I one month ago bought a flat in Berlin as an overseas property investment. This was purely for capital growth as I believe Germany and Berlin property is undervalued. I now want to buy a second property overseas, particularly the Caribbean. I have been looking at the Dominican Republic as flats are on offer for as little as 50k dollars. Does anyone have any experience of the Caribbean property market? I have heard the dominican republic has a crime problem. I do not want to invest more than £50k. Is this realistically possible? If anyone has any queries over Berlin property buying process feel free to ask me....

Thanks

Thomas

Thom I invested Belin last year and then spent a few months seeking another nation to target.
I tried the Bahamas some time ago, but in the end didnt invest due to worries about Hurricanes, expensive insurance, a limited season (the Hurricane period seems to shut everything down for months), and the distance involved.

I then discovered Morocco which is as close as Spain, has a 12 month season (btw, my resort is also 1 hour from skiing which is also being developed), is attracting large prestigiuos developers in the main (this is unusual), and has vast unspoiled beaches and the Government is planning development carefuly so as to avoid Spannish high rise mass development. Speak to any international E/A and most will confirm Morocco is by far the most popular current investment. This amount of activity in itself will drive market prices. I would argue its a far better investment than Bulgaria, yet even Bulgaria has had massive capital growth in the last 4 years.
I like off - plan property with a 2 - 3 year build time - frame. This enables you to benefit from profit on the total price whilst only having to part with 40%, although I may decide to keep in which case pay 60% in late 2008.

I now seek my next target. Possibly a second Morocco property. Considering Slovenia which many say is the prettiest nation in Europe, Italian off - plan and elsewhere. Also bought shares in UK companies investing in German real estate (Speymill Deutsche & Dawnayday Treveria).

Hey Dogbox,

Thanks for the reply. I have looked at Morocco and am attracted. May I ask how did you go about buying your property and was the process easy?

Thomas

Dogbox = Julian10 me thinks !

DogBox: Who told you that skiing (on snow rather than water) was possible near Saidia? I'd like for you to be right, but I think the closest slopes are near Fez.

An agent who is Moroccan and from Saidia area. I expressed increduality but he insisted skiing is within 1 hour and also that the area around Saidia produces the best Oranges in the world





The process is very easy. I told a lot of freinds and aquaintences about the development and as a result some of them have reserved.
PM me if you want any details. The developers website is http/.lejardindefleur.com

I've done a little looking into this. There's nothing on the internet about skiiing near Saidia. The two resorts they have are Oukaimeden near Marrakesh and Mischliffen near Fez. The latter is closesr. It is about a 6 hour drive from Saidia, though will probably come down to 4 or 5 once the new motorway linking Fez to Oujda is complete. Not unusual for an agent to get some details wrong and will not impact on desirability of Saidia to its target market. Links to confirm where skiing takes place beneath.

http://www.ifyouski.com/features/morocco/
http://goafrica.about.com/b/a/234118.htm

Agree that buying is simple - at least so far.

julian10, I'm looking to buy in Berlin too, can you recommend any good estate agents? Who did you use and how much did they charge? What yield are you achieving? Thanks BFAM

I bought in Berlin and used a company called KARRAS IMMOBILIEN. I dealt with the owner - Barbarra. Has been extremely helpful. Example; Well after completion she continued to assist me at no cost with arranging insurance, arranging and dealing with utilities and the many Berlin municipal departments.

Some investors have bought whole blocks using finance but this was'nt for me at this time in my life. I went for land with planning permission which I bought from the Berlin council - so everything was in order and afforded me much peace of mind.

Why land and not a house / appartment? Ok you get no yield but I based my decision on personal expereinces; Simply put, those people I have known who invested in land around London in the early ninties made a bigger proportional return compared to those that purchased residential property. Pound for pound decent land can give a better total return.

£60000 got me a plot with permission to build appartments set above 4 or so commercial units (suitable for Solicitors / Vets / shops etc) in a nice quite area 20 minutes drive from central Berlin. Ok it was the Eastern side but dont let that put you off, it was pleasant and green and had thriving business's. Make sure the 'Jewish Restitution Issue' is satisfactorily resolved on any property you buy.

I quite understand people who prefer built property, it just was'nt my bag in Berlin.

I am confident Berlin will build upon its funky / innovative status and at last find its feet as the capital of the worlds most prolific exporting nation.

As I always say 'if Sheffield can have a boom, then so can Berlin'.

This is my first post here on this forum but I regularly post at the channel4 buying abroad forums and the buyingmoroccanproperty.com forum.

I bought an investment property in Asia. It helps to spread your eggs around a little and not put all your eggs in Europe that has a dwindling population and stagnant growth. While Berlin is purely a value play, Asia is a growth and value play. As everyone knows, China is poised to become the next superpower nation if they aren't already. While the USA is busy with its war on terrorism, China continues to grow its economy at an amazing clip and is creating an affluent middle class society that values real estate above other investments.

But I'm not too keen on investing in China. I think that country is a bit stringent on its property laws and offer only leasehold properties. Instead, I've bought an investment property in the former Portuguese colony and now China's Special Administrative Region called Macau. If you haven't heard of this place yet, you will soon. It's economy is growing like gangbusters because it's the only place in China where they allow gaming. There is a goldrush mentality going on right now with the Las Vegas operators who are scrambling to build over there and transform it into the next Las Vegas by creating Las Vegas style resorts and make it into a top worldwide travel destination. Imagine investing in Las Vegas before they became Las Vegas.

The other compelling arguments why I decided to invest here are:
- Freehold property that is one-third the price per sq. ft. of Hong Kong, hence there is room to grow
- As much as 5-10 billion pounds will be invested in this tiny little region by private companies over the next couple of years
- Bridge will be built to Hong Kong that will make it more accessible
- Airport is being expanded to accommodate direct international flights from Europe and USA
- GDP growth of double digits
- Stringent development requirements in a place that has very little land
- Extremely favorable tax structure (0.5% stamp duty, almost nil property tax, no capital gains tax)
- They grant permanent residency to investors who fulfill their low requirements

I'm not an agent. I've invested in that region and thought I'd pass the information along. It helps my investment if a wider pool of investors discover the area. That's all. But don't take my word for it. Every investor always touts their investment as the best. Do your due diligence and Google it up. You can thank me later. I personally believe in that area's potential so much I'm considering freeing up some money to buy another property over there. In case, you're wondering, I've also bought in Morocco.

Let me know if you're interested and I can give you the contact information of my agent who I can say is really good and honest.

I have a contact on Barbados who runs an Architectural/ Development/ Construction set up. They do stuff in the Eastern Caribbean:

liz_lqi@sunbeach.net

Mail Liz Quintyn at the above e-mail address and say Chris Eckett gave you the info!
Maybee she can help you out.