International Buyers become players in NYC real estate yet again

I'm not buying it yet. (Hah!)

@Uraniumfish prices in NYC nowadays are not as high as other parts of the world. The apartment prices and rents in HK are absolutely crazy a rental $10,000 USD a month is not uncommon and a million USD will not get you more than five hundred square feet in a nice area and a nice building. The general population though seem to be quite affluent, personal income tax rates cap at about 16% and there is public health care available to you if you are a resident, even then NYC has a huge appeal for folks here.

I wonder if foreign buyers ever have trouble getting residency permits to live in the properties they buy. I don't know much about the various visas, but I think you have to invest at least a million and employ a few people in order to get a visa.

@Uraniumfish that's the biggest hurdle foreign buyers face when buying in NYC, Co-ops are a no-no for obvious reasons, the priggish Co-op boards rarely admit foreigners easily and moreover co-ops as you know cannot be rented out easily. Condo's are supposedly easier to deal with and more than residency permits most foreigners also have trouble getting finance in the US. So I guess the ones who are buying these properties are those who have substantial means, who can easily pay up front and also deal with monthly costs of maintaining a property in NYC. As for visas, I think currently an ordinary tourist visa allows you to stay in the US for six months though for holders of visa waiver passports that entry is limited to three months.

Being able to stay in your own property for only six or three months out of the year seems not at all ideal. I believe there is a way in the visa system that you can invest over a million dollars and then you automatically get one. As we know, even a small apartment can run into the million mark in Manhattan so I guess it's only millionaires who do this type of thing to begin with.

That makes sense, @uraniumfish. I've often wondered about the intricacies of residency permits, visas, and such things...