Real Estate Investor Magazine July/ Aug 2020 July 2020 | Page 51

Doing things differently
Investing offshore requires a great deal of analysis from the
side of the investor. One country’s investment hotspot always
differs from that of your country of origin, one way or another.
Director of Operations at Orbvest, Justin Clarke and his team,
made certain that they scrutinise the USA’s investment
hotspots and wealth making investment options, dedicating
their time and pouring their wealth into the country.
According to Clarke, when investing offshore, South
African investors want to invest in bricks and mortar. This
is simply because they are used to this form of investment.
Projecting on the American demographic, He says this form
of investment in America does not make outstanding and
great returns. In fact “investors cannot live on the returns with
time.”
However, Clarke says the amount of returns in commercial
real estate industry in the USA are great, even exceptional.
“In our investments we have gone towards the direction
of medical real estate, specifically in the USA, because this
industry is slightly similar to South Africa, as well as the way
in which medical services in the US are provided,” Clarke says.
Clarke believes that as the years unfold, the medical
real estate sector in the USA will be in high demand, with
extremely high returns on investments for all real estate
investors. This is due to the rising demand for healthcare
facilities during the time of Coronavirus.
Finding property deals abroad
While find better property deals abroad through the
internet is recommended for investors and property buyers,
Wealth Trek’s Property Investment Coach, Sean Thomson
believes that there is a need for a team or people on the
ground in the country where in you want to invest.
Thomson says being able to buy property in the UK,
for him, was down to his people in the UK. “One thing
we advocate for, introduce and motivate people to do is
COMPLIANT SOURCING AGENTS,” says Thomson
“Sourcing agents are the opposite of what real estate
agents do. Sourcing agents do not work for the property,
but work for the investor. They are essentially on the ground
doing all the leg work for you and finding you, the investor,
low-market value deals appealing to you,” he says.
Good sourcing agents are:
• Compliant as per the sourcing agents’ registrations in
the UK.
• In ownership of professional indemnity insurance, and
they are regulated within the UK market.
• Registered with property redress scheme and antimoney
laundering supervision.
• Registered with or are members of a property
ombudsman scheme.
• Registered with date protection scheme supervision.
Sean Thomson’s prosperity in buying property in the
UK would not have been a success without the help of
sourcing agents, who made this investment slightly easier
for him. Just like Justin Clarke’s medical real estate investing
journey, it could not have been a success if it had not been
for the support he had received from his fellow investors,
with whom he collaborated in bringing about his success in
offshore medical real estate investment. Clearly the trick is in
co-working here! You can do it too, with a little bit of patience
and the right team of experts to guide you.
SOURCE Neworld, Orbvest & Wealth Trek
SA Real Estate Investor Magazine JULY/AUGUST 2020 39