Positive Overseas Investment Reports

Re: bulgaria be positive

For anyone with a brain in there heads,just go to direct ski .com try and book apartment for a week in bansko,it will work out approx€750 each including flights and transfers....

I checked out the half board with them and its nearer €900 to 950 including flights and transfers and thats based on max sharing!!
Just for the laugh I went to directski to verify these figures. On the 13th January you can get a week (7 days) half board for 2 people in a 3 star hotel in Bansko for €410 ea, including flights, transfers etc. Not a million miles away from jellyshots figures.
 
Re: bulgaria be positive

I think it is you who have not got a clue on how to do the math!!

A ski apartment in bansko,and I KNOW I OWM AND RENT ONE!!!!can get up to €700 pw APPROX

I am not blind, I am aware this is for example only 5 months,but it still covers itself....

As I pointed out the last time ,you get this with max people sharing for example in my case its two sharing thats €350 each,thats still god value for a ski hol apartment....

sOME ONE RECKONED THEY COULD GET THIS INCLUDING MEALS AND FLIGHTTS ---YA RITE PLEASE TELL US YOUR TOUT OPERATOR!

For anyone with a brain in there heads,just go to direct ski .com try and book apartment for a week in bansko,it will work out approx€750 each including flights and transfers....

I checked out the half board with them and its nearer €900 to 950 including flights and transfers and thats based on max sharing!!

I am not suggesting bansko will make you a fortune but it will pay for itself and thats good enough for me,,,

Some people in here are like parrots they just repeat all they hear without knowing a thing about it..


Slopes

Well done on your shrewd investment, and indeed you should consider buying even more of them if they are paying for themselves!

Obviously you have not only cracked the matter of how to get top dollar in rent, but also to get it for FIVE MONTHS with no breaks! You will get skiers when there is not even any skiing, fantastic! Magic! Wish I had your undoubted business accumen.

You should also consider letting the good people in McAnthonys and Platinum know about your success so that they can advise other intending purchasers who may have been put off by advice they received on this site. They could then use this information to help other waverers make up their own minds.

Sorry if I doubted you, must head off to Bulgaria with my SSIA immediately. Do you think there would be any of these wonderful properties left?
 
Yer ,i would not disagree you that you can get accomadation for less,but this applies to anywhere in the world!

There are always cheaper ways of doing it and of going about it,this applies to anywhere.....

All I am saying that my place is covering itself,and thats good enough...


Slopes..
 
Good on you slopes.

You give a positive report which this thread is all about and you get slated for it.

Would put anyone off posting a favourable outcome and there are one or two who will always disagree no matter what rosy picture you paint.
 
Just for the fun I went into direct ski to check out the 15th,any one can check this on www.directski.com


Jan 13 th for two in an apartment --€647 apartmrnt FLORA

the same apartment for the 10feb is €819

others are similar and get dearer as season moves on......so maby its just me but €300!! again ya rite!!

Also I did not got for a rental agreement,as you say a 10 year old mite!!I realise its a totaly cintrived offer and you get your own monwy back only..so I am not quoting anyones figures.

Again all I am saying is that there are good investments there,if you are not waiting for the big profit,and under pressure form the banks etc...

Holiday home is also nice to have..

What people seem to forget is that there is mis information on both sides,,
 
Good on you slopes.

You give a positive report which this thread is all about and you get slated for it.

Would put anyone off posting a favourable outcome and there are one or two who will always disagree no matter what rosy picture you paint.

Absolutely. I'm not slateing Slopes. You go to any resort and there's always someone paying over the odds, but there's always a good reason for it. Maybe there's a couple of bottles of champagne in the fridge or there's some deal with a ski school / travel agency. People will get good rates if they use their noggin and have some business savy, however anyone thinking they can just rent out any oul unit irrespective of it's condition or location is naive. At the end of the most people going to resorts are looking for some sort of value for money and if there's hotel beside your apt charging half the price they'd be fools not to take the better offer.
 
Re: bulgaria be positive

Auto!

You ar what I would call the typical Irish,think you are clever by seing the negative only....

Firstly I saaid 5 months that dosent just account for sking,there is a bit you can get in summer as there is hiking etc..I was just saying over the year apporx 5 months!!

Also I would be you will still have your SSIA in the same box as your communion money in 20 years time--because you ar so clever.Wou probably wont even realise that inflation has rendered it usless..

Dont step outsid today,its raining you might get wet..
 
Save the sarcasm and bickering please folks-if this thread does not remain civil it will be locked.
 
