Expert: Ken Rapoza Cruz - 8/3/2008

Question
My wife and I will soon be looking to purchase a vacation/retirement home or condo in Brazil (Most likely Santos or maybe Niteroi) My wife is a Brazilian citizen (From Sao Paulo)and has lived in the US for 11 years. We are only 46, but think now is the time to buy. I wonder about financing property (Or do I need cash)or can my wife finance through a Brazilian bank, even though we live here. I'm also looking for a safe website in English to surf for property. My wife will naturally be looking at Brazilian websites, but my Portuguese is limited, so I really need an English website when we are not looking together.
Thanks,

Answer
You dont need cash. It used to be that Brazilians only paid cash for property, but the days of 25% interest rates are over. You can get 30 year mortgages in Brazil from banks like Itau, Caixa Economica Federal, or Santander, for around 6% to 12%. They're not US rates of today, but they are US rates of the 70s/80s without the subprime crisis.

I would advise your wife to open up an account at one of these banks asap and transfer some dollars into them...no more than $10,000 a year or you start to look suspicious, and then apply for a mortgage.

You dont want an English language website...it will be gringo prices. Let your wife do the work...and start studying your portuguese if you are planning on retiring down here.  Best place to start is just getting your financing in order. Second is to look for a reputable broker.

Ken