Hello profs,
Green newcomer who lives in uk and looking for first step on property ladder. As uk market for me is tooo heavy looking for advise from you profs. Idea is to make first move in emerging prop. market like Montenegro, Albania, Dominican Repubic maybe Ukrainia. Of course I don't have enough resources for buying, so will look for mortgage.
Is there any cons or if will go for such a deal? Thanks everybody for time taken

Hi Ardo

I like all those markets for differing reasons. Of course they both have negatives but that is the case in all established markets as well as emerging ones. We do not sell as yet in the Ukraine but I quite like the sound of the ski regions that I have seen advertised although I have not looked closely enough to find out about mortgage finance and other economic detail. Albania is a country I know alot about and we actually market through Albania Estate. Albania is the last of the warm and beach front emerging markets in Europe and it has alot going for it for the savvy investor.
There is mortgage finance available at 70% LTV,
the currency for property sales is the Euro,
the main European banks are situated in the capital
the price per m2 starts from 550 euros for legal developments with finance
strong local demand for middle class affordable property
good exit strategy
good rental in the capital
first beach front development
no vat, no purchase tax, no capital gains on property bought by individual.
High capital growth and 500kms of beach and numerous mountains for skiing.

Montenegro works better know for the investor as we at Damen Real Estate have certain developments available with mortgage finance at 70% LTV at 7.5%. Montenegro is an amazing country. Stunning in its beauty it is going to be firmly on the map in the years to come as one of the most important countries in the world to visit. It looks like being the Monaco of the Adriatic with its new marinas, motorway, golf courses ,5 star hotels , casinos and tax free life style all within 2 and half hours of UK and Ireland.
There is only 2 % purcahse tax and limited scaled capital gains at this time.
Capital growth of around 30 - 50% a year in places
Unesco protected sites
Predicted highest growth in tourism in any country in the world by 2010.

Dominican Republic is still emerging and is no doubt beautiful in parts. I personally don't think that it has the same overall beauty of many other Caribbean islands but it is still one of the cheapest for a country that has more infrastructure than some. We do market in this country through mypropertyworld but for you I don't think it is quite right yet.
The trouble with investing so far away is the distance and how much control you want to have from your investment. Whether it be new build or land.
Finance is available to purchase but if you are just starting out in the world of property investment, I would look closer to home and build from there.
You do need good capital growth to give you leverage but must do your due diligence wherever you look.
Feel free to ask me for advice on investing in emerging markets in general.

My thoughts are:

Montenegro: Very, very hot market right now. The Russians have been in for a year and prices in key locations have doubled at least in that time. It still has a long way to go though as the country looks like it will become a playground for the rich and famous. If your budget is smaller, look inland or at the capital, Podgorica. The economy is growing fast and so the capital will grow in prominance as well.

Albania: For those who like a gamble, or have a diversified portfolio and can afford to take a risk. Yes, it's pretty much the only place left on the European Med where you can buy beachfront for under EUR1000/m2, but there's very little infrastructure there at the moment. I was reading a blog from an expat who has been living in Albania for several years and he wrote that there's no way he'd invest money in Albanian real estate at the moment.

Ukraine: This is not a new and emerging market any more - the Russians were in there buying many years ago. I was in Kiev a year ago and couldn't believe the amount of new developments or how high the prices were. It's the same in Crimea. It looks to me as if there will soon be massive over-supply on this market.

Dominican Republic - Our site at propertastic.com only covers Central & Eastern Europe and the emerging Mediterranean so I don't know what's going on in the Dominican Republic. I would imagine that Americans would have been in there a while back. Personally I am a bit nervous about investing in a market which involves an expensive long-haul flight to get to and from each time I wanted to go and visit.