What countries are best to buy a house for investment?

remorseless

TBeckett100 wrote: »

So you move to Latvia and there you are at home, jobless and milking your lamb. The lamb looks at you and says

You're baa my.

Latvia is heating up(ish)!!!! and there're jobs, depending on the languages you speak - and the lamb too :cool:

I think there was an article on the Guardian yesterday about the UK having the HIGHEST rents in EU, so finding a country with the same rent will be hard...
Also other countries have different tax system when it comes to allowances and it depends if you're UK resident as well.

The idea that you can buy a 37 bedroom villa for the cost of a peanut (one) and then make a fortune for the years to come should be highly reconsidered to match reality.
Countries like Romania/Bulgaria are cheap to buy and you also get cheap rents. Think in percentages.

http://www.globalpropertyguide.com/ maybe not up to date to the minute, but it may give you an idea about pros/cons for each country.
Lots of other countries (see same article on the Guardian) are not so pro-landlord, meaning that you can't evict easily. Netherlands are notorious for being uber pro-tenant. Italy usually have 4+4 years system, etc.

Conrad

READ THIS OP;


Some years ago I went on a similar adventure looking all over the world for an exciting property investment. I even ended up with a block of repossessed flats in Eastern Germany which I bought with a key founder member of the housepricecrash website, honestly! I got swept along with the whole anti UK property thang.


Long story short, it was a waste of my time and energy, and risky as hell for all sorts of reasons.
If I had put that money into further UK property I would have done much better even with the long economic down turn.


There's such a thing as 'the sleep at night premium'. This essentially boils down to doing your investing locally, safely and slowly, not trying to get rich quick. You might still get rich quite quickly but don't have this as a main goal. As Generali on here once said (and it stuck in my head ever since) - 'get rich slowly'.


I just invest locally (within 30 miles) now, know the market inside out and over time have found this local knowledge and insight really pays off. It is very stress inducing to have plumbers quoting you for works that 'need' doing, when you are a 1000 miles away. Are you being ripped off, and you the hapless British idiot 'investor' getting fleeced, what if the local property manager is in business with local plumbers etc etc etc


Investors from across the world are desperate to buy UK real estate. Sometimes that thing you seek is right under your nose.
Getting some supposed price discount now is not important, look at the big picture over a 30 year time frame.

Maelwys

TBeckett100 wrote: »

So you move to Latvia and there you are at home, jobless and milking your lamb. The lamb looks at you and says

You're baa my.

One of my best friends is Latvian, and she went back there just over a year ago after spending several years studying/working in the UK. Riga (the capital) is brilliant. You can pass old majestic churches, a soviet-era torture chamber and a multi-screen digital cinema in the length of just one street...

You might have a bit of trouble finding a lamb though. Latvians really don't have much in the way of a "grazing" farming structure, most countryside farmland is overgrown and unused because neighbouring countries can supply the produce cheaper. So the (mainly wooded) countryside is very quiet and picturesque and only really livens up during the Jani midsummer celebration. The seaside's another story though.

There's something of a tech boom starting off nearer the city too - startups are springing up all over the place and the "council services" and public transport system are pretty decent. It's really not a far cry from UK cities, except for it being cleaner and you being less likely to get mugged.

The wages over there aren't too bad either actually, considering that the cost of living and average house prices are about half to two thirds what we'd expect. And the Fruit and Bread is to die for. You could do a lot worse... just brush up on your Russian!! (everyone there over the age of about 40 grew up speaking Russian, anyone under that speaking Latvian. But good luck finding any Latvian language classes in the UK!)

ScorpiondeRooftrouser

"8500 pounds! That's a pathetic amount of money! You could raise more money by auctioning dogs!"

NullDrone

Running_Horse wrote: »

Where to begin?

Paragraph 1. The UK economy will collapse and they will come for your money? Having seen many economic cycles I would guess the economy is just recovering, will boom for a few years, then slow down, and repeat. Nobody is coming for your £8500.

Paragraph 2. Unless you are heading for an English speaking country, how are you going to read these magical oracles in their native language? Property speculation with £8500 in Romanian?

Paragraph 3. You're going to find people in financial distress in a foreign language and offer to buy their house for 60% of its true value! and they are going to agree rather than just sell it for its true value? OK.

Paragraph 4. Who is going to pay a high rent in a struggling economy? Why wouldn't people just pay lower rents to someone else? Perhaps you are not as clued up as you think.

