I just recently separated from active duty military and moved back to the states from Germany. 

Something for our major to think about...To your point though: your tenants benefit from it, because their everyday cost of living is lower, but as an investor you benefit from this only marginally when you do improvements, but you definitley get hit with the higher property taxes.As a fun side note and to put things in perspective: VAT (sales tax) in Austria is 20%, in Germany it is "only" 19% - so for a large purchase like a car it pays to buy in Germany.

Thank you also for your service, I was in the Army from 1959-1962 - served in Germany - a great time to be a solder - no wars or conflicts - I went in when I was 16 years old.So discharged in 1962 - no job, no skills -  (I could march and shoot a M-1, drive a jeep and obey orders.

I've been doing STR for nearly 10 years however 9 of those years were in Seattle and in Germany with zero experience with BEACH locations. 

It just adds an additional layer of difficulty trying to buy and manage properties from central Germany or Italy.

I grew up in Germany so its good to see people from all over coming to this site! 

The owners live in Germany and their son lives here in the states.

We live in Germany and are thinking of investing in Lake Garda but I was told a non-Italian can't get an Italian mortgage...how did you do it?

@Juan David Maldonado in 1987 I was living in Germany, renting an apartment in a home that was built in 1468.

I'm currently in Berlin, Germany and will probably remain for the foreseeable future.