For many Americans buying a property overseas is a dream they would like to make a reality. It comes with challenges, but they are easy to manage with a full understanding. I recently had the opportunity to interview John Eric, Managing Partner of TLCGA and TLCUK, and Global Head of the newly launched Compass Global Division. He was just named to the role. The Division was established to help Americans buying overseas work with American real estate advisors who are also working in foreign countries.
In the United States, buying a home follows a familiar rhythm, with a centralized MLS, standard escrow periods, title insurance and contingencies everyone understands. Abroad, that rhythm disappears. “Between fragmented foreign markets and confusing residency-by-investment rules, buyers run into an invisible wall,” Mr. Eric says. “It’s never just finding a house you love and buying it.” Buyers have to work through local ownership laws, foreign banking regulations and cross-border tax obligations, and that friction turns away motivated, well-capitalized buyers before they ever make an offer.
“The Compass Global Division exists to remove that wall,” Mr. Eric says. “It’s the next chapter in how we serve our clients globally.” It is also the brokerage’s first direct international expansion. In the past, an American agent might simply refer a client to an unfamiliar foreign brokerage and hope for the best. Now the client can stay within a trusted network from start to finish. The Division grew out of what Compass agents were already doing. Top producers had been building cross-border businesses on their own, and Compass formalized those connections so that agents across the company could benefit.
At the core of the Division are its Tier 1 members, U.S.-based Compass agents who also hold licenses to transact in foreign markets. They understand what American buyers expect while knowing how deals actually get done locally. Clients keep using the same Compass tools and technology they rely on at home, and they are connected to a vetted network of independent local legal and tax advisers, so the purchase stays compliant before, during and after the sale.
Mr. Eric explained that his business is rooted in the relationship between the United States and London, the Home Counties and the Cotswolds. He owns and operates in London, so he comes to this as someone building a business and serving clients there, not someone assessing the market from a distance. The buyers he serves fall into clear categories to include corporate and job relocations, people coming over in the entertainment, tech, and finance sectors, families who want to educate their children in the UK, buyers acquiring a second, third, fourth, or fifth home, clients who want a European hub, retirees who want to pop in and out of the city, and there are the political refugees, people looking to relocate out of the United States altogether. He says that his business has thrived over the past two years, with Americans actively purchasing homes across the areas they serve. He describes the inquiries as consistent, tracking closely with the buyer profiles he described.
The number one reason he sees most of these clients purchasing overseas is optionality. Beyond that the motivations vary, and they center on lifestyle, family, business and wanting more choice about the future. The property might be somewhere to spend part of the year, a base for children studying abroad, a future retirement home, or simply a place the family could live if their plans change.
Owning in London is expensive.
The bulk of TLCGA and TLCUK’s clientele sits in the £2m to £15m range. That said, they serve clients at every level. They handle some very significant numbers well above that band, and they also help clients buying for their children below it.
John believes that if you are an American, there has never been a better opportunity to buy in London. The super prime and prime markets are significantly off their highs, which has opened up inventory Americans either could not access or did not want to access when exchange rates worked against them. Add the new non-dom rules and the number of high net worth (HNW) and ultra-high net worth (UHNW) residents leaving, and the buying window for Americans has widened considerably. Americans have dominated London, prime central London and the Cotswolds for the last seven quarters, and there is no sign of that slowing. TLCGA and TLCUK have built the American model there and it is working extraordinarily well. John’s conviction is that clients want an adviser who is engaged, proactive and accountable, not simply someone who can arrange access to a property, and that is the standard he expects their business to deliver.
London has been a global capital for centuries, and that legacy and status will continue. Even with the revolving door at Number 10, it is still where the world meets. Over the next five to ten years, as the people who left realize they cannot truly live without London in their lives, John believes many of them will come back and buy again. They may not call it home permanently, but the market will equalize and begin to appreciate again.
Buying in a foreign country is nothing like buying in the United States. It is vital to work with the right person, and frankly with someone who understands the American experience, so the continuity of service stays the same and the client’s goals get met.
John’s team at TLCGA and TLCUK spends a great deal of time on education while onboarding. They walk clients through how buying in the UK works, the terminology and how it differs from home, what to expect at each stage, and where the process will simply feel unfamiliar. Knowing that in advance means the local norms do not frustrate the client.
