Has anybody bought property and sold overseas

dewsbury

The hype for overseas property seems to have calmed.

I am looking for anybody with a genuine example of buying AND selling an overseas property. (Exclude UK).

Please supply purchase date, purchase price, sale date , sale price and country of purchase.

For simplicity convert all currencies to Euros.

dewsbury

Well , has anybody?

kaiser sauze

Your problem is the detail that you're looking for. Very specific information, like what you require, is something that people may not wish to share, even behind an online pseudonym.

I, for example, would not share what you're asking for.

dewsbury

kaiser sauze wrote: »

Your problem is the detail that you're looking for. Very specific information, like what you require, is something that people may not wish to share, even behind an online pseudonym.

I, for example, would not share what you're asking for.

..Point taken.

I am just curious if people have actually made money on buying overseas property. I was trying to avoid a waffle type answer.

Perhaps, I could ask, has anybody actually sold bought & sold overseas and made a significant profit. What percentage?

irish_bob

i bought an appartment in budapest at the end of 2005 , spent money refurbishing it and then furnishing it and i have always had a tennant in it since august of 2006

if you were now to ask me would i do the same again , the answer is NO


the best place to have bought property in the last 3 years is in the uk and its specifically in farmland , farmland has gone up substantially in the uk in the past few yrs but is still undervalued

wish i had bought there instead

dewsbury

Thanks Irish_bob,

Do you know of other people who invested in Eastern Europe?


I am just wondering whether people have actually made significant profits outside Ireland & UK??

irish_bob

dewsbury wrote: »

Thanks Irish_bob,

Do you know of other people who invested in Eastern Europe?


I am just wondering whether people have actually made significant profits outside Ireland & UK??

depends when exactly one bought , put it this way , anyone who only bought since the hype started about eastern europe , from about 2003 on , none of them have made any money


are you looking to buy over there , im selling a 3 bed right in the centre of budapest which is bringing in 900 a month for 160 k

portomar

i dont think the problem is the detail you're looking for, i think that a lot of the property sold to irish people in eastern europe is a complete scam. i was at a property fare and had this guy say to my face about this development: ah no, you wont have the locals renting these off you, its way out of their price range, the hope isi international students from the west will rent them. this was budapest. there was and is property being thrown up, specifically built for and targeted to, overseas invstors. a recipe for disaster. its all well and good them selling off plans in minutes, but when youre not offering the agent 20% (thats what some of them get off initial sale price from the builder) you're going to have a hard job shifting it. this of course is talking in broad brush strokes about half a continent, and im not making a commentary on the czech or bulgarian property market for example, but the sold-by-joe-from-carlow-place-in-the-sun-at-a-fare-in-the-rds crap is not somewhere anyone should try making money imo.

dewsbury

portomar wrote: »

i dont think the problem is the detail you're looking for, i think that a lot of the property sold to irish people in eastern europe is a complete scam. i was at a property fare and had this guy say to my face about this development: ah no, you wont have the locals renting these off you, its way out of their price range, the hope isi international students from the west will rent them. this was budapest. there was and is property being thrown up, specifically built for and targeted to, overseas invstors. a recipe for disaster. its all well and good them selling off plans in minutes, but when youre not offering the agent 20% (thats what some of them get off initial sale price from the builder) you're going to have a hard job shifting it. this of course is talking in broad brush strokes about half a continent, and im not making a commentary on the czech or bulgarian property market for example, but the sold-by-joe-from-carlow-place-in-the-sun-at-a-fare-in-the-rds crap is not somewhere anyone should try making money imo.

Points taken.
I am not remotely thinking of investing.
I have had experience in property before in UK and done well.

I have been somewhat bemused by how simplistic the whole thing has been portrayed by the johnny-come-lately's.

The assumption is that property would rise and rise in price regardless of circumstances.

