I am just trying to see if the market will bear raising rents high enough to offset the cost of the heat. 

Rents are what the market will bear.

Since at the end of the day, it is the owner who bears all the risk of a late payment. 

Kinda new here so please bear with me. 

Compared to a lot of people that have paid off their debts before me I have bearly taken the first step or two and I have many more steps to take.

I know the feeling as you are overly anxious to get started with the renovations.In my mind's eye I see your grand plan unfold, as you get ready to upgrade this flat to bear your stamp of approval.I/we look forward to the pre and post photos.Good luck on your REI journey!

If you're going to be living abroad, making sure that you have a local entity that is focused on management services with the know-how and resources to bring to bear in case anything goes wrong will be invaluable.  

Taking down a load-bearing wall and redoing some of the ceiling on the first floor.

The bear definitely stuck his head inside the tent!

In addition, with FOMO, even when the primary motivation behind a purchase is not capital gains, it's still speculation because it is based on the same premise, that prices will continue to rise indefinitely.But mostly what I'm saying is that what's not sustainable is not so much the current prices, although I believe them to be as well, but the idea that the performance last 20-30 years bears any relation to performance over the next 20-30 years.