They also establish responsibilities early and set them out clearly. Who is advising on the property, who is handling the legal work, and who is addressing the tax and immigration questions. Those are not the same job, and they do not pretend otherwise. They want the right people involved and the client to be clear on exactly who is doing what.
All of that allows his team to exceed their clients’ expectations and make the process as smooth as possible. So, when the deal closes, they still love the property they just bought.
It is more achievable to own a property in the U.S. and another country than most people assume. John believes that the mistake is measuring the dream against the most expensive version of it. He advises to start with how you will actually use it. If you want a comfortable base for a few weeks a year, you may not need the size or the address you first imagined. A well located one bedroom flat in a good London neighborhood outside prime central London, or a cottage in the Home Counties or the Cotswolds, can cost a fraction of a trophy property and deliver far more of the life you are picturing.
Then get practical. Rent in the area first and spend time there outside the holiday season. Look one neighborhood or one village over from the name everyone knows. Build a budget that covers ownership, not just the purchase, including maintenance, taxes, insurance, travel and the costs you have not thought of yet. If you are not paying cash, speak to a lender early, because financing as a foreign buyer takes longer than people expect. Get your tax and residency questions answered before you fall in love with a house.
Give yourself a runway. There is no shame in this being a three year or five-year goal rather than a purchase this spring. John explains that some of their happiest clients spent two years preparing, bought smaller than they first intended, and have never regretted it for a moment. He would far rather help someone get there properly than watch them buy before they are ready.
John described how the overseas real estate market he covers has shifted in three ways that matter in recent years.
First, American demand is up sharply. Americans have been the leading overseas buyer group across London, prime central London and the Cotswolds for seven straight quarters.
Second, pricing has reset. Super prime and prime values are significantly off their highs, and the non-dom reforms have pushed a meaningful number of HNW and UHNW residents out of the market, which has released inventory that was effectively unavailable to American buyers a few years ago. Add a currency picture that has improved for dollar buyers and you get inventory, negotiating room and exchange rates aligning at the same time. That rarely happens.
Third, the buyer’s expectations have changed. The purchase is no longer framed as a holiday home. It is assessed against working life, schooling, family plans and where someone wants to be in twenty years, and buyers expect that level of advice as standard.
That combination is what has allowed his business to thrive. Americans arriving in that market are used to the service model they get at home – proactive, accountable, one person owning the transaction end to end, and that standard has not historically been the default there. Meeting it, while respecting how a UK transaction actually gets done, is the opportunity the market handed him.
The wider point for readers: everything corrects, and London will correct upward again. This is a window, not a permanent condition.
When asked about what John considers the most up-and-coming locations overseas, he chose Madrid, Milan, and Abu Dhabi. He explained that those are the emerging markets he would put at the front of this conversation. He said that London, however, remains, in his humble opinion, the most important city in the world and even through the issues facing the UK, will remain so.
He would look at Madrid for someone drawn to a European capital and an active city lifestyle. Milan would be on his shortlist for a client whose interests connect business, design, and culture. Abu Dhabi is a market he would consider seriously for someone looking to establish a longer-term base in the Gulf.
He would not treat them as interchangeable, and he said he would not recommend any of them simply because they are attracting attention. The client’s reasons for buying still come first.
Owning abroad and having real optionality is one of the most rewarding things you can do, whether that is for yourself, a family, a business or the next generation. But it must be well thought through and well executed. The romance of the idea does not survive a badly handled purchase.
What makes the difference is preparation and candor. Clients who plan properly, who are open with their adviser about their timeline, their finances and what they want from the property, get the outcome they were after in the short, medium and long term. That is not luck. It is groundwork.
And just like at home, the right adviser matters.
Someone who tells you what you need to hear, not what you want to hear, and who is still accountable after the deal closes. Choose wisely. Get that part right and the rest of it, the home, the life, the optionality, tends to follow.
If you would like to learn more about John Eric, TLCGA, TLCUK and the Compass Global Division, please visit www.tlcglobaladvisory.com and compassglobaldivision.com.
