investing in Colombia

ColombiaBoard says on Apr 2, 2005, 08:37:

Where to invest Always remember the golden rule for real estate investments: Location, Location, Location. No matter where you decide to buy bear in mind that location is everything.
In general Colombia seems to be on the path of a good economic "revival" and there are many opportunities.
If your plan is to invest in real estate I suggest that you spend at least a month in the country before deciding where to live and buy.
Bogota is of course the largest and fastest developing city in the country, a large urban center with more than 7 million inhabitants and growing each year but the other cities you mention offer good opportunities too.

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bufalo says on Apr 2, 2005, 10:55:

I´ve lived in Colombia twice before and am quite familiar with Bogotá. I was very surprised at how much new building I saw going on last May. Just wasn´t sure "housing market" wise the city is. I New York prices have just gone up a lot every year. For at least ten years the bubble was supposed to burst, hasn´t yet. I thought that perhaps Bogotá might be heading for a boom. ????

"If you don't like it - lump it, take it down the road and dump it." - Archie Bunker played by Carroll O'Connor

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ColombiaBoard says on Apr 3, 2005, 08:29:

Investing There are contradictory reports about new housing projects. In 2004 the strata 6 (high class) sector had a boom but now in 2005 it seems it has cooled down a bit. It all depends. Some cities like Medellin are still in the boom wave, Cartagena is full of high rise condo projects for the high end market. Commercial real estate is also growing, there are many Mall projects in several cities. As I wrote before, analyze carefully where you want to put your money.

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stevens says on Apr 6, 2005, 18:05:

I'd day that Colombia has a great deal of country risk. I think I-ve stolen this from another poster, but things are safer now because of Uribe, who is a strongman and very popular. But as happens in politics, he could be voted out in favor of the exact opposite, and the security situation could worsen again, hitting property values. Argentina, on the ohter hand, is in a clear uptrend. Since the crash, the Arg. peso has appreciated 25% against the dollar (but then so have most other currencies over the past two or three years)and real estate values are going up and are still way depressed. Argentina, or specifically Buenos Aires, will always have tourists because, as I-ve heard, it is an extremely interesting place, something to do every night.
Take my comments with a grain of salt because I-m not that knowledgable about either place, but carefully acertaining the big picture has helped me do quite well in real estate in Nicaragua over the last two years. Suerte. On the other hand, someone I know who has researched the Medellin market much more than me says wait six months and then maybe prices will have come down because of a glut and therefore a good time to buy.

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viewpoint says on Apr 7, 2005, 04:19:

STEVENS COUNTRY RISK ???? Yes I agree that Colombia does, in fact, have a lot of country risk but your comparsion of Argentina being a better play is off the mark. Argentina is the slim ball of all soverign credits with the worst "Country Risk". They are completing an exchange of soverign debt at the current time that requires the exchanging soverign bond holders taking a 75% haircut (loss) of their unpaid principal and interest while Argentina has the ability to pay a more reasonable treatment of the bondholders.

Sure the Argentina economy is doing better due to the "un-pegging" of the ARG peso vs. the US dollar but their politians are nothing less than solocialist pigs that have stiffed the local and global creditors that lent them 100 billion dollars.

Some of the larger "holdout" bondholders that have not accepted their offer have been successful in obtaining judgments against Argentina in several foreign countries including the USA and are executing these judgment as they find Argentina assets to execute against. The Argentina president can not even fly to most "western" countries in Argentina government planes for fear of his plane being attached by creditors.

If Argentina is doing better it is at the expense of it's creditors which have been treated very badly. Argentina has nothing but a history of broken promises and defaulted debt while Colombia is one of only two (2) countries in all of Latin America that has always paid it's debt in full (Chile is the other). However, Colombia's borrowing and debt is reaching huge proportions of its GNP and without it's close relationship to the USA (the largest shareholder of the IMF) Colombia would probably be in default right now because it has failed to put it financial house in order.

In all of Latin America Chile is the most progressive stable civilized democracy lacking only some natural resources (gas & oil) from being a completly self sufficent country with a strong economy and good modern system of laws.

Investing in Colombia, sure but with CAUTION !!! I don't see many real estate investments that generate as much income as simply lending your money at current market rates in Colombia. In other words the promotors, developers and contractors that build the projects make a profit building the projects, however, after the apartments, office buildings, commercial buildings are built the owners don't seem to make a return equal to simply money lending. I would rather be a secured money lender in Colombia at rates around 14-18% than a property owner (manager) eaking out a meger 6-8% return on my investment.

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bufalo says on Apr 12, 2005, 14:24:

Not to sound like I´m completely ignorant, but.... I was interested in lending money because like you say Viewpoint,it seems to be more lucrative. How does one go about this in Colombia especially when you say "secured". simply loan money to someone with say a house, apartment, etc as security and let a lawyer write up the documentation?

"If you don't like it - lump it, take it down the road and dump it." - Archie Bunker played by Carroll O'Connor

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viewpoint says on Apr 13, 2005, 03:21:

BUFALO Yes just take real property as the security for the loans.

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bufalo says on Apr 13, 2005, 09:12:

Thanks (I hate to ask the painfully obvious, but rather do that than make one hell of a stupid mistake)

"If you don't like it - lump it, take it down the road and dump it." - Archie Bunker played by Carroll O'Connor

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