Foreign retirees may save U.S. housing market if....
Here is a turn of events I would not heave expected just a year ago. I have been preaching to anyone who will listen for years that if Panama will continue to make it attractive for foreigners to retire here it could be booming and generating more long term and stable economic activity than the canal. Unfortunately, Panama leaders have done just about everything they can to make it more difficult to retire in Panama and now the U.S. is starting to look like the the better place for foreigners to spend their golden years and golden nest eggs.
Just like Panama, immigration is the over riding challenge for the foreigners who want to live in the U.S., but there are other factors that foreigners may not be considering. High cost of living, high cost of health care and high property taxes are at the top of the list. At least for now, Panama is a better deal in these areas.
Here is an article from Fox news about this subject.
American real estate agents say there's a surefire way to help the country's plummeting real estate market: Let foreigners retire here after they buy.
Miami agent Tony Macaluso is leading the charge to create a special new "Silver Card visa" that would ease restrictions on older immigrants — but the National Association of Realtors, Congress and the State Department aren't biting just yet.
"This idea would be for someone who is over 50, who is retired, who has proof of income, who is not relying on our health care system or our welfare system," Macaluso told FOX News.
"When they come here it would be on a non-work visa, so they would be retired [and] their wealth that they are earning in another county would be spent here in the United States. And if there is something we could clearly use is more money coming into the country," he cotinued.
Foreign nationals who no longer work, but desire to spend their golden years in the United States can currently buy property here — and many do.
But most of them have only tourist visas and must leave the country every six months and wait a few months more before they can re-enter the United States.
Other countries have realized the economic value of foreigners and the retirement capital flowing in to their nations. Mexico,
Panama and Costa Rica all encourage wealthy retirees to live in their
respective countries with special visas, and even offer tax incentives.
Partly because of this, an estimated 1 million Americans have retired
to Mexico, 65,000 to Panama and another 35,000 to Costa Rica.
