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    Super Cheap

    • Chitré, Panama
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    • Phuket, Thailand
    • Dumaguete, The Philippines

    Cheap

    • Medellin, Colombia
    • Boquete, Panama
    • Kyrenia, Cyprus
    • Hua Hin, Thailand
    • The Algarve, Portugal

    Affordable

    • Valencia, Spain
    • Cascais, Portugal
    • Las Terrenas, The DR
    • Pisa, Italy
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  • Home
  • Countries

    Top Destinations:

    Whether you’re looking for fun and sun, a peaceful retirement, or the chance to earn some extra income, you’ve got a real world of opportunity open to you… In short, we’ve done our best to narrow down your best options, but only you can decide the right country for you.

    • Spain
    • Portugal
    • Panama
    • Belize
    • Colombia
    • Cyprus
    • Mexico
    • France
    • Montenegro
    • Browse All Countries

    Best For:

    • The Best Places To Retire
    • Health Care Abroad
    • Cost Of Living
    • Investing in Real Estate
    • Establishing Residency
    • Gun Laws In The World
    • English-Speaking Countries
    • Safest Places For Retirement
    • Best Places In Latin America
  • Budgets

    How Much Will It Cost You To Live Overseas?

    The only honest answer is, we have no idea. And neither does anyone else. The only one who can answer that question is you. Here’s the most important thing to understand about budgeting your new life overseas…

    Super Cheap

    • Chitré, Panama
    • Santa Marta, Colombia
    • Phuket, Thailand
    • Dumaguete, The Philippines

    Cheap

    • Medellin, Colombia
    • Boquete, Panama
    • Kyrenia, Cyprus
    • Hua Hin, Thailand
    • The Algarve, Portugal

    Affordable

    • Valencia, Spain
    • Cascais, Portugal
    • Las Terrenas, The DR
    • Pisa, Italy
    • La Rochelle, France
    • Mazatlán, Mexico

    Luxury

    • Ambergris Caye, Belize
    • Kotor, Montenegro
    • The Panama City Beaches
    • Paris, France
  • Resources

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    • Raising A Family Abroad
    • Foreign Residency & Citizenship
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    Making Money

    • International Real Estate
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    • Employment
    • Investing

    Follow Us:

    • Meet Our Experts
  • Real Estate

    Buying Real Estate For Cashflow

    • Discover tips and strategies used by global property investing veterans

    Explore Our Latest Posts

    • Learn how to invest and purchase property abroad…

    Go To The Overseas Property Alert Site

    • How To Become Independently Wealthy And Fund The Lifestyle Of Your Dreams
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    • Explore Our Events Site

    Live and Invest In Spain Conference

    Offshore Wealth Summit

    Argentina Workshop

    VALENCIA, SPAIN

    Sep. 17-19, 2025

    PANAMA CITY, PANAMA

    Oct. 15-17, 2025

    VIRTUAL

    Nov. 13, 2025

    Learn More About This Event
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    Toll-Free U.S. and Canada:
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    Reach us with your questions by email at: events@liveandinvestoverseas.com

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    overseas living letter offers affordable retirement guidance
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Home Real Estate

Smart Way To Invest In A Rental Property

by Kathleen Peddicord
Jun 11, 2024
in Real Estate
0 0
Link: Street view of an old, elegant residential building facade in Paris, with ornate details in the stone walls, french doors and wrought iron railings on the balconies

AdobeStock/Cheryl Ramalho

First, you aren’t buying real estate in most of the world today for capital appreciation.

It’s possible in select markets, but you should think of it as the gravy. In today’s global climate, you’re buying for yield, and for cash flow, meaning two kinds of property investments are of greatest interest right now—rental properties and dividend-producing agricultural plays.

When shopping for a rental investment overseas, target markets with tourist track records. In Paris this week, I’m reminded that this city is a top example, for it is a destination that will attract visitors even when times are tough. As long as there is money in the world, people will come to Paris to spend it.

Second, before making any rental investment, have an idea in mind of who your end-buyer would be.

This helps you to put the acquisition into perspective. The French leaseback, for example, is a great hassle-free rental investment in one of the world’s top tourist destinations. But it’s an investment. You aren’t going to live in a leaseback unit (no more than maybe several weeks a year)… and neither is anyone else. So your buyer, when you’re ready to exit, will have to be another investor.

On one hand, this limits your potential universe for selling on. On the other, investors are always going to be looking for ways to own French rental units.

Meantime, an apartment in Paris (or Buenos Aires, Medellin, Panama City, or Istanbul, to name some of my favorite current markets for this kind of investment) could, theoretically, eventually be resold to another investor… or to an end-user, someone interested in residing in the city.

Third, consider inventory supply and demand.

The Costa del Sol, for example, is ridiculously over-supplied. So, even though prices in that part of the world have collapsed over the past few years, I wouldn’t recommend it as a place to shop for a rental investment… though other parts of Spain’s coast are a buy right now.

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The key consideration, though, when looking to buy-to-let overseas is the rental manager.

You can act as your own rental manager, but I don’t advise it. If you’re not residing physically in the same place as the rental unit, I say definitely don’t try it. I’ve had more than 20 years of investor-landlord experience in more than a dozen countries. This isn’t something you want to take on yourself unless you’re prepared to make it your full-time occupation.

