Different investments have different investment plans and therefore the budgets range widely. The budget and its purposes will be clearly stated up front.

Senior Vice President, Institutional Investment

“We’ve worked several years positioning Emerging Terrains to have a second-to-none ability to serve institutional investors in diversifying their portfolios with solid emerging market real estate acquisition and management.”

Mr. Brown has experience: leading national and multi-national organizational refinement in

• leadership structures,
• international and domestic legal structures,
• refinement of vision/mission, and
• organizational product development.

Mr. Brown enjoys staying abreast of trends in information technology, domestic and international law and business. He advises clients on how best to position themselves given his careful and intuitive analysis of their product(s) and industry(ies). People know him as being able to correctly discern trends of many sorts. Major accomplishments include leading the conception and creation of an internationally respected intensive, team-based, information technology training methodology and reorganizing the leadership and international legal structures of a rapidly growing international non-profit organization to better assure their long-term sustainable growth. He is effective in locating and directing international and domestic technology, legal and accounting professionals in ways that yield cost-effective yet refined, and responsible systems and structures.

Mr. Brown also has a creative ability to reconcieve and reposition teams, systems, situations, vision and mission, especially when what is lacking relates to a cross-national or cross-cultural endeavor. He has experience in initiating and managing business ventures of all sorts in varied roles. He has practiced as an corporate securities attorney, operated as president of a respected an innovative multi-campus information technology training firm, has operated as Administrative Director of a rapidly growing non-profit organization.

He is supported by academic degrees in Psychology and Law (Juris Doctor) and multiple technology industry certifications including Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer+Internet Microsoft Certified Trainer (and train-the-trainer) and CompTIA Network+. Mr. Brown has been honored to have been asked to be one of two non-Microsoft executives asked to advise Microsoft in the creation of it’s Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator certification. Mr. Brown was also invited to sit alongside senior representatives from Cisco, Novel, Red Hat, Oracle and other industry leaders in an attempt to formulate the Field Certified Professional Association, an innovative alternative certification schema for technology professionals.

Mr Brown is also founder and lead Strategist for Action Strategies International, SA. http://acstrat.com

Mr. Brown has been advising Emerging Terrains in most of the aforementioned capacities for approximately two years. In his role as Senior Vice President, Institutional Investment for the firm, Mr. Brown will lead the aspect of the company mission to facilitate partnerships with institutional investors.

Senior Vice President, Institutional Investment

“I’ve personally seen how smart investments in Latin American properties can produce outstanding financial gains, even in the toughest of economies. This is an ideal opportunity for investment firms – if they partner with the right on-the-ground team to work towards a mutual goal. Emerging Terrains represents the very best on-the-ground partner working in this market and has consistently proven their ability to turn an incredible profit regardless of the outside market situation. It is my pleasure to connect savvy investors with the ETI team”

Ron Brown’s background includes:

• Working as an Electrical Engineer in the public utility sector,
• Serving as the Executive Director of a non-profit,
• and Consulting Fortune 500 companies as an Organizational Effectiveness and Business Development Consultant.

As a consultant, Ron specialized in helping clients in the financial services sector implement creative solutions for a variety of organizational needs, including: Strategic Planning, New Business Development and Sales Training, Recruitment and Training of Financial Planners, Cultural Change, Leadership Development, Organizational Realignments, and Continuous Improvement Processes.

He also has provided strategic coaching and leadership training for individuals, sales teams, and emerging leaders. In addition, Ron is an adjunct professor of “Organizational Leadership” at Greenville College in Central Illinois.

Ron has a PhD in “Organizational Leadership” from Regent University, VA; a Bachelor and Masters Degree in “Electrical Engineering” from the University of Illinois; and a “Masters of Religion” from Trinity International University in Deerfield, IL.

Ron has published a book entitled, “The Courageous Life” and writes a leadership blog: www.couragenet.com

Ron Brown currently works with Emerging Terrains as a liaison between the Panamanian partners and states-side investors and investment groups.

“I am committed to a boots-on-the-ground, start-with-seeing-things-as-the-locals-see-them approach to scouting opportunities. It’s why I live in Latin America and why I’m frequently on the move. My son who is 3 years old has already been to over 10 countries my daughter who is only one year old has been to 5.”

