Buying overseas property: experts cheat sheet

1. Goal

For starters, experts recommend to clearly define the purpose of the purchase. Why purchased a property abroad? Will it be a place of recreation, a means of obtaining a residence permit, investment for resale or renting, moving for the sake of children's education, building for retirement – or several factors at once.

An ideal object to find almost impossible: as a rule, buying really to choose a foreign property, which will match no more than two or three objectives of the investor. Therefore, when the search should focus only on what really matters.

Realtors say that often in the process of buying, many investors are changing their goals. They come to the Agency with the idea to buy income property, and eventually, after many attempts to find the "perfect" apartment object in multiple countries, buy a private Villa in first line to the sea. As will be serviced by an expensive gift to myself whether it is necessary and how it will be used? Such questions also should answer before you make a buying decision.

If the purpose of investment in overseas property is generating income, especially in the search you should take into account economic factors: real income prospects, taking into account cost, volume of tax payments, maintenance and management of real estate, the need for cooperation with a proven management company, etc. In this case, these small details, like appearance and the interiors of object, door material and color of the walls did not matter.

If the object is purchased for own stay, you should very carefully approach the choice of a place and understanding how comfortable will be the investor and his family to live in a particular environment. It is best to conduct a "test drive" by renting to start in the house and having lived there for a while – or, at least, to spend a couple of vacations.

2. Funds

Buying a home or commercial property abroad is associated with a very large number of interrelated factors and to determine a really profitable way to invest it is necessary to turn to professionals.

To find their own "second home" dreams almost impossible.

Search objects on the Internet , you need to drive through large portals with good reputation and well-established search engine real estate. To find this portal easy. Pay attention to the activity in the news feed of the site, the relevance of the articles and studies of real estate markets: all the information staff portal working thoroughly, in consultation with experienced agencies on overseas property. The placement of objects on them are very expensive, so that's the way to attract customers are enough big players in the market that do everything to make their services maximally beneficial for the client.

After reviewing the proposals, you need to select the best of them. Then apply to the Agency that these objects offer, details and, with a clearly formed intention of buying, take a trip to a chosen country to see your favorite houses or apartments in the place. And only after that make final choice!

When choosing a real estate Agency should carefully examine its history and portfolio, find out how long the company exists in the market, which has a rating. If the Agency is in Russia, it is very important to check the availability of a real office at the address and to go there to explore with staff and clarify the exact terms of cooperation. You should pay attention to resources that exposes its objects, the Agency of the real estate, explore the official website of the Agency, to clarify, how much objects it proposes – and in what regions. If it's only one or two apartments or houses, this should alert a potential buyer. You should definitely conduct a little market research, ask for advice from friends and professionals, and only then to dwell on any particular Agency.

You should not rely on the emotional factorof buying overseas property, experts warn. The temptation to listen to the opinion of acquaintances or have just met, but very charming people – great, but on the market, unfortunately, often there are cases of fraud. People will always be deceived: but the likelihood that the deal will be much cheaper in cooperation with professionals, more than great. Realtors do not recommend using the experience of their friends who already are happy owners of homes abroad. Such an important decision should be based solely on personal preferences – in any case you cannot rely on the help of friends in the trade.

3. Place

Proper site selection is the most important factor when buying property abroad. The future investor will have to decide not only the country, but also with the most specific location of a house, apartment or commercial property, up to district, street and side, on which the Windows. You need to consider the many details that are crucial in the transaction: the size of the object, its equipment, remoteness from the sea, the city or resort infrastructure, the volume of tourist flow, proximity to educational and medical institutions, etc.

You cannot buy property without visiting the place where it is located. Advertising on the Internet or the printed prospectus may not be accurate!

