Lost Sovereignity, Oil-rich Fund Eyeing Foreclosed US Homes

New York Post ^ | Sunday, August 10, 2008 | Teri Buhl

[gorush]

There's a new land grab starting in America.

Foreign money, which up to now has focused its attention on investing in iconic commercial real estate - like Barneys New York and the Chrysler Building - is now moving to scoop up tens of thousands of discounted foreclosed homes across the country....

[blackdog]

Foreigners buying up thousands of distressed homes is interesting. Imagine trying to keep the heat, water, taxes, mechanical condition, landscaping, and security in thousands of residential single family homes while thousands of miles away?

Commercial properties yes, but SFR housing? I doubt it.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

The question is, why don’t/can’t Americans buy foreign real-estate?

We do. Where did you get the idea that we didn't?

I know a number of people who own property overseas ranging from small vacation homes to full scale estates. And that is not counting the amount of foreign real estate owned by privately and publicly owned American firms.

[blackdog]

Bill Clinton bought a house in Ireland in 2001. Old stone home along a golf course. Poor town........Classless wanker.

[B4Ranch]

>Let the A-Rabs bail out the banks, rehabilitate the property then sell at a discount to some American family.<

Or sell it to another rugrider parasite breeding family and further increase their percentages in the USA.

[Arkinsaw]

The question is, why don’t/can’t Americans buy foreign real-estate? What’s wrong with this country where on the whole we are so poor, that we must sell, rather than being rich enough to buy?

Lots of people ignoring RISK to make a quick short-term buck grew a big bubble and now it has popped. Our concentration on short term profit over long term strategy and growth are why we get pounded by the business cycle and grow bubbles.

Let's face it, our business leadership concentrates on the results of THIS QUARTER. And you can't blame them because that is how the system is set up right now and they are just doing their jobs.

As a nation we need incentive for LONG TERM investment over quarterly profit statements. Right now we reward quarterly and year end profit pretty much exclusively.

[Clintonfatigued]

IMHO, this is an alarming trend.

[Mike Darancette]

Selling to illegal aliens?

[Cacique]

Everything is a commodity, including people and nations. Those with power and money are the ones that control it.

[P.O.E.]

Except in this case, it hearkens back to antiquity when residents were either in bondage or deep debt to absentee landlords. Pre-Classical Greece or feudal Europe come immediately to mind, but it was endemic in early history, and even recently in India & China.

Back then, though, people moved and colonized new lands, which is not really much of an option these days.

[P.O.E.]

Except in this case, it hearkens back to antiquity when residents were either in bondage or deep debt to absentee landlords. Pre-Classical Greece or feudal Europe come immediately to mind, but it was endemic in early history, and even recently in India & China.

Back then, though, people moved and colonized new lands, which is not really much of an option these days.

[IronJack]

You (and all the other protectionists) sound just like the post-colonial Leninists I used to argue with back in the third world.

"Protectionists?" I don't think refusing to trade with our enemies makes me a protectionist any more than halting trade with pre-war Germany would have been isolationist. As it was, a number of the war machines and materiel the Third Reich used to kill Allies were sold by Americans. If you want Lenin, think about his line about the rope he'll use to hang us ...

I don't know what Third World you hail from, but I'm sure economic "reality" looks a whole lot different from that perch.

[mo]

...thus artificially supporting the tax base of thousands of local and state governments...

[paudio]

This is supply and demand at work, with capital and resources flowing in from outside to fill a vacuum. It is good to have foreign resources and capital flowing into the country for a change instead of it bleeding out to China.

This statement show the ambivalence that we all have about 'free-market'. Theoretically, we know that it's good for the economy (both the host and the investor), but at the same time patriotism won't allow us to do it.

[AuntB]

“IMHO, this is an alarming trend.”

Thanks for the ping, I haven’t read the article yet, but I can imagine.

I caught Letterman the other night when Donald Trump was on. He was talking about since our dollar is devalued and everything we have is now a world wide bargain, foreigners are buying up all the real estate. He admitted he’s inflating prices to get his best deal, and they’re happy to pay it.

This ain’t your daddy’s USA anymore.

[LomanBill]

[The Queens of England and Nederland own/owned vast tracts of housing all over the US East Coast.]

 

They also have an interest in the environmental activism that's been undermining and bankrupting American enterprise.

 

Observe that British Petroleum and Shell (Royal Dutch Shell) are the the #1 and #4 producers of Oil on American soil. 

 

Compare the paltry 131k bpd of Exxon, the "Evil" American Scapegoat - with  BP's 586k.   

 

 

 

Yet enviro weenies always pick on Exxon and never mention BP.   Hmmm.... why is that?

 

 

Folks, America Natural resources ARE nationalized - just not by Americans.

 

 

One if by Land, Two if by Sea, and Three if by Wire Transfer...

 

Do NyLons Float?  We could throw some into NY Harbor to find out and call it "The NY NyLon Tea Party of 2008".

 

Hey BP and Shell, GTHOOMC!, Cause WE didn't vote for your monarchies.

[LomanBill]

>>They also have an interest in the environmental activism

Ping.

[ConservativeJen]

Notice all the countries are either oil producing ones (middle eastern and Norway) or sell manufactured goods to us (China and Singapore)

A lot people took equity out of the market when prices were inflated, a rise that was sparked by low interest rates, used it to pay off credit cards (which were used to electronics and other consumer good from China, Singapore, etc) and buy trucks and SUVs.

Basically, Americans traded their homes for some foreign oil and imported stuff from Asia.

I can’t see how anyone does not see this as a worrying happenstance.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

It's OK.

They Feds will just make them all Section 8, and they'll be burned-out hulks in no time.