintains think dead end for the collection attorney. If the sum is paid monthly the collection effort is so costly compared to the reward you could even have the annuity money paid into a bank account in your home country. They are not going to go do a new collection action each month, and if they did well you could change banks, or use a Panama Bank and withdraw the money with an ATM card.

WARNING

It is common to see entities selling asset protection structures using trusts and other vehicles that are located in the countries that have done away with privacy and fairness in the courts. These are the countries where they judges do what they want, judgments awarded are staggering high, the lawyers run legal bills up on the people until they can no longer defend themselves because they are broke, etc. If you own property in such a country and use an attorney who is also in this country or another country like this you are at serious risk. Why. For a lot of reasons.

One reason is the attorney client privilege in these countries can be broken by judges if the judge feels the lawyer was actively involved in some illegal deed with the client such as concealing assets from creditors, fraud, legal misrepresentation, money laundering (using overly broad definitions of money laundering these countries are fond of with extremely small amounts of money involved), or fraudulent conveyance of assets to a trust or other entity to remove them from the reach of creditors. The lawyer has to listen to the judge. Especially when the other side is saying “Your Honor the defendant is going to hide the assets again and cost my client thousands of dollars all over again”. When the lawyer hears this he starts thinking if he appeals the judges decision etc, and fights back real hard the next step is the other side is going to sue him for conspiracy to defraud the creditor. You see the lawyers are most aware of the ********* justice system in their country and they are scared of it coming back and biting them. The bottom line is they are going to be thinking well if I give this guy up (you) to the other side they’ll be happy, I’ve already got my fees paid, the client is going to be penniless and then what the heck can he do to me. When privacy is gone, the lawyers have a field day. REMEMBER even if the lawyer sets up an offshore structure for you he is still in your country and his records can readily become fair game in the discovery process and wind up in the hands of the court and even get recorded in the public court records as evidence. This means your financial enemies do not have to go offshore to pierce your corporate veil, trust foundation etc., they can do it right in the convenience of their backyard. This is a temptation and temptation encourages litigation. You should have a law firm in the jurisdiction of your offshore asset protection structure (the corporation, foundation bank account) so they will have enforceable attorney client privilege, corporate and foundation anonymity, bank secrecy and a privacy oriented court system to help them protect you.

These lawyers in the countries where privacy and justice are gone tell clients their asset protection methods are tested, secure etc. Try asking them what it costs to pay for the legal defense if the other side decides to “test” the asset protection strategy. Probably the bill will be enough to cause you to want to settle or give up. Then ask him if he does appeals and what they cost. If you lose a court case you usually have to post a bond equal to the amount of the judgment to keep the property during the appeal process.

More on Lawyers:

The obstacle is you have a physical asset in the form of real estate and the courts there can assert jurisdiction over it, which means take it away from you. What is going to work best is to keep the asset ownership anonymous before trouble starts. If your potential financial enemies or actual financial enemies do not know about an asset they will not attempt to confiscate it. If they do know about it then you must have some form of plausible deniability to show the judge why you can’t turn it over to the court. One good way to do this is to use financial instruments like mortgages since the judges don’t want to start upsetting the apple cart and get all the banks alarmed over some judge setting properly recorded mortgages aside. This is why we suggest using a local lawyer to record the mortgage, you do not have to make this lawyer aware of your entire asset protection strategy, nor give him all the documents just provide him with as little as he needs to know since he may be subpoenaed or have his deposition taken in a worst case scenario. For overall legal counsel in the jurisdiction where the property is contact another lawyer whose name will not appear anywhere relating to recording the transaction to make sure he does not get dragged into court and he can give you advise relating to taxes, legality, collection process, correct title, release of deed or mortgage, transfers etc. We are talking about a worst case scenario where assets are in the millions.

Banks are powerful politically and economically and they will pay careful attention to any judge setting aside mortgages unless there is a clear cut fraud involved with complete documented evidence so the judge will need to tread carefully on this fragile ground less he wrecks the security of the mortgage industry in his country. This is stronger in our opinion than just relying on a trust which judges love to bust open as frivolous or fraudulent with intent to defraud creditors. Please bear in mind nothing is one hundred percent perfect.

