New Investor Investing Internatioinally

[N/A N/A]

Hello all, 8)

I'm posting this in hopes you will share your opinions with me. Currently my girlfriend and I are living in Tokyo, Japan. We are from Canada and plan to buy a multifamily building this year, in Canada, while living in Japan.

However, later this year we are going to Africa for 6 months to volunteer at an orphanage.

Since my girlfriend and I have a solid work history and some money saved now, we feel now is the time to get a loan to buy property. After we leave Japan and spend 6 months in Africa, we will be returning to Canada looking for new jobs, spending our savings and resettling.

To start investing after would be harder, and might require we wait another year or two to have a good work history again and some savings. If we act now, we can come back to Canada after 2 years away, with an asset and some equity building.

So we have a team. An old friend who owns 85 units in the area we're looking to invest in, who is willing to offer us some support and advice. However he's a "hands on" kinda guy and doesn't like property managers, while we plan to be absent owners. We also have some family who do reno's and have some experience with property management. These people will be our eyes and assess the health of the properties for us. We will then hire a proper management company to take care of the day to day issues after we purchase a building.

What we need from you guys is an opinion or advice for a couple about to get their feet wet, and then go on vacation for 6 months soon after. We're looking to get 100% financing so we can keep our savings topped up to throw money at whatever might happen while we're away.

We've wanted to do this for a long time and feel now if we don't act, we will have to wait even longer to get started.

Feedback?