Congress considering residence visas for foreigners who invest in U.S. real estate

        The U.S. Congress cannot agree on much, but two Senators are reaching across the aisle to introduce a bill that might spur foreign investment in U.S. real estate.  If it passes, high-end golf communities struggling to sell homes might want to set up temporary marketing offices in London, Johannesburg and Beijing.

         New York’s Charles Schumer (a Democrat) and Utah’s Mike Lee (a Republican) are getting ready to introduce a bill that would provide residence visas to non-Americans willing to invest at least $500,000 to purchase a home in the U.S.  The bill is intended as part of a larger basket of immigration measures.

         The $500,000 investment could be split; for example, the offshore investor could purchase a townhome (or condo or single-family house)

for, say, $300,000 and live in it with a spouse and children under the age of 18.  The remaining amount could be used to purchase another home that could be rented out.  Of course, the investors could spend $500,000 or more to purchase just one nice home if they chose.  They would not be able to obtain work visas in the U.S., and if they sold the properties, they would not be able to remain in the country legally.  It seems this measure might appeal substantially to foreign executives coming up on retirement.

          Given the partisan bickering about budgets, taxation, employment and virtually every other important issue of the day, it is hard for many Americans to reconcile that our nation is still looked upon as the safest haven for investment in the world.  Yet, in 2010, foreigners spent $82 billion on U.S. real estate, up $13 billion from 2009, and much of it in some of the hardest hit markets (e.g. south Florida, Arizona, California).  The softness of the dollar compared with overseas currencies has increased foreign buying power in the U.S. I recall running into a Englishman earlier this year while touring foreclosed properties in Orlando with a local real estate agent; the Englishman was checking out properties to purchase, rent out, and sell a few years down the road at a profit (he hoped).  The real estate agent told me she bumps into such foreign investors all the time.

         But the new law about to be put before Congress would encourage a different class of foreign investor to buy homes in the U.S.; that is, those for whom the economies and political issues in their home countries (think Greece, Italy and others) encourage them to consider a more comfortable life in a country that, to them at least, appears relatively stable.  Polls indicate we Americans are disgusted with our national politics and fearful about the economy, but to many foreigners, especially those who can afford to invest in a safer, more certain future, the U.S. still looks like a “shining city on a hill.”