From Madrid to Miami: Escaping Spain's Real Estate Woes to Invest in the Magic City

[Francisco Leal]

Hey everyone!

I'm thrilled to join the Bigger Pockets family. Currently based in Madrid, Spain, I'm looking to invest in real estate in Miami. I'm quite disillusioned with the situation here in Spain, and here are a few reasons why:

- We have a socialist government keen on hiking taxes and undermining businesses.

- We're grappling with the social phenomenon of "squatters", individuals who don't pay rent and the government allows them to live in your property rent-free for 24 months before eviction.

- Spain's population pyramid is a mess, with sky-high taxes and increasing insecurity in many areas.

- The rental yields in premium zones of central Madrid barely reach 3.5% - 5% gross due to government policies, such as the rental index imposed by the socialist government.

For these reasons and many more, I'm considering investing in Miami. I've noticed that in Miami, gross rental yields can reach 10%, with greater legal certainty and just an 8-hour direct flight from Madrid.

My plan is to enter the Miami real estate market in cash, demanding a good discount. What do you think of this plan? What warnings could you give me when investing? I'm willing to travel to Miami once or twice a year and manage the properties from Spain, hiring a good property manager to address issues, find new tenants, manage payments, and clean the property for new tenants. Do you think this plan could work?

Looking forward to your opinions and advice!

[Mike Lambert]

@Francisco Leal

To add to what @Erwin Groenendijk mentioned, we indeed know that squatters exist but the issue is indeed likely way overblown. Also, it generally exists only because some landlords keep their property empty or if long-term tenants become delinquent, don't pay and turn into squatters. Astute investors will make sure their properties are rented to the right tenants so this is a non-issue for most.

Anyway, I'd never invest in long-term rentals in Spain regardless since, as Erwin and I mentioned, there are much better alternatives in your country.

Also, if you're going to invest following the population pyramid, you can pretty much forget about Europe, North America, Japan or China and should probably focus on places like India. People should really pay attention to the kind of content they consume, especially the mostly negative and scary news that is oftentimes biased and ultimately leads people to not take action and miss out.