Cape Verde or Bodrum in Turkey

Looking at buying an overseas property in one of these two locations. I've heard positive things about both places. The Turkish option is particularly tempting as the development is a sale and lease back for 10 years at a 10% return on investment per year. Sounds too good to be true!!!! My concern about Turkey would be that it won't get entry into the EU and the property value might fall as a result. And also that there are some hidden catches with this too good to be true scenario.

If anyone has any good or bad experiences buying in Turkey or Cape Verde, I would love to hear from you.

Here is an earlier thread on Cape Verde.

Dunster said:

Looking at buying an overseas property in one of these two locations. I've heard positive things about both places. The Turkish option is particularly tempting as the development is a sale and lease back for 10 years at a 10% return on investment per year. Sounds too good to be true!!!! My concern about Turkey would be that it won't get entry into the EU and the property value might fall as a result. And also that there are some hidden catches with this too good to be true scenario.

If anyone has any good or bad experiences buying in Turkey or Cape Verde, I would love to hear from you.

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if it sounds too good to be true it usually is. turkey may be now or may become overdeveloped,regardless of entry of EU prices can stagnate or fall in any location.

May be there should be a checklist of key questions for foreign property investment, things like:

- have you visited the country in question?
- what form of government is in place? Are there any socio economic issues?
- what's the legal position regarding foreign property ownership, land title, inheritence etc.
- what tax allowances are in place, what does income & CGT look like, is there a dual taxation agreement in place?
- what tax incentives are in place, who are they aimed at, how do they work? (e.g. lease backs)
- are there any currency risks involved? Is EU & Euro membership pending?
- how will a mortgate be secured (IRL or abroad), what are interest rates?
- what's the purchasing process, how does biding work, when is a contract in place, what role do lawyers, surveyors, notaires etc. play (& how does it differ to how things work here).
- what's the exit strategy, how do I sell? what are the consequences/costs if I sell early?
- who's selling, what's the background of the seller?
- how does the property/development in question compare to other properties in the local market? what are local market rents like?
- (for holiday homes) How long is the "season", what's the off season like?
- (for normal homes) What rights do tenants have, how does the rental process differ to Irl? What will a property mgmt agency cost?
- what percentage of your property & overall investment portfolio will this represent?

Off to the pub now for some more inspiration

I've heard positive things about Leitrim - Would you consider investing there on that basis?

I'd be surprised if any more than 50 people in Ireland have ever been to Cape Verde....even the great eddie hobbs who was saying it was a great place to buy has never been there....

Thanks guys for the replies, especially tiger. I have some of those answers but not all. A friend of mine has already bought in Cape Verde and he has just come back from an inspection trip out there. He was very impressed and he reckons that it was the Canaries 30 years ago.
But unlike the canaries, these islands have guaranteed sunshine all year round. Miles of beautiful beaches and already you have lots of German, Italian, Spanish and Portugese tourists. However he did say that it will take at least five years before it is properly developed, so it could be a slow burner until the infrastructure is in place.

Check out the other thread(s?) on Cape Verde - there seem to be some pretty fundamental infrastructural and environmental issues out there.

also check out the water situation. cant have tourists if theres no water.
and i dont think it rains that much in cape verde. maybe enough to sustain the island as it is now but if its developed??

New Site, capeverdetips.co.uk. good reading,

Is anyone going to Eddie Hobbs presentation on Cape Verde tomorrow night in Cork. Wonder what interest he has in the place

Hobbs was on Today Fm again yesterday with glowing praise for Cape Verde and pluggin his book also. Matt cooper put him on the spot about any vested interest in the islands and he denied it straight out and denied any of his family were involved.... Also Cooper did a nice plug for AAM .

Hmmm on one side of this particular debate are a few journalists in the print press writing about a place few have visited until just recently it seems judging by coverage over the weekend. The interesting thing is that the reports are sharply different between those that have written based on website info and those that have actually gone there. Now there are briefing sessions in Ireland and involving Cape Verdian Govt officials. Press concern has shifted now to the Irish impact on the turtles and whales judging by the Sunday Times. Maybe we can't trust democratically elected black Africans to know how to develop their own land without destroying the environment and what they really need is the help of a few free lance journos? It's all a scam isn't it to get money from poor unsuspecting paddies and invest it in volcanos on islands that have no water (forget Dubai style desalinisation plants) and sure those Africans are in the dark ages aren't they. What a lot of humbug.

Hobbs also mentioned that the senior planning offical for the island who will be giving the nod to all this upcoming development is coming to Ireland soon......??

Covenant,
Eddie himself admits he has never visited Cape Verde. But his logic is that people who buy "gold" (for example) might never have seen the "gold", so buying property on the same basis is not unreasonable.
As for a senior planning official "giving the nod", well that sounds vaguely familiar..........

I will be giving my views, or more correctly, the views expressed here, at around 18.30 today on the Matt Cooper Show.

Brendan

joecoe0110 said:

Also Cooper did a nice plug for AAM .

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Ah? — I'm glad my text message got through. Just wish I could win one of their bloody competitions!
(And before someone points it out — no, I'm not so deluded as to believe that the plug for AAM was down to my own Very Important Text... )

Anyway, Brendan in person will have a far greater impact. I'll get my wireless ready!

Ahh but Dr. M were you the wag that pointed out that his class of seven year olds could tell the difference between a turtle and a humpback whale, even though Eddie couldn't!!

Nah — most of my (18-21-year-old) students probly wudn't no de diffrence, eider...