Considering buying abroad. eg. Spain - opinions?

Computer Science Student

I have been looking to buy-to-let in Dublin recently and while researching properties on the bidx1.com website, I came across some fairly interesting properties in Spain that have piqued my interest. Where a 3 bedroom apartment in Dublin city center costs no less than 300k, a corresponding property in Spain would be about 6 times cheaper: eg. https://bidx1.com/en/es-es/auction/property/42033.

Of course, the rent would be measurably lower, but with the COVID-19 situation making remote work more and more possible, I can't help but think this type of investment is a better timed one than buying in Dublin is right now. Curious what others opinions are on this, or if somebody has some experience buying apartments in Spain which they could share?

Road one

Are you thinking of buying purely for investment? Not sure my experience is relevant as I purchased an apartment about 20 years ago mainly for weekend breaks/family holidays etc. so not as an investment. It was all about the location for me as I wanted to be close to the beach. Obviously, get yourself a good solicitor, you also have to make a will when you buy property in Spain. If you purchase second hand decide if you want to buy in a predominately Spanish area( the one on the link looks like it is ) these places a lot of the time don't have swimming pools so not sure if it would suit holidaymakers. I would 100% encourage you to have someone on the ground who will "look after it for you" separate to or maybe the rental agency would do that. I pay someone 300 euro per year, I had an issue with my neighbour, a leak from their apartment and the person on the ground dealt with the insurance company, painters etc....... Finally not sure if this still happens but on the asking price 10-12% was paid in cash to the seller through the solicitor, I thought this was very strange, but that's what happened 20 years ago.

JimmyVik

OP I was researching buy to let for years in Ireland but its too risky with the legislation already stacked against me and then changing with the wind, always getting worse.
So, like you I have started to think about buy to let in Spain, Portugal or Italy.
I havent researched it much but its with a view to investing and having a holiday property and then retiring there in 10 or 15 years time.

Interestingly there is property in Italy where you can buy it for €10k if you spend €20k bringing it up to modern standards. These would be in towns where they are trying to inject new blood and life into. Nice idea, but I thnk I would prefer something more resort like.
I will follow this thread with interest.

scamalert

JimmyVik wrote: »

Interestingly there is property in Italy where you can buy it for €10k if you spend €20k bringing it up to modern standards. These would be in towns where they are trying to inject new blood and life into..

its money dump them houses were offered for years for euro or so, but plenty of catches with taxes, and it has to be restored to original design/materials used etc which is money pit and more in 100-300k category. https://www.cnbc.com/2019/11/08/town-in-italy-is-offering-free-houses-but-theres-a-catch.html


very similar what they tried to do in Baltimore in US offering houses for free to get old estates back up.


whole idea of getting it cheap and in nice area climate is nice but reality without speaking local language knowing laws- and basically having enough to retire into middle of nowhere- not even locals touch em.

DubCount

OP you know all the pitfalls of the Dublin market - RPZ, Tenants rights, taxes etc. and have concluded its not a good investment at the moment. You are considering a property you know nothing about. Whats the area like, what are taxes like, how easy is it to rent out, how easy is resale...

Just because it is cheep, does not make it a good investment. You can buy property in many rural towns around Ireland for that price. Why do you reckon there is not investment money pushing the prices up.

Spanish Eyes

The only way I would consider buying a property abroad would be just as a bolthole, no renting or agency fees, cleaning and so on involved in renting it out. Just the family to use it.

Having said that, it would also need to be accessible for all, including the family members who are older and don't drive on the other side of the road, and the younger ones similar. Needs to be very near a little hub of shop/bars/restaurants and some sort of transport to the nearest airport. Seaside not important at all.

We thought about it for a few years, but now rent very nice places at a premium instead. You would never spend the price of a decent spot in Spain for the cost of a rental over a number of years, and there is no responsibility apart from taking care of the property during the stay.