Greetings from Ireland

[Sean P.]

Hello to everyone on BP! I love this site, I'm addicted to it! The first thing thing I hear in the morning is the sound of Josh and Brandon's voice. I go through 3 podcasts a day easily, you guys do a great job!

Now about me, I'm currently in final year studying engineering in Ireland and I have been thinking about real estate investing for quite some time. Since I'm in Ireland I sometimes get confused with the terminology difference between Ireland and America when talking about Real Estate so forgive me advance. My goal at the moment is to educate myself for a year on EVERYTHING related to real estate and at the same time make some money when I graduate. I have decided when I begun my adventure that I want to focus on buying and holding multifamily properties.

I've been looking at the possibilities in Ireland and so far they don't look great. Ireland is the country with the highest home-ownership in the EU at 83%. I'm not sure if this is good or not, let me know. From what I've read the law is not written in favour of the landlords. If you have a rental property here you have to declare it as income and you are taxed. Rental income is subject to 41% income tax rate, and on top of that PRSI at 4% and USC at 7% is applied, so overall you're being taxed 52%. As well as buy to let mortgages are 70% LTV.

For a limited company Corporation Tax for investment and rental incomes is taxed at 25%. Property is exempt of Capital Gains Tax of 33%. But this may be affected after development. (My question for BP people in America is what are the general tax rates you have to pay, and I presume this varies from state to state.) The limited company looks like my best option. As for mortgages I haven't really looked into them in detail. What I'm trying to decide is should I stay and invest in Ireland, or should I move to America and start my real estate adventure there?

[Micki M.]

@Sean P.welcome to BP! I understand your issue with different terms. When I lived in New Zealand I had to re-learn spelling, pronunciation, and vocabulary all just to speak my native language "properly".  If you ever need help clarifying don't hesitate to ask.