I am a non-resident foreigner planning to invest in real estate.Can you answer?

ga34dery

Hi.

I am from Turkey and I will have around 100.000 pounds within a few months. A part of the money is ready.

I am planning to invest in studio type flat in UK to rent. I have some questions:

1. Can a non-resident foreigner invest in real estate in UK? As a preliminary research I found out there are no restrictions. Are there any restrictions? I will purchase by cash if I purchase - no mortgages.

2. In how many years does the investment return capital in London for studios? I hear that normally in 12-13 years of renting income is equal to your investment amount. In rightmove.co.uk, I see that some 100.000 properties return 12.500 in a year. Is this a advertising gimmick? Can you give me the average return in layman's terms?

3. Is it easy to find 100.000 pound studios in UK?

4. If there are any, is it better to purchase 3 quantities of ,example 33.000 pound studios or one studio at 100.000 considering returns?

5. There are some letting management companies in UK - but are there nationwide reliable proberty management (letting management) companies that are not local and nationwide, and reliable? Reliability is important because I am overseas (in Turkey) and I need to make everything is dealt reliable. Some company should not take advantage of myself being overseas. And this property management should deal with every aspect, as some companies do in the USA: renting, dealing with repairs etc., dealing with clients etc. , assisting me with taxation issues. I only want to deal with collecting rent (as you can understand, I am overseas.). Also are there any property management companies give rental guarantee? I saw some on the net in UK but I am not sure how reliable they are.

6. Is this a right time for investment in UK?

I am making a preliminary research, so all you input to all those questions are appreciated a lot.

G_M

Once you have passed the money-laundering tests, there are no retrictions on owning property in the UK.

You will have to factor in the costs of owning/running your rental business as well as simply looking at the rental income.

There are studios in parts of the UK for £100,000. You would need to research the rental market in those areas.

You will not find any for £33,000.

There are many letting agencies, local and national, but there is no compulsory registration or standards so they vary a lot. Good and bad. Just because they are national does not mean they are good!

If you are going to pay them to manage the letting, you would be wise to let them collect the rent too (this also helps with the tax - if you collect the rent yourself, your tenant will have to deduct your tax before paying you.)

Read this post here, and all the links within it.

ga34dery

Your response much appreciated. Collecting the rent from the property management firm is ok for me. I would like to hear from any others on any questions.

demontfort

This sounds like a recipe for disaster. I'll just deal with:

6. Is this a right time for investment in UK?


With 100k you will most likely be buying in a big city other than London where there is a massive glut of studios for rent and and for sale. Therefore you will struggle to rent it out and will end up with a poor rental yield of less than 5% plus your property will be losing value every year as UK house prices are falling.

In summary don't do it. It makes as much financial sense as burning your £100k on a large fire.