Overseas property investment

[Clippy]

With the aim of getting a serious topic going, anyone on the board currently (or planning to) invest in overseas property.

Thinking of putting some of my cash in overseas bricks and mortar and wondered if anyone else is into this.

[Kyajae]

With the aim of getting a serious topic going, anyone on the board currently (or planning to) invest in overseas property.

Thinking of putting some of my cash in overseas bricks and mortar and wondered if anyone else is into this.

Quite a lot of building work to be done in Irraq and Afghanistan.

[XTC]

With the aim of getting a serious topic going, anyone on the board currently (or planning to) invest in overseas property.

Thinking of putting some of my cash in overseas bricks and mortar and wondered if anyone else is into this.

I am pretty keen on Bulgaria, although I know little about the country and the potential pitfalls of buying there. I know a lot of people got their fingers burnt in Spain with the crazy land-grab laws or whatever they were called. The ski resorts in Bulgaria are taking off so I'm thinking of a small ski lodge something between £70 and £100K with the plan to convert into a number of small 1 bed/studio aparts for skiiers. A friend of a friend bought somewhere in one of the resorts for £30K but no idea what state it was in. But I guess with cheap materials and labour it wouldnt cost much to get it renovated.

[Viktor]

Yes I've done that. I invested last year in a flat in Romania, quite a good return of investment I would say.
If you want to invest in Eastern Europe (that is the market I know) buy flats in large cities or land just near them, but land is another business anyway.
Property in Romania has gone up 400% in 5 years...Unfortunately, 5 years ago I didn't know this...

[Jog On]

Romania is quite good at the moment, I went to a seminar recently and one of the speakers sources property of investors over there. Recent entries to the EU are good places because the growth is very good. Romania is putting up lots of nice snazzy appartment buildings to replace all the old communist ones. You can snap up places in very affluent areas for quite bargain prices.

For the price of a 2 bed in somewhere like Croydon you can get the same thing in their equivalent of Trafalgar Square. Plus they all rent on the continent so there's little danger of emplty properties. PM me if you want more info.

*edit* Property in Romania is 'expected' to return an average of 17% a year for another 10 years

[Clippy]

There have been a lot of articles this last week of how the German housing market (specifically Berlin) is a 'sleeping BTL giant'.

I can't quite see it myself.

Admittedly, their house prices has failed to rise for almost a decade (in fact, I think house price growth actually fell last year) but think that there is so much supply that opportunities for capital appreciation are limited.

[Clippy]

Property in Romania has gone up 400% in 5 years...Unfortunately, 5 years ago I didn't know this...

This is the dilemma, am I jumping onto a bandwagon that is about to come to a halt?

[gingerjedi]

Yes I am! My dad has lived in Spain on the Costa Blanca for the last 15 years and he has a villa that he lives in with 2x B&B's in converted out buildings and an apartment that he rents out.

On a recent visit I quizzed him on the pro's and cons of villa vs. apartment for investment with a view to moving out there myself, he advised getting an apartment purely because you can lock up and leave it whereas a villa will need a gardener, pool cleaner etc and the chances are neighbours are less likely to notice any problems that may occur, once your happy buy another.

He reckons he gets about 12k pa renting the apartment out and he only paid £100k for it 18 months ago, that certainly beats any BTL in this country!

When you want to move out there sell up and buy a villa, well that’s my plan!

[gingerjedi]

There have been a lot of articles this last week of how the German housing market (specifically Berlin) is a 'sleeping BTL giant'.

I visited Berlin recently and was told it is one of the only cities in Europe along with Venice where the population is falling year on year so I don't know where the articles are sourcing their info? Sounds like a scam to sell un-lettable property to me.

[Clippy]

Sounds like a scam to sell un-lettable property to me.

I'm beginning to think on similar lines.

A few years ago large chunks of real estate were bought by large institutions who are now trying to offload them because the residential property market has failed to pick up.

I think this is a marketing activity aimed at getting mug punters to carry the can - similar to what happened at the end of the dot.con boom.