....the promoters of these properties often claim "that there is potential capital appreciation of 50% per annum". Utter nonsense, not unlike claiming that a €2 lottery has potential capital appreciation of .....whatever!

portomar

dewsbury wrote: »

Points taken.
I am not remotely thinking of investing.
I have had experience in property before in UK and done well.

I have been somewhat bemused by how simplistic the whole thing has been portrayed by the johnny-come-lately's.

The assumption is that property would rise and rise in price regardless of circumstances.

....the promoters of these properties often claim "that there is potential capital appreciation of 50% per annum". Utter nonsense, not unlike claiming that a €2 lottery has potential capital appreciation of .....whatever!

Also not unlike asking your butcher if steak is good for you and taking credence from the fact that he thinks it is!

emmetor

I'm not a sceptic like many of you, I prefer to follow a more scientific approach.

My belief is that most of these 'too good to be true' offers are probably not.
Therefore, I imagine that the majority of people's experiences don't match the hype.

However, IF there is a minority who have gotten their 50% return per annum / 70% per 18 months, and have successfully sold, then, can you please tell us who / where / what you did.

In Forex, there is a successful 4% of investors who make eventual profits, and I'm guessing that there is a small percentage of property investors who have successfully gotten in and out of foreign apartment buying with their 50%.

A company called nspinternational.com has been sending me offers for a while now, and I'm just curious to know what the truth is. They seem pretty reputable, and the offers can be exciting, like buying in Las Vegas, because of the currency difference. I'd never be interested in investing via my local property-shop, I've seen what they do.

I know the negative bit, how you all lost money or broke even with effort, or, how you now have a property that has your money tied up in it, and I do sympathise - I know these things can be fraught with danger.

On the flip side however, if anyone here had success with it, I'd love to hear about it. I think I have a good idea how NOT to do it.

So, if you had great success, can you tell us who you invested with?

portomar

emmetor wrote: »

I'm not a sceptic like many of you, I prefer to follow a more scientific approach.

My belief is that most of these 'too good to be true' offers are probably not.
Therefore, I imagine that the majority of people's experiences don't match the hype.

However, IF there is a minority who have gotten their 50% return per annum / 70% per 18 months, and have successfully sold, then, can you please tell us who / where / what you did.

In Forex, there is a successful 4% of investors who make eventual profits, and I'm guessing that there is a small percentage of property investors who have successfully gotten in and out of foreign apartment buying with their 50%.

A company called nspinternational.com has been sending me offers for a while now, and I'm just curious to know what the truth is. They seem pretty reputable, and the offers can be exciting, like buying in Las Vegas, because of the currency difference. I'd never be interested in investing via my local property-shop, I've seen what they do.

I know the negative bit, how you all lost money or broke even with effort, or, how you now have a property that has your money tied up in it, and I do sympathise - I know these things can be fraught with danger.

On the flip side however, if anyone here had success with it, I'd love to hear about it. I think I have a good idea how NOT to do it.

So, if you had great success, can you tell us who you invested with?

this thread has been going for a month, and there has been almost zero positive response, i think that speaks volumes

emmetor

Well, I understand what you're saying, but I think you have to find the operating level. I asked about 50% per annum, which maybe is a bit high.

If I had asked "where do you get 5% return?", then everybody would know. There must be some level in-between that some smart people are achieving consistently, and.. oh yeah.. chasing quality investment rather than just chasing a boom.

So, let's half our original 50%, to 25%.

Anyone know where you can get a guaranteed 25% return on property investing? What company did you go through? Or did you buy totally outside the box?

portomar

emmetor wrote: »

Well, I understand what you're saying, but I think you have to find the operating level. I asked about 50% per annum, which maybe is a bit high.

If I had asked "where do you get 5% return?", then everybody would know. There must be some level in-between that some smart people are achieving consistently, and.. oh yeah.. chasing quality investment rather than just chasing a boom.

So, let's half our original 50%, to 25%.