The same applies to the choice of the country, where there will be "a second home". Representatives of the leading agencies working with foreign real estate, noted that in 50% of cases investors prefer another state is initially selected using the media resources. To meet several potential life or business better countries, at least visit them on tourist trips. This will help to understand not only the characteristics of the infrastructure, climate, culture, etc., but also to appreciate the little things, which can feel in a short tour to inspect the selected properties. It is believed that the inspection of houses in five countries in a row is not an efficient enterprise, as it does not give an accurate picture of the place.

Before the study tour , you must consult with a professional realtor is a specialist country-specific in order to understand what property and for what means really to buy. It is important to understand the typology of buildings in different countries. For example, in the North of Montenegro for €150 000 you can buy an apartment with two bedrooms, in the South of the house area is 150 sq m, and in this case – for such money it is impossible to buy a Villa on the first line of the sea. A small "tour" on specialized resources on the Internet and a phone conversation with the Manager in a particular country will help to understand the situation at the basic level.

You need to realistically assess your budget. In any region there is always mid-price trend, and count. For example, a house by the sea with four bedrooms in the region of Barcelona in the presence of €50,000 and the intention on getting a mortgage to buy will not work, but for this money you can buy interesting object in Bulgaria.

4. Budget

When buying property abroad you need to consider not only the cost of the object, but also related transaction charges – notary fees, estate Agency, lawyer, taxes, registration fees, etc.

Rof ashitaba for funding purchases in a foreign Bank, it must be remembered that only "white" the income may be sufficient grounds for the loan. Monthly payments on the mortgage using the currency of the country, so you need to take into account possible changes in the exchange rate against the ruble. It is believed that to refer to credit standing in the case, if a potential steady income of the owner exceeds the monthly payment amounts of credit, even taking into account all fluctuations of currencies. In this case, you can divide the amount of contract value in half, dividing its own savings with the mortgage payment. If the mortgage loan is acquired for the conduct of business and its contribution to income property, it is necessary to calculate the minimum real income in the month in order to ensure the possibility of timely payments to the Bank. In General, to apply to the mortgage loans abroad experts recommend investors 100% confident in the stability of their income.

So, the economic situation in Russia in late 2014-early 2015 led to a massive delay in customer payments on mortgage loans in euros. Many investors have lost jobs, wages decreased and vanished ways of financing real estate far. As a result, many owners are faced with the risk of losing money: it is not always the object is sold for an amount adequate investments.

Experts recommend to always have in reserve 10% of the value of the acquired property.

One should also not forget that the cost of foreign real estate on the Internet is often understated, so you can not count the funds only on the basis of preliminary data. Besides, the house by the sea is not just a contribution to his own pleasure, but also annual costs, on average €1,000 per year or more. So, in many luxury complexes Marbella only facilities management company (without accounting for taxes and utilities) can amount to €200-€300 per month. And all additional payments must be added to the principal amount of the budget before making a decision to buy.

5. How to avoid mistakes

Professionals recommend novice investors to learn from the mistakes of others. One of the major errors is the incorrect assessment of their own capabilities when investing, as well as incorrect assessment of the market potential and specific drawn object. So, the object acquired at the stage of growth of the market for a fairly high amount, may be illiquid and significantly lose in value during the economic downturn of the region or the market as a whole. This leads to downtime of foreign property with foreign owners: the object is "frozen", not rented, but not sold, since the market is filled with more interesting, new and promising projects. Experts note that the situation facing the markets of Montenegro, Egypt, Bulgaria and some regions of Spain.

Potential owner of foreign real estate need to monitor the trends and news, to study the situation on the markets of different countries to monitor the economic situation in States that have decided, in General, to keep abreast. Better not to hurry with the purchase, but, considering most really like their own capabilities and potential of each specific region and property to invest securely in order not to lose, and only increase them over the years.

Portal HomesOverseas.ru thanks for the help in preparing the article Yelena Neva (ADRIONIKA), Natalia Zavalishina (Distant Property), Anna Vasilenko and Pauline Skvortsov (the Corporation "Adveks. Real estate").

^{photocredits: flickr, fotolia}

Prepared By Olga Potaeva

HomesOverseas.ru