RE: Housing bluesthis is actually a very thoughtful point. There is huge potential in an international market, with real estate booms in UAE, eastern europe, China, and india. There is huge potential, also considering teh fact that the middle classes in those countries are growing as well. However, from an investor perspective, rarely has betting on managments ability to grow internationally, or anticipate thier moves been profitable.
Laslty, consider the biggest problem with an international scenerio. They would be competing against the bst in the business......IKEA, which is quite a frightening thought considering thier much greater brand strenght.