#462 – The Expat Files: Online Classifieds, Business Opportunities, and Legal Advice in Latin America

Automatically transcribed from the original recording; names and wording may contain errors.

[00:00] South of the border, down Mexico way That's where I fell in love when the stars above came up to play and now as I wander Hello there all you expat wannabes I'm Johnny Mueller and you're listening to the Expat Files living in Latin America The show that tells you just what it's like to live work play and or retire down here in Latin America It's a mix of the good the bad the ugly and the great and it's all right here. So let's get started Okay. Now, let's talk about something. That's really important for anyone who wants to save or make some dough down here in Latin America Now, of course, they do have a craigslist down in every Latin American country But there are also some so-called buy-and-sell classified ad sites on the internet pretty much specific to each Latin country

[00:51] And in the past few years these things have really taken off So if you need anything used down here, or you want to sell anything you can post this stuff on these sites for free And you know because of your gringo advantage Anything you sell is gonna get a lot more play than the average latin who's selling pretty much the same thing and why is that? It's the obvious fact that every latin knows that gringos take care of their things better than latin's do and we Maintain them too. That's a given meaning if you put anything up for sale on these sites You tell them you're a gringo and you'll get about three times as many calls. It's certainly worked for me now in various latin countries I've used these sites myself and let's talk about Guatemala now because I'm down here ready to do the next seminar So I've had some time to check these sites out now

[01:39] The biggest one down here in Guatemala is called OLX calm Just plug it in yourself and you see what I mean. It's one big well-organized kind of Latin American craigslist and Absolutely free which really makes me wonder how they're making enough money to keep this site running There's just so little outside advertising which for users like us is a great thing And if you want to know how popular these sites are getting and how many people are jumping on just the other day I was checking out Doberman's and Rottweilers on the site first I plugged in Rottweiler and there were at least 20 maybe 30 of them for sale now If you're up in a pretty big city like Boston or Cleveland that probably doesn't sound like much to you But remember down here in Latin America before these sites popped up, but I guess this one called

[02:25] Olx.com just has been around maybe two and a half years if that it started from scratch and now it's huge Now before that site became popular and that's only been maybe in the last year You'd have to scour the local daily newspaper classified ads if you were looking for anything used or for that matter I wanted to put anything up for sale yourself And since I'm in a habit of reading at least the classifieds in the big Latin newspapers Whatever country or city I'm in and I'd say for example in Central America's biggest city Which is Guatemala City with about two to three million people Anyway in this week's classified ads the big ones come out on Monday by the way pretty much all throughout Latin America That's when they generally have a nice big fat classified ad insert

[03:12] And by the way Monday's the day with the biggest fattest job ad section two anyway this Monday in Guatemala's biggest newspaper There's exactly one classified ad for Rodweilers for sale and the price for this lone puppy in the paper about 250 bucks now however when I go on the Olx.com site and I look up Rodweilers as an example Like I said, there's 20 or 30 of them They're ranging anywhere from free to a highly pedigreed one with a lot of important papers Which I don't really give a damn about and since you know this is the third world land of fakes and knockoffs Who knows what that pedigreed paperwork is what it's cracked up to be even so for a primping Pedigreed pup on the high end it's around 1,000 to 1,200 bucks so then why am I mentioning all this well because when you get down here these days

[04:03] I'm always recommending that you don't bring a container full of junk with you you should just bring what you can carry the stuff that's very very important to you and Buy the rest of the stuff when you get down here, and if you're like me You don't always want to buy new there are some things you can buy used and for example animals well That's another thing all together and in this case if you're in the market for an animal You don't want to buy it up in the states and ship it down if you can get it down here But then remember your dog or cat or Gila monster is gonna speak Spanish right well your parrot will anyway Till he becomes bilingual now don't laugh It's an awful strange feeling when you're in someone's house And the owner is barking commands at his dog in Spanish and the dog gets it wait a minute

[04:50] Did I say the owner was doing the barking? Oh, well, and the sad thing is the dog gets it and you don't now when I first got down here that happened And man, it's a humbling experience when you realize that somebody's mangy malnourished dog knows more Spanish than you do It's enough to make you want to exit the place with your tail between your legs Alright, Johnny enough with the bad dog puns already So you can see whatever Latin American country you're in if you're in the market to buy or sell something it's getting much more Convenient and basically a no-brainer over using the newspaper classifieds It's getting to be that people don't want to spend 10 or 20 bucks to put an ad in a newspaper Not anymore now there is a big lag time effect here, too

