Well you still have to make a declaration because of owning a property?or properties in Brasil regardless of value (be cheap or expensive)residing here or not.

Brazil has a massive coastline - I cant see much capital appreciation given the limitless supply of beach. Why travel so far to make money out of property? Did you know Morocco's North coast is verdant and green with sparkling seas and just 7 km from Spain? Check out the video on realestatetv.com - Morocco, just look at the scenery.

French and Spannish are retiring to Morocco and Tangiers will be the new Cape Town. Take a loof at the Government backed Plan Azure mega developments. One of them called Saidia is where about 60 Premiership footballers are buying - thats the one Ive invested in also. There are 500 brand shops around the marina which will be the biggest in the Med.

Sorry guys, if Im hi - jacking your thread, but I just wonder why people think they need to go so far into the unknown to make a decent investment.

__________________
Been investing abroad a few years. Always amazed people invest in places that produce just a few months rent per year

Why trust the agent anyway, a good agency will have done checks on what they sell, provide a good service and advice, but ultimately the buyer should engage a lawyer to check everything is correct.

You know it makes sense JM .

__________________
Brazil Property | Pipa Brazil | Property Investment in Brazil | Guide to Pipa

Morocco is a lovely destination (I can just about make out the coastline as I look out of my window), I love the food (lamb and cous-cous mmm) and some of the developments being built there are very impressive, standing on the shores of Saïda you can imagine what it's going to look like in a few years.

However I think many people still aren't able to understand or adapt to the cultural differences. Brazil is closer to Europe in that respect. At least that's the impression I have having visited both countries. Traditions, habits, customs, cuisine, dress sense, etc, etc, etc

The other issue are the legal complications. What is Residence Touristique? Is it freehold, leasehold, restricted ownership and usage or just a nice fancy french name which means a residence for tourists? Ask ten different lawyers and you'll get twelve different answers.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not a Morocco specialist by any means but I did some research 6-4 months ago and the initial feedback was so confusing that even working in property, Morocco seemed a huge challenge to get right.

Also, while property prices in Morocco are lower than (for example) Spain, they are still significantly higher than the opportunities to be found in Brazil.

Also if you compare the effects of the economic challenges of the US and their impact on both countries, it would appear that Morocco was affected significantly more than Brazil.

Statistically speaking,

Brazil showed a much higher Equity Index in 2003 and 2004 then Morocco took the lead in 2005 and 2006. Both countries dipped in 2007 but whereas Brazil dropped from 40 pts to 12, and was still showing gains in the second and third quarter 07 when the US subprime crisis was unfolding, Morocco dropped from 48 to -.03 and already in the second quarter 07 it was -1.4.

Source: Global Economic Stability Report of April 2008 - IMF

__________________
Yes, I work for a Real Estate company doing market research and analysis but I'm not involved in sales.

Have a nice day

I don't mean the agency should replace the lawyers by any means. Of course the client has to engage legal advice in the country they are buying in. But agents shouldn't just gobble up whatever the developers say and pass it on to clients without doing checks on it. I know you don't, Robh, I know you go out there on a regular basis and as I've mentioned before, I know people on the ground in Brazil who know you too and speak very highly of you.

But again, if you do a google search for "Property in Brazil" you get a zillion agencies out there who obviously don't check a thing by looking at the properties they are recommending.

Whatever those checks may be, that's the call the agency has to make for themselves. We constantly have developers complaining to us that we ask for a ridiculous amount of documentation - more than any other agency. That's great to hear, it's one of our Unique Selling Points as far as I'm concerned, I don't know of many companies that have their own department and team permanently employed just for market research.

__________________
Yes, I work for a Real Estate company doing market research and analysis but I'm not involved in sales.

Have a nice day

To make a very long story short: Several years ago I bought an off-plan house in a condominium that didn’t have all the paper work set, including deed (now I know…). Later, I found out that the “developer” was well-known among serious developers and agents for being a crook. He was shortly arrested, but only God knows what he is doing now. But he never left a trace of the money, as they do.
I got everything back by blocking the personal assets of the real state directors, they never saw it coming. The real state guy tried several different legal actions to unblock his assets (house, shops) but every-time he was badly slammed by the judge. Just few hours before the public auction, he finally decided to pay us. I was (am) totally convinced that the agent knew that the “developer” was a crook. It wasn't just the case of overlooking.
That particular realtor thought he had no legal commitments, but he was wrong. My friend and excellent lawyer told me that we (not a lawyer, but I gave a tiny hand researching for the case) created a good precedent for future cases. We won with unanimous vote from the Appellate Court Judges (3 x0) in RS.

Real estate agents have quite a bit of legal liability here in Brazil FCZ. Unfortunately I had to take a guy I bought a piece of property from to court here in Brazil years ago, and the "corretor" was included in the suit as well as he was legally responsible to provide many doc's and perform other activities that he didn't do.

They ended up settling as well.

__________________
www.mjrdevelopments.com/ www.rosegardenbrazil.com

I've never had any of my bank accounts, and have had and do have numerous, just "stop functioning". The managers of my branch have always called me and said, "Ralph, we need a copy of your tax declaration, etc, etc" and at times I've taken several months before I got them what they asked for for various reasons. Afterall, one can file late in Brazil, you will be fined, but they're not going to close your bank account because of it. As long as we're not talking about years late.

__________________
www.mjrdevelopments.com/ www.rosegardenbrazil.com

Weather my friend for one thing..Morocco is very cold in Decemebr!

GW As a proponent of Brazil,albeit clandestine,is that really your best retort to the gauntlet being thrown?
In favour of Brazil re Morocco how about the magnificent food,gregarious indigenous population,property at less than half the price, more secure freehold ownership of real estate, a far more favourable non resident tax regime, no xenophobia, and in the case of Med Saidia, no prospect of some fundamentalist lobbing an incediary device into your back garden from nearby disgruntled Algeria.(the border terminates transverses the beach at Saidia.)
I have evaluated both Countries in some detail and decided not to invest a penny in Morocco.