Mortgage Mate

I thought when you were posting here you had an interest or were arranging mortgages for overseas purchases. Not according to your website though.
 
Re: bulgaria be positive

Auto!

You ar what I would call the typical Irish,think you are clever by seing the negative only....

Firstly I saaid 5 months that dosent just account for sking,there is a bit you can get in summer as there is hiking etc..I was just saying over the year apporx 5 months!!

Also I would be you will still have your SSIA in the same box as your communion money in 20 years time--because you ar so clever.Wou probably wont even realise that inflation has rendered it usless..

Dont step outsid today,its raining you might get wet..

The standard bit of misinformation used to peddle ski properties is the "summer use" one, but the reality is that it just doesn't happen. Go to any ski resort in Europe in summertime and what do you find? Deserted, like the Black Sea in wintertime, everywhere locked up and nobody around. The reality is that the number of summer visitors in ski resorts,even in well-visited places like Austria, is just a tiny fraction of the winter business. I have heard this line peddled at property shows to gullible buyers, and it works every time.

You are making dangerous assumptions regarding your investment. You have already in your mind stretched the season out to the times when there will be no visitors. You have also used the "guaranteed rental" figure (itself a nonsense, as anybody who has examined it in any detail will tell you) to set a benchmark for your rental income. You are also assuming full occupancy, again not a reality in any holiday market and even less so in the ski market. You are making no allowance for management fees, rental commissions, cleaning, laundry, heating, etc, all of which will rise significantly as Bulgaria catches up with European costs.

In any market, be it London, Dublin, Budapest or Bansko you need to make investment decisions based on the local market norms. No Bulgarian is going to pay either the grossly inflated price you paid for this property, nor is he or she going to pay 700 euro a week for 20 weeks a year in rent for it. You are simply in denial about having been caught by the snake-oil salesmen who peddle this rubbish to "investors", you have been scammed out of a lot of money and you won't see half of it back when you try to exit. That's the reality, regardless of what comfort you derive from owning a holiday home in Bulgaria.

Let me tell you what will happen here. When your two year "rental" period is up, the realities will slowly begin to dawn on you. You will have a 2 year old property, the few renters in the market will be looking for the new places that will have been built since then, the salesman who was your best pal through all of this won't be anywhere to be seen, and the fixed costs will have risen alarmingly. You will hold on for about three more years (typically), throwing money at the place to pay the management fees and taxes, and then try to sell. A year later you will agree to drop the price to get a sale, and eventually will accept a much lower offer to get out with as much as possible of your original money. How do I know this? Saw it all before, Bulgaria wasn't where this kind of garbage was invented, just where it was brought to an art form.

I am not being negative, just realistic. I do think that its a pity that at a time when Irish people have the wherewithall to invest in their own futures, they chuck their money away on the property equivalent of junk bonds. Still, its their money...
 
Auto: You say you have seen it all before.

Please enlighten us of the locations before Bulgaria came along of where you have seen it all before.
 
Re: bulgaria be positive

The standard bit of misinformation used to peddle ski properties is the "summer use" one, but the reality is that it just doesn't happen. Go to any ski resort in Europe in summertime and what do you find? Deserted, like the Black Sea in wintertime, everywhere locked up and nobody around. The reality is that the number of summer visitors in ski resorts,even in well-visited places like Austria, is just a tiny fraction of the winter business. I have heard this line peddled at property shows to gullible buyers, and it works every time.

You are making dangerous assumptions regarding your investment. You have already in your mind stretched the season out to the times when there will be no visitors. You have also used the "guaranteed rental" figure (itself a nonsense, as anybody who has examined it in any detail will tell you) to set a benchmark for your rental income. You are also assuming full occupancy, again not a reality in any holiday market and even less so in the ski market. You are making no allowance for management fees, rental commissions, cleaning, laundry, heating, etc, all of which will rise significantly as Bulgaria catches up with European costs.

In any market, be it London, Dublin, Budapest or Bansko you need to make investment decisions based on the local market norms. No Bulgarian is going to pay either the grossly inflated price you paid for this property, nor is he or she going to pay 700 euro a week for 20 weeks a year in rent for it. You are simply in denial about having been caught by the snake-oil salesmen who peddle this rubbish to "investors", you have been scammed out of a lot of money and you won't see half of it back when you try to exit. That's the reality, regardless of what comfort you derive from owning a holiday home in Bulgaria.

