• 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

How To Shop For Real Estate Overseas

Lief Simon by Lief Simon
Aug 03, 2012
in Real Estate
0
Buying Real Estate In A Foreign Country
209
SHARES
3k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Drains, Door Frames, And Dry Rot–Shopping For Real Estate In The Developing World

When shopping for real estate overseas, here’s my #1 recommendation:

Remember the term “caveat emptor.”

Many of the safety nets that you can take for granted in North America either don’t exist at all beyond those shores or don’t operate the way you might expect.

The first overseas real estate purchase that Kathleen and I made was in Waterford, Ireland. We bought a house for us to live in. Despite the common language between the United States and the Emerald Isle (more or less), we found ourselves at a loss much of the time throughout the entire buying process.

We asked the real estate agent if he could recommend someone to do the home inspection. He didn’t know what we were talking about. He’d never heard the term “home inspection” before. Eventually, though, he got the idea. He couldn’t recommend an inspector of the kind we were describing, he told us, because no such thing existed in Ireland. Instead, he put us in touch with an engineer. Great, we thought…an engineer. He should know what he’s doing…how to inspect a house.

I don’t know what kind of engineering school this guy went to, but his report was ridiculous. He made no mention of a dozen obvious problems with the house (obvious, that is, after we’d moved in)–including such extensive damage from the damp that had been seeping into the structure for decades that you could poke deep holes in the wood moldings, door frames, and window shutters with a screwdriver.

This “engineer” did, however, take it upon himself to comment on the decoration. “I’d replace the faded curtains in the living room,” his report explained. And: “The paint in the kitchen needs to be touched up.”

The paint in the kitchen needs to be touched up? How about: The walls in the kitchen are disintegrating as a result of the rising damp!

Buy what you see, we remind you often. Hard to do sometimes when you’re not sure what you’re looking at. We’d never heard of rising damp before and had no idea how to recognize it.

Here, though, are some particular things you can look for (and that you should be able to identify):

  • Check for things like hot and cold running water. Don’t let the fact that water comes out of the hot water spigot lure you into assuming that hot water is available from that tap. Look under the sink. Do you see two pipes coming out of the wall or just one with a splitter feeding water to the hot and cold tap…meaning only cold water flows out of both…
  • Check the water pressure throughout the house. Run the water in the kitchen and the farthest away bathroom shower at the same time. Do you get any pressure in the shower? If not, can you live with the idea that no one can run water in the kitchen while someone is bathing?…
  • While the water is running, make sure it’s draining fast enough. In many of the new buildings I’ve toured in Panama and elsewhere, the drains don’t drain. The main reason is that the workers clean their tools in the sinks once they are installed, and these guys don’t pay any attention to what they are putting down the drain…including, sometimes, wet cement being washed off their tools. Pipes get clogged…sometimes permanently…

Are the counters level? Does the terrace slope toward the drain…or the living room off which it stands?

I could go on, but you get the idea.

Caveat emptor.

None of this should scare you off buying real estate overseas. It’s meant only to arm you with the fact that you have to take responsibility for what you’re buying. If you’re not a construction expert, take heart. In much of Central America, retired construction professionals have begun offering U.S.-type inspection services.

In Europe, when buying old or ancient, even with a proper inspection, you’ll never know what you’re really getting until you get it. But that can be part of the fun.

Lief Simon

Continue Reading: The Best Retirement Destination For Single Women

Tags: Foreign Property InvestingLief Simonproperty overseas
Share84Tweet52
Previous Post

Budgeting For Retirement Overseas

Next Post

Building A House At Los Islotes, Panama

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
Los Islotes’ Cebaco and Coiba casas, best beachfront property in Panama

Building A House At Los Islotes, Panama

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…