Building a partnership always takes longer than people anticipate. Therefore, you need to plan time for relationship development. Conduct team-building exercises focused on the task–relationship dynamics. Make planning the task a part of the team-building activity. You’ll be amazed at how well this technique works.

Make sure key leadership is present to kick off the initial activity. When key leadership is visible, the partnering activities are generally more successful. Key leadership being absent sends the nonverbal message “This is not important.” Plan a launch. Invite people in the organizations to witness the kickoff. Write articles in the employee newsletters and provide media releases. Send the message “This is important! You are partnering with another business and you can look for these benefits.”

Make sure everyone knows the partnership’s vision and goals and inform them when these change or are updated. Keep this information in the forefront of people’s minds. One sure way to kill a partnership is to be ambiguous about or miscommunicate the vision and goals for the partnership.

With so much to take into account, you may wonder whether it’s even worth the trouble. The answer to that depends on your personal circumstances: what your goals are, how much you can afford, and how comfortable you are in dealing with new situations. There are a wide range of investment opportunities, from the ridiculously expensive to the amazingly affordable. Despite the additional challenges that international real estate investment may pose, it can be an excellent investment. Diversifying your portfolio by buying property in different countries can help cushion you against economic downturns in a particular area. Or you may find that you can enter the market easier in a less expensive country, giving you the opportunity to leverage these investments over time. Then, of course, there’s always the good fortune of snapping up something in an upand-coming country. Investing in a real asset as compared with an intangible one, such as a stock, can provide more stability. Property tends to hold its value better than other commodities, and historically it has provided a good return on investment. Or, having an investment portfolio may not be your goal—you may just want a nice, less expensive place to retire to. Regardless of your reasons or circumstances, once you’re ready to buy something, the first thing you need is money. So let’s take a look at some of the money matters to consider when buying offshore.