Best options for REI when moving abroad

[Jennifer Pike]

Hello everyone! This is my first post here so hopefully you'll go easy on me and can help me out ;) My boyfriend and I are wanting to move abroad in the next few years to be closer to family and were committed to the idea of buying a few rental properties between now and then to provide some cash flow for us to live off of. However, I just realized a problem with our plan that REI was supposed to be the solution to! Where we will be has an extremely high income tax (28-33%) that, once taken into account, won't leave us with enough money to live on if earning in the local currency (hence the plan for passive income in USD to subsidize it). However, they also tax on worldwide income, so not only will we be taxed in the US for the rental income (although expenses and depreciation would hopefully nullify this), but will be taxed there as well, and potentially without the ability to deduct expenses. I can easily qualify for a "high-paying" job there, so the income from both the job and cash flow would likely be enough to live off of. We plan to stay for 2-3 years total, so while painful due to double taxation, would it be worth it to start REI now knowing it would only hurt us for a few years but benefit us before/after that?

Another option we are considering due to this taxation issue would be to do a live-in flip for the next two years, then sell and invest the profit in taxable accounts before moving (keeping some out to subsidize our pay down there), then in the future we could start the buy and hold process.

And the final option we came up with is to pursue househacking here, then go visit family for just under 6 months each year, preventing us from being considered tax residents there. This would be a bit challenging due to having pets and not being able to work down there (which, while financially not rewarding would be a great step for my career in language teaching). The alternative is that we are both currently establishing ourselves in industries that allow remote/freelance work here while on the path to FI, and instead of teaching down there I can do volunteer projects. This would segue well into our plans for FI, which would likely include being full-time expats living off passive income.

So you do you guys think? What would be the best plan for reaching FI sooner rather than later?