Anyone know where you can get a guaranteed 25% return on property investing? What company did you go through? Or did you buy totally outside the box?

i think you are still aiming way to high, there is no way of getting 25% in this property environment, there is a global housing bubble. i doubt you will get many responses, im open to being corrected. a 25% return on equity is stellar in any investment class, therefore quite rare i would have thought.

actually, this is even more crazy than it at first seems what company in their right mind is in a position to GUARANTEE 25% return on investment? and in property in this environment!? you're living in cloud cuckoo land, if there was anyone who could guarantee 25% return, why wouldn't the investment banks have it tied up themselves?? also, the current credit market merans that even traditionally the MOST SECURE form of debt, governmnet bonds, are coming under more scrutiny as assets, imagine how they feel about property. its complicated but suffice to say this means no company backed by a bank (which close to all are) would be ina postion to guarantee a return of 25% or anything close to it.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aqcXY9R7AbkY&refer=home

emmetor

Thanks for the reply.

So, I should clarify/re-iterate that the reason I used the word 'guarantee' and the percentages mentioned, was purely because I've seen those mentioned in the brochure materials that some foreign property developers use, in relation to various schemes where, for example, companies seek buyers to pay for the development of apartments under a guaranteed buyback after two years when the apartment block gets resold to your high street seller. Obviously such enormous returns, if they were reported accurately would probaby have some enormous downsides.

You all would know a ton more about this area that I would, which is why I was asking in the first place. I mean, you can get about 10% return on some US Treasury bonds, and that's supposedly secure. Getting in on a property boom might yield 15% which is a lot less secure.

So, Oops.. the 25% pa mentioned was a totally different thing, which I wasn't going to talk about here, sorry, I got my figures mixed up from the brochures. That was a stock investing course, but nevermind.

So, CORRECTION: the 50% or 25% was meant to be a return after TWO years, yielding either 25% or 12.5% pa, and I have no idea how, or why they can make such guarantees. How do they do that? It seems crazy, so that's why I was asking. (The literature is a few years old, now.)

Anyway, I'm beginning to get a sense that MAYBE people who have been successful with property investment have measured their progress over a longer timeframe, and are hardly going to jump in here and explain, I imagine the enthusiasm wears off quickly.

So, could it be that the secret of each small overseas investment lies in small returns compounding over say a 5/7 year period (at least)? hmm.. during favourable economic climates. Whereas value is important for stability, (i.e. location, quality) maybe it's only time itself that can give such dramatic results.

Well, thanks for your feedback, and the link of course. I'll do some reading on it.

A Random Walk

emmetor wrote: »

I mean, you can get about 10% return on some US Treasury bonds, and that's supposedly secure.

No you can't. Please go read a few books before you go throwing your money away in some insane overseas property scams.

portomar

emmetor wrote: »

So, CORRECTION: the 50% or 25% was meant to be a return after TWO years, yielding either 25% or 12.5% pa, and I have no idea how, or why they can make such guarantees. How do they do that? It seems crazy, so that's why I was asking. (The literature is a few years old, now.) .

id say if you rang the number on the brochure now, youd get no answer, or possibly a liquidation company.

listen to random walk. any idiot could have made money in property the last 10 years, its easy in a bull market. we're in a downturn, the rules of a bull market no longer apply.

25% after 2 years guaranteed is still madness.

gordon_gekko

in the name of jaysus , where are people getting theese figures of 50% from

an awesome yield on property would be 10% per anum

an appartment i bought in the centre of budapest in 2005 at 134 k after all duties were paid , subsequent refurbishment and decorating brought the total cost to 175 k

this appartment today is worth no more than 150 k
it is bringing in 900 a month but the figures will give you an idea of the kind of appreciating right now in eastern europe in general
its a long term investment baby

given the chance again , i wouldnt have touched it

emmetor

I didn't expect such a strong reaction, so in case anyone is curious about these type of reports, take a look at this: http://www.nspinternational.com/romania/property/Romanian-Land-Investment-Opportunity-detail-26180.html
And note the part that says "Projected returns: 100% of investment, 1-2 year period."

