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Diary of a buyer: What am I? - 17 March 2008

Posted by Robert Southwell 3 comments

It seems the more I find out about buying a property overseas, the further away from a definitive answer I get. I have been reading more and more material about what I can buy and where I can buy it, and it seems that I could pretty much afford to buy two properties in one of the countries that until we hadn’t considered, and make some money instead of spending it.

According to the articles that have been keeping me awake for a couple of nights this week, we make an ideal couple to become investors in overseas properties. It looks really easy, and seems that we can make money on our property overseas without really doing much. We even get guarantees of rental, so it feels like there’s nothing for us to worry about.

The only thing is the properties I have seen for investment purposes are in countries that we don’t feel any particular attachment to. As I have said before, I am prepared to compromise on the country we choose so long as there are certain things (good local food and wine, good walking trails, not too far from the sea) that are present. In fact, if there is a possibility that we can make enough money from rentals to pay for both of the properties, I would be prepared to make this my number one option.

I just want to make sure that we aren’t letting ourselves in for more work than we already have. Part of the reason for getting to the point of buying a property overseas, and the 40 years of work that have gone in to making sure we are in a position to be able to do this, is to relax and reduce our stress levels. What I don’t want to do is to commit to buying two properties and then spend all of the time I am out in my new home abroad maintaining and worrying about the second one. This is on top of possibly spending the rest of the time that I am here in the UK worrying about rentals and marketing as well as paying my normal bills!

Surely, this is where the guaranteed rental comes in. But what happens in the future, if the company promising me that I won’t have to find my own tenants goes bust? I think this is something I’ll have to look into a bit deeper, but if we do find an investment, our retirement could be a whole lot more comfortable.

Am I an investor or holiday home buyer?


Comments

1. Sarah Keogh - March 20, 2008

I thought about investing in property to rent out overseas at the same time as buying one for myself, but eventually decided to go for my original thought of a place in Spain

I haven't looked back, and was eventually pursuaded by meeting people who had bought two properties in Eastern europe and now can't get rid of them or rent them out

2. Derek Harper - October 5, 2008

We bought property in central portugal, and are building a house now to rent out, we also run an information website with good upto date info for any one thinking about buying property in Central Portugal to live in our rent out.
www.gekkoportugal.com

3. Dan - February 21, 2010

This is a great blog all about living in Portugal
http://www.emmashouseinportugal.com/

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