View Full Version : Own 3 properties to stay in Florida?
neil.mccormick
05-07-2004, 00:47
I heard on a recent TV programme that if you own 3 properties for rental you can basically class it as a business and be able to live there by applying for whichever type of visa you would require.
Is there any truth in this?????
Neil
floridadreamvilla.co.uk
05-07-2004, 00:49
No - none at all. I would have thought it very unlikely.
I do know of an owner who just moved over - but they have 7 properties and even then it's not easy to get the visa.
I wish these programs would get their facts straight and stop misleading people with poorly investigated journalism. There was a similar story in the Telegraph today that was so full of mis-truths it was almost funny.
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by neil.mccormick
I heard on a recent TV programme that if you own 3 properties for rental you can basically class it as a business and be able to live there by applying for whichever type of visa you would require.
Is there any truth in this?????
Neil
[/quote]
We heard them say that too, on "I want that house" on Thursday. I couldn't believe they said that it was that easy.
Cruella DeVilla
05-07-2004, 01:20
Well the couple on the programme have done exactly that and they are living in the third one. I would like to investigate this one myself. Probably be best to speak to an expert who knows the score like an attorney or the likes?
chrizzy100
05-07-2004, 01:29
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by Cruella DeVilla
Well the couple on the programme have done exactly that and they are living in the third one. I would like to investigate this one myself. Probably be best to speak to an expert who knows the score like an attorney or the likes?
[/quote]
I think on one of the other topics......someone said they had not got the visa yet....they had only really started looking into in more last month.....the person knows the couple in question.....
floridadreamvilla.co.uk
05-07-2004, 01:34
I really don't think they have - there must be a lot more to it than that as I just don't think it is going to happen that simply. Renting out two houses is hard work but it's by no means a full time job and will not provide enough income for the INS tgo be happy you can support yourself (one of the main criteria they are looking for in granting the kind of visa you allude to).
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by Cruella DeVilla
Well the couple on the programme have done exactly that and they are living in the third one. I would like to investigate this one myself. Probably be best to speak to an expert who knows the score like an attorney or the likes?
[/quote]
If they are the same people I am thinking of, the people with seven homes have a big business at home and are on an L1 visa not an E2. It isnt owning the homes which is the business, basically you are setting up a management co to manage them. On E2, my visa attorney said she would try this route for me if I got TEN properties. Ten homes is also the minimum size man co I have seen advertised for sale as a trading business. Remember you have to make $60,000 pa for E2. Even doing it all yourself including all the cleaning, you would be lucky to make that much out of less than ten homes.
Buying ten homes is quite an investment and remember that they then have to be filled as you will effectively be paying your own salary out of booking money. With current home prices, you would be investing upwards of $2 million and have a huge mortgage commitment. The deposits alone would be enough if invested in a different business in an area of low employment to get you green card via the investors route rather than just an E2.
These TV programmes are acting very irresponsably at present. There has to be a realtor behind this somewhere.
floridadreamvilla.co.uk
05-07-2004, 13:31
My thoughts entirely Julie. From my experience, journalists are a lazy lot at times and will not research a subject half as well as you may expect they would. They must be being fed these inaccurancies by someone who stands to gain from it all and a realtor would be top of my suspect list [msnwink]
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by esprit
These TV programmes are acting very irresponsably at present. There has to be a realtor behind this somewhere.
[/quote]
Cruella DeVilla
05-07-2004, 16:25
Think I will email the TV company and ask them about it. Their website was wrong before and my hubby emailed them and they corrected their mistake. Something daft like under California tab they had all the Orlando/Floridian villas. Does not inspire confidence!
I will post what they say to it all.:D
E. Cosgrove
06-07-2004, 22:35
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by Cruella DeVilla
Think I will email the TV company and ask them about it. Their website was wrong before and my hubby emailed them and they corrected their mistake. Something daft like under California tab they had all the Orlando/Floridian villas. Does not inspire confidence!
I will post what they say to it all.:D
[/quote]
Did you mail them CDV, more importantly did you get a reply?
Liz
Gillian-B
06-07-2004, 23:06
The amount of people since this TV programme that have come up to me asking if I'm planning to buy a third villa so I can move over to the US! If only it were that simple :(. As far as this type of programme is concerned (I didn't see this particular one), they are so full of inaccuracies, it's unbelievable. No wonder there are so many British going over on the back of them and buying villas and then wondering why it's not all plain sailing like they make out.
Cruella DeVilla
07-07-2004, 00:09
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by E. Cosgrove
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by Cruella DeVilla
Think I will email the TV company and ask them about it. Their website was wrong before and my hubby emailed them and they corrected their mistake. Something daft like under California tab they had all the Orlando/Floridian villas. Does not inspire confidence!
I will post what they say to it all.:D
[/quote]
Did you mail them CDV, more importantly did you get a reply?
Liz
[/quote]
Still waiting on reply, will post when I hear from them.
Does anyone know how much you have to invest to get a green card on an investor visa?
Yes, a minimum of $1,000,000 and you have to employ 10 or more US citizens in the new business you set up. http://www.usembassy.org.uk/cons_web/visa/iv/invest.htm
Or you can get away with $500,000 if investing in a business in an area of low employment. I did some research into this once and there are areas up next to Lake county and next to Polk county that qualify. Citrus and Hardie ring a bell.
What are Citrus and Hardie like? Are they very iffy areas?
Do you have to own a business worth a million dollars or do you have to invest a million in cash to qualify
floridadreamvilla.co.uk
10-07-2004, 13:25
You would have to invest $1M.
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by smor
Do you have to own a business worth a million dollars or do you have to invest a million in cash to qualify
[/quote]
chrizzy100
10-07-2004, 13:25
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by smor
Do you have to own a business worth a million dollars or do you have to invest a million in cash to qualify
[/quote]
The English couple near us had to invest a million in cash......and they hate every minute of being here........:(
Traugott
10-07-2004, 14:05
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by smor
Does anyone know how much you have to invest to get a green card on an investor visa?
[/quote]
Green card: ONLY through the diversity program, also called the green card lottery. There is no way to win the green card lottery through any kind of investment. Its purely based on whether or not you are of the right citizenhip (Koreans, Filipinos, Chinese e.g. could not apply for the 2004 lottery as supposedly there are already too many of them from past years) and get chosen to be amongst the last 100 000 or so. That then gets whittled down to 55 000 through a second stage application process where those fall through the cracks that are either without high school education, make a false or incomplete application etc. Then you go for an interview with the Embassy and if your police report is not ok (or anything else) your trip stops there.
Konrad
Traugott
10-07-2004, 14:09
May need to correct my last statement I think. There may be / are other ways to get a "green card" than through the lottery. The lottery is the only means though that does not require you to invest or have a sponsor i.e. an employer or belong to a group of special people like religious teachers, artists, scientists.
Konrad
Just need to say that UK citizens (apart from Ireland, including N. Ireland) are unable to enter the green card lottery either (unless they meet the paternal/maternal requirements for other countries allowed to enter).