The complexities in foreign real estate sales can't be overstated. Buddy of mine ended up buying a $525k condo in Long Beach because anything under $500k was being purchased by foreign REITS with cash. However, over $500k and suddenly it's actual citizens. That's entirely due to some US investment law about foreign holdings, or at least that's what the real estate agents tell you. It's one of my biggest hesitations about the California market: the whole thing is outsized and ridiculous because of Prop 13, and any modifications of Prop 13 are going to queer shit up something fierce. Of course, everyone believes that Prop 13 is the 3rd rail of california politics but the sales tax here is more than it is in Seattle and Washington's income tax is nil and the roads are better, the schools are better, the libraries are better, the cops are better... Never fuck with the government.