Planning Before Trouble Knocks:

Of course if you are planning before trouble is breathing down your neck as you should be doing, just putting the real estate in the name of an anonymous foundation or corporation is going to go a very long way in protecting your assets. If you are not in a lawsuit presently and have no judgments no one can argue that the transfer was a fraudulent conveyance to avoid creditors’ efforts to attach your assets.

If the property showed up on a credit report due to the mortgage company reporting the transaction, the collection lawyers chasing you will probably see the credit report and query you as to what happened to the property, did you receive any money for it or other consideration, where is the money, what happened to the money, did you transfer it for below market value and why, who owns it now, etc. Hypothetically for purposes of making a point to follow about collection attorneys in general, one could say they sold the property and the money was put in a Panama Bank Account and the money has been spent or gambled away, and the bank account was closed and you never had the bank send you statements which is common in Panama, so you have no bank statements and you banked online using the banks online banking system. Well the corporation public registry and foundation public registry do not reflect ownership at all and the Panama Banks will never respond to the collection attorney – never acknowledging or denying the existence of any such bank account since it would constitute a violation of bank secrecy laws with civil and criminal penalties. We are not saying you should do such a thing which would be illegal and we do not advocate illegal activities but what we are saying is some people do such things and the collection attorneys know that the people they pursue are in the habit of lying to conceal assets and they do not rely on the truthfulness of their clients to find assets. If they did that they would go out of business in short order. The collection attorney needs to work within a legal system that let’s them play their games and Panama does not let them work their craftiness at all. So you have a reasonable chance of seeing the collection attorney abandon pursuit when they see real estate titled to a Panama Anonymous Corporation or Foundation. They don’t plan on you being honest and open with them and they don’t have a clue as to how to proceed in Panama dealing with an anonymous corporation, foundation or bank secrecy. Their subpoenas are worthless and they are wondering how they are going to factually prove to a judge in the country where the real estate is that you really own property that is recorded in the name of an anonymous corporation and foundation in Panama. Even harder for them to think through is how to prove to a judge that the mortgage recorded on the real estate is through a corporation or foundation you own or control in Panama and that the judge should just set aside the mortgage and risk harming another entity when the lawyer is missing any concrete evidence to support the allegations. Remember the burden of proof is not on you, it is on the collection attorney. To make it worse what if you are not in the country where the real estate is or otherwise out of the reach of the court where the real estate is or maybe you just are not available for service of court papers. Well now the collection lawyer can’t even ask you any questions to make his case. Imagine him telling the judge he couldn’t serve you but he is sure you really own this property because at one time you did own it and the judge should just turn the property over to the creditor in absence of any evidence. What if the judge tells the lawyer to go contact the corporation or foundation in Panama? So we as your resident agent get served. First off the service will not be legal in Panama but we wouldn’t want to get the judge mad in the country where the real estate is so we contact you. If you tell us ok tell them whatever they want to know and I will pay for your time we would do so. On the other hand if you do not wish for us to reveal anything we would at your direction either not respond or just respond that we are bound by attorney client privilege from disclosing anything and asking us to do so without the permission of our client is illegal under our laws and their court does not have the authority to direct us to break the law and suffer the consequences in our country which are most severe. By now the collection attorney is spending a whole lot of his clients’ money and they are getting frustrated. Suppose they hire an attorney in Panama and try to get a court order. Forget this. Panama has 400,000 corporations registered here because they know the courts will not cooperate. The court will most likely throw the case out for lack of venue, lack of jurisdiction of the Panama Court and not comply with requests for breaking attorney client privilege. In terms of piercing the corporate veil, they are no ownership records to subpoena and of course remember transfers of ownership are not recorded and even the lawyer who formed the corporation has no idea who the new owners are, or how many times the corporation was transferred. All the owner need do is give the new owner the stock certificates with no recording of the transaction. Panama is set up for privacy and asset protection.

There are a number of scenarios we can structure to asset protect your real estate, boats, planes and other assets. We are a law firm – you have attorney client privilege, give us a call.

http://www.panamalaw.org/real_estate_asset_protection.html

http://www.panamalaw.org/anonymous_real_estate.html

http://www.panamalaw.org/panama_mortgage_investor.html

For more information, please visit:

http://www.panamalaw.org

email at: panamalegal@hush.com

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