Boomed!!!

[sasguru]

Yes, but Bag-o-pus says the market in India will fall "soon".

HTH

Ah yes, PusBag that highly intelligent, world-renowned financial expert

[Ardesco]

Actually I've done some reasearch. You can if you do it through a shell company. Plenty of expats own property in India.

25% pa growth currently!

Only problem is that it's very easy for squatters to get into your property and take ownership of it. Unless you have family in India that you can trust to look after the property, deal with the local workforce when it comes to upkeep, and deal with the day to day bribes I would not bother.

[sasguru]

Only problem is that it's very easy for squatters to get into your property and take ownership of it. Unless you have family in India that you can trust to look after the property, deal with the local workforce when it comes to upkeep, and deal with the day to day bribes I would not bother.

Are there not agencies you can use for that? And if not, there's an opportunity in itself. .

[Ardesco]

Are there not agencies you can use for that? And if not, there's an opportunity in itself. .

The point is that unless you are a native you are etiher not going to know who you need to bribe to get things done, and/or you are going to get ripped off. I looked at buying some land in India or Nigeria a few years back because the cost of land and the building costs are cheap enough that you can build something quite special for not a lot of money.

What put me off in the end is the fact that you need to have somebody that is local that you can trust to oversee it for you, if not they will keep asking for a little bit more money until you have none left and you will be left with a half arsed half finished building that is worth nothing. You also need somebody who knows a thing or two about construction to oversee the build to make sure that it is done properly too.

If you have family over there that you can trust it is a great way to make some money and have a stunning holiday/retirement home. If not you will probably loose a load of money, end up with a half arsed building, or have missed out on paying a couple of importnant bribes that end up with the land being confiscated off you for <insert random excuse here>

[andy]

I'm thinking of investing in Goa, which seems to be the Indian millionaires' playground.
What do you think, seeing as you seem to be based there some of the time?

You may have missed the bus or maybe not. In goa a decent apartment goes for £50-70k and a detached house for £120k onwards near decent beach.
I don't think you will get 25% year by year appreciation on that.
have a look at indiamike.com

[alreadypacked]

You cannot buy property in India unless you are Indian or your parents are.

Only "fair"

Or you can do what I did set up a company to build holiday apartments, then the company pays to furnish it as well. I could tell you where the money used to set-up the company come from, but then I would have to kill you!

[andy]

I could tell you where the money used to set-up the company come from, but then I would have to kill you!

from your international crime syndicate ?

[alreadypacked]

What put me off in the end is the fact that you need to have somebody that is local that you can trust to oversee it for you, if not they will keep asking for a little bit more money until you have none left and you will be left with a half arsed half finished building that is worth nothing. You also need somebody who knows a thing or two about construction to oversee the build to make sure that it is done properly too.

If you have family over there that you can trust it is a great way to make some money and have a stunning holiday/retirement home. If not you will probably loose a load of money, end up with a half arsed building, or have missed out on paying a couple of importnant bribes that end up with the land being confiscated off you for <insert random excuse here>

Well I hope I'm doing it right. I hired a very good architect, builder and structural engineer, who don't like each other. I am paying them enough that they are prepared to shop one another in. I also threaten to arrive on a monthly biases to sort out any issues, but have only been twice this year. Works so far!

[alreadypacked]

from your international crime syndicate ?

Are you ready to die?

[alreadypacked]

I'm thinking of investing in Goa, which seems to be the Indian millionaires' playground.
What do you think, seeing as you seem to be based there some of the time?

Biggest problem is buying land, even with a shell company you can't buy land. So I bought a small old house on a large plot and knocked it down.
Didn't take long to tumble