# Owning a condo in a foreign country, renting it out? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 10, 2018, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/owning-a-condo-in-a-foreign-country-renting-it-out/815801 "2018-06-10T04:55:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2018, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/owning-a-condo-in-a-foreign-country-renting-it-out/815801/1 "2018-06-10T04:55:01Z")
I’m in the US and wonder if anyone knows some of the aspect and possiblilities of this. I’m not sure you can even do it. But maybe there is a way to rent out your property to air B and B clients when you aren’t there. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2018, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/owning-a-condo-in-a-foreign-country-renting-it-out/815801/2 "2018-06-10T05:54:29Z")
It really depends on the country. My friend sells real estate in Japan to foreigners. He also has a management company which handles rent, repairs and other problems. One of the biggest problems is getting a mortgage if you don’t live there. There are countries with residency requirements. Some places have restrictions on bank accounts for non residence but other countries don’t. It’s possible. The internet makes a lot of things so much easier than it used to be. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2018, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/owning-a-condo-in-a-foreign-country-renting-it-out/815801/3 "2018-06-10T06:03:44Z")
Very common in the sunnier parts of Europe, particularly where there has been rural depopulation; but it can be complicated jumping through the local legal hoops, not to mention whatever tax implications there might be across two different jurisdictions. But for running a rental business, there are usually local property agencies to look after it for the owners. ---
**Author:** ![Desert\_Nomad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desert_nomad/32/177_2.png) [@Desert\_Nomad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desert_Nomad)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2018, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/owning-a-condo-in-a-foreign-country-renting-it-out/815801/4 "2018-06-10T07:23:48Z")
I live in the US and rent out my apartment in the Czech Republic (which I bought for me to live in for the years I was there). I have a property manager and it has worked well so far. ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2018, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/owning-a-condo-in-a-foreign-country-renting-it-out/815801/5 "2018-06-10T07:49:04Z")
Lots of absentee landlords here in Ireland. I once lived in a house whose owner lived in New Zealand. Assuming it’s legal in the country in question, you basically need to find a management company that will deal with everything for you, in exchange for a hefty cut of the rent of course. ---
**Author:** ![ZonexandScout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zonexandscout/32/544_2.png) [@ZonexandScout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZonexandScout)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2018, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/owning-a-condo-in-a-foreign-country-renting-it-out/815801/6 "2018-06-10T11:34:44Z")
Check out VRBO and some of their listings for condos and separate houses for short-term rent. While the owner is often in residence nearby, it is also very common for the owner to live in another country. For example, I just came back from two weeks in Cyprus. The property owner actually lives in the UK, though he and his wife do spend several months a year in Cyprus. I’ve used VRBO at least ten times in the past few years. Sometimes the property is manager by a professional firm. Others are managed by friends or neighbors on an more informal basis. In one case with a property in Cyprus, the owners mailed us the property keys from France (to the USA) and we had to mail them back. As far as we could tell, nobody local was managing the property at all, though a local woman came in to clean up for a couple hours right before and right after a rental. ---
**Author:** ![Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tired_and_Cranky)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2018, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/owning-a-condo-in-a-foreign-country-renting-it-out/815801/7 "2018-06-10T12:27:00Z")
Are you hoping to make a profit or just subsidize your cost of ownership? My uncle inherited a property in a touristy part of Europe. He pays a neighbor a few bucks per month to look after it and to give renters the keys when they come. She also tidies it up after they leave. It’s reduced his net carrying costs but I doubt he could’ve made a worthwhile return if he didn’t own the property outright already. My uncle also isn’t trying to maximize his return. Anytime you rely on others to look after your interests, you face agency costs. These are basically the risks that your agents won’t care enough about your interests to protect you and the risk that they might actively undermine your interests to benefit themselves. The less ability you have to monitor and protect your interests, the greater your agency costs will be. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2018, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/owning-a-condo-in-a-foreign-country-renting-it-out/815801/8 "2018-06-10T22:45:26Z")
I’m thinking about a place in the americas or islands, to get away. I don’t want to make money. It seems to me that if I try to upgrade my living at home in the US, the prices are too high to be comfortable with it. So I had the idea to put the equity in a vacation home. The renting to me is extra, and in fact it may be too much worry depending on facts. It may be a really bad idea but I’m just trying it out in my mind. It might be best just to pay as you go while you are away. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2018, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/owning-a-condo-in-a-foreign-country-renting-it-out/815801/9 "2018-06-11T02:38:39Z")
I’ve rented places in Mexico from Americans before, and this was before AirBnB. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2018, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/owning-a-condo-in-a-foreign-country-renting-it-out/815801/10 "2018-06-11T09:10:40Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > Very common in the sunnier parts of Europe, Except that it’s unlikely to be a condo in the legal sense, as that figure doesn’t exist in many of these countries. Many touristy locations both in Europe and in the Americas have a long-standing history of “rental by absentee owner” and rental agencies which specialize in that. Involving a serious agent makes it easier to handle necessary repairs, cleaning, etc. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2018, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/owning-a-condo-in-a-foreign-country-renting-it-out/815801/11 "2018-06-11T11:11:57Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Except that it’s unlikely to be a condo in the legal sense, as that figure doesn’t exist in many of these countries. Many touristy locations both in Europe and in the Americas have a long-standing history of “rental by absentee owner” and rental agencies which specialize in that. Involving a serious agent makes it easier to handle necessary repairs, cleaning, etc. Yes, I missed that point. I was thinking of the classic rural gîte in France, but I’m sure there are also apartments owned and rented out on the same basis, though whether the legal framework for that corresponds directly to the US condo I don’t know. And of course some cities are getting increasingly concerned about the impa!t of people buying property for vacation rentals on their local housing market. Finding out about things like that is all part of the complications that need to be thoroughly researched. > [@drad\_dog](#): > > I’m thinking about a place in the americas or islands, to get away. > > I don’t want to make money. It seems to me that if I try to upgrade my living at home in the US, the prices are too high to be comfortable with it. So I had the idea to put the equity in a vacation home. The renting to me is extra, and in fact it may be too much worry depending on facts. Personally, I wouldn’t want the hassle of responsibility for two different homes. I just have this feeling that whichever one I was in, the other one would need something doing to it! ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2018, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/owning-a-condo-in-a-foreign-country-renting-it-out/815801/12 "2018-06-11T11:18:40Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > And of course some cities are getting increasingly concerned about the impact of people buying property for vacation rentals on their local housing market. Both because of the impact in the housing market (increased prices) and the effect on the tourist business (less share going to accomodations with all the seals and ribbons; lower quality of accomodations which attracts a lower quality of visitor), but one of the things which often worries the neighbors is the lack of maintenance. My flat in Barcelona is only occupied part-time, since how much time I spend there depends on where exactly my project is located, but the neighbors were giving me ear to ear grins hearing that yes, I planned on using it myself. I’ve seen buildings where you can say which one is the AirBnB flat because it’s the one whose windows look like they haven’t been washed since Benedict XVI was Pope. Or XV, even.