By the way, Gordon, if you're making 900 per month on a 175k apartment, that's a 16% roi on just rent alone, isn't it? Why aren't you happy with that?
That sounds pretty good, no? (just curious)

I'll go read some books now.

Cheers lads for all your (strong) responses!!

Emmet

portomar

emmetor wrote: »

I didn't expect such a strong reaction, so in case anyone is curious about these type of reports, take a look at this: http://www.nspinternational.com/romania/property/Romanian-Land-Investment-Opportunity-detail-26180.html
And note the part that says "Projected returns: 100% of investment, 1-2 year period."

By the way, Gordon, if you're making 900 per month on a 175k apartment, that's a 16% roi on just rent alone, isn't it? Why aren't you happy with that?
That sounds pretty good, no? (just curious)

I'll go read some books now.

Cheers lads for all your (strong) responses!!

Emmet

Saying "projected returns...." is like saying "we think this will happen" or more likely "we're willing to tell you this and believe you'll probably swallow it" makes about as much sense as saying "projected share price in 12 months: double what it is now" this is snake oil. if it looks too good to be true, it almost definitely is.

dewsbury

emmetor wrote: »

By the way, Gordon, if you're making 900 per month on a 175k apartment, that's a 16% roi on just rent alone, isn't it? Why aren't you happy with that?

Emmet

Emmet,

I admire your resilience to the "strong" comments you have received.

I have no idea how you calculated a 16% roi on the above figures!

dewsbury

gordon_gekko wrote: »

in the name of jaysus , where are people getting theese figures of 50% from

an awesome yield on property would be 10% per anum

an appartment i bought in the centre of budapest in 2005 at 134 k after all duties were paid , subsequent refurbishment and decorating brought the total cost to 175 k

this appartment today is worth no more than 150 k
it is bringing in 900 a month but the figures will give you an idea of the kind of appreciating right now in eastern europe in general
its a long term investment baby

given the chance again , i wouldnt have touched it

Thanks gordon_gekko,

I (as the OP) was looking for just such an example - real figures from a real property.

I am sorry it has not worked out.

Any other positive or negative examples out there?

gordon_gekko

emmetor wrote: »

I didn't expect such a strong reaction, so in case anyone is curious about these type of reports, take a look at this: http://www.nspinternational.com/romania/property/Romanian-Land-Investment-Opportunity-detail-26180.html
And note the part that says "Projected returns: 100% of investment, 1-2 year period."

By the way, Gordon, if you're making 900 per month on a 175k apartment, that's a 16% roi on just rent alone, isn't it? Why aren't you happy with that?
That sounds pretty good, no? (just curious)

I'll go read some books now.

Cheers lads for all your (strong) responses!!

Emmet

a 16% yield on an appartment costing 175 k would be 28k per yr rent

im getting 900 per mth at the minute , i usually dont have a tennant for the 12mths but even i did that would be 12 by 900 which is 10800
which is a yield of just over 6% and which isnt enough to pay the monthly mortgage, this thing isnt paying for itself , it might if i had a 15 yr mortgage but i dont intend to keep it that long

besides , while ive a good rent , ive had almost no appreciation and whats happening on the ground her doesnt bode well for any , over supply , economy in the tank etc

gordon_gekko

dewsbury wrote: »

Thanks gordon_gekko,

I (as the OP) was looking for just such an example - real figures from a real property.

I am sorry it has not worked out.

Any other positive or negative examples out there?

hungarians are by far the least friendly people i have ever met
i cant stand them

possitives are the women are gorgoeous with the best cleavage ive ever seen

dewsbury

gordon_gekko wrote: »

possitives are the women are gorgoeous with the best cleavage ive ever seen

Obviously, rental income and capital appreciation is very important.
It is impossible to put a price on good cleavage but surely it makes up for any financial disappointments??:D

BJJDUB

Investing in propertyanywhere in the world (even Ireland) is not for the faint hearted. For some reason most people seem to think that they know what they are doing when they buy overseas property. The harsh reality is - they don't (and I mean no offence to anybody).

