Renting out your property and living abroad

[Winston]

Our new HA blog article. Great idea if you can do it.

http://blog.happierabroad.com/2014/09/r ... broad.html

[Will N. Dowd]

Depending on the exchange rate, 1 month of rent I get from my tenant in Canada pays for 5 or 6 months of rent, water, electricity, internet and tax here in the southern Philippines. It is a studio suite on the top floor of a building, and has a 2 large windows with breezes that keep the temperature decent. I unplugged the air conditioner the day I arrived and have never used it since. I keep cool by having all windows open all the time and just wearing underwear at home, no shirt. If I get too hot I take a very short cold shower. The water is much cheaper than the cost of electricity to make the air conditioner work. I also have a small USB fan on my desk blowing in my face all day, and I use a USB mouse and speakers that my laptop powers. I use it until the battery is low and then charge it until full, unplug and repeat, etc. My electricity bills here are between 750 and 900 pesos every month. I could spend more on a nicer place here, but the one I'm at suits me fine. It has a kitchen which I need since I cook 3 times a day, and hardly ever go to restaurants. It also has a communal balcony where I can hang my laundry to dry after I wash it by hand like a true local. I don't trust the local laundry places, they ruined some of my clothes on my last trip by putting them in the drier which burned them and they changed color. Life here is cheap and simple, the way I like it. Sometimes I miss my nice apartment in Canada, but I keep my online dating profile there on POF to remind myself why I left.

Getting out of my job 2 years ago and coming here a year ago was one of the best decisions I have ever made, thanks to HA. Since a year ago I have increased my home run count by over 4x, all of them cute, very cute or hot Filipinas.

[Banano]

http://www.btlfinder.com/


This numbers beat Australian property market where average rental return is about 5-6% and apartments seem to be much cheaper in UK