Foreign Mortgage without owning UK Property?

Gopes

Hi, I am intending to have a crack at property development in Portugal (I am half portuguese).

I believe that most foreign mortgages are 70% LTV - presumably, that means that I have I by a cheap property - £25k-£35k with a view to spending quite a bit renovating it to a decent standard, I would only be able to borrow 70% of the purchase price - i.e. I would have to raise the capital for renovating with a separate loan, as all my savings would just about give me the 30% deposit.

The fact that I do not own a property in the UK does complicate matters somewhat, as any loan would be presumably unsecured.

Am i likely to be able to do this?
Gopes

homer_j_3

You should be able to secure a mortgage regardless of your property status here in the UK.

Your deposit will be based on the purchase price and you will be expected to fund the rennovations yourself.

I would go and see a broker that can deal with euro mortgages and can explain fully the products that are available. This will also allow you to have all the risks explained in full.

To be honest, if you are "trying" out property developing for the first time, I think you are being brave doing this as your first project. Why not look at auctions and stuff here to see if you can do as a starter project?

Gopes

Thanks for the tips will definitely see a euro mortgage broker.

The main reason for wanting to try a portuguese development project is:
a) Much lower level of costs involved
b) Being half portuguese, and having family (parents and siblings) in Portugal who will help oversee the development stage means that their will be less impact on my job in London - of course, I will still be visiting frequently to oversee the project on a macro stage, but if I can leave the micromanagement to my family (I will be paying them for this out of any profits).
c) Arguably, the property development market in the UK is somewhat saturated - everyone with a bit of money seems to be trying their hands at this, so to spend £150k (£200k plus in the South East) on a project in the UK, to make an expected £10k profit strikes me as risky, whereas to spend £50k on a project in central portugal to make a £10k profit is less risky in terms of dependency on market/interest rate shifts.
d) Finally, maybe I am kidding myself, but the fact that I speak perfect Portuguese and perfect English, gives me (i hope) a certain advantage over many competitors in that I hope to be able to market the property as a budget holiday home for the UK market, but being half portuguese will hopefully allow me to negotiate more competitive prices that a normal English person looking to try his/her hand at property development in Portugal.

Gopes