OriginalSunshine

Inspired by another thread where someone advised someone else to buy a house elsewhere in the world with their savings of 60k (and here I am assume they meant "and get a mortgage on top")...

Where & what would you buy?

Constraints:
British citizen only - no rights to buy due to marriage to non-Brit spouse;
house price around GBP 300 k (ie the 60k gives you a 20% deposit);
somewhere you could leave empty for large parts of the year whilst you worked elsewhere

The Dean

I don't understand Constraint No 1??

mentalist

Wouldn't it be hard to get a mortgage for 240K? It's surprising what you can get in France for less than Euro100K so long as you don't target the south coast.

OriginalSunshine

Well, not everyone married a Thai/Indonesian spouse and therefore has legal access to cheap permanent residential accommodation. So some suggestions where people who only have British citizenship would be useful

Not really - lots of the bigger banks can give overseas mortgages if you have a good credit history. E100K is fine as well though, and obviously more affordable. I was just putting an upper limit to get more realistic options.

Sheesh - play along now guys

The Dean

So............ Florida then..............

Boomhauer

Nah forget Florida, all the crazies live there. Also forget New Jersey, it's the armpit of America.

jam25mack

France is a good call.

They have that 20yr scheme where you buy a house and then rent it to the govt for tourism. The rent pays off your mortgage as long as you put up 15-20% deposit if not you will need to top up. During this time you can use it for a few weeks a year. After the 20yrs it is yours pretty much for gratis.

OriginalSunshine

Florida - have actually visited there, but really never appealed. Probably coloured by the fact we got evacuated out whilst on holiday due to a rather large incoming hurricane.

20yr scheme - sounds a great idea in theory, but do you know anyone who it has actually worked for? When I checked it out, all the prices of the places you could get that tourism scheme for seemed to be more expensive than outright purchase?

Ethos83

Florida is a huge state with its redneck areas and its posh areas. It's hard to describe Palm Beach and Naples as full of crazies.

The disadvantage is that it's difficult for overseas buyers to obtain mortgages in the US due to the lack of a local credit history. Banks willing to loan to overseas buyers will require a much higher down payment and interest rates.

Here's a novel idea: the UK. Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset? Decent tourist market in these counties where you can rent out your property on a weekly basis.

Otherwise what about Italy? Sicily could be interesting. Or Croatia?

jam25mack

I did look into it a few years ago and I didn't see any difference price wise. I 'think' it can be any property as long as its in an area where there is a lack of available tourist accom.

Saying that, no I don't know anyone who has done it but from what I have heard its pretty common.

jam25mack

Bulgaria?

Any ski resort, although avoid Switzerland as its apparently a nightmare getting a mortgage over there.

Boomhauer

Rush Limbaugh lives in Palm Beach.

mentalist

Never heard of that person. Is it a man or a woman? If American then that probably explains it. I'm guessing that property in Cyprus may be a little cheaper right now.

The Dean

My advice is NOT to buy anywhere in the Eurozone. The Cyprus disgrace is almost certainly the tip of the iceberg............ wait for it:

"Yes Sir, I know the house in Bordeaux is yours, but you see Italy's goverment really has spent too much money and........... "

OriginalSunshine

Yeah

I'm wondering what will happen to the UK market when there are enough calls for "British houses for British people" which I do in all honesty have a lot of sympathy for. It makes me really when locals tell me they "Love, absolutely love London/Edinburgh" especially their appt/house that they bought for X million......