There are a bunch of different things that you might choose to do in order to improve your financial prospects down the line. The different avenues for investment are nearly endless, and it’s ultimately up to you whether your hard-earned money will be going towards some pet project or side-hustle that might yield dividends in the future, or whether you’re going to take a more immediate approach to your financial concerns.
For various reasons — ranging from the potential economic benefits, to the deepening of opportunity that it can represent — buying property can be an incredible choice for yourself and your family.
Buying property overseas takes many of the benefits inherent in getting on the property ladder, and magnifies them, while also including an extra touch of adventure and mystery to the proceedings.
So, if you have some money to spare and you’re wondering how best to invest it, here are a few reasons why buying property overseas could be the key to transforming your life.
It can be the start of a new life for you in a new place
If your life is completely upside down, and you’re deeply dissatisfied with every facet of how things are going for you, your own mindset and habitual choices are bound to be a significant part of the issue.
It is, however, also worth considering that you may be in an environment which isn’t conducive to you thriving and becoming your best self, or, for that matter, living the life of your dreams.
Perhaps you’re generally quite happy with your life but nonetheless don’t get on very well with your surroundings and feel that your environment is holding you back in some fundamental way. History is full of tales of people who felt they were big fish in a small pond, and who moved somewhere else (often the United States) in order to find the success that later defined them.
Buying property overseas gives you a “base of operations” in another country. If you’re able to buy property in a country which motivates and inspires you deeply — the kind of place where you can envision yourself having a productive, joyous, and successful future — that can be the first real and productive step in helping you move towards the life of your dreams, in a new land that seems to hold the best opportunities for you.
Buying abroad may enable you to get the house of your dreams
One thing about property, is that the same amount of money will get you radically different things in different places. If you live in a country like the United Kingdom where property is quite tightly regulated and subject to zoning laws, and where the land is at a premium and over-population is a real issue, your investment may land you a relatively small home.
If you’re home-hunting somewhere like the heart of London, you could expect to pay a king’s ransom for a one bedroom flat without any particular amenities.
Take the same money overseas, however, to a country which has different regulations, more free land, and a favourable exchange rate, and you might find that instead of just being able to afford a one bedroom flat, you’re suddenly able to afford the home of your dreams, located in a setting that makes you happy to wake up every day and be alive.
Finding a huge house for sale in Malaysia, for example, isn’t an impossible dream, but one that you might be able to make manifest in the foreseeable future.
Buying property abroad can be a savvy financial decision, allowing you to become a landlord
When you consider the fact that your money may stretch a good deal further overseas, you can start to realise that there is a wide scope for savvy financial investment in other countries — particularly in those with favourable regulations and legislation, and which you have some connection to, or know something about.
You might never have considered the prospect of becoming a landlord in your current country, due to the cost-prohibitive nature of doing so. If, however, you could afford a few apartments in another country — particularly if they’re in an attractive area, such as a tourist destination — you could quite easily step into the landlord life, and begin making largely “passive” income right off the bat.
You would, of course, be liable for the behaviour of your tenants and the maintenance of your property, but if you had the right agent or management company working on your behalf, you could largely continue with your life at home as normal, while making some money at the same time.
Buying property overseas can set you up with a stable “second home” to escape to when you need a break
Perhaps you don’t really want to move overseas — at least not yet — but having a property overseas, a “second home”, allows you the freedom to escape from your current circumstances whenever you find that you need a break and you really just want to detach yourself from the stresses and obligations of your ordinary life altogether.
In this sense, your property overseas could be a holiday home, but it would still be a “home” of sorts, in that it would be a familiar place which is truly yours, and which you can enjoy to your heart’s content.
Instead of just being a casual tourist when visiting, you’d have one foot in the local society and culture, and would be able to commit more of your mental and physical resources to establishing yourself there. On each visit — and in fact, between visits — you could brush up on the local language and culture. Between trips, you could plan your next adventure in detail, and once you finally arrived, you would be able to relax completely and let the positive associations you’ve created with your holiday home wash away the normal preoccupations of everyday life.
It’s hard to overestimate just how profound and meaningful this extra mental space can be.