My name is Coach Willie Lee Jones Jr. and I am an International Pro Tennis Coach based in Atlanta. I have been traveling the world since I was 19 years old and feel very blessed to have experienced the bad and the good of the world. I started buying and selling properties globally back in 2000. I have bought and sold properties in Europe, Africa, and now my favorite place, Brasil! I fell in love with Brazil during the Rio Olympics and have been going there ever since that time. I bought my first property in Brazil in February 2020, right before the pandemic.
This was a small farm in Piaui State, 4 hour's drive from Teresina. This was an easy transaction due to it being an estate sale. My favorite city in Brazil is Fortaleza, and it is much slower than Rio, and it’s more my liking due to Fortaleza being a place where families vacation in Brazil, which is more my style. When I decided to buy in the Fortaleza region or near other beach coastal cities, I had no idea what I was about to face. The process and the wheelin and dealin it takes to buy as a foreigner is no joke and a serious journey indeed. You could lose all of your money in a flash making the wrong moves.
The purpose of this blog is to help you avoid the pitfalls and potholes of not only the bureaucracy of my beautiful Brazil but the sharks and crocodiles waiting to take your money. This is my personal experience as an Alabama countryman, who has a whole lot of common sense, and experience, in buying real estate in foreign countries. I’m your Uncle who will guide you through the mess and maze, get you to your victory, and have the keys to your new home, in your hands, without being ripped off:
Get a Brazilian CPF number as the first thing you do. This is the equivalent of our USA social security number.
Use the CPF number to go get a Brazil cell phone and get a WhatsApp account on that phone number, as well as another WhatsApp account on your regular cell phone number from the USA using your USA phone. This makes it easier to get people to call you back
Use the CPF number to go open a Brazil Bank account
Download an app called OLX. I found this app to be 60% Accurate as a good start to searching for properties. I repeat. As a start only. Many listings in Brazil are bogus and an old scam is to take a photo of someone else’s house and make up these lavish claims of the most incredible deal alive, and when you call on that house, it’s suddenly sold! Yo Uncle Willie knows that’s silly! The slick is to get you to come to their office and show you others! But the scam is to get you to come to the office and then tell you it’s sold! Run run run! Go to the next because that door leads straight to Valhalla!
Rent a car, something low-key like a Volkswagen Gol or Chevy Ônix. You want to drive what a middle-class Brazilian would drive to keep the price from being inflated when you show-key up to see the property. This is not a Uber situation my people. Listen to Uncle Willie, don’t be Silly! You need to see this property before you buy it early in the morning, in the middle of the day, and in the evening and night to see what goes on in the neighborhood before you buy. Even for your personal or rental usage. Remember if you buy a property for Airbnb, and it’s crazy in the neighborhood and you didn’t do what I told you to do for your due diligence, one bad rating on Airbnb, and you not gonna make any money? Listen to your Uncle Willie, and don’t be silly!
Pay cash for your house, which is the best way to go. Buying a fixer-upper with minor repairs is what I like to buy. In Natal, you can buy a brand new home for as little as 25k USA, but that number doubles or triples in Fortaleza. fixer-upper Rio and São Paulo is very high indeed for sure like Miami. A Brazilian Bank will not give you the financing as a foreigner because they only count your income in Brazil. There are ways around all of this I have discovered and used successfully. One I don’t recommend, unless you are married to a Brazilian, is to partner with a Brazilian who has a good income and decent job, and credit with the bank. I know two guys who bought their homes like this, then combined with their USA income, and the Brazilian woman bank access, they bought some seriously phat homes. Uncle Willie says don’t be silly. Get your own, because if your mate pulls the 90-day fiancé gone bad on yo ass, you are screwed. I saw 5 homes I made offers on, where Brazilian men were getting divorced, and the ex-wife killed the deal because they wanted more money. You know why the root of the fruit in the financing were the wives, and the man was an add-on. Listen to your Uncle Willie and don’t be silly.
I have a way to get around all of this. That would be a consultation I provide you with the keys to get your keys. With as little as 5,000 to 7,000 down, with some minor repairs to do like painting, small flooring, and depending on the location, with payments as low as 200 a month, My method for doing what I did to buy in the Fortaleza region, will be revealed in my consultation you book with me. This can be used throughout Brazil, but more are available in the major cities to choose from.
Thanks and I hope this info helps you to get started on your real estate ownership journey in Brazil!
If you're interested in getting more information on purchasing a home, please feel free to reach out for consultation at 404-754-5474.
Unc Willie Jones.
jbigstrokes@gmail.com c/o XIONIS LLC
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