“Kathleen, I see that just the other day you, Lief, and your family were in Champagne. I live in Bourgogne near Saulieu. If you want to come by, you are most welcome.”
–James J., France
Thanks so much for the invitation, which is greatly appreciated. We’re in Paris now, returning to Panama from here. But we’ll hope to meet up with you on another visit sometime down the road.
“Kathleen, we’ve been poring over your book How to Buy Real Estate Overseas and were wondering, if you were just starting out and had, say, US$75,000 kicking around to invest in real estate, how and where would you invest it today?”
–Catherine P., United States
In today’s world, you want to focus on yields, either from a rental property or an agricultural investment. With a budget of US$75,000, you could buy a small apartment in a place like Medellin, Colombia (one of my preferred markets right now), or perhaps Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. In both those markets, you could expect an annual yield of at least 8% net, which is a good, realistic target.
We’ve written about agricultural opportunities with minimum investments from as little as US$12,200 (up to US$60,000), with projected annualized returns from 10% to 18%.
If you’re up for getting a mortgage, consider a small apartment in Paris, perhaps the world’s most proven rental market. You could buy a studio apartment in a rentable location in this city for as little as US$300,000, and foreigners can arrange local financing in France for 70% to 80% of the purchase price.
Continue reading: International Living: Paris To Panama City
