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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

    Global Living

    • Living & Retiring Overseas
    • Raising A Family Abroad
    • Foreign Residency & Citizenship
    • Offshore & Diversification

    Making Money

    • International Real Estate
    • Banking
    • 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
  • Conferences

    Upcoming Events

    • Explore Our Events Site

    Live and Invest In Spain Conference

    Offshore Wealth Summit

    Greece Workshop

    VALENCIA, SPAIN

    Sep. 17-19, 2025

    PANAMA CITY, PANAMA

    Oct. 15-17, 2025

    VIRTUAL

    Nov. 13, 2025

    LEARN MORE
    DISCOUNT
    LEARN MORE
    PRE-REGISTER
    LEARN MORE
    PRE-REGISTER
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    Toll-Free U.S. and Canada:
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    From Outside North America:
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    Working Hours
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    Reach us with your questions by email at: events@liveandinvestoverseas.com

  • Store

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    • Access Your Library

    Overseas Havens Reports

    • Expats' comprehensive destination guides

    Conference Kits

    • Hours of coverage  from our latests conferences

    Lahardan Books

    • Titles on living and investing around the world
    • Explore Our Store
    Your passport to a life well-lived abroad

    Services

    overseas living letter offers affordable retirement guidance
    The Simon Letter Wealth Protection Insights
    Global Property Advisor Global Investment Opportunities

    Our Customer Service team is here to assist with any questions or concerns CustomerService@LiveandInvestOverseas.com

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Home Banking

Top 3 Markets For Real Estate Overseas With Local Leverage

How To Finance Your Property Purchase Overseas

by Kathleen Peddicord
Jun 16, 2021
in Banking, How to, Panama, Portugal, Real Estate, Spain
0 0
Malaga, Spain at dawn with colorful buildings and the sea in the background.

Alamy/Sean Pavone

Leverage is a key tool in every U.S. property investor’s kit. As late-night TV real estate investment gurus with courses and programs to sell assure us, other people’s money (OPM) is the secret to success building a real estate investment portfolio.

OPM allowed Lief to take his first step onto the property ladder in Chicago, and we’ve been able to leverage investments (through bank financing, pre-construction terms, and seller carrybacks) in Ireland, France, Portugal, Spain, the U.K., and Panama.

Leverage can make possible a purchase that wouldn’t be otherwise, and it can improve your return on investment. It can also cost you everything if you’re not able to keep up with required payments, as has happened to us. We recommend against borrowing to buy when you don’t have a backup plan.

In much of the world, you’re spared the risk.

Bank financing isn’t easily available for foreign investors in many overseas markets, “foreign investors” being the key point. If you’re resident in a country where you’d like to borrow for the purchase of real estate, as we were when we applied for bank financing in Ireland, your chances are the same as your local neighbors. You qualify or not based on your financial circumstances.

A bank looks on a foreigner as a much greater risk. It doesn’t have the infrastructure to chase down loan repayments in another jurisdiction. A foreign buyer can simply walk away from his mortgaged property. That means losing the down payment but doesn’t create long-term repercussions. Default on a mortgage at home, and your credit record carries that scar.

Developing-world markets don’t have the ability to track and report on these kinds of things, and you don’t necessarily have to care about your credit history in Brazil or Belize, where, after walking away from a property with an outstanding loan, you can choose never to return. Local banks understand this.

Where can you qualify today for bank financing as a foreign buyer? Here are three options…

Top Market For Local Leverage #1: Panama

Panama City, Panama.
Alamy/Roussel Photography

Banks in Panama are currently flush with cash. They are trying to push a credit card into the hand of every Panamanian with a bank account. Credit is too easy to get. The situation reminds us of Ireland when we moved to Waterford in 1998. The Celtic Tiger borrowing bubble finally burst in 2008, and we wonder how long the one in Panama will continue.

However, we Americans aren’t benefitting (or being put at risk, depending on your perspective). Banks in Panama are not so interested in dealing with us. The United States is throwing its weight around the world in the name of its anti-money-laundering crusade, but it’s applying special pressure on Panama’s banking system in response to the 2018 Mossack Fonseca scandal.

It’s possible to find a bank that will lend to you in Panama (assuming you qualify), but I hesitate to mention any specific bank to approach. They change their internal rules related to lending to Americans faster than you can take money out of one of their ATMs.

