Working With Us

If you want to get a feel for the steps and timelines involved in partnering with us in a Latin American real estate investment, read below.

If you’d like to see how our unique approach to real estate investment has proven itself during past investments, you’ll want to browse our track record.

1. Before Purchasing the Property

• Initial meetings to determine if we have the proper chemistry and goal alignment for a relationship. We’ll want to know your risk tolerance, experience level, expectations, etc.
• Once we’ve agreed on the investment parameters for the deal that we will be pursuing, a JV (or letter of intent) would need to be executed between ETI & you
• ETI uses its resources & networks to uncover ideal candidates for investment. We have our scouts building relationships constantly with farm owners, attorneys, real estate brokers… and pretty much anyone else who will stumble onto deals, at the local area. We likely already know of the perfect investment candidate for you, but we’re firm believers in the Warren Buffet quote:
  
  
  

  “It’s better to pay a fair price for a wonderful company than a wonderful price for a fair company”

  
  Except we apply that to land, and we demand a wonderful price on wonderful property. So we’d rather spend extra time scouting the deal up-front to leave us with plenty of profit generating options on the back-end. As much time is spent “courting the seller” in order to ensure a very low, what-the-locals-pay price, as is spent finding the land itself.

• Simultaneously, ETI will consult with you on strategies for structuring the deal. We are not attorneys or accountants, and as such cannot give you legal advice, but we are very experienced in the transactions from the point of view of an investor. We have relationships with numerous reputable law firms and accounting firms. We only work with investors who are willing to remain in compliance with their home nations. Our investments offer world-class asset protection, however, there are ways to effectively do this and other ways that can be disastrous for the investor… our experience steers clients clear of trouble in this area.

2. Obtaining Property / Property Rights

• Once the agreement(s) has been secured with the property seller(s) (we most often create assemblages of multiple properties), we form an agreement/Letter of Intent with you on terms for closing. The investor will be presented with a “term sheet,” that explains the parameters of the deal. This is an important distinction and a key to our incredible success at shaping the market. Rather than simply buying the property for our investors, we partner in a business or company that:
  

  Owns the property,

  Has a budget to carry out the investment , and

  Has an agreement with a management company to carry out any improvement and development processes, along with the necessary marketing.

• As an investor, you’ll receive ownership in the company that has been established for the purpose of carrying out the investment. There are multiple advantages to setting things up this way, but the bottom line is this: managing risk and maximizing profit means shaping the market and strategically investing in land the way commodities traders buy futures.
• Your payment will go into escrow at this point under an agreement that unless something negative is revealed in due diligence (contingencies), you will be committed to the deal. We can’t pull out of the deal either, so this commits us both equally.
• We then enter the pre-acquisition due diligence period. During this time, ETI is investing ownership claims, obtaining legal and engineering documents, validating market assumptions, etc.
• If, after due diligence, the investment is still deemed adequate, we complete the acquisition (usually 60-90 days from the date of our having the original LOI
• Close the transaction and begin shaping the market and saleable aspects of the property for maximum profit.

3. Post Acquisition

• We execute the plans for investment. Sometimes this includes obtaining title, securing ownership claims, fencing the property, creating roads/trails, obtaining any local or national permits, hiring a caretaker(s), executing and managing agreements with marketing companies.
• Marketing. Nothing succeeds like success and real estate is demand-driven. Our ability to successfully market land even in the face of traditional obstacles provides us with far more options than most “buy and hold” style investors.
• We provide you with financial, operational, and marketing reporting on a quarterly basis.
• We manage the process of negotiating with potential buyers. This is transparent and you will receive all information regarding these negotiations.
• We manage the sale of the property. Preparations with local & international legal and accounting firms are usually made during this phase with our legal and accounting teams. We can coordinate with the investor’s council on these matters as well to make sure that the timing and method of sale is as advantageous as possible for our side of the transaction.
• Site Visits. We’re pretty flexible in meeting the needs of the investors and they usually have a wide range of preferences. Many never visit the property. Some visit during the closing. Some visit during the hold period. Some properties lend themselves more than others to a visit. We’ve taken investors into properties in helicopters, big boats, small boats, driving them down the beach at low tide (because there wasn’t a road yet), etc.
• Meetings. Since we’re usually in several countries, we don’t have lots of boardroom type meetings with investors. However, if we need to fly up for a meeting, or they want to come down that’s fine too. We don’t spend a lot of time in an office, but we can work that out if necessary.