• About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms
  • Unsubscribe
No Result
View All Result
Live and Invest Overseas
FREE REPORT
BEST PLACES TO RETIRE
*No spam: We will NEVER give your email address to anyone else.
  • HOME
  • COUNTRIES
    • Top Destinations
      • Portugal
      • Panama
      • Belize
      • France
      • Colombia
      • Dominican Republic
      • Thailand
      • Mexico
      • Spain
      • Argentina
    • Browse All Countries
    • Best For
      • Retire Overseas Index
      • Health Care
      • Cost of Living
      • Investing in Real Estate
      • Editor’s Picks For Retirement
      • Establishing Residency
      • Starting an Online Business
      • Single Women
      • Playing Golf
  • BUDGETS
    • Super Cheap ($)
      • Cuenca, Ecuador
      • Chiang Mai, Thailand
      • The Philippines
      • Las Tablas, Panama
      • Granada, Nicaragua
    • Cheap ($$)
      • Algarve, Portugal
      • Medellin, Colombia
      • Boquete, Panama
      • Carcassone, France
      • Buenos Aires, Argentina
    • Affordable ($$$)
      • Abruzzo, Italy
      • Barcelona, Spain
      • Las Terrenas, Dominican Republic
      • Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
      • Costa de Oro, Uruguay
    • Luxury On A Budget ($$$$)
      • Ambergris Caye, Belize
      • Paris, France
      • Panama City Beach Area
  • Real Estate
  • ARCHIVES
    • Living & Retiring Overseas
    • Raising A Family Abroad
    • Foreign Residency & Citizenship
    • Offshore Diversification
    • Our Latest On Coronavirus ⚠️
  • Making Money
    • International Real Estate
    • Banking
    • Employment
    • Investing
  • CONFERENCES
  • BOOKSTORE
Live and Invest Overseas
  • HOME
  • COUNTRIES
    • Top Destinations
      • Portugal
      • Panama
      • Belize
      • France
      • Colombia
      • Dominican Republic
      • Thailand
      • Mexico
      • Spain
      • Argentina
    • Browse All Countries
    • Best For
      • Retire Overseas Index
      • Health Care
      • Cost of Living
      • Investing in Real Estate
      • Editor’s Picks For Retirement
      • Establishing Residency
      • Starting an Online Business
      • Single Women
      • Playing Golf
  • BUDGETS
    • Super Cheap ($)
      • Cuenca, Ecuador
      • Chiang Mai, Thailand
      • The Philippines
      • Las Tablas, Panama
      • Granada, Nicaragua
    • Cheap ($$)
      • Algarve, Portugal
      • Medellin, Colombia
      • Boquete, Panama
      • Carcassone, France
      • Buenos Aires, Argentina
    • Affordable ($$$)
      • Abruzzo, Italy
      • Barcelona, Spain
      • Las Terrenas, Dominican Republic
      • Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
      • Costa de Oro, Uruguay
    • Luxury On A Budget ($$$$)
      • Ambergris Caye, Belize
      • Paris, France
      • Panama City Beach Area
  • Real Estate
  • ARCHIVES
    • Living & Retiring Overseas
    • Raising A Family Abroad
    • Foreign Residency & Citizenship
    • Offshore Diversification
    • Our Latest On Coronavirus ⚠️
  • Making Money
    • International Real Estate
    • Banking
    • Employment
    • Investing
  • CONFERENCES
  • BOOKSTORE
No Result
View All Result
Live and Invest Overseas
No Result
View All Result
Home Real Estate

Compelling Reasons To Invest In Property In Spain

Lief Simon by Lief Simon
Mar 28, 2014
in Real Estate
0
property in spain
209
SHARES
3k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Bus Lines And Narco-Traffickers? Compelling Reasons Not To Invest In Real Estate Overseas?

This week during an interview for a real estate podcast, the interviewer asked about the Spanish real estate market…leading to a discussion about how a would-be property investor should analyze a potential market for investment.

Specifically in this case, the interviewer wondered about the impact of the ongoing troubles in Greece, including the possibility that this country might be removed from the euro, on property prices in Spain.

I tried to explain that that kind of high-level economic analysis across a region doesn’t make sense to me when it comes to trying to decide whether or not to make a specific property investment. Certainly Greece leaving the euro would have some impact on Spain and other euro countries. However, I’ve learned over the years that analyzing markets at a macro level in this way can lead to a no-buy decision for the wrong reasons. Hundreds of factors, including these kinds of macro factors, could be considered, but, the truth is, only a handful of factors are likely to have any significant impact on the performance of an individual investor’s investment.

I refer to these factors that I do think matter as “compelling reasons” for why an investment is likely to perform strongly.

For example, two compelling reasons I identified for investment in Medellin, Colombia, when I first landed in that city were the relatively low capital requirement for getting into the market and the relatively high rental yields. Today, property prices in Medellin are still low compared with other markets of interest; however, rental yields have softened. Meantime, another compelling reason has come to the foreground—the improving local economy and the expanding local middle class.

If you were to consider the investment market in Colombia from a macro level, you’d have to address concerns to do with Venezuela, the FARC, and drug cartels. However, I’d say that those factors have less impact on the Medellin market than the “compelling factors” I identified. That’s why I invested in Medellin when I did.

