What countries are best to buy a house for investment?

NullDrone

TBeckett100 wrote: »

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.

By the way I am not so bothered about being very rich at the end of the day as long as I have a significant amount of money and a house I'm happy, I'm not really bothered about becoming a millionaire, I just want to live away from the UK eventually, because the sun always makes me happy.

And do I have to move? Would I often have to come back to the property to manage it or something? I could just fly over now and then right? I am unsure of how much time you'll have to put into managing it. Flights aren't that expensive.

kinger101

NullDrone wrote: »

Flights aren't that expensive.

....if you're a flying pig.

ScorpiondeRooftrouser

Does it not occur to you that you have absolutely no advantage over anyone else in doing this? And if it were possible to make money simply by buying property abroad and visiting it every six months without any significant capital or any effort, everybody would be doing it?

NullDrone

ScorpiondeRooftrouser wrote: »

Does it not occur to you that you have absolutely no advantage over anyone else in doing this? And if it were possible to make money simply by buying property abroad and visiting it every six months without any significant capital or any effort, everybody would be doing it?

Not everyone is prepared to do it because they are too scared to buy a house, it's a risk for many people, but if I can move in with someone else while renting this house out then I don't imagine it'd be that much of a risk, for many people it just doesn't come to mind and they wouldn't know where to buy like me.

NullDrone

It just depends on how much I can rent it for and the law, what the risk would be, but I can imagine that there are books on this that cover all the things you should look out for when buying a home abroad.

For example this book on Amazon: "Essential questions to ask when buying a house in france: and how to ask them."

You’re planning to take the plunge and invest in your dream: a property and perhaps a life in France. How can you be sure to avoid mistakes? This book will take you step by step through the process by addressing all the questions you need to ask both yourself and French professionals, such as: • Should I buy a house in France as an investment? • Will I be able to obtain a mortgage in the UK for a foreign property? • Are there any rights of way attached to the land? • Does the house or land come with the necessary planning permission? • Has this property been treated for infestation? • Are there any plans for development in the area? • What do I need to do about the local taxes? • How do I go about letting the house? Use the benefit of Mark Sampson’s experience to guide you through the questions you need to ask about what sort of house to buy, where to look, what’s involved in the contractual process and what to do with your house once you’ve bought it. At every stage of the way, you will learn what’s important to be aware of, including relevant French laws and systems. A plethora of phrases are translated into French for you to have at your fingertips, making this an essential purchase to steer you clear of the pitfalls and help you make the right choices when buying a house in France.

I find that the best thing to learn from is books and hearsay is usually crap because it's based off conventional "wisdom" and "common sense" rather than someone that has been doing this for years and actually has the wealth of knowledge to write a book about it.

racing_blue

I was about to say Middlesborough but I take that back

racing_blue

Welsh Valleys

ScorpiondeRooftrouser

NullDrone wrote: »

Not everyone is prepared to do it because they are too scared to buy a house, it's a risk for many people, but if I can move in with someone else while renting this house out then I don't imagine it'd be that much of a risk, for many people it just doesn't come to mind and they wouldn't know where to buy like me.

What special knowledge do you have that everyone else lacks and how did you come by it?

Running_Horse

By reading books! Do pay attention.

HappyMJ

You should consider buying in Sydney, Australia. They speak English and the property laws aren't that hard to figure out. Your solicitor will do all the hard work for you. Every other foreign investor is buying property there and will continue to do so which will lead to further rises in the property market. Even the members of parliament there have been saying property in Australia is very affordable at the moment. see- http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/jun/09/joe-hockey-tells-aspiring-first-home-buyers-get-a-job-that-pays-good-money A reasonable 3 bedroom house there should cost around about $1,000,000 and should double in price in 10 years. Interest rates are very low and there is no interest premium on a buy to let investment mortgage as there is the UK.