I am looking to invest some of my money into overseas property. A few of my colleagues have done this and seem to be making some substantial profit. My problem is I am not 100% sure where to invest?

There appears to be a lot of experienced investors on this forum and I wondered if anyone of you could offer some suggestions. I have heard that Brazil is good, as is Egypt, Italy, Malaysia etc. I good freind of mine has also just invested in an Eco project in Belize. There just appears to be so much choice. What criteria should i be using to choose my first investment?

I have about 50K sterling to invest and I am really open to advice and suggestions

Thanks

Nick

Nick I started out abroad about 4 years ago, and one thing now is certain, - making substantial profits over the short term is virtually impossible now.

Your freinds have likely fallen into the same habits most of us pick up when investing abroad and that is OVER ESTIMATING REAL PROFITS.

Ive lost count of the number of times people say theyve doubled thier money yet when they come to sell they find it can take years and the apparant profits were just heresay.

Furthermore there is a tendancy to underestimate costs. One cost for example will be the interest you will no longer make as a result of taking money out of the bank.

Others will include ongoing maintenance, rubbish collection, insurance and so on. They you will have fees to sell which are substantial.

Another factor many encounter is this; Agents will tell you want a fantastic opportunity they have when they want to flog you a property but will give you the cold shoulder when it comes to resales. Property showrooms did exactly this, telling me what a fantastic once in a lifetime opportuuity they had yet when it came to resale I got a 5 second answer - no thanks we've moved on to other projects.

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Been investing abroad a few years. Always amazed people invest in places that produce just a few months rent per year

Hi and welcome NickJanes72.

The best opportunity for you will depend on what you are looking for from your investment. If your mind is set on owning bricks and mortar then you will struggle to make money in the short term for the reasons DogBox gave. The chances of making money improve the longer you are prepared to hold onto the property. The key here is to do your homework and check that rentals are likely to cover your ongoing costs such as mortgage payments, upkeep, local tax etc. Don’t put your faith in what agents are telling you. Investigate everything for yourself. I’m only interested in an agent’s view when they aren’t promoting that development. (They will give you negatives and try to turn your attention to what they are offering.)

Is the Eco resort you mentioned with Barefoot? I haven’t researched them fully, but I do like the way they take seed money from investors to purchase land, get planning permissions etc then sell property off plan. The returns can be very good.

My preferred investments are in the addition of value to land. There are syndicates, funds and other vehicles whereby similarly minded individuals invest together with the goal of doubling their money in a short period of time (typically 2 to 5 years.) These syndicates, funds etc, are managed by individuals with experience of: Negotiation for large pieces of land; Getting planning permissions; Developing land; Construction; Selling Property off-plan. Remuneration comes on completion of projects when all monies have been realised. The sale of properties can realise income several multiples of the costs incurred, so returns can be very attractive.

If you want to create a spread of investments then you may wish to consider purchasing a property with someone else.

Nick

you say you have 50K sterling, so I assume that you are UK based...

why do you feel that overseas is the best place to invest? There are always opportunites in the UK if you look hard enough.

I'm looking at 3 properties/land investments in Devon & Dorset, with profit potential of 30% - 50%, for example

1) 10 bedroom property split into 3 flats, purchase price just £250K, refurbishment cost of £50K and re-sale value over £500K

2) property with DPP for 5 x 3 bedroom holiday units, purchase price £225K, build costs £250K and re-sale value £750K

3) land, suitable for 3 x 3 bedroom town houses, purchase price £200K, build cost £225K and re-sale price of £750K

I can raise £100K but need other investors to joint venture.

Bill those returns are very attractive and indeed beyond anything Ive come accross in the last few years. I find the profit ends up being a good deal lower once it all comes out in the wash.

If it was as easy as your figures suggest, we would all be doing it and I would sell my business which is hard day to day graft compared to one development per year making upwards of £300K profit.

I arrange finance for developers and I can say for sure the profits are often meagre especially once the cost of finance, Tax and selling costs are accounted for.

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Been investing abroad a few years. Always amazed people invest in places that produce just a few months rent per year

I agree, they do sound too good to be true, but if you look in the right places you can find a few gems out there.

If you arrange development funding, I would interested in finding a a provider for one of my projects...the first one in my posting. looking for 100% funding fully secured, £250K on development project and £50K on my house.

If you have a provider who does this type of deal let me know mccallum_bill at hotmail dot com

Bill

the highest loan to value available for development projects is about 75% and ther rates fairly rich at north of 9%.

Your main residnec ewill be limited to 95% max and that assumes you can verify income to support the borrowing. 90% max if you cannot proove income.

Keep in mind valuers are very hawkish now and will value in the new enviroment where prices are falling given 40% of funding has been completely removed from the market and the populace cant fill that funding gap out of thier own pockets, so a fall is 100% guaranteed.

New developments here in Herts just outside London are not selling and developers are reducing prices to get interest.

I wish you well, but in this market you should do your figures very carefully. In the last crash lots of developers I dealt with went bust over night as they simply couldnt imagine not being able to sell stuff, afterrall "prices wouldnt fall in THIER area"

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Been investing abroad a few years. Always amazed people invest in places that produce just a few months rent per year

Hi Nick,

If as advised you are looking for a long-term investment I can suggest Spain, it still remains the UK´s no.1 holiday-home destination and the market is more developed than other areas. I work for an buy-to-let property agency based in Spain and we have properties 5mins from the beach available from £55,000, which is an excellent price for Spain and suggests long-term potential gains.

If you would like any more information send me a pm and if not, good luck in your search!
Life Overseas

hey,

try Romania man. Thats the **** right now.
Group Renault is moving there with all their logistic, Ferari just opemed a subsidary there.
that country is groing every day.
but dont do it yourself. Have somebody recomand you a company to work with.
take care

Hi Nick,

Have you had any luck finding anything yet?

I have a couple of suggestions you may be interested in such as River Kwai Signature Golf Resort in Thailand and also Barbados?

Let me know if you are interested?

Lisa

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Lisa Pittaway
Premier Overseas Properties Ltd
lisa@premieroverseasproperties.com