SPRING is the time for one-week vacations - Spain through your agencia de viajes or perhaps a road trip accross your state. Spring is also the time to choose a house. There are lots of factors in choosing a house. If you live in Maryland, the 2008 elections and subsequent 2009 presidential inauguration may be too exciting for you to leave the Beltway behind but if you have greener pastures abroad like maybe supervising the Philippine branch of a Fortune 500 company like Coca-cola, then go for it. These companies after all have their own perks for their employees and especially high-level employees just like you. In the Philippines, you will find lots of cool places to buy a house.

Of course, Americans are the target of real estate sellers all over the world because there is a looming recession in that country. Because of that, Americans are seeking to live abroad where the cost of living is low as well as the cost of buying a house in sharp contrast to the cost and interest of subprime mortgages in the United States. The cost of operating a business entity abroad in such countries as Spain is also low as compared to that in the United States that’s why many individual entrepreneurs are transferring their businesses in such countries as Argentina and Buenos Aires real estate.

And the locals, especially real estate investors, in these countries are taking advantage of this phenomenon. They are cashing in by building new developments such as subdivisions and condominiums for the American foreigners to settle down. In Ciudad Juarez alone, there are lots of apartments and suburban neighborhoods blossoming up because there is an influx of American-owned plantations there. Meanwhile, middle-scale entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley are now contemplating to transfer their main businesses in such countries as Belgium and Peru. Others insist on going to the Philippines because this is one country in the world where American Caucasian English is spoken perfectly, unlike the Thais or the Russians which possess a distinctive heavy accent when speaking English. Even though the Philippines is a tropical country, a lot of Americans still like to be here because there are also cold regions here such as those in the former military facility of Camp John Hay as well as Bukidnon where the United States currently maintains a communications radar beamed to its relay station in Singapore. Speaking of Singapore, it is also prudent to rent a flat there because it is the cleanest city in the world.

THERE’s a looming recession in the United States today. This has made property developers elsewhere being more innovative in targeting their market. In southern Philippines, subdivision developers are targeting businessmen from nearby places as their new customers instead of United States-based workers which may ultimately be bankrupt. The same is true in such places as Spain and Canada. Even with its proximity to the United States, Canada’s economy has virtually not been affected with the 2007 subprime crisis because it has its own mortgage system and stock exchange totally separate from the United States. New suburbia developments in Toronto for example are targeted for people who are living elsewhere in Ontario rather than those people migrating in from the United States.

Salamanca in Spain has a large number of American tourists. But real estate developers there are not targeting American expats as housing unit buyers anymore. Instead, they’re focusing their eyes on middle-scale entrepreneurs in Valladolid and other surrounding areas. Anywhere in the world, subdivision features and rates are similar. They vary from double-decked structures to townhouses with fetching price of at least $50,000 payable in ten years. Let’s now take a peek at some of the latest developments happening in the properties sector all over the globe.

The Middle East Property Show will commence come February 17 in Dubai. It will feature booths from 70 real estate developers all over the region which have ongoing subdivision developments from the United Arab Emirates to Jordan. Of course, some exhibitors from other continents will be joining in such as the ones representing the United States, Austria, Bahrain, Australia, Italy, Argentina, India, Cyprus, Spain, Bulgaria, South Africa, Canada, Malaysia, Thailand, Turkey, Switzerland and Singapore.

In Valencia City in Spain, there are half a dozen subdivisions sprouting up and will be occupied by the summer of 2009 just in time for America’s Cup to dock in here. These developments are understandably located near the Mediterranean port of Valencia City.

In China, Shanghai Turbo Enterprises has been transformed into a conglomerate as it ventures into the real estate market by acquiring a properties firm which operates several subdivisions in Shanghai, Taiwan and Macau. Another company, China Overseas, has just announced that it will develop two more subdivisions in Tianjin.

In the United States, banks and other institutions which have resorted to so-called foreclosure tours to attract buyers of foreclosed houses. This is a very dry market in the United States today as many people cannot afford to pay their mortgages on time anymore so the target market now of foreclosed properties are foreigners who are willing to buy houses in the United States to convert them into vacation homes. These banks are now organizing so-called foreclosure tours to these would-be buyers, even personally escorting them to home inspection tours. These banks are selling high-end subdivision units because they know that foreign tourists and entrepreneurs from such countries as the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia can certainly afford to buy these structures.

ANTONIO Banderas may just be an actor with only acting as his educational forte and is never educated with engineering or medicine, let alone law. But he is a very smart person even in the field of economics. I’ll tell you why. Spain has a limited film industry and pales compared to the Hollywood, Bollywood and Philippine film industries. Hollywood eats up $3 billion in net profits annually, Bollywood of Mumbai, India has even a larger share than that at $4 billion in earnings. Spain’s is definitely limited. But this limitation has not prevented Antonio Banderas to shine. After making a few bucks as an actor in Spain, he tried out in the United States where he perseveringly auditioned for Hollywood roles. Eventually, he wound up in The Mambo Kings.

His role in The Mambo Kings paved the way for producers of Assassins to hire him as the nemesis of Slyvester Stallone. That was his only Hollywood role where he made the most extraordinary effort to act. That role impressed Robert Rodriguez who hired him in Desperado and the rest of course is history. More salivating and enviable roles would come such as him being cast opposite Madonna herself in Evita, as Zorro and as a doting father to child heroes in another Robert Rodriguez flick, a children’s movie called Spy Kids. During that decade where he played those roles, he raked in millions of dollars. This is where Antonio Banderas’s smartness comes in. Where did he invest his money? He certainly did not spend it in Hollywood unlike Arnold Schwarzenegger who invested it in Planet Hollywood or Johnny Depp who invested their income to The Viper Room which is a place for rich drug addicts.

Instead, Antonio invested all his income in Spain. Mr. Banderas must have foreseen the economic crisis in the United States as early as five years ago. The economic crisis in the United States is really serious. It first started as a housing mortgage crisis and now, stock owners are worried about their money so they dumped their stocks massively causing the Dow Jones Industrial Average to open 300 points lower the other day. The Federal Reserve made the biggest interest rate cut in history at its expense because of that. Yet, Antonio Banderas is smiling.

He is because the Bank of Spain, which is the counterpart of the Federal Reserve, knows that situation will never reach Spain. Prime Minister Zapatero, currently at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, certainly knows this. At the prime of his career, Antonio Banderas purchased prime properties in various areas of Spain from Madrid to Barcelona to Garabandal to Valencia to Costa Blanca to Costa del Sol and even to offshore places Palma de Mallorca, Ibiza, Tenerife and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. What did he do to these prime properties? He erected restaurants to all of them serving nothing but Mediterranean diet. And the income is good. That is why despite the economic crisis in his location in the United States, Antonio Banderas is smiling.