Josh has:

• Bought first property in Costa Rica while still a teenager
• Made Real Estate full time business at age 20
• Worked in and lived in close to 30 countries.
• Founded Home Asset Management and participated in over 100 transactions in 6 States.
• Founded and sold several successful start-ups including several import/export businesses and two clothing companies, notably Dominical Surf, Conscious Design, and Sacred Earth superfoods
• Worked in Central America real estate in everything from entitling, infrastructure, building, infrastructure installation, and acting as principle for several developments.

Josh started in real estate at young age, initially applying a far more intuitive and gut-level approach than most adult investors. An investing style that forced, and taught, him to pay exquisite attention to how places change and grow and what hidden details often signal an imminent rise in property values: what a new road does for a town, how changing commuting patterns, and labor markets all impact investment opportunities. And especially how demographic changes can signal the time to invest – or sell.

And while Josh also matured into incorporating a whole host of analytical techniques for evaluating investment opportunities, he’s continued to observe and apply this scouting knowledge to his investments and businesses for a decade and a half. Experience that gives him a rather unique perspective when compared to typical real estate investors.

Frankly, we think there’s just no substitute for this kind of insight when looking for the indicators that a location is about to quickly gain value. This is especially the case in Latin American markets, with dramatically differing stages of development from one sub-market to the next combine with semi-erratic infrastructure growth. As new roads, airports, and utilities arrive, so do those interested in purchasing property. Staying ahead of that curve creates incredible windows for acquisition and profits.

For example, the sleepy mountain town of Boquete, Panama was relatively unknown a few years ago. When the spotlight of International Living and AARP combined with the self promotion of the Valle Escondido development, property values in Boquete skyrocketed. Prudent investment in these types of markets requires a careful analysis of the market cycle and a keen observation of early signals to determine the optimum timing and type of acquisitions.

Since meeting up with Park Wilson through a mutual mentor Josh has acted as the chief “scouting officer” for Emerging Terrains, a position in which he has run point for over $8 Million in investments.

Bottom Line: Anyone who can figure out how to navigate emerging markets will find an abundance of gigantic investment opportunities. As a vital part of Emerging Terrains, and as your on the ground partner, Josh is key player in navigating these emerging markets and finding the very best of those gigantic investment opportunities.

“Our model has been that we don’t want to buy unless we can still profit if the market drops 75% in value.”

Park has:

• Lived in Central America and been actively investing in the real estate market in Costa Rica, Panama, & Nicaragua since 2007
• Been the lead or project manager in $8+ Million in Central American real estate transactions
• Acted as either owner or project lead for over 200 real estate transactions in 4 markets, and consulted on similar projects in another 3 markets, as the founder and CEO of Veritas Investment Group, Inc.,
• Co-owned & managed a wholesale distributorship with annual sales in excess of $1M while earning an Industrial Engineering Degree from University of Alabama (graduated in 2002)
• Worked as a co-op engineer at Southern Nuclear for approximately two years

As an Industrial Engineer, Park has the technical knowledge to understand how infrastructure is developed and how a piece of beachfront property goes from raw land to resort-ready.

As an international real estate investor, he understands the complex transaction structuring necessary to manage risk and drive profits.

As a boots-on-the-ground Panamanian with extensive Central American real estate experience (as well as Indiana Jones-like real estate scouting experiences) he understands the local cultures and how to work with local land holders and governments to stay profitably in-control and on the right side of everything.

Most importantly, Park has an innate sense of risk management. In his own words: “We’re not trying to do acquisitions just for the sake of acquisitions. Frankly we’ve been waiting for the right opportunity for acquisitions, which is now… based on value. It was hard to do acquisitions before. That’s because everything has been overvalued. Our model has been that we don’t want to buy unless we can still profit if the market drops 75% in value.”

If you want to get a feel for the steps and timelines involved in partnering with us in a Latin American real estate investment, read below.

If you’d like to see how our unique approach to real estate investment has proven itself during past investments, you’ll want to browse our track record.

