. >> tom: fernand talpe and his wife are french. eight months ago, they paid nearly $2 million in cash for their waterfront home. talpe, a commodities trader, chose miami over brazil when looking to relocate his business. >> at that time, the euro was very strong. i think i bought the house when the euro was at 145 against the dollar, so of course at comparative-- it was still expensive in dollars, but if you compare that with euros, it was a real bargain. >> for foreigners with a strong currency, which is obviously going to change very soon with the euro which is crashing down, but, no, we bought it already so miami has so much opportunities... >> reporter: buyers across the nation are putting up cold, hard cash. in december, 28% of existing home sales across the country were cash deals, and most of those buyers are investors. they don't plan on living in the homes they're buying. mark pordes manages condominium sales at canyon ranch miami beach, a luxury building on the atlantic ocean. prices range from $300,000 to over $3 million