Property Investing in the USA versus Property Investing in the UK

 

My wife and I worked in real estate in the USA from 1994. We owned a bridging company…built houses..refurbished apt buildings ( blocks)….warehouses…whatever we deemed low risk. We sidestepped 2 real estate recessions relatively unscathed. We stopped in the USA in Jan of 2006 as we were very concerned…Fast forward, since we live abroad we started in Manchester in 2014.

Wow what a difference! In order to purchase a property in the USA it would only take max 3 days. In the UK…when you have buy ” conveyed” on a property, a baby could be born quicker.  More shocking…I can say..YES I want to buy this property…put no money down…and right before the conveyance….walk away …no penalty…no nothing…

We had this recently on one of our sales of a Professional HMO. We were supposed to exchange and convey on a Friday. On Thursday 5pm before, the so called buyer decided he did not want to buy. I say so called…My JV partners had another name for him ( Time waster). As mad as we were, we sold the same property to a Hong Kong investor a couple days later.

In the USA, when we bought a property, there was a 10 percent down payment on “Signing” the contract. Not a memorandum of sale…a legally binding contract. More so, if a buyer did not buy…not only did they lose their 10 percent, could and in many cases could be sued for specific performance….More money penalty…

What a difference between the USA and UK….As EU investors who live abroad, all and all it is closer to do business in the UK….we even have an American/ UK solicitor.