[05:36] Since only 15 to 20 percent of people have full-time internet in Latin America But it's that 15 or 20 percent that have the extra disposable dough to buy stuff now as you might imagine All those Craigslist clones are in Spanish Which should be an incentive for you to learn at least a little bit of kitchen Spanish? Kitchen Spanish is just enough so that you can haggle at the market and tell your maid how you want your shirt starched Yeah, right Anyway, you could even kill two birds with one sewn by going to such a site like olex.com And just do some random searches and soon enough You're bound to pick up some Spanish and you won't be learning it in a boring static way either It could be kind of fun now You might be that kind of person that always buys new and of course

[06:23] I like to buy new too, but for example if you want a nice Rainforest hardwood bedroom set or dining room table that kind of stuff is only affordable down here You'd be nuts if you didn't check out some of these sites first. Oh and by the way Yes, they've got all that cheap press board laminated crap furniture from China, too Which is about all middle and lower middle class Latin Americans can afford so you can't blame them for having that stuff But you gringos and expats should know better if you buy that crap with all this great rainforest hardwood around You ought to get cracked over the head with a selfie stick Well, and by the way, if anyone comes near me with one of those selfie sticks I will crack him over the head with it. Wait a minute. I take that back I'd really like to savagely beat with a selfie stick is Mark Zuckerberg, but I digress you think so

[07:12] Where was I? Oh, yeah even if a person is selling a slightly scratched and dented dining room table if it's made out of teak or Kaoba or paulo blanco or any one of the dozens of hardwoods down here for probably 25 to 50 bucks You could have a carpenter Refinished a whole damn thing like new so in that case you might be able to pay 200 bucks for a used Hardwood dining room table that would cost you 500 to a thousand bucks at a local store down here and Probably four times that up in the states if you could even find such a thing so you got furniture appliances exercise equipment you name it and Those online classifieds are the best places to find musical equipment, too So bottom line even if you have little to no Spanish skills if you plan on moving down

[07:59] You should go to these sites a couple times a week scan the items and you'll pick up a lot of kitchen Spanish That'll help you to get by not to mention a site like that's a great place to buy a used car washing machine or even a gun And now we'll switch gears a bit and talk about one of your favorite subjects Doing business down here in Latin America how gringos come down here to Latin America and because of that innate first-world gringo advantage more often than not end up with a successful enterprise on their hands and Even if you don't feel like working so hard if you've got kind of a lazy bone like me and so many other gringos that come Down here you can put in some good long hard hours for a month or two or three and get the business on its feet and point It in the right direction then hire some of the local help at $300 a month from then on and do remember locals

[08:49] Just love working for gringos because unlike the vast majority of Latin bosses when we say something we generally do it We pay on time our checks don't bounce We don't belittle or insult our employees at least not to their faces And we treat them with the respect any human being deserves and remember I'm saying all that based on very good experience I've had over 10 businesses down here in Latin America And I've seen how hundreds of other Latin bosses and managers treat their employees or I should say Mistreat their employees and you know what it comes down to is the fact that there's such a severe class system down here And it's why you just don't see short coffee colored people working in management positions. It's very rare Just as you don't see tall light-skinned people work in grunt jobs

[09:36] Just have a look at the gardeners and the cleaning lady brigades down here And that's true in government and the military too in fact in the military is so odd When there's a photo op in the local paper and they show the regular troops They're always dark and about five foot nothing whereas the generals and the colonels You know the ones that went to officer training school They're always tall and light-skinned and come in two body shapes pot-bellied or obese, but where would be oh, yeah We're talking about gringos and expats doing business down here, which leads me to a couple of recent stories One coming from longtime listener Anthony who definitely seems to have his heart set on settling in Brazil in His recent email he tells me he's working in California right now

[10:23] And has been noticing in the place that he works the same kind of inefficiencies and stupidities That I see all over the place down here in Latin America with Latin owned and operated businesses And of course that definitely includes Brazil. All right, then let's go into a few points on his email He says I'm working retail merchandising in the high desert community of Palmdale, California In a local franchise store and I'll paraphrase here a bit He says Johnny this place is so badly managed I was reminded of what you have said in various podcasts talking about typical inefficiencies found in Latin American businesses In fact, I told my co-worker who was thinking of becoming a plumber that if he could get his finances in order He could easily find a business down in Latin America. That's already up and running

