Best/Easiest/Cheapest country to buy a vacation condo?

[inmortus]

Having taught internationally for a while I often find myself wondering about whether I should buy some sort of condo or a house to use in vacations and/or retire to at some point. I would love to buy a place to use right now as a vacation home while renting it through a real state company or similar whenever I'm not using it, and maybe eventually using it as a retirement home.

I was wondering if anyone here at ISR has done something similar, and if so, where, how much you paid, process, etc...

Thailand comes to mind, but it is my understanding that foreigners cannot own anything other than condos, and that is only of over 50% of the condos in the building are Thai-owned.

I don't know about how feasible/hard/expensive(or not) it would be to consider places such as: Malaysia, Philippines, Mexico, Ecuador, Colombia, Costa Rica, etc?

Has anyone done this? Any experiences to share about buying real state in a country different than that you are residing in?

[vettievette]

The Philippines has similar law to Thailand when it comes to foreign ownership. With that being said, from what I've observed with friends and family who have foreign passports, it is not that difficult to invest in a condo if you have the right realtor, etc. The key is to invest in a reputable real estate developer and one that hopefully follows sustainable development practices.

[Briz]

You can lease land and own the house in the Philippines. You can actually own a condo there as a foreigner. You can buy a small one for 60k USD. Be careful though, make sure the building is complete tons of these things go bankrupt.

Try renting an apartment through airbnb.com the next time you travel. It might be a better way to rent your pad out anyway...

Good luck

[skonamaj1]

In the Philippines to own the land you have to be married to a Filipino. That being said many people I know get a 99 year lease on the land. You can easily buy a condo in the Philippines as a foreigner. Your still going to be looking at $25,000-$50,000 US on the low end to buy a brand new condo or house, but that depends on location as well. Manila is a nice city. I will probably retire there, or Cebu. Maybe Bohol there are so many great places to choose from. Condos in Manila are not a bad investment either, lots of other foreigners live there, and prices are good for renting out the condo. Just make sure to only rent to good people. Anyway for my two cents Philippines is the best choice.