Diversify your investments while getting to know new places

By Shlomo Freund

I like looking at international real estate investment. I do have a couple and intend to do some more. But what’s buffets me the most is the fact that people around me say that there aren’t any investments with good ROI anymore. 

This is certainly not true; it’s just a matter of looking globally and thinking out of the box. 

As Chinese tourism movement is growing so is their impact on real estate investments. 

At the beginning of 2017 I traveled to Thailand and spent 2.5 months there. What I experienced there was pretty amazing. The number of Chinese tourists was absolutely unbelievable. Not only you hear lots of Chinese walking down the street, but many of the stores are accepting Chinese mobile payments and are holding Chinese speaking staff. 

Janie Lee, left, a residential specialist with John L. Scott Real Estate, shows a home for sale to her client, Hongbin Wei, of Beijing, China, on Dec. 18, 2014, in Medina, near Seattle. [Photo: AP/Ted S. Warren]

At the same time we were looking into investing in an apartment in Thailand. Part of the thought was that as many Chinese tourists are coming the prices would go up long term. 

Portugal is also a destination we explored just recently. We spent 2 months there. As part of my searches for local events I bumped into Lisbon real estate investments meeting. As I was interested in international investments I went to check it out and learn more about the environment. 

Interesting enough is that Lisbon’s real estate is also hot, but not because of Chinese people specifically. As Portugal is the cheapest country to live in. In Western Europe many people decided to buy real estate for investments. Portugal is also a big retirement destination, and many people decide they would like to live here eventually. Prices went up a lot but seems like there is still room for growth. In Lisbon real estate market you are looking at 4-6% return on rental properties. 

A friend of mine, who lives in China, is also looking at properties around Lisbon and stating the return can be much higher if you are willing to invest in extensive renovation of an apartment and renting it out short term. By the way, short-term investment in Portugal, like Airbnb is regulated and a special license is needed. Still it’s fairly easy to get says Andre Leonardo who is an entrepreneur and a TV host in Portugal. 

Many people are afraid of international real estate investments, thinking it’s out of reach. But the truth is that it’s possible. Yes, it does take an effort to do and expenses but returns are much better if you broaden your searches. 

You’d need to jump into the water at some point and do it no matter how prepared you are but start by thinking globally that’s the key here. Eventually, like everything in life you’ll get better and better at that and increase your revenues. 

(Shlomo Freund is the founder of FreeFinancialSelf.com- helping entrepreneurs to reach their financial goals and financial freedom)