1. Before Purchasing the Property

• Initial meetings to determine if we have the proper chemistry and goal alignment for a relationship. We’ll want to know your risk tolerance, experience level, expectations, etc.
• Once we’ve agreed on the investment parameters for the deal that we will be pursuing, a JV (or letter of intent) would need to be executed between ETI & you
• ETI uses its resources & networks to uncover ideal candidates for investment. We have our scouts building relationships constantly with farm owners, attorneys, real estate brokers… and pretty much anyone else who will stumble onto deals, at the local area. We likely already know of the perfect investment candidate for you, but we’re firm believers in the Warren Buffet quote:
  
  
  

  “It’s better to pay a fair price for a wonderful company than a wonderful price for a fair company”

  
  Except we apply that to land, and we demand a wonderful price on wonderful property. So we’d rather spend extra time scouting the deal up-front to leave us with plenty of profit generating options on the back-end. As much time is spent “courting the seller” in order to ensure a very low, what-the-locals-pay price, as is spent finding the land itself.

• Simultaneously, ETI will consult with you on strategies for structuring the deal. We are not attorneys or accountants, and as such cannot give you legal advice, but we are very experienced in the transactions from the point of view of an investor. We have relationships with numerous reputable law firms and accounting firms. We only work with investors who are willing to remain in compliance with their home nations. Our investments offer world-class asset protection, however, there are ways to effectively do this and other ways that can be disastrous for the investor… our experience steers clients clear of trouble in this area.

2. Obtaining Property / Property Rights

• Once the agreement(s) has been secured with the property seller(s) (we most often create assemblages of multiple properties), we form an agreement/Letter of Intent with you on terms for closing. The investor will be presented with a “term sheet,” that explains the parameters of the deal. This is an important distinction and a key to our incredible success at shaping the market. Rather than simply buying the property for our investors, we partner in a business or company that:
  

  Owns the property,

  Has [overlay url="http://emergingterrains.com/budget-popup"]a budget to carry out the investment[/overlay], and

  Has an agreement with a management company to carry out any improvement and development processes, along with the necessary marketing.

• As an investor, you’ll receive ownership in the company that has been established for the purpose of carrying out the investment. There are multiple advantages to setting things up this way, but the bottom line is this: managing risk and maximizing profit means shaping the market and strategically investing in land the way commodities traders buy futures.
• Your payment will go into escrow at this point under an agreement that unless something negative is revealed in due diligence (contingencies), you will be committed to the deal. We can’t pull out of the deal either, so this commits us both equally.
• We then enter the pre-acquisition due diligence period. During this time, ETI is investing ownership claims, obtaining legal and engineering documents, validating market assumptions, etc.
• If, after due diligence, the investment is still deemed adequate, we complete the acquisition (usually 60-90 days from the date of our having the original LOI
• Close the transaction and begin shaping the market and saleable aspects of the property for maximum profit.

3. Post Acquisition

• We execute the plans for investment. Sometimes this includes obtaining title, securing ownership claims, fencing the property, creating roads/trails, obtaining any local or national permits, hiring a caretaker(s), executing and managing agreements with marketing companies.
• Marketing. Nothing succeeds like success and real estate is demand-driven. Our ability to successfully market land even in the face of traditional obstacles provides us with far more options than most “buy and hold” style investors.
• We provide you with financial, operational, and marketing reporting on a quarterly basis.
• We manage the process of negotiating with potential buyers. This is transparent and you will receive all information regarding these negotiations.
• We manage the sale of the property. Preparations with local & international legal and accounting firms are usually made during this phase with our legal and accounting teams. We can coordinate with the investor’s council on these matters as well to make sure that the timing and method of sale is as advantageous as possible for our side of the transaction.
• Site Visits. We’re pretty flexible in meeting the needs of the investors and they usually have a wide range of preferences. Many never visit the property. Some visit during the closing. Some visit during the hold period. Some properties lend themselves more than others to a visit. We’ve taken investors into properties in helicopters, big boats, small boats, driving them down the beach at low tide (because there wasn’t a road yet), etc.
• Meetings. Since we’re usually in several countries, we don’t have lots of boardroom type meetings with investors. However, if we need to fly up for a meeting, or they want to come down that’s fine too. We don’t spend a lot of time in an office, but we can work that out if necessary.

