Investing In Property: Should You Stay At Home Or Go Abroad?

Investing in property is one of the safest ways to save your money and make it work for you. But before you find somewhere to buy, there’s one important question to ask yourself first: do you want to invest in property in the country you live in, or go abroad? It might be an easy one to answer. For example, if you’re unlikely to leave the country, you’ll want to buy property where you live. Yet if property is extortionate in your country, then buying abroad might be the most practical solution - you shouldn’t start living in a thrifty way yourself, in order to buy investment property. 

Here’s a number of things you need to consider before investing in property.

What do you want to do with the property?

If you’re planning on buying somewhere to either sell or rent, then it’s sometimes better to buy in your own country. That way, you know what the market is like, what sort of price you can expect to get, and how the process works. Buying to sell or rent abroad can be tricky, unless you have good guidance and know the country well. If the property is for your children to live, again, you might be better off buying in an area that they’d like to live in. This might be abroad, or it might be near to a college or university that they plan on attending.

However, if you’re just buying a property to enjoy yourself, then you can go where you like. Look at the best places to buy, and where you’ll get the most for your money. You should also consider how easy it would be to sell on, and whether you’d make your money back from it. 

Will you be doing the property up?

If your goal is to find a dilapidated house and turn it around, then choosing property abroad is unlikely to be the best idea. When you’re managing a team of builders and decorators, you want to be as close by as possible. The team at Flipping Houses 101 have some ideas on how to make this a viable project. Likewise, if you buy a property in your country, you’ll have a better idea of how much materials and labour cost. If you go abroad, you’ll be relying on contractors to give you fair estimates and prices.

If you’re planning on doing the work yourself, your options are slightly better. If you’ve got the time and money to stay abroad while working on the property, then that’s fine. But if you’ll be doing it in the evenings and at weekends, then buying somewhere near to home will be best.

What lifestyle do you have at the moment?

If you’re retired or not tied down by a 9-5 office job, then you can go, more or less, where you want. However, if you’ve got family, pets or hobbies that mean you need to stay in the country, then leaving regularly to visit your property abroad might get very hard.