Property investment questions from a newbie

[chewchew]

I have 60k that I have spread over some savings accounts. I sometimes think that I could be putting this money to better use that picking up 4.5% interest per year. But is 60k enough for an overseas property investment?

Basically what I'm looking for is something that I could rent out and bring in enough money to cover the mortgage, management fees, taxes etc, and also show a decent return on investment in the longer run.

Where should I be looking?

 

[Martin77]

Re: Porperty investment questions from a newbie

Which currency are you talking about? 60K euros or GBP?

Firstly you should shop around for better savings accounts.

4.5% interest per year is not good in the current climate on euros and is rubbish on sterling.

on twelve months fixed you should be able to at least get 7.2% on sterling or 5.25% on euros gross. see e.g. You should of course take into account your local tax situation when comparing rates.

[I have no connection to this site]

I currently am getting 8% yield on bonds in financial companies although that is of course higher risk. By definition, a signifcantly higher rate of return means more risk. These companies could go bust and I could possibly lose 100% of my investment.

Secondly, sorry to tell you this, but 60K is really not a lot of money and is probably insufficient for a property investment IHMO. A lot of banks are now asking for 25% deposit on a mortgage = 75% LTV, which leaves you just 240K after leveraging up. Not sure what you'd get for that anywhere. What if you have a "rainy day" back home in your own job? What other fall back do you have?

Thirdly, as a beginner, are you really sure you want to invest in property at this time? The experts on the telly, who were bullish for years on domestic property, are now very bearish. They could of course be wrong.