“But does it work? All your strategies and transaction structuring and networking and risk management – do they pay off for you and your investors?”

Answer: Yes. Not only does our method of predicting, investing in, and shaping the Latin American real estate market sound good, it’s been proven to work by our investing track record to date.

Here’s a sampling of track record with Latin American real estate investments:

Acquisition of 400-acre island now valued at 176% of initial investment

Here’s the thing about local knowledge in Panama: there’s what the locals know, then there’s understanding what that means from an investment standpoint, and then there’s what the international investment community knows. And in between the gaps is where opportunity lies.

Just ahead of a new road entering a promising area we sent our scouts into a region of Panama to search for property. The locals knew the road was coming, but didn’t connect that with an increased desirability of the property on the part of investors. But we understood exactly what a new road would do to appreciate the value of the surrounding property. So we sent out scouts out to find opportunity.

The area contained dozens of islands just off it’s coast, and our scouts were able to locate a 400 acre island that was completely uninhabited, covered in primary & secondary forest, with over 5 miles of coastline.

After spotting the island, we used our connections to “look Panamanian” and contacted the property owner through proxy. A property negotiation was set up wherein our local attorney (who has part ownership in our company) was able to negotiate the deal for 1/6th of the owners opening price.

In other words, we bought the property at such a low price, that even if the real estate market tanked, we could still sell for a profit.

And in fact, the market did turn south shortly after we bought (and we still could have sold for a small profit). But we held onto the property, the road came through just as we knew it would, and property values skyrocketed.

In addition we were able to add value to the property by reducing uncertainty and risk for potential buyers. We:

• completed a topography of the property,
• secured an environmental opinion,
• completed water studies,
• documented chain of ownership, and
• created trails throughout the property to provide access.

The property is currently on the market for USD $4.75M – representing an over 75% profit

Purchased a farm in 2008, subdivided and resold in 2009 at 143% net profits to investors

After scouting the availability of a small farm that had approximately 400 meters of coastline, we were able to complete the acquisition at incredibly favorable rates by traveling to the farm on horseback and negotiating the deal in Spanish directly with the land holder.

After acquisition we completed a topography of the property, secured an environmental opinion, completed water studies, documented chain of ownership, and created trails throughout the property to provide access.

The property was subdivided into 10 lots and sold using an internet campaign and local contacts in order to market the property directly to end consumers. Resulting profits were in excess of 143% for the investors.

Purchased 400 meters of coastline, sold 25% as fractional ownership surf camp for 50% profits

We were able to negotiate incredibly favorable rates on an X acre unimproved farm with 400 meters of coastline. A variety of factors and market conditions (Along with the US, Latin America was also experiencing hard times for real estate during much of 2008) made a direct resale of this land for development a still-profitable-but-unattractive option for us.

We needed to shape the market for the unimproved land, create profits for investors, and hold the bulk of property for sale during better market times.

So we turned the coastline property into a fractional ownership camp.
Sold 25% of our shares for that camp (during the worst market in years), and generated profits in excess of 50% for the investors.

Best of all, we’re still able to convert the remaining project into a small, 20 lot development, having already profited 50% from the initial acquisition. We will be partnering with the fractional owners, and carrying out the development in 2010.

Secured option to purchase oceanfront farm in 2008, purchased and resold in 2009

After numerous lengthy negotiations with a family who owned a 35 acre oceanfront farm, we were able to reach a joint venture agreement with the family to purchase and sell the property.

As part of the joint venture, we did all of the topo, water studies, etc necessary to make the 40 acres of oceanfront property salable. We purchased and resold the property in 2009, resulting in more than favorable (but confidential) ROI to the investors.

Successful Purchase and sale of farm in the Southern Zone of Costa Rica for 111% profit

The road is still under construction and they are down to about the last 2km. They were scheduled for completion last year but ran into some problems with the contractors. Our local contacts tell us that they are expecting completion in 2010.

Probably the biggest development is that the road from Dominical to Quepos is nearing completion. They have taken forever to finish it, but it’s pretty great today.

The pavement had made it to Palma Quemada, when i was there in late October.

