{"id":7923,"date":"2009-04-17T12:17:30","date_gmt":"2009-04-17T19:17:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/?p=7923"},"modified":"2009-04-17T12:17:30","modified_gmt":"2009-04-17T19:17:30","slug":"handling-a-deal-with-a-foreign-buyer-or-seller","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/7923\/handling-a-deal-with-a-foreign-buyer-or-seller\/","title":{"rendered":"Handling a deal with a foreign buyer or seller"},"content":{"rendered":"

I am an international tax lawyer. I handle lots of real estate transactions with foreign sellers and buyers. I don’t have a real estate license, and I don’t ask for a piece of the commission. Got that out of the way for ya, didn’t I? Here are a few things to keep you sane when you handle a deal like that<\/p>\n

Two mothers<\/h2>\n

\u201cWhen Mama\u2019s happy, everybody\u2019s happy.\u201d And in a real estate deal with foreign players, you have two mothers. Keep them both happy and you\u2019re likely to close your deal on time.<\/p>\n

Mama number one is your title officer. Ask a simple question. Demand a yes\/no answer. \u201cHave you handled a real estate transaction with a foreign seller\/foreign buyer in it before?\u201d<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t say \u201cCan you handle one of these transactions?\u201d Because of course they CAN. Right? And they will.<\/p>\n

Right up until 5 days before closing and they figure out that the seller is a Bahamas corporation and they start insisting that you register the corporation with the Secretary of State and get a certificate of good standing from Sacramento and the Bahamas and oh, who are these people who claim to be the officers?<\/p>\n

Mama number two is escrow. Especially for a foreign seller. Call up your escrow officer and ask the same question: have you done one of these transactions before?<\/p>\n

Loyalty matters. But business is business. You don\u2019t want your deal to be the crash test dummy. Let them learn on someone else.<\/p>\n

War story: two summers ago, I handled two very similar deals in Southern California at the same time. Different title companies. One inexperienced title officer, one experienced. The novice title officer cost the buyer an extra $5,000 in legal fees to get the deal done.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Foreign seller<\/h2>\n

If your seller is a foreigner, here\u2019s your checklist:<\/p>\n

Tax ID number<\/strong><\/p>\n

The seller needs a U.S. tax identification number. More often than not they don\u2019t have one. Go to the IRS website and pull down Form W-7 for a human seller. Get in Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am an international tax lawyer. I handle lots of real estate transactions with foreign sellers and buyers. I don’t have a real estate license, and I don’t ask for a piece of the commission. Got that out of the way for ya, didn’t I? Here are a few things to keep you sane when […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":53,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[251,6,5],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-7923","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-big-mother","7":"category-marketing","8":"category-real-estate","10":"no-featured-image"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":271,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/271\/zindicated-is-this-zillowed-seller-proof-of-the-need-for-even-greater-zillification\/","url_meta":{"origin":7923,"position":0},"title":"Zindicated! Is this Zillowed seller proof of the need for even greater Zillification?","author":"Greg Swann","date":"August 31, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Frankly, no. Christine at NY Houses 4 Sale cites a Realty Times article about a seller who immediately pulled his home off the market after a prospective buyer confronted him with a Zestimate $500,000 below his assessed value. His conclusion is that Zillow.com has made his home unmarketable. My first\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogging"","block_context":{"text":"Blogging","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/blogging\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":874,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/874\/dual-agency-smack-down-arizona-association-of-realtors-general-counsel-michelle-lind-on-dual-agency\/","url_meta":{"origin":7923,"position":1},"title":"Dual Agency Smack-Down: Arizona Association of Realtors General Counsel Michelle Lind on Dual Agency . . .","author":"Greg Swann","date":"January 8, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"The Arizona Association of Realtors has just published Arizona Real Estate: A Professional\u2019s Guide to Law and Practice by Arizona Association of Realtors General Counsel Michelle Lind. I don't know what is planned for this book, but it is comprehensive enough to be used as one of the texts in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Dual Agency"","block_context":{"text":"Dual Agency","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/dual-agency\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1999,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/1999\/ask-the-broker-how-can-the-seller-paying-the-buyers-brokers-commission-be-fair-to-the-seller\/","url_meta":{"origin":7923,"position":2},"title":"Ask the Broker: How can the seller paying the buyer’s broker’s commission be fair to the seller?","author":"Greg Swann","date":"October 3, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Here's a truly fascinating question from an agent working in Nassau County, Long Island, New York. The idea of buyer brokerage is just being introduced there, and our interlocutor is understandably mystified:I am a bit confused, to say the very least. If I write up a listing contract with a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Ask the Broker"","block_context":{"text":"Ask the Broker","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/ask-the-broker\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":983,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/983\/a-line-in-the-sand-gaius-popillius-laenas-and-getting-the-real-estate-transaction-closed-against-all-opposition\/","url_meta":{"origin":7923,"position":3},"title":"A line in the sand: Gaius Popillius Laenas and getting the real estate transaction closed against all opposition . . .","author":"Greg Swann","date":"February 2, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Someday soon I'll write a full-blown Realty Reality post about this transaction. I've written about it several times already, but my client is quite right in telling me, \"This should be Chapter 14 in your book!\" What am I talking about? It's a home that finally closed this week --\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogging"","block_context":{"text":"Blogging","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/blogging\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":883,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/883\/whats-better-than-having-a-realtors-advice-having-a-realtors-advice-for-free\/","url_meta":{"origin":7923,"position":4},"title":"What’s better than having a Realtor’s advice? Having a Realtor’s advice for free!","author":"Cathleen Collins","date":"January 11, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Last Friday, on January 5, our nephew Bryan celebrated his twenty-first birthday. Less than a week earlier, on New Year's Eve, he wasn't yet old enough to join in a New Year's champaign toast at the club where's he's played gigs for the past few years. He graduated from high\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Marketing"","block_context":{"text":"Marketing","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/marketing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1693,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/1693\/ask-the-audience-how-do-you-defend-your-own-paycheck\/","url_meta":{"origin":7923,"position":5},"title":"Ask the Audience: How do you defend your own paycheck?","author":"Greg Swann","date":"July 24, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"This came in as an Ask the Broker question:Thanks for having this site. We found the house we like and we made the offers and counter offers, finally getting to a place where we got stuck. The seller does not want to came down on her price and we cannot\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Ask the Broker"","block_context":{"text":"Ask the Broker","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/ask-the-broker\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/53"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7923"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7923\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7926,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7923\/revisions\/7926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}