Why is it because It is more difficult to deal with in terms of paperwork or is it more convenient to deal with an international seller or buyer.
thanks
I know everyone's different, but I'm not sure I would deal with an international seller again. First of all, it extends the time. The seller took over a week to sign the initial paperwork for RoFR, and now I am waiting three weeks on Monday and they still haven't sent back the closing docs.
I am today at 100 days since making the offer. At this rate, even if we somehow close next week, I don't have points in my account until 150 days from offer? June to November for points...
The second and more relevant reason for me, though, is FIRPTA. It's a pain, and I didn't relish signing tax documents that I had to research to fully understand. I hope I didn't miss something... Don't want to be on the other side of the IRS.
Seller pays the 15% tax under the agreement, but it is technically the Buyer's responsibility to withhold that and make sure that money gets to the IRS. Title company will receive the money from the Seller and will remit on Buyer's behaf, but I have had a company remit payment to the IRS before (not having anything to do with
DVC), and two years later, the IRS sent me a letter saying that the payment was never received and now I owed the amount plus interest. We were able ultimately to prove that it was, in fact, sent the two years prior and received by the IRS, but we had to go through all the machinations involved with that.
So with this present transaction, I asked the title company to agree in writing to provide me with the proof so I would have it if the IRS contacted me years from now, and it took them over two weeks to finally agree to that. I have over 20 emails back and forth where they are evasive and won't answer my direct question or they answered part of my question but did not address the most pressing portion. Needless to say, I finally have a written agreement of what they will provide and when, but they seemed very thrown by the request. Perhaps it was just a request they haven't gotten before, but that would seem odd to me. Maybe I'm a worry wart. Idk...
By contrast, I put an offer in on an AKV contract from a US seller two months after the offer on this VGF, and the way things are going, I will be getting all the points in my account at pretty close to the same time... without the stress of tax documents I've never seen before and IRS withholdings.
I did get a great deal on the VGF with the International Seller, but for me, it just wouldn't be worth the aggravation to do it again. Just my personal opinion and experience...
Although, there are, what, hundreds maybe?, of these international sales every year and they all seem to turn out just fine. So if one is looking for a deal and doesn't mind waiting an extra month or doesn't mind the withholding process, then buying from an international seller may be worth it.