In the past i.e. before the subprime meltdown and global credit crunch many investors made substantial returns on overseas property. Because of the current slowdown ("reversal" might be a better description), investors need to be very sharp and I would go as far as saying that they should be very experienced before they invest overseas - even if they are buying a holiday home for their own use and not for an investment return.

emmetor

I replied to this about a week ago, but my post seems to have disappeared, or maybe I didn't post it correctly... timed out or something, possibly. Weird, though.

Sorry for the bad math, I had the flu all last week, and my brain is clearer now. Yeah, of course, your ROI is 6.17% or whatever. I had to laugh at my own calculations last week. Normally, I'm not that bad, I promise, but it took all my energy to not fall asleep at the keys.

Still though, my amateur senses are making me feel that you could have bought a 250K apartment in Cork, and be earning the same or less in rent from your Budapest venture.

Anyway, it remains to be seen how your investment will increase in value over time. I'm learning about this whole area (wow... surprise, surprise! I hear you say) but I'm learning for the long haul.

My foolish thought for the year - if I had had the money, would have been to buy 0.5 acre of land, and build two crannog-homes on it and sell, because they look beeeautiful.

BJJDUB

"...Yeah, of course, your ROI is 6.17% or whatever. I had to laugh at my own calculations last week...."

This ROI calculation only applies if there is no finance on the apartment and if the purchase price was 175k.

The math to calculate the ROI isn't as straight forward as it appears !!!

emmetor

I had a few more thoughts about your Budapest apartment, Gordon.
Please forgive my amateur analysis, but shouldn't you use a longer mortgage anyway? I mean it's a small difference, but with a longer mortgage, you'll be able to have a little extra cash for those months where you have no tenant, and maybe you'll be able to bring the kids to MacDonalds once a month with the remainder.

And more importantly, it will be less likely to hit your own pocket, because you'll be using the bank for leverage, and you'll start to view the apartment as more of an asset, and less of a liability. Instead you could be freeing up your own cash to save, or invest in something else.

Secondly, ok, so your apt devalued by 25k, but you'll have earned your money back by later this year, on rent alone. So you won't have lost money, right? And therefore the idea will begin to become profitable from 2008 on.

I mean if you had had that 175k invested in seemingly-safe Google in 2007, you'd be pretty worried now, and you'd have no rent to bail you out.

I mean, you chose security, and even though it didn't totally work out, it's not quite the same level of risk as throwing money at a vacation pad in Sunny Beach Bulgaria.

Therefore, you'd be looking at a more subdued, long term thing... as you mention.

It seems like a good value investment to me.

gordon_gekko

emmetor wrote: »

I had a few more thoughts about your Budapest apartment, Gordon.
Please forgive my amateur analysis, but shouldn't you use a longer mortgage anyway? I mean it's a small difference, but with a longer mortgage, you'll be able to have a little extra cash for those months where you have no tenant, and maybe you'll be able to bring the kids to MacDonalds once a month with the remainder.

And more importantly, it will be less likely to hit your own pocket, because you'll be using the bank for leverage, and you'll start to view the apartment as more of an asset, and less of a liability. Instead you could be freeing up your own cash to save, or invest in something else.

Secondly, ok, so your apt devalued by 25k, but you'll have earned your money back by later this year, on rent alone. So you won't have lost money, right? And therefore the idea will begin to become profitable from 2008 on.

I mean if you had had that 175k invested in seemingly-safe Google in 2007, you'd be pretty worried now, and you'd have no rent to bail you out.

I mean, you chose security, and even though it didn't totally work out, it's not quite the same level of risk as throwing money at a vacation pad in Sunny Beach Bulgaria.