[11:12] Install typical Western efficiency, you know the gringo advantage and without much trouble at all be profitable You with first-world know-how could turn it around even when the previous owner was just skating by or even losing money In fact Johnny take a look at the link for this business in Florianopolis, Brazil That's owned by a former San Diego gringo resident who married a Brazilian woman and found himself Back in her Brazilian hometown now. Here's the story on it It was a failing restaurant slash coffee house and was for sale by its Brazilian owner So my friend, mr. San Diego comes down with some minor restaurant experience And to say it was minor is really pumping up his resume. Believe me

[12:00] He basically worked as a waiter in college Now he wasn't sure if he could make this place work, but his wife was very confident in him So he decided to take some of his savings and buy that little failing coffee shop business Now Johnny if you click on that link you can see they just open up another location and are looking to franchise In fact, if you go on their website, there's an actual link to buying the franchise So Johnny thanks to what i've seen in your podcast I believe this is the best way forward for a gringo go to latin america and buy an existing business In other words, let that gringo advantage work for you. Okay, it's me again I did check that link and of course, it's in portuguese, which to me is slightly more intelligible than rap lyrics

[12:48] But even if you don't understand a word of it You can see in about two seconds that this guy's given that website the gringo touch. It's quite slick and very cool Now here's the link go ahead and check it out yourself. You don't read portuguese I know but check out the photos and what this guy's done. Just go into your search engine I hope it's start page and type in cafe Cultura brazil.com. That's c-a-f-e-c-u-l-t-u-r-a brazil dot com And when you're looking at the photos of the place you'll see there's not a lot of money in it at all It's pretty basic. Just go ahead and have a look So thanks for that info anthony What you're saying is what i'm always saying why reinvent the wheel just buy or rent an existing place in a good location

[13:35] And put that first world spin on it now continuing on that subject I always like it when expat wisdom seminar people check in with me telling about their experiences and starting businesses, etc That said here's a very interesting email that came in From one of our previous expat wisdom seminar attendees and it's from damon He says hi, johnny. Hope all is well with you I just wanted to give you a recent update on our business adventures in nicaragua Okay, let me stop here and say when he says we he means he and his wife They both came to my expat wisdom seminar now before I go on with the rest of this email You'll need some information you long-time listeners might remember a year or so ago. Maybe it's two years now Another of my expat wisdom seminar attendees brandon brought a boat from texas through the panama canal and ended up in san juan del

[14:25] Sur nicaragua if you remember that was the episode where I gave a blow by blow Description on how to bring a boat down from someone who actually did it Now you might remember also that before brandon even went to my expat wisdom seminar He'd been down to san juan del sur and bought a small taco business on the main strip And he asked me to mention on a show that it was for sale and guess what? He ended up selling it to our emailer here damon So with that little bit of background, let me go on with damon's email So then he says as you remember johnny, we bought brandon's little restaurant down in san juan del sur nicaragua You mentioned with a little money paint and elbow grease we could turn that place from being a money pit Losing money every month to a little profit machine And in eight months we did just that

[15:13] And we even did it without getting a liquor license. We're still working on that Anyway, we have tripled revenues lowered our food costs and are now making 600 a month in profits Now when we bought the place it was losing about the same every month now I'll hold up for a second here and explain something else when damon bought this place from brandon Brandon was doing the fishing boat thing and was an absentee owner Which we all know in the bar and restaurant business that can be the kiss of death You know the first rule of the bar and restaurant business, right? You have to be there and the second rule you have to be there and the third rule have plenty of cameras Anyway, damon says when we bought the restaurant, it was losing about 600 bucks a month

[16:00] Now we bought that restaurant because we had a gringo couple Russell and cheryl in their mid 50s with a lot of food service background and they liked the idea of early Semi-retirement, so they jumped at the opportunity to run it for us Our goal was to get this one up and running and possibly start a small franchise like expat eddie did I figured if he could do it I could So anyway after our gringo managers russell and cheryl had been down there for eight months Who by the way love living down there and had no intention of coming back as fate would have it Cheryl's father and aunt are in poor health So they're forced to go back to the states and take care of them So now that i've lost my two gringo managers and my wife and I are still up in the states At this point, I feel like I have no option but to sell it