The terms for the rental property we financed in Panama in 2007 required a down payment of 20%. Panama banks willing to lend to non-resident buyers today will require a higher down payment. In fact, you’re not likely to get an 80% LTV anywhere in the world today as a non-resident buyer or even as a legal resident if your income is derived from outside the country where you’re looking to buy.

In addition to putting down at least 30% to get bank financing in Panama, you’ll also have to buy a local life insurance policy naming the bank as beneficiary in the event of your death (as you’ll be required to do in most countries), and your interest rate will be 1% higher than the going local rate.

The interest rate surcharge is for mortgages on a second home or commercial property, and it’s imposed by law rather than bank policy. When lending to you as a non-resident, the bank assumes that the property you’re borrowing to buy won’t be your primary residence. If you’re moving to Panama and do plan to live in the property, explain this to the bank to avoid the extra 1% interest.

Even with the 1% surcharge, your mortgage rate won’t be outrageous, but it will be higher than U.S. rates. Expect about 7%. The rate, whatever it is, will be variable, as fixed interest rates are uncommon outside the United States. This worries some borrowers, but, in the 14 years we’ve held our 25-year mortgage in Panama, the rate has been adjusted only once. It was increased by .25%.

Panama banks use the same criteria as U.S. banks to assess your financial situation, including your U.S. credit score. They process payment and debt-to-income ratios in the same way with one critical difference. Panama banks consider the limit on any credit card as debt even if you’re not carrying a balance on that card. It’s an extremely conservative approach and creates problems even for Panamanians now that they all have credit cards, too.

One Panamanian we know was forced to pay off his credit cards and cancel them to obtain a mortgage, after which he was able to get new credit cards, including one from the bank who’d just given him a mortgage.

Top Market For Local Leverage #2: Portugal

Money is practically free in Europe if you qualify. European Central Bank (ECB) rates are so low that, when borrowing, you’re simply paying the bank’s margin, which can range from 1.5% to 2%.

Portugal is one European market where a non-resident foreigner can get a mortgage. The process is straightforward in theory, and it’s possible even to request pre-approval from a bank before you’ve found the property you want to buy. However, if your income is from passive rather than active sources, you’ll be required to provide more paperwork before final approval is granted.

If you’re buying with the expectation of obtaining financing, make sure a contingency clause is included in your purchase agreement. Many sellers overseas don’t like contingency clauses. You buy caveat emptor. The burden falls always on you as the buyer to carry out your own due diligence before signing a purchase agreement.

So it’s critical, when a mortgage is involved, even if you have a bank’s pre-approval, to insist on making the purchase contingent on your financing coming through. You can’t take for granted that the bank will in fact lend to you after they have carried out the final review of your documentation.

Banks in Portugal will lend up to 60% to a non-resident borrower. Mortgage terms rarely exceed 25 years anywhere in the world, and that’s the standard in Portugal (though it can be possible to persuade a bank to extend the term to 30 years depending on your age).

Top Market For Local Leverage #3: Spain

Sea landscape Llafranc near Calella de Palafrugell, Catalonia, Barcelona, Spain.
iStock/Oleg_P

Spanish banks follow lending rules similar to those in Portugal, and you’ll find plenty willing to lend despite the hit so many took after the 2008 collapse and even though some are still cleaning up their foreclosed property lists.

In fact, the financing industry is so sophisticated in Spain you might want to opt for a mortgage broker to help you find the best deal. You can engage one for as little as a 500-euro fixed fee. Do your research to make sure you won’t end up paying any hidden fees via the bank.

Again, as in Portugal or anywhere, don’t rely on a mortgage broker telling you he can get you a mortgage when signing a purchase agreement. Insist on a contingency clause no matter how sure the broker is about your loan.

Sincerely,
Kathleen Peddicord
Kathleen Peddicord
Founding Publisher, Overseas Opportunity Letter

Tags: 'Banking In Panama''real estate overseas'Access to creditOverseas bankPanamaPortugalpurchase propertypurchase property overseasreal estate abroadSpain'Using Credit Cards Overseas
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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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Super Cheap

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Cheap

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  • Kyrenia, Cyprus
  • Hua Hin, Thailand
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