If you had a bit of a deposit and could get a loan at that moment, would you buy....

[BrownSuga]

a cheapish rental property? (ie def under 100k)

We are o/s at the moment and were thinking about buying a home where we are, but prices are holding and not really affordable. So perhaps it's a better idea to buy a cheap rental in UK (thinking ahead to pension). We have a friend who manages property and could do it for us, and we could pay the mortgage if it was not rented for awhile.

Is there anything else I should think about? (Other than how to convince DH it's a good idea - I'm more of a plan for the future, he is less so)

If you're in it for the long, long term and can afford to take a bit of a gamble and lose money - maybe.

In the shorter term would be akin to burning money, imo. The rental market is dead (it is where I live, anyway), and there's a glut of buy-to-let properties.

Are you sure prices are holding? I speak to a lot of estate agents as part of my job (the big ones) and they all admit it is carnage out there. There are idiots some that try to talk it up though.

If you would prefer to ownyour own home, then get a mortgage in place and then go and see local agents; once they see the colour of your money, I bet they change their tune.

it is that last thing i would do just now
if you go ahead, think very carefully about what and where.

I've emailed our friend in the business in the area we are looking to gauge his opinion as well. The best I can find ATM is 25% dep required which is more than I anticipated, so will be a few months of wait and see, to save up a bit more. We will take a bit of time before committing.

We have our own home which is rented out ATM also.

LALA prices holding where we are overseas. Doesn't seem too affected at the moment, and if we lost our jobs here, we'd be back to UK, which would make it difficult with a house to unload o/s also.

Oh, sorry, I wondered what o/s stood for.. .

that was lazy typing on my part

When absolutely everyone you meet tells you never to buy a property, that it is money down the drain, been a disaster for them etc etc then you buy two, same with shares.