Investing in International Real Estate For Dummies^®

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2019933833

ISBN 978-1-119-52752-7 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-119-52755-8 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-119-52754-1 (ebk)

Introduction

Welcome to Investing in International Real Estate For Dummies, and thank you for choosing me to guide you through the process of building a successful real estate portfolio. I’m so excited to be sharing this journey with you!

If I were a betting man, I’d wager that you’re drawn to real estate because you want the chance to create financial security — and, over time, real wealth. You love the idea of working for yourself, of being in charge of your own destiny, of being liberated from the boring, 9-to-5 routine. You want to feel excited about what you do every day.

Those were certainly the things that attracted me to real estate more than 15 years ago. Back then, I had a good, grown-up job at an investment bank in the City of London. I was earning fantastic money for a young, single guy. I was doing all the things I thought I was supposed to do with my life, the way I had been taught and the way that society suggested. But I was miserable. I was desperate to escape it all and work for myself. Real estate seemed a tangible, achievable way to do that. I wasn’t wrong.

I started small, renting out a room in my own house to start with. Then I rented out another room after that. Then I converted the garage to make another room, until I’d maximized that first house. Then I took on another rental property, and another after that. Pretty soon, I was expanding into other real estate strategies — and that was when things started to get really exciting. Within ten years, I’d built up a diverse, robust real estate portfolio worth more than £20 million (or more than $25 million), and I was running my own group of successful real estate businesses transacting many millions worth of property each and every year.

There’s nothing particularly special about me. I don’t have a larger-than-average brain (at least, I don’t think I do!). I didn’t come from a background of notable wealth or privilege. And I had no real estate experience (beyond being a homeowner) when I started out. But I was very determined, and I was willing to invest the assets I had in abundance — namely, my passion, drive, time, and energy — in immersing myself in the world of real estate. If you have the same drive and willingness to commit to your continual education, you, too, can build a successful real estate portfolio. This book shows you how to start or get to the next level.

About This Book

Many investors start out by buying a property and renting it out to a tenant or household (the standard single-tenant model). That’s all well and good — and if that’s your main interest in real estate, I recommend you also read Eric Tyson and Robert Griswold’s excellent book, Real Estate Investing For Dummies (Wiley).

This book, however, is designed to go beyond simply renting out a property on a single-tenant basis, toward building a portfolio that encompasses different real estate strategies (such as renting out a property on a room-by-room basis or providing serviced accommodation). Why? Because I believe there are better ways to maximize your real estate income than the standard single-tenant model.

To put it another way, this book is designed to inspire you to grow as a real estate investor, beyond the standard route into real estate investing, and build real wealth for you and your loved ones. With that in mind, this book is built around the following core concepts:

By building a robust real estate portfolio — one that incorporates different strategies and multiple revenue streams — you’re much better placed to ride out market fluctuations and invest for both the short and long term.
Passive income is the key to building real wealth and security — not to mention the freedom to live life your way. So, wherever possible, you want your investments to be as passive (hands-off) as possible. In the early days, this may not be entirely possible, but as your expertise and your portfolio grow, you’ll be able to take a step back and devote more time to growing further, instead of focusing on the nitty-gritty day-to-day stuff.
Most real estate books tend to focus on one geographic location or another (typically, the United States or the United Kingdom), when, in fact, many real estate strategies can be successfully deployed anywhere in the world. If investing overseas doesn’t appeal to you, that’s fine — a number of the strategies in this book will almost certainly work just as well in your home country.
Continually investing in your own education and maintaining the right mind-set is critical for success as a real estate investor. In fact, one of the unique features of this book is that it devotes two whole chapters (Chapters 5 and 17) to key mind-set techniques. I believe your mind is what differentiates you from any other human being, and if you can learn to harness your mind (through education and mind-set techniques), you can do absolutely anything you want. Just dream big!

One final thing to note about this book: Within this book, you may note that some web addresses break across two lines of text. If you’re reading this book in print and want to visit one of these web pages, simply key in the web address exactly as it’s noted in the text, pretending as though the line break doesn’t exist. If you’re reading this as an e-book, you’ve got it easy — just click the web address to be taken directly to the web page.

Foolish Assumptions

During the writing process, most authors have a specific type of reader or audience in mind. I’m no different. So, while I was writing this book, I made some simple assumptions about you as a reader:

You’re looking to progress beyond the standard renting-out-a-property model and build a real estate portfolio that’s diverse and robust.
You don’t necessarily know which strategy or strategies are best suited to you as an investor.
You may not have a lot of money to invest in growing your real estate portfolio, and you’re looking for creative ways to expand and progress, without breaking the bank.
You aren’t sure which geographic location is best for you (whether you should invest in properties at home or overseas).

If that all sounds about right (and I hope it does!), this book is for you.

Icons Used in This Book

To help you navigate this book, I use the following helpful, eye-catching icons. Here’s what each of the icons is used for:

I use the Remember icon to highlight critical information that you should keep in mind on your real estate journey.

The Tip icon draws your eye to handy hints and insider tips that will save you time or effort, or generally make your life as a real estate investor a little bit easier.

As with any form of investing, mistakes can be costly. I use the Warning icon to highlight advice on what to avoid or common mistakes that many investors make (so you don’t have to make them!).

Sometimes I get into the weeds a bit and give you information that’s a little more technical than you absolutely need. When I do, I mark it with the Technical Stuff icon. If you’re in a rush, feel free to pass by anything marked with this icon.

Beyond This Book

In addition to the book you have in your hand, you can access some helpful extra content online. Check out the Cheat Sheet for further tips on becoming a real estate pro. Just go to www.dummies.com and enter Investing in International Real Estate For Dummies Cheat Sheet in the search box.

I’ve also developed online courses that go into more detail and provide extra content to help you improve your real estate education further. You can find these courses at www.propertyforum.com/real-estate-courses.

Where to Go from Here

So, where do you want to start?

One of the great things about For Dummies books is that they’re designed to be read in any way that works for you. So, if you want to read the entire book from cover to cover, go for it (in fact, I encourage you to do just that for maximum inspiration).

But if what really excites you is vacation rentals, you can turn straight to Chapter 16 and dive right in. Looking for creative ways to fund your investors? Chapter 8 is for you. Or if renting to students is your preferred niche, head to Chapter 14. In other words, you can pick and choose the chapters that appeal to you as a growing real estate investor, so scan through the table of contents and find what catches your eye.

And if you aren’t sure where to begin, simply turn the page and see what comes next!

Investing in International Real Estate For Dummies®

To view this book's Cheat Sheet, simply go to www.dummies.com and search for “Investing in International Real Estate For Dummies Cheat Sheet” in the Search box.