Finance Blog » International

10 Questions to Ask When Buying Property Overseas

hortoris — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 09:56:33 +0000

Whatever your reason for buying abroad there are some basics that need to be covered. A family retreat or holiday home in the sun, a retirement home, a rent producing investment or an upmarket city center crash pad the issues are similar.

First Questions

How easy or difficult is the buying process in your chosen overseas country
What are the full costs of buying
Are there local taxes or regulation certificates to acquire
What restrictions if any are placed on overseas and absentee owners
How easy is it to get funding, a mortgage and transfer money in and out.

Assuming Initial Questions are OK

How easy is it to establish title to your selected property
Is there a history of foreign property ownership in the area. If so is the experience good or bad.
How easy is it to sell when the time comes. What are the likely issues.
Are local and national government sympathetic to overseas property investment
Will you be taxed on rental income, capital gains and inheritance.

Our Comments on Buying Overseas

Know as much about the country, it’s language and it’s property related customs as possible.
Understand the extra risks you incur when dealing away from your home base. Watch the currency fluctuations.
Read The Downside of Investing in Property
Watch out if the new country requires you to set up a company before you can buy land. If so you need a lawyer conversant with the likely issues.
Overseas is a big place and you can only buy in a small part of it! Do your financial and responsibility research with diligence.

Read up on books from amazon – Buying Property Abroad

Beware of Greeks Bearing Debts

hortoris — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 13:28:13 +0000

The Trojan horse gave us the aphorism ‘Beware of Greeks Bearing Gifts’.
Now it is our turn to bear gifts to the Greeks.
Not content with one massive bail out Europe is being maneuvered into a further bail out, but is it the fault of the Greeks?.

European Union

Expectations of countries joining the EU in second and subsequent rounds was high. Unrealistically high.
Taking out more than is contributed, exacerbated by the very high administration and bureaucratic costs of the EU, is unsustainable. This is not the Fault of the Greeks.
Greece has survived and arguably been stable for 3000 years and sees no reason to conform to the club now it has taken the best of the membership benefits.
Greek culture and social practices take advantage of the prevailing circumstance. Many work for pay during the summer and draw from the state during winter. The Club-Med culture.

Euro Currency

It would be a labour of Hercules to create and maintain a single currency suitable for the diverse members of the EU.
Instead we have a Medusa of a problem and should cut failing countries/currencies free.
Greece are shackled by the Euro and the Vulture funds that bought Greek debt at around 50% of face value. They will make a killing at tax payer expense if the debt is restructured.
Enter the Chinese premiers debt bail out option, using the dollars we spent buying cheap goods from China.

Stability and Confidence

Propping up the Euro is no way to go! So that is what the EU will probably continue doing for at least another decade.
Politics is too important to leave to politicians and certainly too important to leave to the Eurocrats
Support for Greece reduces other available resources for stabalising our own economy and slows down global recovery.
Time to take the medicine before amputation is enforced.

Foreign Mortgages for Oversees Property

Tejvan R Pettinger — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 16:28:52 +0000

In the past 10 years, UK house prices have increased by nearly 200%. Given the difficulties and costs of buying a house in the UK, many have looked oversees for the potential of getting on the property market.

Popular destinations for buying an oversees property have included countries such as Bulgaria, Poland, Romania, Czech Republic and even smaller countries like Albania and Turkey.

There is of course considerable risk associated with buying abroad, but, at the same time there is greater potential for capital gains.

When getting a mortgage for an oversees investment, many prefer to take out a mortgage from a UK financial institutions.

Big banks like Lloyds TSB offer specialist foreign mortgages (which include useful options such as lending upto 5 times income) – Foreign mortgages at Lloyds TSB. Their mortgages come with a choice of repayment options plus options to borrow in several different currencies.

Another specialist mortgage company for oversees purchases is Conti Finance.

Getting A Mortgage Oversees

Another alternative is to get a mortgage in a foreign company. For many of the popular destinations like Florida and Spain, banks are willing to lend mortgages in Sterling to attract custom for the lucrative English buyers market.

Note: Getting a mortgage oversees may be particularly beneficial if interest rates are lower in that country. At the moment this is true for both EURO zone interest rates and the US.

Remortgaging in the UK

Another option to raise a mortgage for an oversees purchase is re mortgaging your existing UK property. This enables you to raise cash to use for oversees investment.

Foreign Finance for Oversees Mortages at Channel 4