Investing in property is one of the best places for your money at the moment. It’s an incredibly popular investment choice because you can make a quick return in rent and prices are so high at the moment, you stand to make a lot of money. People often champion buying a property abroad because it tends to be cheaper but there is a lot of issues that go along with it as well. If you’re trying to decide between investing in property at home or abroad, here are some of the pros and cons.

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It Can Be Cheaper

The important thing to remember here is that it can be cheaper. It’s not guaranteed to be cheaper. If you’re looking at houses at home, compared to other places in Europe, you might find that some places are just as expensive or even more pricey. It also depends on where in the country you’re looking. For example, you might not be able to afford a house in the centre of London, but if you looked up north, you’ll see a huge decrease in the price. If you’re trying to look abroad for properties, it’s better to go further afield an look at countries that are perhaps up and coming. For example, check out rumahdijual.com/palembang/ to see how prices compare in Indonesia. You’ll be able to get way cheaper housing out in places like Asia or Africa so your initial investment, but you’ve got to remember that you can’t charge anywhere near as much for long term tenants so you’ve got to weigh up your options. However, if you’re renting it out as a holiday home, you can usually charge people a lot more.

If you buy in a country that has a fast growing economy, you’re likely to see a huge increase in the value of that property in a few years so it’s a good long term investment to make.

Legal Issues

The laws around being a landlord are going to vary from country to country which can be a blessing or a curse. If you’re a landlord in the Netherlands, for example, evicting tenants is an incredibly difficult process which can take a long time, if you’re even allowed to evict them at all. That means that if you get stuck with bad tenants that aren’t paying you rent, you’re going to struggle a lot. On the other hand, some countries have got far more relaxed laws that work in the landlord’s favor so you could make things far easier for yourself.

The main issue, according to property valuation services Brisbane is that, people run into is, simply not knowing the laws. Buying a property is always a difficult process and if it’s different out there, you could find yourself running into all sorts of problems. The best thing to do is find a lawyer that has worked in that country before and seek some advice from them on the dos and don’ts of buying a property out there.

Exchange Rates

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One of the main things that people forget when they’re letting a property abroad is the exchange rates. If they’re good, you’ll be making more money. But equally, if they’re bad you’ll be losing out and you might not be able to cover your expenses because of the money that’s being eaten up by bad exchange rates. For instances, you can easily Search in Orange County for New Homes as you know the real estate condition thus giving you the complete control over the situation but investing abroad can be risky due to the constant change in the economy.  Keep this in mind when you’re choosing a country to buy in. Check the rates at http://www.xe.com/currencyconverter/ and pick somewhere with a stable economy where you can be fairly sure that the value of the currency isn’t going to plummet.

Distance

Distance is going to be your biggest challenge for sure. When you’re managing a property in your own country it’s still very time consuming. Whenever the boiler breaks or something needs fixing, you’ve got to either fix it yourself or arrange for somebody to do it. That can take up a fair amount of time. Now imagine trying to do all of that when you’re halfway around the world. It’s going to cost you a lot in phone bills and then you’ve got to factor in the time difference if the country is far away. Suddenly, you’ll find yourself trying to arrange a plumber at 2 in the morning, in a language that you don’t speak very well. It’s not easy. Then you’ve got to consider showing tenants around. Obviously, you’ll have a company like emeraldmanagement.com to manage it for you but it’s always a good idea to meet your tenants before they move in. That means taking trips out there regularly to sort out all of this stuff which can get expensive as well, although you can claim some of it as expenses. If you don’t mind hiring a letting agency to deal with all of the management for you, it’s not too much of a worry but if you want to be a hands on landlord you’ll struggle.

Bear in mind how long it’s going to take you to travel to and from the country when you’re looking at potential countries to buy a house in.

Holiday Home

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One of the biggest benefits of having a house abroad is that you can use it yourself. If you buy somewhere and rent it out to other tourists, you can just block out a few weeks of the year for you and your family to use. It’ll make your holidays so much cheaper but it does come with its downsides. You’re going to be out there all the time already so if you’re out there for a holiday, you aren’t getting the chance to see new places. You’ll also feel obliged to use it because you’re paying the mortgage on it so people with holiday homes tend to end up going to the same place every year. If you love it that’s fine but it can be a bit of a waste if you want to see more of the world.

Whether you should invest in a property abroad or at home comes down to personal preference. If you want to be very hands on, you should probably think about something at home because the travel is going to be an issue. But if you’re going to leave it to somebody else and you’d like a holiday home in a country that you love, it can work well.