I was listening to a podcast yesterday and heard the show host mention that she would never purchase a vacation rental in another time zone due to the fact that things may come up and she wouldn’t be available at that time to answer an emergency. Coming from a host that prides herself on diversification, I was surprised to hear that she was limiting herself to a time zone.
I was actually surprised to hear this from a professional host.
IMHO this is something that can easily be avoided.

Just in case you may have been thinking along those lines, I thought I would share with you why this is no big deal at all.

Option 1. If you are thinking of buying in the states in a different time zone, you can simply ask your cleaner to respond to guest messages that come up at off-hours. For another $50-$100/month a month they will be glad to do it for you.

In case you are thinking of purchasing in another country you may actually prefer the cleaner do all communications for you especially if it’s a foreign language. It may be hard to vet your cleaner’s writing/communication skills when you don’t speak that language so agreeably it may not be the best option. If you are not comfortable using Google translate to communicate important information I would suggest the next option.

Option 2. Currently, I am considering purchasing a unit in a foreign country. There are professional property managers there that would take care of all reservations A-Z for a 20% cut of gross earnings. Although at this point in my investing journey, I cannot afford to give a percentage cut, if they plan to do marketing for me and they will provide concierge services it may make sense to hire their services and have them take care of all communications.

So to sum this up. DO NOT limit yourself to your own state or country. If there is somewhere in the world you would love to own a vacation rental, don’t hesitate. You can be sure there are others before you who have done similar investments and you might surprise yourself at the options and instruments created to target investors like yourself.

In today’s real estate market, it may be hard to find a decent deal. However, if you open yourself up to investing in foreign markets, there is a good deal of options that you may not have in the US of A. If you would like some guidance on what locations can make great investments, feel free to reach out.