Therefore, you'd be looking at a more subdued, long term thing... as you mention.

It seems like a good value investment to me.

it looks like a solid investment if you take the view that the hungarian property market will improove and there economy will grow over the next decade
the problem is , the hungarian economy is on its arse , the population is shrinking and there people are leaving so you have a serious surplus of properties in the country and especially in budapest
there is no guarentee that the economic situation will reverse itself over the next 10 yrs , the irish property market grew nothing from 1981 to 1991 and fell in real terms
too add to that , the global economic outlook has not been as negative in a very long time

finnally and more importantly , the best place to invest your money is always in your own business and my line of work is going well now and thats where i should be investing

ill sell the thing as soon as i come close to breaking even

BJJDUB

"...Please forgive my amateur analysis, but shouldn't you use a longer mortgage anyway?.....".

Sounds like a good analysis to me esp. if a buyer is looking for an ROI before disposal i.e. other than capital appreciation !!!!. I would add that an interest only mortgage - for as long a period as possible - can be the most suitable mortgage for investors - of course that applies if the buyer can get an interest only mortgage.

By buying this way, the possibility exits for a regular repayment which is lower than the CAP rate. Thus leading to the possibility* of a high ROI.

In this scenario an investor would want to see decent capital appreciation - but then who doesn't?

(* Every acquisiton is different !!!!!!!!!)

emmetor

hm...interesting information!

I hadn't heard of an interest-only mortgage before, I must investigate - thanks BJJ! I'm learning!!!

Gordon, I understand what youre saying, and I sympathise with your situation, it's a bit of a headache, if you're trying to protect against depreciation. I hope it works out.

gordon_gekko

emmetor wrote: »

hm...interesting information!

I hadn't heard of an interest-only mortgage before, I must investigate - thanks BJJ! I'm learning!!!

Gordon, I understand what youre saying, and I sympathise with your situation, it's a bit of a headache, if you're trying to protect against depreciation. I hope it works out.

no need to sympathise , i was just another greedy westerner trying to make it big in the property market overseas because i missed the boat over here
learned my lessson , hopefully it wont be too expensive

BJJDUB

gordon_gekko wrote: »

no need to sympathise , i was just another greedy westerner trying to make it big in the property market overseas because i missed the boat over here
learned my lessson , hopefully it wont be too expensive

Gordon, I wouldn't be too hard on yourself. Based on the information you posted, but without knowing the structure of your mortgage - I'd say you're doing ok compared to some people. It appears that the income on the property is probably sufficent to pay the mortgage (or close to), albeit that you may have no ROI. In this circumstance you would hope to see value appreciation.

Look at it like this: - if you bought an apartment or house in Dublin, 12 months ago, you would have paid about 400k for a 3 bed semi in an OK area or around 350k for a decent 2 bed apartment. You should have achieved a rent of about 1300.00 per month. Do the maths!!!! Then consider the fact that values as dropping in Dublin and there are thousands of vacant apartments in Dublin. At this point in time you could be better off in your deal! - Less financial exposure and possible value appreciation.

This thread was started with a question regarding whether people have invested in overseas property successfully i.e. made money.

Of course they have ! - fortunes have been, ( and are being) made in investing in overseas property. However, I have met people who have lost substantial amounts in investing in overseas property. I'll say it again - you need to know what you are doing and what you want to get from the properties.

Think about this - If you jump over a wall without looking - you won't know whats on the other side.........until you land......

gordon_gekko

BJJDUB wrote: »

Gordon, I wouldn't be too hard on yourself. Based on the information you posted, but without knowing the structure of your mortgage - I'd say you're doing ok compared to some people. It appears that the income on the property is probably sufficent to pay the mortgage (or close to), albeit that you may have no ROI. In this circumstance you would hope to see value appreciation.