[16:48] Unfortunately, my wife and I aren't able to make the move down permanently yet So anyway, that's the update and if any of your listeners out there Would like to take a crack at a nice little going business that can contact me at the email below And here it is and it's all one word Who is john joh n at hush dot com? That's who is john at hush dot com? Now i'd never get a plug like that out of the blue, but I know these folks and they're good people That said there's an inexpensive ground floor opportunity for all you expect going to bees and wannabes Hoping to get into business down here in latin america And you know these days san juan del sur nicaragua is a growing hopping little beach town that everyone seems to like So if you want to be on the beach and like hot weather

[17:36] Do check it out And now let's talk about that always interesting subject Ex-pats and their gold and or silver and if you're not physically holding some of that stuff as a plan b Because you've heard all the conventional hacks and your friends and relatives say it's an old relic of the past and it doesn't make any interest It's way too cumbersome and doesn't divide into nice little units Then let me ask you this question Why is there a huge rush by all the big central banks to buy it and store it then better yet? Why does the chinese government in its fiscal plan? Have as its goal to own three quarters of all the gold ever mined within five years If you don't believe me go ahead and look it up Yeah, right owning gold is foolish

[18:23] Someone ought to tell the chinese central bankers that don't you think that said let's get to this email now Again, we'll anonymize it and paraphrase it a bit. Here goes dear johnny I have a few questions and comments when I finally get down to latin america and i'm gonna get there Is it cool or even appropriate to store my gold coins with my trusted latin lawyer? For now, I have room in an apartment that normally I would be sharing But now it's just me and I feel a bit weird about having my gold coins locked up in my room Now my second question is that I have been closing out old bank accounts From when I visited various places I lived or visited in the past like mexico the philippines and such now

[19:10] Here's the problem. I've had an account in a central european bank from years ago And it's a combination of gold coins and cash So the question is should or can't I just have that bank wire the cash directly to my latin american account? That my latin lawyer set up or should I withdraw the cash and bring it down myself? And as for gold coins have you ever heard of a way? They could post them from that european bank to my latin american location Or would I be better off flying there and picking them up myself? I'm asking these questions because I believe it's something other people are going through right now as more and more foreign banks are Closing out their american accounts. Hope you can address these things on your show. Thanks m

[19:56] Okay, first of all, I think it's a very good idea If you've got any kind of bank accounts at all in your own name foreign bank accounts That is that yes, you should close them out and move that money But where are you gonna move it back to the us? That would be dumb Or maybe to another foreign bank account in your name that just might get closed out, too I'm sure you remember a past show when I mentioned that the second biggest bank in mexico closed out all their american counts They give them 30 days notice to get their money out So if you do have a foreign account in your name, you're gonna have to be ready for that. It's gonna happen So then where do you put it? Well, you certainly don't want to send it back to a us bank account Then you're just bringing the cow back into the barn for uncle sam to milk You do have options if you have a residency in a foreign country

[20:45] You can open up a bank account with your residency card now when you get residency you get a little card looks like a credit card with a Non-functional rfid chip in it. Isn't that nice? And that's all you ever need to carry around with you. You don't need your passport anymore Not within your newly adopted country. Anyway, so you just walk into a bank and flip in that card and open an account Ah, but then you might say wait a minute I'm still an american citizen and banks are refusing to open accounts for american citizens So how's that going to help me? Well the way banking laws are written in third world countries if you're a resident You have the right to open a bank account Of course if you've been resident for a while usually five years or so in a country You have a right to get a passport become a citizen of that country

[21:30] Then be no questions at all about you opening up a bank account You are a citizen of that country now, of course getting a passport and residency takes some time And you have to jump through some hoops sometimes a lot of hoops Which is why so many gringos and expats come down hook up with a latin lawyer And create an sa corporation and the corporation opens up a bank account And it doesn't matter if your name's on it or not An sa corporation can open up a bank account in the country that it's created in Now as far as that question of bringing your goal down and giving it to your lawyer for safe keeping Well, I certainly wouldn't put 100 faith in a lawyer on the gringo tourist trail like in cancun or costa rico or panama On the tourist trail. There's just way too many scummy sleazebag lawyers

