All Forum Posts by: Christopher Griffith

@David Hays

Its really interesting you should say that, to be honest I haven't been on the ground anywhere in the US yet to specifically look for something.  its just been online and I am originally Canadian so its not the same. I was looking in South Florida because I am mostly doing vacation rentals and it seems similar but with higher margins.  Although as I look more I do see more complications due to regulations etc. 

Some things give me pause when researching the US for vacation renting like HOAs, stricter laws, and also the fact that some neighbourhoods in the US with good deals are super high crime ghettos from what I can tell.  At least none of those things are a big problem here in Spain.  Although the numbers you see on here and elsewhere are still tempting.

What type of real estate do you do in Spain?  I'd be interested to connect if you'd like. I am really eager to expand and open to talking to people with different experiences.

Chris

@Nathan Miller

Thanks for the suggestion,  I never would have known about it.  I will definitely check it out because I like the idea of not relying only on one season.

@Andy Whitcomb

Those are some very impressive numbers! Seattles sounds great and its also a city I'd like to visit but for purchasing it would be out of my reach I am sure.

Hi everyone, I live in Madrid, Spain and I have done several real estate deals abroad but I am really interested in the US market.  The opportunities I read about in the US seem a lot better than over here.  However I am a little bit confused on what location to look at.

I currently do Airbnb vacation rentals here in Spain.  Its pretty much the only viable real estate option here because tourism is carrying the entire economy.  I have thought about Florida because it has good tourism and weather, I have even read about people having success in cities like Kansas City, MO which to be honest I barely knew existed until reading about it on this forum.

The reason I am attracted to vacation rentals is because I have done it here in Spain so I know how it works and believe in it.  It can be a pain but the returns usually make up for it.  If anyone has any sugggestions or even better examples who are doing this business somewhere in the US I would be really greatful.

Thanks!

@Ricardo Naya

I manage it myself but I dont meet the guests or clean the apartments I have a team for that.  As you know its easy and cheap to find people to do these jobs here with the current economic situation.  Its not entirely hands off but I dont put in much work.  You can get pretty good statistics for Airbnb on Airdna.co it has free and premium reports.  The number of listings has doubled in Madrid every single year so my only fear is its another bubble waiting to burst.  I think what is keeping it going is the growth of tourism in the past few years has outpaced the listings added.  If you read the news in Spain now there are many articles about the growth of Airbnb and how it has negatively affected the centre of Madrid, Barcelona etc and made it unaffordable for average people so there is always the possibility the government may take a more anti Airbnb stance if the problem gets worse.

I am not recommending you to buy in another country. I just said for me personally, after a few years living here in Madrid and since I am from North America originally, I have seen both sides and I personally feel the US has way more opportunities and better conditions for this type of business.  Just after browsing this forum for a while you can hear of people buying properties for well under 100.000 USD and renting it out for great returns or fixing and flipping and earning decent money.  I just don't see these types of opportunities in Madrid.  I am sure there are opportunities but they are few and far between it seems.  Even after the crisis prices here are high when compared to what the average person earns.

What about using an offshore VA from the philippines? I have hired several for phone and email customer support in another venture and found they speak and write very fluently in English. You can use odesk and probably dozens of people will apply and you can choose the person with the best reviews and the most reasonable price.

I also live in Madrid and have been here for 3 years.  Comparing to a lot of places in North America I dont see a lot of amazing opportunities here in terms of buying to rent, flipping, etc.  The rental yields seem really low and taxes are also quite high not to mention high transaction costs.

The only decent opportunity I found relates more to tourism, which in the past few years has grown a lot in Spain. I am currently renting 2 tourist properties in the centre of Madrid and its going alright.

To be honest, lately I'm looking for opportunities in the United States in some place like Florida or Texas, on paper the opportunities look a lot more interesting.

I'd also be interested to meet up with other people in Madrid.