should we buy??

Hi All

I have been reading these posts with great interest and have a few questions which I hope someone can help me with. Basically my husband and I will be living in Ireland for about anither 2 years before we move to Australia. We are currently renting but have about €75k to invest. We have seen a house in D15 (where I work) for about the €400k mark and are considering buying it and then selling in in two years hopfully having made a profit. I am worried thought the with the transactions cost being so high we won't make any money and could indeed lose money. My question (at last) is should we buy or would we be better off investing overseas or any other suggestions as to what to do with the €75k for the next 2 years to maximise the return.

any thoughts would be great.

My personal opinion is that 2 years is too short, given the transaction costs involved. It is also too short for an overseas property investment or an equity investment. I'm assuming here that you are going to actually need the money pretty much straight away once you move to Oz. You're going to find it hard fo find anything better than a deposit account for a 2 year timescale. Check the best buys forum for the top-paying deposit accounts.

I'd agree with RainyDay.

You don't mention whether the move to Australia is likely to be a permanent one, but if you're likely to be looking to buy over there, you might find [broken link removed] article interesting. As always, it depends on who you believe, but the consensus seems to be that the property market in Australia seems likely to stay relatively 'flat' for the next couple of years (depending of course on type/location). You might be better off keeping your savings on deposit, with a view to finding better value 'down under' in 2008...