Identification
Valid passport for each individual with meaningful ownership or a guarantee obligation, and any additional government identification requested.
Cross-border sponsors · English & Spanish
Financing U.S. Commercial Real Estate — for Investors Abroad
Buying commercial property in South Florida from outside the United States adds a layer that domestic sponsors never deal with: entity structure, a credit history that does not travel, documentation standards that differ from your own, and capital providers who need the whole picture explained clearly. We do that work in English and Spanish, from Miami, before the deal goes anywhere.
- Ticket size
- $3MM – $250MM
- Asset classes
- Multifamily · Hospitality · Industrial
- Markets
- Miami-Dade · Broward · South Florida
- Languages
- English · Spanish
The basics
How U.S. commercial real estate financing works for international investors
The mechanics are less exotic than most first-time cross-border buyers expect. The property still has to underwrite, the business plan still has to make sense, and the sponsor still has to be credible. What changes is how you demonstrate those things when your track record, your banking, and your documents all originate somewhere else.
Ownership is normally held through a U.S. entity
Commercial property in the United States is typically acquired through a U.S. legal entity formed for the purpose — most often a limited liability company — rather than in an individual's personal name. The entity owns the asset, the entity borrows, and the ownership above it can sit offshore.
That structure is standard enough that capital providers expect to see it, and its absence is usually the first thing that slows a cross-border file down. How the entity should be formed, where, and who should sit in it are questions for your own attorney and accountant — they carry legal and tax consequences well beyond the financing, and they should be settled before a deal is under contract rather than during diligence.
What we do is make sure the structure you and your advisors choose is one the capital markets can actually lend into, and flag it early if it is not.
What capital providers generally look at
Every provider underwrites differently and the emphasis shifts by asset, structure, and sponsor. Broadly, though, a cross-border file gets read for the same things a domestic one does — plus a few that are specific to foreign sponsorship.
- 01
The asset itself
Location, condition, and the income it produces or is projected to produce. This is the largest part of the analysis on any commercial deal, foreign sponsor or not — the property carries the loan.
- 02
A business plan that holds up
What you intend to do with the asset, what it costs, how long it takes, and what happens at the end. Plans that depend on everything going right tend to be read skeptically.
- 03
Sponsor experience
What you have owned or built before, wherever in the world you did it. A track record outside the United States still counts — it simply has to be documented in a form a U.S. credit committee can read.
- 04
Liquidity and reserves
Evidence that the equity is real and available, and that there is capacity to carry the asset through the plan. Where the funds are held matters less than being able to show them clearly.
- 05
A clear source of funds
U.S. financial institutions are required to understand where capital comes from. Being able to trace it cleanly, with documents, is not an obstacle to work around — it is a normal part of the process and it moves faster when prepared in advance.
- 06
U.S. entity and banking
An entity to borrow through and a U.S. banking relationship for the transaction. Setting these up takes time, which is why they are worth starting early rather than once a property is under contract.
- 07
Guarantee and recourse structure
How a guarantee works when the guarantor is located abroad is a real negotiating point, and it varies considerably between capital providers. It is one of the terms we spend the most time on for cross-border sponsors.
Documentation commonly requested
This is the paperwork a cross-border file usually needs. Not every provider asks for every item, and some will ask for things that are not on this list — but a file that has these ready is a file that does not stall.
Entity documents
Formation documents, operating agreement, good-standing certificate, and a U.S. tax identification number for the borrowing entity.
Ownership chart
A clear diagram of who owns what, up through any offshore holding entities to the individuals at the top.
Proof and source of funds
Statements evidencing the equity, together with documentation explaining where it originated — a sale, a distribution, an operating business, or accumulated earnings.
Bank references
Reference letters from your existing banking relationships, domestic or foreign, confirming the relationship and its standing.
Financial statements
Personal or entity financial statements for the sponsorship, and operating history for any comparable assets you own.
Translations
Documents issued in another language generally need certified English translations, and some may need an apostille. Building this in early avoids a scramble late in diligence.
Property documents
Purchase contract, rent roll, trailing operating statements, and third-party reports as the transaction progresses.
Please do not send identity documents, financial statements, or any of the above through the website form. When a transaction reaches that stage we will set up a secure channel for them.
Working with us
How Ordeg guides cross-border sponsors
The value is not in knowing that foreign sponsorship is more complicated. It is in having run the process enough times to know where it actually breaks, and in preparing the file so that it does not.
- 01
Bilingual from first call to closing table
English and Spanish throughout — the calls, the questions, the document requests, and the explanation of what a term sheet actually commits you to. Nothing important gets lost because it was only ever said in your second language.
- 02
Coordinated across time zones
Deal calls scheduled around where you are, not only around Eastern Time, and written summaries after each substantive conversation so you are never reconstructing a decision from memory across a six-hour gap.
- 03
The cross-border questions answered up front
We build the file with entity structure, ownership chart, source of funds, and guarantee approach already addressed. A provider who gets those answers in the first package underwrites faster than one who has to ask.
- 04
The capital stack designed around the situation
Senior debt sized to the plan, and a structured layer where the basis needs one. Cross-border deals sometimes need the stack built differently, and it is better to know that before the process starts than after a term sheet disappoints.
- 05
Alongside your own attorney and accountant
We are not your lawyer or your CPA and we do not try to be. We work with the advisors you have chosen — or, if you do not have them yet, we will tell you plainly that you need them before we go further.
- 06
One point of contact throughout
The same person who reads your deal on day one is the person negotiating your terms and holding the closing timeline. Nothing gets handed to a desk you have never spoken to.
The market
Why South Florida
For investors placing capital from Latin America, Miami is not simply one U.S. market among many — it is the one where the business gets done in your language, where the professional infrastructure already understands cross-border ownership, and where a flight home is a few hours rather than a day.
That has been true long enough that it is now structural. The attorneys, accountants, title companies, property managers, and capital providers who serve this market have handled foreign sponsorship many times over. A file that would be an unusual request elsewhere in the country is a routine Tuesday here.
01 The gateway for Latin American capital
Decades of investment from Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Argentina, and across the region have made South Florida the default entry point for capital moving into U.S. real estate.
02 Professional infrastructure that already speaks Spanish
Legal, accounting, title, and property management services that handle cross-border ownership routinely — not as an exception requiring special handling.
03 Real depth across asset classes
Multifamily, hospitality, and industrial product across Miami-Dade and Broward, from Brickell and Edgewater to Doral, Medley, and Fort Lauderdale.
04 Capital that is used to foreign sponsorship
Providers active in this market have underwritten international sponsors before. Familiarity is worth a great deal when the question is how quickly a file can move.
Important — this is general information, not advice
Ordeg Capital arranges commercial real estate financing. We are not a law firm, an accounting or tax practice, or an immigration advisor, and nothing on this page is legal, tax, immigration, or investment advice. Entity structure, tax treatment, withholding, estate planning, and visa or residency questions carry consequences well beyond a financing and must be decided with your own qualified attorney and accountant. Everything described here reflects what capital providers commonly ask for; requirements vary by provider, asset, and structure, and nothing here is a representation about what any particular provider will require, offer, or approve. Financing is subject to lender approval, full underwriting, and definitive documentation. Not a commitment to lend.
Buying in South Florida from abroad?
Send the property, the business plan, and where your capital is coming from. You will get a straight read on how the deal is likely to be received — in English or Spanish, whichever is easier.
Financing subject to lender approval. Not a commitment to lend.