Engage someone who knows the market, who has marketing infrastructure in place, who has developed a client list you can leverage, and who can show you proven management systems (for reservations, for inventory control, for reporting, etc.).

Our first apartment investment in Paris rented extraordinarily well the first year. However, the rental manager spoke no English and was perpetually late with replying. So we switched to another manager, an American. Yes, he spoke English, but he, too, was perpetually late with replying… and, more to the point, he got us less than half the occupancy we’d enjoyed the year before, though the market was stronger and tourism figures were up.

When you make a rental investment, you’re choosing, first, a market; next, a rental manager; and, finally, a property. Before you make a particular buy decision, seek advice from the rental management agency you’re planning to work with. What’s more rentable? Two bedrooms… or one?

What matters most to would-be renters? Location, of course… but other, less obvious things can be critical. In Paris, you’ll struggle to make a decent return off a fifth-floor rental in an apartment building with no elevator.

I don’t recommend long-term unless you’re well familiar with the market and have a rental manager who really knows what he or she is doing. In many markets, it can be difficult to evict a long-standing renter.

When we made the decision to rent our Paris apartment long-term, we interviewed potential rental managers. The one we chose impressed us because she made a point of telling us, with a voice of long experience, to whom she would not rent.

“We won’t rent to such-and-such people, because they throw wild parties,” she told us.

“We won’t rent to so-and-so people, because they don’t respect other peoples’ property.”

Etc.

In some contexts, her positions might be termed discrimination. We saw them as risk management.

A global portfolio of rental properties (or even a single well-selected rental apartment) isn’t a strategy for getting rich quick, but it is one of the best options available today for solid, reliable returns with the potential for capital appreciation over time and immediate diversification, which should be an overriding agenda of every investor today.

What level of yield should you expect?

A minimum of 5% per year net. Buy under-market or identify a market with some particular distortion at work (to do with inventory supply and demand, occupancy rates, seasonality, room rates, etc.), and you can net 10% per year or more.

Leverage can expand your return considerably. Lief and I are netting (after all associated costs and expenses) more than 20% a year right now, cash on cash, from a leveraged rental we own in Panama City.

Until next time,

Kathleen Peddicord signature

Kathleen Peddicord

Founding Publisher, Overseas Opportunity Letter

Tags: 'Property In Medellin''Rentals In Medellin''Rentals In Panama City'how to buy a rental investmentHow-toProperty In Buenos Airesproperty in istanbulProperty In Panama Cityproperty in parisrental investmentrental investment propertyRental Management Overseasrentals in buenos airesRentals In IstanbulRentals In Paris
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Kathleen Peddicord

Kathleen Peddicord

Kathleen Peddicord has reported on opportunities for Americans to live, retire, and do business overseas for 40 years. She has traveled to more than 75 countries, invested in real estate in 24, established businesses in 7, renovated and built properties in 6, and educated her children in 5.

Kathleen has moved children, staff, enterprises, household goods, and pets from the east coast of the United States to Waterford, Ireland, then to Paris, France, and finally to Panama City, Panama, where she has based her Live And Invest Overseas business. Peddicord and her husband, Lief Simon, now divide their time between Panama and Paris.

Peddicord was a partner with Agora Publishing’s International Living group for 23 years. She opened, staffed, and operated International Living publishing and real estate marketing offices in Waterford, Ireland; Panama City, Panama; Granada, Nicaragua; Roatan, Honduras; San Miguel de Allende, Mexico; Quito, Ecuador; and Paris, France. Peddicord launched Live And Invest Overseas group in 2008 and has built it into a successful multimillion-dollar business. Today, she shares her firsthand experience of expat life with more than 500,000 readers of her publications, including Overseas Opportunity Letter and Overseas Living Letter.

Kathleen has been featured often in The New York Times, MSNBC, AARP, CNN, Bloomberg, CNBC, and more and writes monthly about expat matters, international real estate, and offshore diversification for Forbes and U.S. News.

Kathleen has written several books including the memoirs “At Home In Ireland” and “At Home At Los Islotes” and her latest title “At Home Abroad,” all published by Lahardan Books. Her best-selling "How To Retire Overseas: Everything You Need To Know To Live Well (For Less) Abroad” was published by Penguin Random House in 2018 and her “Buying Real Estate Overseas For Cash Flow (And A Better Life)” was published by Wiley in August 2020.

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Best For:

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To Live Overseas?

Super Cheap

  • Chitré, Panama
  • Santa Marta, Colombia
  • Phuket, Thailand
  • Dumaguete, The Philippines

Cheap

  • Medellin, Colombia
  • Boquete, Panama
  • Kyrenia, Cyprus
  • Hua Hin, Thailand
  • The Algarve, Portugal

Affordable

  • Valencia, Spain
  • Cascais, Portugal
  • Las Terrenas, The DR
  • Pisa, Italy
  • La Rochelle, France
  • Mazatlán, Mexico

Luxury

  • Ambergris Caye, Belize
  • Kotor, Montenegro
  • The Panama City Beaches
  • Paris, France

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