Overseas property investment funds?

[frunzy]

Hi All,
Eddie Hobbs was on the 'Last Word' last week speaking about Cape Verde and he briefly touched on overseas investment property funds. We were thinking of 'jumping on the overseas property band wagon' but were reluctant after researching some of the offers out there(and reading loads of threads on AAM), we have €30,000 in savings and 2 full SSIAs nearly ready to mature. We were thinking of investing in one of these funds but know nothing about them, is there as much risk as the average overseas property? Are there many 'top performers' and what are the tax implications on same?We have €90000 outstanding on our mortgage.
Thanks in advance

 

[CCOVICH]

Why do you feel compelled to invest in something that you know nothing about?

What did EH say about overseas funds?

Such funds may be a good way to tap into the market without actually owning the underlying assets. They may also diversify risk, to some extent.

But you need to watch out for the charges attached to such funds, and also high minimum investment amounts (Custom House Capital are advertising a German fund in today's Irish Times with a minmum investment of €100k).

With a lump sum built up, and more on the way, I would look at paying off a chunk of my mortgage.

You could divert the money you had been paying into your SSIA into a unit linked fund that allows monthly contributions.

 

[JohnBoy]

Hi Frunzy,

How do you know that overseas property is the best investment alternative available to you?

Have you considered bond; commodity or equity funds?. Have you considered paying off your mortgage instead?. What about topping up your pension payments or buying art, wine or antiques?

I am not as biased against overseas property as an asset class as you might think, but there are so many investment alternatives out there (including a simple savings account) that you ought to consider as many of these as possible and chose the one that suits your investment requirements (tax, time horizon, liquidity etc) the best. As a results of this exercise an overseas property fund may indeed be the ideal investment vehicle for you but I am interested in finding out how you came to this conclusion.