Terrafin is a real estate company dedicated to finding unique real estate investment opportunities. 

Terrafin's main office is located in Montevideo. Montevideo is the capital of Uruguay, and seat of Mercosur, a free trade association between Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and
Paraguay. We have offices and partners in Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Equador and Paraguay.

Our objective is to find good investments for our customers, and to help them with various administrative matters. To do so we scout Mercosur and surrounding countries for the best possible deals. The question that investors often ask, is, why should I invest in South America?

Because, as a rule, there are no speculative bubbles in the regions we cover, for a host of reasons.

But, why should one invest in real estate, and how? Lately, real estate has become a motive of interest for all. From homeowners to builders, newspapers, realtors, everyone
seems to have an opinion about property: it's too expensive, the bubble will pop, real estate prices will go up more. Opinions differ, but few bother to do some global
comparative analysis. In our opinion the big real estate bubbles, like the US and the UK are about to burst.

Real estate became a refuge for funds worried about the stock market, and later, for money looking for superior returns. On the long run, real estate is usually a good
investment. Notice the "usually", please. On the short run, in order to obtain superior returns, an even more careful analysis is required.

Comparative property price analysis is the base for a sound investment. What point is there in doing countrywide real estate analysis when we live in a global world? Shouldn't
the analysis be global?

Terrafin believes that proper real estate valuation is essential in determining what property to buy, and where to buy it. These are some of the many questions we ask for
each one of the available real estate investment alternatives:

1. Demographics

Is the population in the property's region increasing or decreasing? How is the age pyramid evolving? What is the income and education level of new migrants?

2. Employment

Is unemployment moving up, down, or stable? What kinds of jobs are being created?

3. Ownership

What percentage of homes are rented or owned? Are there a lot of renters that can have access to credit? Are there fiscal incentives or disincentives towards owning property?

4. Historical prices

Are property prices historically high? Are they high compared to rentals, hotel nights? Are they high compared to shares?

5. Real estate rental market

How is the real estate rental market? Lots of empty houses?
How about offices? If I buy and rent out a property, what return will I get compared to a bank deposit? How much will the bank lend me? How much do I save if I buy the property
and take a mortgage, compared to renting?

6. Interest rates

Are they high or not? Which way are they likely to go? If they go up, will that impact the borrowers, and real estate prices? If I fix a rate for a long period, will I be able
to afford the payments on my house?

7. Leverage

Are there a lot of borrowers? Are they leveraged? Are they borrowing for property they live in? Borrowing for a first home, holiday home? How do banks react when property prices fall?

8. Supply and demand

What land and buildings are available? What real estate alternatives exist in that region? Is that region unique?

9. Legislation and taxes

Are my assets protected? What taxes do I have to pay to buy the property, to hold, and to sell? Are there incentives to renting or to owning?

10. Exchange rates

Am I buying property in a country where the exchage rate is undervalued, overvalued or at fair value?

11. Livable

If buying this property makes no business sense as an investment, is it at least a house that I will enjoy living in? Is it in a region where I can live safely with my
family? How will I be taxed? What is the cost of living of that region? Is it at least a good place to spend my holidays?...

11. The future

How will the region, where I am planning to buy, evolve in the next 2 to 10 years? Is that likely to influence the real estate market?

12. Geopolitical

Am I buying in a safe country? Am I a sitting duck when I buy real estate?

And finally.....am I following the crowd when I buy real estate? That is the key question. We do not follow the crowd, we look for opportunities before they become
popular. And when that real estate we bought in the bad days becomes popular...we sell it.