Friday, July 9, 2010

EB5 Real Estate Visa Investment Pools. Still trying to get the last three Chinese Guys To Pay Us Up.

Developers Aim for Foreign Capital Via Investor Visas

By Elaine Walker
RISMEDIA, July 9, 2010--(MCT)--Finding traditional bank financing for a mixed-use project in Hollywood, Fla., was highly unlikely in the midst of today's credit crunch.

That's one reason developer Charles "Chip" Abele turned to an investor visa program as an alternative financing vehicle.

Abele and his partners in the Gold Coast Florida Regional Center are launching efforts to attract foreign nationals to invest in real estate projects, as a way to secure a green card.

"The capital markets have basically shriveled up and the banking industry has pulled back from real estate," said Abele, chairman and chief executive of the Coral Gables, Fla.-based center. "We've got a lot of projects in the pipeline, and we decided we needed to get into the capital business ourselves."

And Gold Coast is not alone. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has approved 10 regional centers in Florida alone.

Depending on the location of the project, the minimum investment is either $500,000 or $1 million. The visa applicants must also show that their investment generates 10 jobs.

While the EB-5 investor visa program was created by Congress in 1990 for new business development and job creation, industry experts say that during the past year it's increasingly becoming a popular financing tool for the real estate industry.

"The program has been totally underutilized until recently," said Ronald Fieldstone, a corporate tax attorney with Arnstein & Lehr in Miami, who has worked on eight EB-5 project approvals across the country, including Gold Coast.

"All of a sudden it's become a cause celebre, and more people are trying to take advantage of the opportunity," he said. "It's a cheaper source of capital to undertake a project that would not otherwise be feasible in this economy."

Gold Coast just launched plans to begin seeking investors, setting up marketing offices in Venezuela, Mexico, South Africa, Great Britain and China.

The first project it is seeking investors for is Hollywood Circle, a mixed-use development on Young Circle in Hollywood. The project will include The Circ, a 104-room boutique hotel by Desires Hotels, 397 apartments, a Publix supermarket and additional restaurant and retail space.

For an investment of $500,000 in the Hollywood Circle project, an investor can get permanent resident visas for themselves and their entire family.

There are three other approved regional centers in Miami. Others have talked about securing approval, including Miami developer Sergio Pino and developers of a proposed Margaritaville resort on Hollywood Beach.

(c) 2010, The Miami Herald.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

Thursday, July 8, 2010

International Lending Options, NATIONAL Commerical Lending Options

 http://distressedcommercialshortsales.blogspot.com/                                                                                                              
  Commercial Real Estate Executives
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Commercial-Hard-Money-Lending/119192424775716?ref=ts



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Most Active Discussions (1)

GlobeSt.com - Ben Stein: Real Estate Will Be Glorious Again - Daily News Article 3 comments »
Started by jack owens, CCIM
Obviously you don't know anything about his real background (aside from Win Ben Stein's Money & Ferris Bueller's Day Off). He is an...
More » By Aileen Sexton Kopfinger

Discussions (3)

Funding for all Real Estate Projects Domestic/International $15MM + Add a comment »
Started by Joe Wong, Account Executive, Partner
We are looking for solid $15MM + development projects ideally with the following conditions:

-have a track record (funding is project base but like to see a track record)
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We can do construction, acquisition, rehab, large residential, resorts, hotels, commercial debt, equity & deb/equity funding.

POC: JoeW168@gmail.com
PS. Your Referrals Are Well Appreciated
By Joe Wong, Account Executive, Partner
How to Stay Ahead of Market Trends Add a comment »
Started by Sarah Boyles, Real Estate Affiliate / Internet Marketer at Rehablist
Be careful! Especially in this economy, you can't afford to make costly mistakes. I've been doing this for YEARS, but there are plenty of people with much less experience who don't think twice about destroying your dreams with worthless information, just to make a few bucks.

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By Sarah Boyles, Real Estate Affiliate / Internet Marketer at Rehablist
LENDPOST.COM Add a comment »
Started by Monty Yeager, President at Realestateandfunding.com
Lendpost.com is a website that serves one very important and useful purpose, to connect those in need of funding with the lenders that provide it. No matter what state you are in, Lendpost.com provides funding options for both real estate and business financing.

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If you need funding, Lendpost.com is the place. Request financing for your transaction, then sit back and relax while lenders read your request and respond.

Simple, straightforward, and very helpful: http://lendpost.com
By Monty Yeager, President at Realestateandfunding.com

Monday, July 5, 2010

Facebook and Real Estate A Perfect Match

Roost Partners with Leading Real Estate Companies of the World to Offer Facebook-Based Social Applications and Benefits to Network

RISMEDIA, July 6, 2010—Roost, Inc. and Leading Real Estate Companies of the World have entered into a strategic partnership that will provide all qualifying brokerages in the LeadingRE network preferred access to Roost’s unique Facebook-based platform, the Social Real Estate Toolkit for Brokers. This partnership affords LeadingRE members benefits that include preferred pricing, V.I.P. service and support, as well as comprehensive training on integration, execution and marketing for the brokerage and its agents.
“While social media, specifically Facebook, has been a hot topic of conversation with our members, there has been an informational void regarding a sound strategy to make the best use of it,” said Eric Bryn, vice president of strategic development for Leading Real Estate Companies of the World. “Roost’s solutions are built from their deeper understanding of the social landscape, and our partnership gives our members direct access not only to a great product solution, but also sound intellectual guidance on how to succeed with it.”
Roost’s brokerage solution is an extension of the free Social Real Estate Toolkit for Agents released earlier this year and is the first Facebook application to integrate a full, MLS-compliant property search. Agents within each brokerage will also be able to take advantage of MLS search, as well as other functionality on their Facebook presence via a premium application that will be available later this fall.
“We recognize the progressive stance LeadingRE has with regard to seeking out sound technology solutions and providing them for its members,” said Alex Chang, Roost’s CEO. “We built the Social Real Estate Toolkit to help brokerages break through the challenges in effectively bringing the real estate conversation into the social medial landscape. In tandem with LeadingRE, we have created a program for their members that will provide sound solutions to the social media questions most brokerages are struggling with.”
Roost is also offering to conduct a free Roost Rank for all LeadingRE brokers. Roost Rank is a diagnostic check up of the vitality of a company’s Facebook page. The evaluation provides feedback on five specific criteria sets:
-Brand Integrity – How effectively are you integrating your brand identity into Facebook?
-Content Relevancy – Are you providing original information that is relevant to your audience?
-Content Frequency – How good are you at the cadence of your content publishing?
-Sphere of Influence – Do you have an active and robust audience?
-Quality of Engagement – Is your content engaging prospects by starting conversation and activity?
“Roost analyzes individual Facebook pages using a proprietary algorithm,” Chang explained. “As a result, we can provide a weighted score we call the Roost Rank that provides the user a clear sense of where they are. Improving your rank is made easy with tips and recommendations we offer to make a brokerage’s Facebook presence the best that it can be.”
For more information, visit www.leadingre.com and www.roost.com.
RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.