But good luck. I like a dreamer.

1. I think it's an assumption to say "Nobody is coming for your money.", interest rates haven't rose yet and the UK is in loads of debt, once the UK descends even deeper into debt they have 3 options, taking money out of people's account, hyperinflating the currency and declaring default, I am not sure if that's true, but just like Greece, people will never believe it's going to happen to them, UK is in loads of debt and people are in denial.

2. Once I'm certain on a country to buy I'll learn the language or figure out some way of buying it, I have friends from all over the world that may help me, I bet I could figure out some way.

3. Yes they do sell it for much cheaper than it's worth, before the house goes up for auction they will look for someone to buy it off them, these people are in denial, they don't want to accept that they can't pay their house off, you'll go in before the banks ends up selling it.

4. When I say I'm charging high rents, what I mean is that I'm going to find an area where the rents are high, not charging higher than average as that'll lead to vacancy, overall you work out your yearly income from the property, I can't remember what it's called exactly but you divide the house price by the amount you earn per year, whichever gives you the highest value, you buy, I think there's more calculation I will make though. People will rent high if they can't afford the house prices themselves, and maybe some people aren't bothered about wasting money renting. I know a banker in london that rents, he wastes money all the time...

I would say it may just be workable and that people are being pessimistic

NullDrone

TBeckett100 wrote: »

so if you are buying a distressed property on a buy to let mortgage with no income yourself, near a school etc (so it will be a prime property) How do you plan on buying your own home? Or will you continue living in cloud cookoo land?

I could probably move in with someone else, once the house is bought I'll have an income, then I can move into that house once I buy another, I am unsure of exactly how long it will take to pay off, but once I'm on a good job I'll use my own money if necessary.

It seems to me as if you just have doubt that I could make it because you know I'm young and aren't criticizing my points. I would say people are being anti intellectual and making out as if everything’s going to go wrong. Have you invested in real estate abroad? Surely not every country is that bad, I don't see why people would be getting ripped off left, right and centre, surely if you go into it with knowledge and are prepared to pull out if you feel something is wrong, you'd be fine.

Parents always encourage their kids to go to university but in reality, most university students come out with huge debts and no jobs, they only do it because it's what they are told to do, people have common opinion and don't think for themselves. I think you are probably right about the legal side to it though, it's probably risky.

I'm probably being nieve about this and will find later on that it was not a good idea, but I want to at least try to buy a place.

Dird

Running_Horse wrote: »

Very strange. Someone in the UK wanting to buy a "foreclosure". Wonder what the response would be if I went on an American forum asking about repossessions!

Why would it be strange to want to buy a house at a discount? People are able to do similar at an auction

DandelionPatrol

NullDrone wrote: »

I would say people are being anti intellectual and making out as if everything’s going to go wrong.

Yourself included - eg:

NullDrone wrote: »

1. I think it's an assumption to say "Nobody is coming for your money.", interest rates haven't rose yet and the UK is in loads of debt, once the UK descends even deeper into debt they have 3 options, taking money out of people's account, hyperinflating the currency and declaring default, I am not sure if that's true, but just like Greece, people will never believe it's going to happen to them, UK is in loads of debt and people are in denial.

TBeckett100

But your £8,500 will mean you have to have a mortgage. So your income yield will be dramatically reduced by the mortgage and what you get afterwards will be relatively small

Let's say you spend £70k on a foreign house and use you £8k as a deposit and legals (you'll need a bilingual lawyer). The £68k mortgage may at 3% cost you interest only £2000k a year for arguments sake

Rental may achieve a 10% yield (let's be generous), so £7k-2k = 5k profit each year

So £400pm income. You'll need to learn a foreign language and therefore it will take you a while to earn a decent salary and progress

Not sure what the tax position will be on your income (varies per country) but let's say it's tax free. Now you start to save £400pm (assume salary covers living costs)

Now after a year you get near 5k saved so after a couple of years you have 10k (provided there is no maintenance bill)

So you buy another?

Probably in theory it could work but there is a hassle factor. Is it worth uprooting yourself, learning a new language, only to be making 5k a year out of it?

If you stayed in your native tongue and for the right career here, you will probably make more than that working in the UK.

You are correct in one regard, you don't need to go to Uni. I remember my headmaster telling me when I left half way through A levels that I was making a huge mistake and that I wouldn't amount to much.

Well a cursory look at old school friends on Facebook tells me all I need to know.

TBeckett100

How old are you?