Let me tell you what will happen here. When your two year "rental" period is up, the realities will slowly begin to dawn on you. You will have a 2 year old property, the few renters in the market will be looking for the new places that will have been built since then, the salesman who was your best pal through all of this won't be anywhere to be seen, and the fixed costs will have risen alarmingly. You will hold on for about three more years (typically), throwing money at the place to pay the management fees and taxes, and then try to sell. A year later you will agree to drop the price to get a sale, and eventually will accept a much lower offer to get out with as much as possible of your original money. How do I know this? Saw it all before, Bulgaria wasn't where this kind of garbage was invented, just where it was brought to an art form.

I am not being negative, just realistic. I do think that its a pity that at a time when Irish people have the wherewithall to invest in their own futures, they chuck their money away on the property equivalent of junk bonds. Still, its their money...
 
Re: bulgaria be positive

By the way,you are wrong again regarding basing you investment on local market!!

You base it on the appropriate market,,

In this case its a tourist market largly...........most ski resorts are full of forigners/visitors

I dont expect a local market..this would be different in a working town for example..
 
Re: bulgaria be positive

It also shows auto mind set..

As he points as bulgaria catches up withthe eu,that heating costs etc will rise,he is sure of this!!!!!!!!!!!!

However it apears it wont catch up in any positive way! ie-more forign visitors,appriecation of property etc...
 
Just to get back to the original enquiry of this thread....

Bought a 3 bed apartment here in Ro in September 2004 for 39k (plus 1k taxes bringing it up to 40k). Sold it last week for 54k (CGT to be paid at 16% since I hadn't owned it for the required min of 3 years) plus I had rental on it all the time. I'd say that was a positive experience. Bought from a local and sold to a local.

All of that said it was in one of those old commie blocks and I did nothing to it other than change the front door. It was in great decorative order.

Currently doing up a 2 bed and, IMHO, will struggle to make anything out of it given that I want to sell it immediately it's finished. I'd also say that if I held onto it for the same time frame as the first one then I'd make a lesser return since there are new-builds sprouting out of the ground all over at the mo'. Hence I'm unloading as quick as possible!
 
We have sold in Tallin and made terific profit and are about to sell in Kiev after only holding a short time. Looks like a nice profit there as well but the drop in the dollar will eat in to it.
 
Bought a number of sites on the coast in Romania three years ago for just over 16K each, and was approached yesterday to sell one of them at 80K, although I'm not selling and its not on the market. Offer came from the guy that owns the plot next door; I was surprised to be approached, but more surprised at the size of the offer. Won't sell just now though, the area has a lot of potential yet and I will let it sit for a couple of years more.
While the money overall is small, in terms of % return though it is one of the sweeter ones!
 
Just to get back to the original enquiry of this thread....

Bought a 3 bed apartment here in Ro in September 2004 for 39k (plus 1k taxes bringing it up to 40k). Sold it last week for 54k (CGT to be paid at 16% since I hadn't owned it for the required min of 3 years) plus I had rental on it all the time. I'd say that was a positive experience. Bought from a local and sold to a local.

Well done, and its a good example of a middle of the road foreign property purchase.
Just to follow up though, you mention a €14k gain (not including CGT); but can we assume that this doesn't cover uplift on the original purchase price, to furnish(included?), solicitor, agent(if any), property management(if any), flights over(if any), mortgage interst(if any) etc etc etc?

Just trying to get a more accurate picture! In a similar situation myself, but no intention of selling. Curently self-financing, so i'll let it sit there for a good few years.
 
Passed through Molveno Italy a couple of years back during the summer. It's a ski resort predominantly. We tried several hotels before we could find one with a vacancy. Not because they were locked up, but because they were packed.

So I think it is totally false by Auto to say these ski resorts are single season destinations only.
 
Always exceptions to the rule, but go to most resorts in Europe in summertime and you will find hotels closed and empty, and rental apartments almost always empty. The myth peddled by salespeople that you can get year round rentals in ski resorts is one of the more common examples of bending the truth in order to get a sale. That's the reality, and anyone who tries to tell you otherwise is not doing you any favours.

Anyone going skiing next week will find that the hotels in the major european resorts have just opened up, and many will just be opening next week. If you go skiing in the next week, just ask the hotel when they opened for the season. Some may have been opened on a limited basis, but will certainly not have been full.

I know this business, and many of the people who work in it, and I know the sales pitches that are used to close sales. The "year round rental" story is one of the typical tools that will convince a wavering buyer.
 
Back
Top