Thinking of investing.

[Mouse]

shoe fund?

mouse (who also has a handbag fund)
x

[Giddy Goat]

[Travelmad]

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

With the exception of a cleaner, which some owners charge extra for. All the costs you mentioned are applicable to buy to let properies in the UK too.

I still think there may be better buy to let opportunities available in other countries than in the UK. Which i was hoping to find out about by starting this thread.

[paolo]

I was comparing it to the 5% net you can get from the money just sitting in a bank.

[Travelmad]

I was comparing it to the 5% net you can get from the money just sitting in a bank.

Oh ok Paolo.

[Giddy Goat]

Im looking for ideas on which countries offer the best yield with the least hassle.

Wherever your holiday property is, you will have hassle Travelmad, unless you're prepared to hand over the responsibility of letting and management to a local agency, (which will cut down hugely on your yield) or are nearby to caretake and clean yourself, or source local people to do it for you - and that is no easy matter.

I can only speak for France - finding guests hasn't been difficult for us although if I were to do it again, I'd buy two smaller properties rather than one large one, as I think they are easier to let out of season eg for house hunters and to couples without children.

Despite the less reliable weather further north in France, the season there is broader than it is for us in south-west France because of its accessibility to the channel ports, and places like Cannes and Nice are likely to let for longer periods too I suspect, simply because of the even warmer weather there and the cachet. But it all comes down to a combination of factors as to how successful you'll be - choice of property (needs to be a bit more unique in an area that is already crowded with properties), how well presented the property is, good marketing and handling enquiries, appropriate pricing ....

I don't think, other than that, there's a one-size-fits-all answer to your question.

Places like Croatia are a growing market but there, you have a language problem to cope with potentially, and investors have missed the boat (or at least half or three quarters of a boat) by not having bought five years ago.

As for further afield than Europe, goodness knows! Florida?

Holiday lets are not for the faint-hearted, so let us know what your final decision is and good luck!

[Travelmad]

Thanks for that GG.

I do like France very much. And its easy to get to. My partner has a phobia of flying, so we have to drive everywhere. Hence the without the hassle question, as we would not be able to manage the property ourselves.

[Glenos]

I'm quite a newbe at holiday letting but what I have learned, infact learned before I was a 'Hatter', was that a bit of you has to be in it else it aint gonna work. Sure there's a few bob in holiday letting if you get it right or you own the property outright but the hard work and sleepless nights to be honest aren't really worth 5% but we do it because in a funny ol' way it's a vocation, a way of life. There are so many things to consider and do when you're letting to vacationers that the idea of making a fast buck flies out of the window, you're too bloomin' busy or tired to sit back with a scotch or glass of vino and consider your growing wealth from holiday letting. I think gone are the days of making goodly profits from your guests or seeing your property making massive equity gains. It's had the **** kicked out of it to a degree and to make enough to properly cover your costs is a real job in itself. That's what I'm finding anyway. Dont be put off though, put your heart and soul and money and time into it and you may just get there. To me the buzz of offering a comfortable holiday to my guests who will hopefully come back next year, and having a pride in my hard work and efforts kinda makes up for never being a millionaire at the holiday letting game.
I am only a begginer you understand but giving it a go because I like to.

[Holiday Ray]

Hi travelmad
As GG, Glenos and the others have said, being a rental property owner is a very time consuming past-time.
Just think of buying a property in your home country !
then adding a foreign language (even if you speak the lingo, there are all sorts of cultural and bureaucratic differences to consider, particularly perhaps in France)
Then imagine how difficult it might be, when there is a relatively minor problem that you can't seem to get in touch with anyone about and you can't just jump in the car and drive down yourself and sort it out.
Unless the rental is already an up and running business the chances are that you will have to do some sort of "refurb" job on it, before you let it.
Then you have to look at Marketing, maybe your own website? along with the other things already mentioned by others here.
You will almost certainly have to visit the rental many times more often than you anticipated, in the inaugural year ( we went over to France 6 times in our first year). So if you are going to be driving back and forth each time, do not underestimate just how time consuming and tiring this may be. (correction - WILL be)
As Musetta said and I'm sure the others would agree, the vast majority of people buying a rental property abroad, do so because they already like OR LOVE the area in which they buy. They quite often buy, to either live in, or near to it, themselves, or as their own bolthole, to escape from their everyday routine. They often decide to rent it out to pay the mortgage on it, or earn some extra cash.
Some will be making a very good short term return on their investment, but I suspect they will be one of a very small minority.
As a long term investment then yes 'brilliant', but don't overlook the amount of effort that will be required in the short to medium term.

Personally, although we went through the process of 1st buying land and then employing a french builder (who spoke virtually no English, compared to my GCSE french) to construct a 'maison secondaire', I consider our efforts to have been 'challenging' rather than hassle.
If you are looking for a 'fast return' on your investment Travelmad, perhaps this is not the forum for you !
All the best

Our new-build blog (Started this blog last year, but not yet finished - gives you an idea of the work involved. Anyone have any ideas about how to spruce it up, (apart from actually finishing the story, that is), please let me know )

Ray

[Travelmad]

Thanks for your post Ray.

Some very good points to think about there.

[Moliere]

To me the buzz of offering a comfortable holiday to my guests who will hopefully come back next year, and having a pride in my hard work and efforts kinda makes up for never being a millionaire at the holiday letting game.

Spot on, Glenos! I don't make much money (if any!) out of my letting - frankly all that I ask is that it pays its way until we trans-ship ourselves. But I do get a real kick out of working with our guests, solving their questions, making it easy for them - you're right, it's incredibly rewarding. And when you get those "thank-you" letters and emails, that's when it all peaks for me, pure magic!

Moliere

[Margaret]

Just signed the contract to buy our 3rd property - gulp! In the same road as our 1st one. Gives us 2 one bedroom apartments on the ground floor (something we don't have at the moment). We plan to sell the 1st floor to previous guests, quite a lot of whom want to buy here. If it doesn't work out we will let the 1st floor apartments to, giving us 4 one bedroom apartments.
Fun to have another lot of furnishings to plan!