When demand changes as quickly as it did, it can leave projects in a difficult spot. When projects were conceived assumptions were made about sales price, sales cycle, cost to build, duration of building, etc. When those assumptions are changed almost overnight you don’t have many options to right the ship.
In hindsight some developments and their prices look pretty silly, but when they were conceived it was believed to be good idea. Like the .com bubble a decade before companies like Worldcom and America Online seemed like solid companies during the rising market, but afterwards they became the signposts on the road of “irrational exuberance”.

For better or worse bursting bubbles seem to be a regular cycle of the system, as a real estate entrepreneur you need to adapt and take advantage by applying strategies specific to up or down markets.

Buy Right

Now that the market has started to stabilize it could be time to jump in for a profitable future. Good property buying is fundamental again, you can’t overlook the basics of the business and have appreciation swoop in like superman and save you from a silly mistakes.

Good fundamentals start with old fashioned due diligence, a tenet of real estate that has been grossly overlooked in the last decade.

Here is an example of what we have seen the last few years. Buyer arrives in Central America for the first time to spend a week looking at property. After looking at properties for the entire week they have attained “expert” status in market research. Now armed with all the information they need for deciding which property to choose, the buyer chooses then signs a purchase and sale agreement on the last day of their trip. A deposit is put down, buyer then heads home to secure the rest of the capital to close the deal….. I hope you are picking up on the sarcasm here.

Proceed With Caution

The culture of buying this way is developed in countries with efficient markets that have regulation and quick ways of dealing with unscrupulous events. Central America is different and needs to be approached differently.

During the boom times of the past this craziness has ended up working, mainly because of swelling property values. If this is your strategy today you better be sure lady luck has an arranged marriage with you, because without significant appreciation, buying mistakes can get ugly quick.

Due diligence at the bare minimum is confirming the basic assumptions, at a high level, and how we do it at Emerging Terrains, means testing every assumption you can think of involved in the life span of the deal.

Some initial assumptions to test

• Purchase Price: are you paying a fair price?
• Clear title: is title clear or has no one really researched it?
• Zoning: are there zoning regulations that negatively or positively effect your plans?
• Clear Title: is title clear?
• Cost Estimates: if you plan on adding a bedroom are your estimates are in the ball park of your expectations?

If you do this type of deal often and stay current with the information it can be a quick process, if its your one and only purchase it may take some extra time, but it is worth it.

Get your information from independent sources, do not under any circumstances rely on the numbers handed to you by the person selling the property, this includes agent and/or owner of the property.

This is a simple rule you can apply anywhere in life. If a persons income is directly related to making a sale, they are not subjective or neutral. This doesn’t mean they are evil, it just means do your own homework. An agent and owner can be great sources for where to begin your research, but they are not the only stop on your due diligence bus route.

Other possible sources include, other brokers, attorneys, engineers, builders, people from the area, neighbors, etc.

We use our own private investigators to answer these questions.

The purpose of this process is not only to confirm your assumptions, it will also illuminate your perspective with invaluable information about the project you are considering.

Some experiences we have had are as follows: a potential property was zoned differently than either our attorney or broker thought, another attorney we spoke to found the information, it saved us a lot of money and time because of the financing implications. After speaking to an engineer he came up with a plan neither we or the seller had thought of to place a road, the change made the property much more valuable.

Another time we discovered the owner was being strong armed by a community member to raise his price based on debt, our due diligence found this information after talking to the neighbors and community. Afterwards we were able to negotiate a much better price.

Pay attention to the horror stories

We have seen acquaintances buy property then find out the broker and the attorney missed a crucial piece of information on the title resulting in not being able to sell the property, in this case the seller was to blame.

There are endless scenarios like this that turn up in due diligence, the key is to get them exposed before you buy.

If your property has a title do a thorough title inspection, in Central America this means going all the way back to who issued the title. There are stories of properties changing hands two or three times before a blemish shows up, leaving the last buyer with hot potato.

Although the vast majority of real estate transactions don’t suffer from title issues the down side is so horrific, everyone should spend the time and money necessary to answer the important questions.

When investing, a good deal on a property only matters if you can profit in the future. With the earth shaking changes we have seen in the real estate market it stands to reason that an investor will have to wait longer to benefit from appreciation or sales. If this is the case then knowing what you buy is even more critical.