Thinking of investing.

[Travelmad]

Hi all. I have some spare cash and was thinking of buying a holiday property purely for rental income. Im looking for ideas on which countries offer the best yield with the least hassle.

Thanks in advance.

[Mountain Goat]

My personal feeling is that's the wrong approach, and doomed to fail.

If you're in the UK you can switch into a stream of Channel 4 overseas property progs. where investors/buyers are led around a country by a dippy scripted female (sorry, Amanda) and talk in 'grands'. How many grands for this, how many grands can you screw the seller down to, how many grands is it going to increase next year?

It's ghastly. No mention of a local village, facilities, people. Yes, other countries actually have indigenous people living in them. They have traditions, unique cuisine, an interesting way of life - they don't think in 'grands' and a quick buck, but they do have to suffer foreigners blasting in and screwing up their housing market.

Good luck.

MG

[Giddy Goat]

Although you're being just a bit harsh re the A Lambs of this world (I have heard them pay superficial reference to the joys of living/ holidaying in a region,) I agree MG - there has to be a bit of personal preference in it for rental purposes I feel - different if the purchase is simply as an investment: 'in which area/country is a property likely to appreciate the most rapidly' sort of scenario. That has a bad enough impact on the local property market in some countries, unless, as in France, you're buying a wreck that the French wouldn't touch with a bargepole, with the plan to renovate it sympathetically and sell it on.

For one thing, if you're looking to acquire a property and let it to holiday-makers, unless you're buying something seriously high end and have the dosh to hand it over to an agency to market it for you and handle the bookings, you have to love your purchase, love the area it's in, and love the locals - otherwise you'll never convince a punter to go there!!

[Musetta]

I have to agree here...I have other investments that have a far higher profit margin than my little holiday home...and wow...if you deduct the aount of TIME I spend messing with it...buying things, emailing people, marketing, getting local contacts to get things done, etc., I'm sure I could make more money for my time by working in a fast-food joint flipping burgers I love that I can rent it out to help me afford owning it - but the profit is certainly so small it is not really worth the bother.

however...I LOVE my little home and I LOVE the town it's in and Italy in general and I love talking to people about it and learning the language better and introducing my son to a new culture and way of life...and introducing my little town to quests...and feeling good about helping the economy there in my own little way by hiring locally when I need something done and introducing guests to the local shops and restaurants - I cannot imagine buying somewhere I didn't LOVE.

[la vache!]

Totally agree with all the above. There is no such thing as hassle free renting and I'm sure there are better investments if you have spare cash. I have total admiration for anyone who manages their business from a distance: trying to get a hot water boiler replaced at short notice, getting rid of mice, getting someone in to mend the cooker/dishwasher/washing machine, helping a guest find their way to A & E because they are ill - are all things that are easy if you live on site, if you don't, you need to pay someone quite a lot of money to do it for you.

[Giddy Goat]

That's so well put Musetta.

[paolo]

Travelmad,

Is this really a genuine enquiry? Not just a way to get people clicking on your link?

[Giddy Goat]

Had me fooled totally.

[Holiday Ray]

Yes, well spotted Paolo
Having had a quick look at "Travelmad"s site, which seems more like a "Link directory" than a "travel directory" to me. I think our friend is a little more "investment savy" than he is letting on.

That's it, I'm out of "inverted comma's" now.

Ray

[Musetta]

well....at least I never clicked on it way to get me riled up though

[Travelmad]

Travelmad,

Is this really a genuine enquiry? Not just a way to get people clicking on your link?

Sorry paolo, it was a genuine question. I will remove my site from my sig. Apologies to all that were upset by my post.

[Travelmad]

Thanks everyone for their replies.

The reason I posted the question is this. The way I see it is the buy to let market in the UK is finished for now. The property prices are so high, if you can get a 5% yield then you are lucky. You can get 5% in the bank with no hassle.

I have seen new build investments in other counties for less than 30k in really good areas. I think that these represent a better buy to let opportunity than the UK.

Say you had a 2 bed apartment rented out at £300 per week in high season. You only need 12 weeks rental income to give a yield of over 10%.

[paolo]

Say you had a 2 bed apartment rented out at £300 per week in high season. You only need 12 weeks rental income to give a yield of over 10%.

That's if you don't count all your fixed costs, which may bring you below 5% yield.

[Travelmad]

What sort of fixed costs are we talking about paolo?

[paolo]

Income tax, local taxes, insurance, repairs, cleaner/caretaker/agency, utility bills. I've probably forgotten something.