Investing abroad - how much is the cost?

[realwahl]

There are many opportunities to invest abroad in Spain, Cyprus, Bulgaria. Obviously after investment, you have to let the property. As you can't handle yourself, you hire a property management agent (usually the company that sold you the property) to handle everything.

How much is normal to pay for this, except for the normal one time fee that you pay for finding you tenants? How much of the rent is actually yours?

[Jnazareno]

There are many opportunities to invest abroad in Spain, Cyprus, Bulgaria. Obviously after investment, you have to let the property. As you can't handle yourself, you hire a property management agent (usually the company that sold you the property) to handle everything.

How much is normal to pay for this, except for the normal one time fee that you pay for finding you tenants? How much of the rent is actually yours?

Investment oversees are great oppurtunity to add to one's portfolio.

but before you commit yourself and asset, it's good to research local laws regarding non-citizen homeownership or the basic real estate law.

and should you go ahead with this, the management fee wont be one time fee
since you will need someone to manage your property from afar. this fee is between you and the management company. Unless you know someone
locally where you are buying, then have it managed year-round.

Rents varies by local region..and season.
if you are buying in a popular city or tourism destinations, you can make a lot of money during those season. But if you buy from a place not-so-known
you could end up losing money. so do research before committing assets.

the best places to buy RE oversees are the growing markets such as China,
Philippines and many other places (always research)

[kevincohr]

There are many opportunities to invest abroad in Spain, Cyprus, Bulgaria. Obviously after investment, you have to let the property. As you can't handle yourself, you hire a property management agent (usually the company that sold you the property) to handle everything.

How much is normal to pay for this, except for the normal one time fee that you pay for finding you tenants? How much of the rent is actually yours?

A lot depends on whether you are renting short term to people on vacation or looking for someone who will actually live in the property.

For vacation rentals in Europe, local property managers typically charge 35-50 % of the rental income. This covers everything, including finding tenants, handling the changeover, cleaning etc. Although it's the least work, is is obviously expensive, plus there is no guarantee that they will get you a high occupancy rate.

As a result, many owners do some of the work themselves, advertising on vacation rentals sites and then working with someone locally to handle the changeover / cleaning. Advertising costs about $150 per site per year, and research we have done indicates you should plan to advertise on at least 3 sites to optimise your bookings. Hence, marketing costs are about $500 per year. In addition, you will probably pay about 10% for changeover services, plus maintenance of the property, which will vary depending on the property.

If you would like to get more information on the rental sites out there, visit http://www.compareownerholidayrentals.com : there's lots of useful information on costs, free trials, how to attract renters etc etc

Good luck !

Kevin