Chileans gain weight as buyers, investors and entrepreneurs in Florida

Figures from the Florida Association of Realtors show that Chileans are gaining weight among foreigners who buy properties in this state, a trend that industry sources believe will last and that they link to political and economic changes in the country. .

A wave of entrepreneurs, companies and investors from Chile are arriving in cities like Miami Y Orlando to diversify and expand their assets like never before, according to testimonies collected by the communication agency Top of Mind.

In the list of foreign real estate buyers in 2021 in the South Florida area, including Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Palm Beach, which is headed by Colombians and Canadians, Chileans occupy the eighth position, with 4%. of all operations.

They are also the eighth in the list corresponding to the central area of Floridawhich includes Orlando, Kissimmee and Sandford, with 3% of the total.

“Based on my conversations with my Chilean clients, most of them show concern about the country’s political and economic trajectory.”, said the corporate lawyer Julian Monteroof the law firm Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr of Miami.

Slogan: diversify heritage

“That seems to be the main reason for wanting to diversify your wealth in the United States.”, he adds in a statement to Top of Mind.

After the popular protests of 2019 and the constitutional process, Chileans elected Gabriel Boric as president in 2021, who presented himself at the head of a leftist coalition and from March 11 will lead a “change” in the country considered the most politically and economically stable in Latin America.

One of Boric’s electoral promises is to raise taxes to finance social reforms.

Montero, of Chilean origin, helps clients from Chile to establish corporations in Florida, whether to invest in commercial or residential real estate, create company subsidiaries or facilitate visas such as E-2 or EB-5 to reside in the United States. United.

“This group (Chileans) mainly seeks to diversify their portfolios in assets that can provide a flow of capital and the possibility of an increase in value.Montero commented.

“In general, most of my clients are not yet leaving their main activity in Chile, which at the moment is different from the trend of investors from other Latin American countries.”, he stressed.

According to a report by the National Association of Realtors, in 2021 the Latin American countries whose citizens bought the most properties in the United States were Mexico, Argentina and Colombia.

Alan MedellinLatin American sales director for The Terraces at The Grove Resort & Water Park in Orlando, says that in the specific case of this real estate development, Chileans are surpassing buyers from Colombia, Peru and other countries that until last year were the dominant ones.

“I have no doubt that Chile is going to be the number one country where my buyers are going to come from this year.”, said Medellín, who sells units in furnished luxury aparthotels a few minutes from World Disney World in Orlando.

“The dollar has risen a lot in Chile and that is causing concern. My clients want to invest in The Grove because the real estate sector in the United States gives them security and they want to generate returns in dollars.”, he tells Top of Mind.

Medellín points out that 80% of its Chilean clients finance the purchase by putting an entry of 35% to 40% at an interest of around 4.2%.

The prices of the apart-hotels are above US$200,000 and, since last year, it has already sold about 30 units to Chileans, he says.

something to stay

According to the lawyer Montero, his experience tells him that it is the beginning of something that will continue.

“I say this because I have seen it in the last 25 years that I have been in Miami representing investors and businessmen from different Latin American countries. When interest in investing outside one’s country opens up, this trend only increases.”.

“The same has happened with investors from Colombia, Argentina, Venezuela, Mexico and now it is clear to me that the same will happen with Chilean investors and businessmen.”, he added

Chilean companies are also opening branches in Florida in order to grow and diversify their client portfolio in the United States, as is the case with BH Compliance, a company that helps multinationals with operations in Latin America to monitor their corporate transparency programs and to be in accordance with the anti-corruption laws of the region and of this country.

BH Compliance opened an office in Miami this January and its executive director, Susana Sierra, settled here to lead the company’s expansion in the United States.

“We decided to open an office in Miami, because we saw the opportunity to offer our services to the headquarters of global companies with subsidiaries in Latin America.”, he told Top of Mind Sierra, who highlights that the region lives in “a context of political and economic instability, which was aggravated by the pandemic.”

The Chilean company wants to give “tranquillity” to companies that their policies and procedures comply with the laws both in the United States and in their subsidiaries in Latin America.