Self build abroad

[babylon]

I've been watching 'Pay off your Mortgage in a Year' on Channel4. There seems to be money to be made by building/renovating a property abroad. Has anyone tried this? If so, what problems did you encounter? How much time did it take to find the plot/ruin? How often did you visit to check on the build? Were you happy with the result? How long did it take to sell the property and did the profit (if any) make it worthwhile?

 

[Marie]

It is interesting that these programmes never, ever follow through to selling-point and beyond. One thing you have to remind yourself is "This is T.V.........it's "entertainment"' and they leave the difficult 'reality' bits out.

Usually these make-over, envy-stimulating offerings don't factor-in the time (and often the specialist skills - chartered surveying, engineering or interior design, building-skills) brought free by the speculators. They briefly mention the cost of monitoring visits throughout the build and the inadvisability of leaving progress and decisions up to agents but they don't mention the four or five visits over a year spent finding a site and getting builders. They never stay with speculators to beyond the sale and settlement of fees, taxes, etc. stage. If they extended these programmes to take in all the preparation and then the winding-up I doubt if the profits would continue to look like such a 'killing'!

Most "Grand Designs Abroad" and "Pay Off Your Mortgage" encounter setbacks which affect the projected time-scale adversely. Many turn out to cost twice the projected investment. A power-suited EA then glides effortlessly up the rockstrewn mountainside in 8" high-heels and promises mega-bucks in excess of all expectations. Time-cost, fees and taxes and the caveat that all things being equal and someone actually wanting to live on that particular mountaintop in Montenegro and able to afford this now massively expensive holiday home is left out of the picture.

Think about it - if its as simple and profitable as these programmes make out why would I (for example!) purchase a villa from you for a six-figure price when I could "self-build" my own on an adjacent plot for a quarter of the cost?

Astute contributors to AAM often say "If it looks too good to be true, it probably is!" The book published from The BBC's "Grand Designs Abroad" is a useful read for background on the kind of issues that come up in this kind of project.

 

[almo]

Babylon, if you look at something like this (the project, not the less than truthful show) then you need a number of things.
1. To know the area well, future infrastructure, local life etc.
2. Have a reliable person on the gound.
3. Know that when you renovate and sell on you won't get hit with CGT.
4. Have the ability to spend a full month on the project allowing for builders to miss days due to inclement weather, non-arrival of materials, unforeseen delays etc.

It can be done, but as Marie says, not in every case and I've yet to see a stone house on the beach with clean papers for anything under €100,000.l

 

[Ancutza]

Much coverage in the romanian medi at the moment about HRH The Prince of Wales decision to buy a ranch in Romania. Transylvannia to be more exact.

He's been a regular visitor over the last few years and given his commentary on architecture and cultural heritage it will be very interesting to see what he comes up with!

Perhaps one will roll up ones sleeves and lay some blockwork indeed.

Read on a website recently about the number of old castles going under the hammer in Transylvannia at the moment.

Dracula beware! Unless you've renewed your rental agreement recently then you might be faced with a rent hike!