All Forum Posts by: Payzulla Namat

Hi all, 

I found quite some people on this platform are investing in Belgium (Europe) market. I think it would be great to gather us together online and/or off line, so we can connect with each other, share our passion about investing, and most importantly learn from each other. 

If you are interested to join, please message me or reply below.

Pazula

@Matthew Irish-JonesThanks, I think starting from mixed used building makes sense. Do you see the market did get the impacted in your area, that you find more opportunities than before ? 

According to Buffet’s « when others are fearful i am greedy » principle, is this a good time to invest in retail commercial real estate ?

More and more retail chains, restaurants are announcing bankruptcy. Even some big players are closing significant amount of stores globally. I wonder as a newbie should I start to look into to this industry ?

Hi Clement, 

I am also new in real estate investing and have been reseaching Belgium (specifically in Antwerp) market for a while. I think in general what you said is correct, the Cap rate is lower in average here compare to US. But i want to point out few things I discovered maybe will help to give you a different angle. 

• Interest rate in Belgium is much cheaper than in US. Interest rate is at the historically low point gloablly, but in Belgium it is even more cheaper than in US. I got 1.45%, 25 years for my first apartment. This means given the same cap rate of x%, belgium can have a higher return by leveraging. 
• The downpayment requirement is lower than in US. I got 0% down for the first apartment, and I will only need 10% starting from the second. Not all banks offer that, but some small local agency banks like Fintro from BNPparibas does. I can introduce you to my lender if you are interested. 
• Closing cost is insainly high as you pointed out, but 3/5 can be recoupped if the apartment being sold within 2 years. So it makes less difference for Flipping. 
• The equity of your current property(ies) can be used as down payment of your future purchase also. But here the bank gives better loan to value( up to 90%).

There are many other things that are quite Europe or even belgium specific, which i am not fully uncovered yet. 

• like, perfessional investor status can reduce the registration tax from 10% to 4% . 
• buy it as a company can have a better property tax benefit. 
• etc. 

Would be happy to talk about real eastate together. Please reach out to me if you are interested for a coffee. 

Payzulla 

+32 472 22 32 46

Hi, I am Pazula, learning to be a real estate investor, currently live in Antwerp belgium.

I am looking to start with house hacking strategy by buying a duplex or triplex. And transform to BRRRR strategy starting from my later deals. I am thinking to rent the apartment out to social housing association. I did some research, there are some tax benefits in social housing. Plus if the property was in a bad energy consumption shape and being repaired by buyer, government will reduce big part of transaction cost.

But as a total newbie, i am sure I still have a lot of details to figure out. Thought to post it here for “stress test” the idea. Please feel free to comment your thoughts or concerns.

Best,

Pazula