January 25, 2008
Where would you buy a vacation home?
This article on Canadians buying vacation homes in the US got me looking for more articles on vacation homes.
According to this article, it's no surprise that foreigners are buying US property considering the weak dollar. Actually the other article also mentioned the relative strength of Canadian currency to the US dollar.
Apparently people from Winnipeg, Canada are especially fond of Arizona. Sunshine, golf, and a battered real estate market are making Arizona look good.
While Canadians want to go south, Americans are worried about the chimneys in their vacation homes which probably means they often buy in colder areas.
I would personally love to have a vacation home and was thinking somewhere cheap would be nice. For example, buying property in Brazil could be less of a financial stress than buying in the US. However, buying in a foreign country involves some red tape (see the first article I linked to). Also, when we were in Punta Cana, my wife and I say that you get condos by the beach for $60,000 or so.
Posted by James Trotta at January 25, 2008 9:28 AM | TrackBack
Why Brazil? Do you like Brazil. Do you speak Portuguese, there national language? Do you love their food and culture. Where ever you buy a home, you better love the place.
Also, Brazil isn't so cheap, plus there currency is wild. I've seen it swing as much as 100% in a year. You could easly find yourself unable to afford your cheap vacation home some years. Finally, Brazil can be very dangerous. Petty crimes are rampant, and petty crimes sometimes turn deadly. Anyone who has been there knows the police are not help either. In fact they will shake you down daily.
So why am I down on Brazil? I'm not. I love the place......to visit. I guess what I'm saying is do your homework. Look at every country, not just the first ones that pop into your head. Read up on them like your planning a trip to see if it's worth even visiting, let alone living there. Join a forum and find other expats who live there to find out the pro's and con's from people who truly know. (An expat is a person living in a foreign country)
Also remember that cheap places are usually cheap for a reason. I could live like a king in Cambodia, in a huge house on the beach or a river, with no less then 5-10 full time servents for next to what I would call nothing. I won't though because there is not enough services, and it's to dangerous still for my taste. The cost of a gun, silencer, and bullets is 100 dollars, and the cost for someone to use it for you (Kill for you) is just an extra 100. Or so I was told by my moto driver who offered to set it up for me. This was as he, whom I just met, drove me from the airport to my hotel. Want to live there?
I could also buy a condo in Thailand on the beach for an affordable price, but their ownership laws for foreigners suck. I could actually lose my condo with out reimbursement of any money to me, and it would be legal over there.
Also don't get me started on Moscow either. I almost bought a place there in the mid ninties when there economy was garbage. Now it's the most expensive city in the world to live in and even to expensive to properly visit, let alone live there for any length of time. Sure I might have made some money on my place by selling it now, but then again maybe not. Nothing is for certain when your dealing with a foreign country and their economy. (Russia is so crooked that my place's value could have risen 500%, and I'd lose money thanks to the massive graft and taxes.)
I think you need to put a lot more thought into this. The difference between buying a home in the US and buying one anywhere else is huge. Make sure you keep your risk small. $20,000 max. Something you can afford to lose and hopefully not go broke if you lose it all.
Good Luck.
Posted by: Ryan Kirk at January 25, 2008 11:10 AMCome to Galveston. It is paradise most of the year. Real estate is inexpensive.
Lots to see and do . Miles of beaches that are free. Cruises ship leave weekly for the Mexcian
Rivera . Hardly any traffic and close to Houston and Nasa.
Try Lake Lure North Carolina which is close to Ashville. Mild climate with beautiful mountain views. You won't be disappointed.
Posted by: bob at January 25, 2008 4:41 PMA great vacation place to have a second home is Vermont. Chester, Vermont is a beautiful, small town, but there are plenty of other small towns and villages. It is lovely in Vermont any of the four seasons!!!
Posted by: Dian at January 25, 2008 7:35 PMI hope I didn't give anyone the wrong idea - I'm not actually buying a vacation home real soon. Just dreaming.
Posted by: James Trotta at January 27, 2008 6:07 AM