Right now, I see compelling factors at work in Spain (to return to my podcast interview this week), specifically in Barcelona. Prices didn’t collapse here as they did along the Costas post-2008, and this city enjoys a growing tourism base that is expanding the short-term rental market. Additionally, Barcelona is increasingly recognized as one of the “classic” destinations in Europe alongside Paris, London, and Prague, and more and more people with money are seeking it out for second homes. These second-home buyers aren’t the retirees who pushed up the Costa markets but a more stable buying crowd.

Even in the Costa markets I see compelling factors today. Prices in this part of this country collapsed, meaning that, in spots, quality properties right on the beach are available for absolutely bargain prices on a cost-per-square-meter basis. Spain is still an economic basket-case, but it’s hard to go wrong with oceanfront property in a sunny climate that tens of millions of North Europeans can access cheaply thanks to Europe’s low-cost airline industry.

Every market has negative aspects. The question is whether those negative aspects outweigh the compelling factors that should allow property prices to appreciate and/or provide for great rental yields.

What else comes into play when analyzing a market for investment? I’d recommend, if you’re buying for investment, that you don’t let personal prejudice get in the way.

Years ago, a former colleague went to Buenos Aires looking for investment properties in the wake of Argentina’s 2001 currency collapse. I had bought three apartments in 2002 to take advantage of the window of opportunity, and this guy was interested in getting in on the market, too. He toured the city with a real estate agent who showed him several apartments, every one of which would have been a good investment as far as I could tell. However, my colleague found something wrong with each one that allowed him to beg off. In the end, he didn’t buy anything. One of the apartments, for example, was on a bus line…meaning buses drove by the apartment building. Buses are noisy he told me…so he didn’t buy that apartment.

Yes, buses can be noisy. On the other hand, a bus line in front of the apartment could make it more attractive to would-be renters. It’d make it easy for tourists (short-term renters) to get around the city and easy for locals (long-term renters) to get to work.

The point is that the presence of the bus line was an extraneous factor…not a compelling reason to buy…or not.

Had my colleague bought that apartment at that time, he would have enjoyed a decent rental yield from it and much better than decent capital appreciation. I eventually doubled my money on my investments.

The micro bus line argument was silly. Less silly, maybe, could have been a macro “the government of Argentina is crazy and its economy is a mess and both those things likely will always be true” argument.

Still, for me, the compelling reason to buy offered by the currency collapse trumped it all.

Lief Simon

Continue reading: Time To Start A New Life Overseas In 2020

Tags: 'Property In Medellin''Property In Spain'Property In ArgentinaProperty In BarcelonaProperty In Buenos AiresProperty In Colombia
Share84Tweet52
Previous Post

How To Make A Plan To Retire Overseas

Next Post

Retirement Lifestyle In Tralee, Ireland

Lief Simon

Lief Simon

Lief Simon has lived and worked on five continents and traveled to more than 60 countries. In his long career as a global property investor, Lief has also managed multimillion-dollar portfolios of rental properties, for others and for himself. He offers advice on international diversification in his twice-weekly Offshore Living Letter and monthly Simon Letter dispatches.

Related Posts

Two truffles and truffle shavings on a cutting board
In Focus: Europe

How I Learned The Value Of Truffles And Why I’m Investing

by Lief Simon
June 30, 2022
0

One sunny summer afternoon in 2012 I had the most expensive lunch of my life. Kathleen, the kids, and I...

Read more
Porto, Portugal

Where (And Why) Should You Buy Property Overseas In 2022?

June 15, 2022
Quaint colorful houses of the Alsatian city of Colmar, France

How To Tell If You’ve Found Your Ideal Home Overseas

June 14, 2022
Serene street in Colonial Zone of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

8 Things You Need To Know About Bank Financing Overseas

June 13, 2022
View of Ponta Verde in Maceio, Alagoas, Northeast of Brazil

Investing In International Real Estate

June 12, 2022
General view of apartments for rent in Portimao, Algarve, Portugal

The Best Property Deals To Expand Your Portfolio Offshore

June 10, 2022
Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The Top Countries With Favorable Exchange Rates

June 7, 2022
Next Post
Downtown View Of Tralee - Retirement In Tralee Ireland

Retirement Lifestyle In Tralee, Ireland

Start Your New Life Today, Overseas

A world full of fun, adventure, and profit awaits! Sign up for our free daily e-letter, Overseas Opportunity Letter, and we’ll send you a FREE report on the 10 Best Places To Retire In Style Overseas Today.







LIOS Resources


  • New To LIOS
  • Ask An Expert
  • Media Center
  • Contact Us
  • FAQs

Quick Links


  • Best Places To Live
  • Best Places To Retire
  • Finding A Job Overseas
  • Real Estate

Sign up for our free daily e-letter, Overseas Opportunity Letter, and get your FREE report: The 10 Best Places To Retire Overseas In 2022

  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms
  • Unsubscribe

© 2008-2021 - Live and Invest Overseas - All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Countries
  • Budgets
  • Archives
  • News
  • Events
  • Bookstore
  • Newsletters
  • About Us
  • Members Area
  • Contact Us

© 2008-2021 - Live and Invest Overseas - All Rights Reserved.

Sign up for FREE and learn how to live the good life on a modest budget, find bargain property, and more. Plus, check out our free report on the 10 BEST PLACES TO RETIRE.

RETIRE OVERSEAS AND LIVE LIKE ROYALTY

The World’s Best Places To Be In 2022?

Discover Them Here…