Look at it like this: - if you bought an apartment or house in Dublin, 12 months ago, you would have paid about 400k for a 3 bed semi in an OK area or around 350k for a decent 2 bed apartment. You should have achieved a rent of about 1300.00 per month. Do the maths!!!! Then consider the fact that values as dropping in Dublin and there are thousands of vacant apartments in Dublin. At this point in time you could be better off in your deal! - Less financial exposure and possible value appreciation.

This thread was started with a question regarding whether people have invested in overseas property successfully i.e. made money.

Of course they have ! - fortunes have been, ( and are being) made in investing in overseas property. However, I have met people who have lost substantial amounts in investing in overseas property. I'll say it again - you need to know what you are doing and what you want to get from the properties.

Think about this - If you jump over a wall without looking - you won't know whats on the other side.........until you land......

sure people have made money but johnny come latelys like me have not

put it this way , since the phenomenon of property exhibitions which regular people visit on a sunday around the country came in which was around 2003 , no one since then has made any real money

those who bought pre 2003 in say bulgaria , they bought at the same price as locals pay for houses in bulgaria

the average income in bulgaria is 5k a yr so obviously a house at 70 k is beyond them
it would be like a house here costing 560 k would be beyond the average person here

emmetor

Um.. a little popular psychology: if you read about Anthony Robbin's 6 human needs, he states everyone puts a different importance on different aspects of life.

How you value security will make a great difference to what happens after you invest. So, a reasonably comfortable investment for one person might be a nightmare for another once the market gets choppy.

I mean, my own opinions might be more compatible with BJJ's way of thinking about this, (e.g. that you have a business earning you an extra 225 euro per week! ) but I do realise that not everyone will have the same value system, and therefore I sympathise with your dilemma, and probably the very real stress you might be feeling.

So, whatever your values are, you need to arrange the game to let yourself win and feel comfortable with it, if that were possible, or look for alternatives.
I mean, if the risk is causing you worry, then it's either deal with risky situation or else handle the stress. Handling the stress, for example, might entail getting a third party investment analysis done. I mean, isn't the cycle boom-and-bust? not bust-and-buster....

Everyone has to do something or other to keep themselves sane, happy, and health.

FernandoTorres

Yeah I think too many Irish people invested abroad without having a clue. They thought that the economy would just run itself and that there was no way they could lose. They're going to see the harsh reality soon. Then the next boom will happen and a new generation of Irish mugs will invest in property in obscure places.

dewsbury

A big problem with the whole concept of investing abroad can be summed up as follows;

..your non English speaking tenant rings your managing agent in Bulgaria to advise him that the apartment above is flooding into your apartment.

However, there is a Russian in the apartment above who refuses to let anybody into his apartment. Furniture is damaged...carpets ruined..plumbing bills... legal complications ... rent withheld for months..etc.

All the above is conveyed to you in broken English and you are thousands of miles away..helpless , lost and unsure of the real truth.

Such things happen!

BJJDUB

dewsbury wrote: »

A big problem with the whole concept of investing abroad can be summed up as follows;

..your non English speaking tenant rings your managing agent in Bulgaria to advise him that the apartment above is flooding into your apartment.

However, there is a Russian in the apartment above who refuses to let anybody into his apartment. Furniture is damaged...carpets ruined..plumbing bills... legal complications ... rent withheld for months..etc.

All the above is conveyed to you in broken English and you are thousands of miles away..helpless , lost and unsure of the real truth.

Such things happen!

I have had to deal with worse !!!!! But then, if you only look at the negatives - you will never see, let alone achieve the positive.

BJJDUB

emmetor wrote: »

How you value security will make a great difference to what happens after you invest. So, a reasonably comfortable investment for one person might be a nightmare for another once the market gets choppy.

Exactly ! Before you purchase any property you need to decide what you are trying to achieve. e.g. it may not make a blind bit of difference if you have no income on a property and it costs you a fortune to own if you can afford it and want a holiday home for your own use.

One mans dream - another mans nightmare