Hobbs on Overseas Property

W

Wilkes

Guest
Watched the show last Monday. Did I read it right but I felt that he was suggesting that most people should NOT invest in overseas property? The rule seemed to be that if the rent didn't come would it hit your wages. On that basis surely most of us should not do so?

Why are property funds better? I know that a TV show like this is limited to surface info but can anyone enlighten me?
 

Property funds are better because you can chose how much you want to invest each month, and can discontinue monthly payments into the fund easily enough, should you need/wish to.

Unfortunately, you can't choose to discontinue your monthly mortgage repayments.

You seem surprised by this advice - I would've thought that Eddie was merely stating the obvious. How else would you pay the mortgage if the rent didn't come except from your own wages? So you need to be prepared and able to do so.

Overseas property is a high risk investment. Unless you're very familiar with the country you're investing in, I would consider it bordering on reckless to invest directly in a foreign property. Unfortunately, the Irish appetite for property knows no bounds and people rather foolishly believe that every country joining the EU is the next Celtic Tiger/property boom waiting to happen.
 
Didn't see the show, but I presume he was suggesting you needed some sort of buffer saved to cope with periods where the place didn't rent.

As to why property funds could be better than direct investment, then I could think of two good reasons. First, they should be diversified, so you're not putting all your eggs in one basket so to speak. Secondly, they should (should) have a more professional approach to investing than your average Irish purchase off brochure type.
 
I watched a previous program of eddies where a couple needed some financial advice and he discovered they had an apartment in Spain for their summer hols but they had never rented it, Ed was totally against the idea as if they were not renting it,then it was a liability and was only costing them money,They were paying much more for upkeep insurance etc than they could buy a good hol for every year.Their estate agent was telling them that it was gaining in value all the time so Ed told them to try and sell it,but when it went on sale it wasn't quite making what they were hoping,The price they were being offered wasn't much more than they had paid for it in the first place,
 
Thanks for that, maybe Monday night might add some more but overall the show was enjoyable provided you were not too po-faced and didn't expect a lecture - wouldn't work on TV. Got some more off his site . AAM gets a mention!