As State Bans On Foreign Property Ownership Proliferate, CRE Grapples With Compliance A Florida law that takes effect July 1 is the first of what could be many new state edicts restricting certain foreign property ownership, a move that bill sponsors say is made in the name of national security but that could mire CRE pros in a morass of unanswered questions, potentially holding up deals. Florida's not alone. More than 30 states have legislation, pending or otherwise, generally aiming to curtail foreign ownership of property, according to data from the National Conference of State Legislatures. Some of that legislation applies specifically to farmland or land close to sensitive sites, but other legislation is broader. 
Whether these bills have the capacity to truly negate national security threats remains to be seen, and critics have called them racist and xenophobic, but the traction they have gained so far in two of the country’s hottest real estate markets has prompted brokers to wonder how to navigate the…  Read the full story here. | 