[22:18] However off the gringo tourist trail when you find a good lawyer Someone who's been around a long time with a sterling reputation You'll find he offers all kinds of little extra services like that. For example They'll hold cash and accept wire transfers for you. He'll let you use his office as your mailing address He'll accept fedex and ups shipments at his office Even store luggage and other items for you there But you're not going to get that kind of service or those kind of arrangements If you're always shopping around and using one lawyer for this and one lawyer for that I know a lot of gringos who do that on the gringo tourist trail And it's no way to develop any kind of loyalty or bonding that you need to have with your lawyer Now I know one of the very hardest things to do when you come down here as an expat is to find a really good

[23:06] Honest lawyer and people who come down to my expat wisdom seminar are instantly introduced to people of high standing and integrity And believe me, I know what it's like when you first come down to a strange foreign country One of my early first stops 25 years ago was costa rica and my gringo friends even back then When costa rica was just starting to get on the map My friends were getting ripped off regularly by their costa rica lawyers a little here little there sometimes a lot In fact, most gringos in costa rica right now will tell you that they don't trust any lawyers at all Which is why so many fresh expats have that lingering fear about being ripped off by lawyers And that's why fresh expats should never just hand over things to a new lawyer. They've just met You can't just pick a lawyer because he speaks english or by throwing a dart at the yellow pages

[23:55] You need to have the proper introductions Done by some fellow expat who's been an active client of that guy for a long long time And i'm not talking about an introduction. You may have gotten from a tipsy gringo at an expat bar And believe it or not I'd be willing to bet that more than 50 percent of the gringos down here have picked up their lawyer that way So in the end one of the big advantages to coming down to my expat wisdom seminar Is that I make those introductions for you, but you knew that already, right? So when you found your trusted lawyer and you hand over things to him like cash or gold No matter how much faith you have in that transaction. You still have to have a plan B for example What happens if your trusted lawyer has a heart attack or gets killed in a head-on collision with a chicken bus?

[24:45] And he's been holding 150 ounces of gold for you somewhere That's a question you have to ask your lawyer up front You say look if something happens to you, how do I get my stuff? And note i'm not big on law offices that have many many partners big outfits with high overheads suvs in the parking lots in high rise towers I say keep away in fact run from lawyers who are set up like that You're just going to be paying gringo prices and you'll probably be nickeled and dived to death You want to go to a small law office? One two or three lawyers and the office is fine So then what happens if your lawyer is a single man operation and he gets hit by that chicken bus? That's the question you're going to have to ask him personally

[25:30] Now if he's in a law office with a partner or two You're still going to have to ask him up front who's going to handle your stuff if something happens to him And remember all young lawyers these days speak english So don't worry about the language problem and strangely enough If your lawyer is going to hold something for you gold cash suitcases, whatever The amazing thing is that most of the times he won't charge you a cent for it Because remember when you're off the gringo tourist trail that gringo advantage is riding high And all lawyers just love to have gringo clients off the tourist trail It's nowhere like costa rica where there's a dozen gringos with those Selfie sticks around every corner remember to a latin lawyer a gringo is the best kind of client And he knows if he does you right you'll introduce him to other gringo clients who will also show up on time

[26:21] Pay on time and whose checks won't bounce Okay, we're getting towards the end of the show now So i'll talk more about that gold thing on the next show But before we finish today, i'd like to mention my seminar once again My july 2015 latin american seminar in central america gets underway in about a month and a half If you're interested just go to expat wisdom.com click on the latin seminar link for full details and sign up info Now when people ask why they should make the trip down? Well, the truth is informed and enlightened people who are thinking of becoming expats Really do need to get boots on the ground Especially people on the fence It's never enough to just read articles check out blogs and look at photos about a destination

[27:09] If you're checking trip advisor websites or going to google maps, whatever any little bit helps But you're only seeing someone else's version of what the place was like for them There's just no substitute for seeing things with your own eyes So go to expat wisdom.com click on the latin seminar link and take that first step You've been listening to the expat files living in latin america coming to you twice a week from somewhere south of the border Email me the expat files at gmail.com And don't forget to check out expat wisdom.com to sign up for your free reports on latin america See you next time. Nos vemos

[27:56] He was a picture He knows