STAFF: What worries you about EB-5 going forward?
LINDA: I would like to see our community be able to support
one another. What worries me is that if we see each other as
competitors and as trying to fight for certain market share, then
it is really not conducive to growth in our own community. I
would like to see more collaboration and support from within.
STAFF: Do you notice a difference in EB-5 offerings between
different regions, such as what West Coast and East Coast deals
look like?
LINDA: For the West Coast, it is pretty standard. Most of the
deals are in real estate development, retail, office buildings or
hotels.
East Coast deals are quite different. It really depends on what is
available. Sometimes we see historical buildings, oil well projects or really interesting industries. I do not know whether it
is just because developers [on the West Coast] are in the same
group or community, so they tend to do the same projects. Over
there [on the East Coast] it is pretty unique and different. That
is what I have noticed.
STAFF: What about for investor markets? Do you get a sense of
what investors in different regions care about?
LINDA: The biggest market, as you know, is China, and for the
last three years, Chinese investors have progressed tremendously
in terms of their knowledge. They are very sophisticated and ask
a lot of tough questions, such as, “What is the difference between
allocation of interest and the return and the exit plan?” and “Why
is this a certain percentage and how did you decide that?”
In other parts of the world, it