Spinal Fire Scientia Est Potentia

As the United States housing market continues to flounder, Sens. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) have drafted a bill that could give residence visas to immigrants who spend at least $500,000 on an American home. The lawmakers have launched the concept as a bipartisan bill to attract international investment. Resource for this article: Proposed housing bill would grant immigrants residence visas

Get to the country with cash

Foreigners are favored by people in South Florida, Southern California and Arizona if they have enough cash. The real estate market would like to sell. Chinese and Canadian immigrants and others have reportedly jumped at the chance to buy low and take advantage of favorable exchange rates.

In July, five and a half percent of home purchases were by foreigners in Miami, Florida, as reported by MDA DataQuick. About 4.3 percent of home sales in Phoenix, Arizona during that same period were non-native investors.

In the U.S., a ton of buyers are interested. In the year ending in March 2011, the total amount spent by foreigners in the industry was $82 billion. That's up from $66 billion the year before, claims the National Association of Realtors.

Great for any person

The demand could end up increasing with the Schumer and Lee bill, as reported by analysts. An immigrant can get a residence vise by simply spending at least $500,000 on the purchase of any real estate, including condos or single family homes. The applicants are allowed to buy as several homes as they want as long as they invest as little as $250,000 on a house and spend at least $500,000.

Since immigrants are allowed to enter the U.S. as long as they are investing in businesses, it would be a fantastic visa program to add. The bill is not meant to give work visas instantly. Much of the time, more has to be done.

Getting a job

Backers of the bill hope an influx of immigrant homeowners will fill the void left by Americans who have held back from getting.

"This is a way to create more demand without costing the federal government a nickel," Schumer told the Wall Street Journal.

Getting support from Buffett

For a while now, Buffett and other supporters have hoped to get more rich immigrants in the U.S.

"If you wanted to change your immigration policy so that you let 500,000 families in, but they have to have a significant net worth and everything, you'd solve things very quickly," Buffett told PBS's Charlie Rose in August 2011.

It is not necessary to have Schumer and Lee’s plan, according to Realogy Corp. CEO Richard Smith. He claims international investors do not need any more incentive to buy homes in the United States, and there are Ameri-cans willing and able to buy, but the down economy has held them back.

What Schumer thinks about jobs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwPepw88ARc

Citations

Firedoglake: http://news.firedoglake.com/2011/10/20/grabbing-at-straws-more-non-core-...

Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/20/visa-house-real-estate_n_102158...

National Association of Realtors: http://www.realtor.org/press_room/news_releases/2011/05/foreign_buyers

Wall Street Journal: http://on.wsj.com/qmpcWp