Bonjour,

For the last few years I've been working remotely, living in various countries. But next year I'll be setting up a permanent office, though the location is to be decided, it will be either in Eastern Europe, South America of South (East) Asia.

I'd still like to travel a lot and work at the same time. But being a Scrooge and having some investment capital I've been wondering about buying rental properties that I could use occasionally, but are otherwise rented out to tourists, not tenants.

Are there services that will manage the rental of such properties? And are they also able to manage electricity bills, taxes etc.? At a glance I can't see much other than a few fledgling AirBnB management services. For my purposes it's financially only worth my time if I could get the complete management, preferably by one company that could manage them all.

As an example, I would be looking for a portfolio something like: an apartment in Bangkok, a villa in Bali, a villa in Langkwai, a villa in Goa (I am able to purchase RE in India), an apartment in Jakarta, a villa in Sri Lanka and an apartment in Phnom Penh.

The properties would be fairly entry level, no need for renovation, bought outright with cash and only located in major cities or tourist centers.

@Astva Tsaturyan

Hi, I'm not 'up' on these but I do know niche sites exist to advertise vacation homes and rentals in sought after places.  Say, rent for a week at a time kind of deals, etc.  Do some web searching and you'll find some.  No idea beyond that but I do know my extended family would book through this kind of stuff when we'd stay in outer banks, NC, among other places.....

I would be very interested in this as well... I love South America and would love to own properties that I rent out while not using and ideally that would cover the cost of property, therefore, giving me essentially a free place to stay in the cities I love.

Interesting idea, but I doubt there are mutli-country property managers for AirBnB type rentals and perhaps not even regular long term rentals.   Probably more country and maybe even location specific.  While there are people that probably do it, I'm thinking Thailand is not AirBnB friendly in most cases/places.   Not sure about the other countries.   There is one company called Nordic that has something like you describe I think in Pattaya, Phuket, and Koh Samui.   My quick look at them makes me think they want investors to fund their developments and they take short to medium term bookings for the condo/condotel type accommodations.  Becasue the whole development is set up like this, then easy for you to rent/stay in your own unit or one like it.

@Astva Tsaturyan @Scott Morris @Bruce Lynn Thailand doesn’t make any sense since the short term rents are generally super low. I invest in México, Spain, Portugal, Colombia, Uruguay, Brazil and Panama. Cash flow yields can be very large if you know what you do. The Riviera Maya is the absolute best for unlevered cash flow (I managed to get financing through connections). Spain and Portugal are awesome if you can get foreclosures or motivated sellers (through connections again) and cheap financing is available. Colombia is an emerging tourist destination and the local currency is super low.

Unlike Astva, I prefer to manage and do it on behalf of the investors who invest with me.

@Mike Lambert do you know of any companies that do full management in those locations?

@Mike Lambert , how are you managing all these properties in all those countries?  I love Colombia and Uruguay and would love to invest in those countries.  

@Scott Morris There are 3 ways to go about the management. You can do it yourself, which has become possible thanks to technology but there is work involved. You can also hire a local property management company. It's a big advantage to have somebody on the ground but oftentimes it will cost you 30% of your gross rental income (so even more of your net income). Alternatively, you can invest with people like me, who find the opportunities and take care of everything using their local contacts and share the profits. My objective with the investors who invest with me is to have them make higher returns and take less risks than if they were investing on their own. There are risks involved so it's important that you know what you're doing or invest with people who do and who you can trust. Good choice of countries. Colombia and Uruguay are great countries for real estate investing and they have a great potential.

@Astva Tsaturyan Management companies are local. But this is potentially a great business idea. As my portfolio grows, I'll have to manage properties in more and more countries for my investors so I could do it for other people as well.

I have a short-term rental in Both Medellin and near Nice France.  When purchasing the properties I had spent time getting to know my neighbors and made a few friends.  I was able to employ two of the people I had met and pay them 10% of the rental price.  They handle the check-in,  and arrange for any repairs to be made and cleaning done.  I do all the reservations through Airbnb myself.  I tried a few property management agencies in Medellin and didn't have luck in finding a company that I felt did well by the property.  If you have the time you should do it yourself.  If not then find the best option for a local company.