Comments on: How to value foreign property

By: Peter

Peter — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 20:40:15 +0000

Hi Wayne, I am a fellow reader who has visited Ukraine x 5, and has some continuing interests there who might entice me to permanent residence there (upon marriage). What do you know of stability of the banks that are patronized by the local oligarchs? I suspect they’d make sure that the government keeps them solvent, at least the ones where their money’s stashed. Also, I would think there would be close to zero chance of the IRS making a successful run on confiscation of American citizens’ deposits there. Also, as Simon has said before, go with the country that’s always lived with chaos, because when the dollar disintegrates, in Ukraine, it wouldn’t make much difference to go from chaos to more chaos.

By: Wayne Hurst

Wayne Hurst — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 17:26:40 +0000

Hi Simon;
I do not think I am interested in staying in the Western hemisphere. A South American citizenship, maybe. A long term resident visa in Cyprus, Malaysia, Singapore, or Thailand would be of interest. I am not interested in buying a residence but in establishing a peaceful place of living.
The one country in Central America that I have not seen you comment on is Belize.
I have lived in the Ukraine for the last four years but their policies over the last few months have turned away from the pro-American views held since the Orange Revolution. As a result, I desire to establish a second citizenship and another place of living.
I recently bought a new laptop and an Idiot’s guide for Microsoft 7. I immediately noticed Woodie, the author, had moved his operation and his family to Thailand to continue their publishing venture from there. I have read your recent comments on Thailand. I would be interested in further comments on Cyprus, Malaysia, or Singapore. And as a side note, what are conditions like in Sri Lanka since the war ended? Is this a possibility?
Thanks for whatever information you may have!!!!!
Sincerely,
Wayne Hurst

By: Michael

Michael — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 21:30:32 +0000

On a more banal note – you mention the “single’s scene,” in Spain, and for one I wouldn’t mind hearing any tasteful vignette’s/advice pertaining to that subject in the countries you visit. Now that you’ve back from Thailand, of course.

By: Poseidon

Poseidon — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 08:23:44 +0000

“…and debt-free mining companies were valued at less than the cash they had in the bank.”

Don’t get me started.

By: Occdude

Occdude — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 03:42:58 +0000

That not only tells me that property prices are too high in Italy, it tells me they are WAY too high. Who has 220000 euros sitting around ready to jump into Italian real estate, especially during this recessionary period? For me to actually buy property in Italy, we better be talking about a return north of 10 percent and that is not a levered return but one based on return on equity. That means that the price of that two bedroom home with a 450 a month return would be around 54 grand (and thats assuming rents hold which is quite an assumption with so much housing inventory).

In short, housing prices should be a function of rents and rents are a function of personal income which is real shaky in Italy (unemployment above 7-8 percent and rising with the threat of a sovereign debt crisis in the air). I think the “good old days” where you factored price appreciation into your real return are dead, thats a speculative horse thats had its run. Look for a return to fundamentals where rents matter again and you’re cash return needs to be compared to the return on riskier and less risky assets to get a better valuation. Credit is going to tighten and if the yield on real estate stays low, real estate should crash down to more affordable levels.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 22:18:07 +0000

I can show you how to value property with precious metals on it.

D. MacGregor