How to Build a Real Estate Portfolio Abroad: Interview with a Practicing Investor

Ekaterina Goncharova is a personal finance expert, a practicing investor who has built an investment portfolio of $1.4 million by the age of 35, including nine investment apartments in 5 countries. She has lived in Bangkok, Thailand, for three years. In our interview, she talked about how she chooses countries and objects for investment, shared real cases from her portfolio, and explained why real estate remains a key investment tool for her.

— Ekaterina, you are a practicing investor and financial consultant. Tell me, what percentage of your investment portfolio is made up of real estate?

— At the moment, real estate accounts for about 70% of my investment portfolio. This is due to the fact that, starting in 2020, there was a boom in investment real estate abroad. The trend generally continues now, but not so clearly, and the best years fell in the period 2021–2023. As an experienced investor, I could not miss the opportunity to enter such a trend in time.

— What other assets are in your portfolio, if it’s not a secret? Why do you distribute them in this particular ratio?

— My investment portfolio includes American market shares, direct investments in someone else’s business, cryptocurrency, and investment life insurance in a foreign company. I also consider investments in my own business (a consulting company and a commodity business) to be an investment, although I do not include them in my personal portfolio.

Five years ago, my capital looked completely different — I was actively investing in the Russian stock market. But after moving to Thailand, my husband and I changed our plans, and I reoriented myself to foreign currency assets. In general, all my investments are aimed at providing a decent pension for our family.

— Why and how did you first turn your attention to real estate as an investment, including abroad?

— The thing is that I am not an expert specifically in investing in foreign real estate; my expertise is personal finance and strategy for achieving financial goals. But I am lucky that I have a huge circle of contacts with people all over the world: these are experts from my investment club, clients who come for consultations, colleagues, etc. Being in such a community, I always know what is relevant now. It is also important that often when investing in foreign real estate, especially in Georgia and Thailand, the entry threshold is lower than in the Russian market (sometimes this difference is three times).

— In which countries do you have investment properties?

— Now, I have real estate in five countries of the world. I select each property for a specific purpose and not just to buy. I always know in advance what I will do with this real estate: rent it out, sell it, etc.

I have one apartment in Moscow for long-term rent. I got the keys to it in November last year, by which time it had already gone up in price by 70% since I bought it. I took it using an affordable mortgage — 6.5%. The profit from renting it out, including all expenses and taxes, is twice the mortgage payment. I also have two apartments in Kaliningrad, Russia. Kaliningrad, like Sochi, was once very attractive for investment: whoever managed to buy real estate there at low mortgage rates won big. I bought one apartment there for my parents and a second one so that they could receive passive income from it.

In Warsaw, Poland, I have a large apartment with a parking space that I bought for long-term rent. It is currently under construction and has already increased in price a lot since I bought it at the excavation stage.

I also have apartments in Bali, which I took together with a friend in a 50/50 ratio. We took this property for resale and plan to sell it before April of this year. I also have two properties in Phuket (Thailand) — these are apartments that I took for long-term rent. Here, I deliberately took real estate in an expensive area in order to segment myself into a wealthy audience.

I also have properties in Batumi, Georgia. Since this is a fairly accessible region, I started my path of investing in foreign real estate from there. I had three properties there — one of which I have already sold with a yield of 70% in foreign currency. I will soon start renting out the second one for the long term — these are hotel-type apartments by the sea. And another one — a property in the mountains with stunning views and infrastructure (infinity pool, hammams, etc.).

Regarding the principles of investment, there are two. The first is to take an object either in the capitals or where there is some resort, health resort, etc., that is, places where people are attracted. The second is that if you can pay for an object for a long time, then you need to pay for a long time. Wherever possible, I took interest-free installments from developers. 

— How much money can you earn on investment real estate in different countries, based on your personal experience and observations?

— The amount of money earned will depend on the value of the property. But the most realistic story is about 5–12% per annum. Also, if you decide to rent out your property not independently but through a management company, then you need to set aside another 20-40% of the profit for this.

Currently, the yield is quite high in Bali and Phuket; Moscow, Warsaw, and Georgia are also growing. However, I will repeat once again that the amount of profit depends entirely on the cost of the property. The more you invest, the more you earn. You should not expect that by buying an apartment for $50,000, you will be able to earn $5000 a month from it. But from a villa for half a million — quite well.

— Which countries currently seem most interesting and promising to you in terms of real estate investments? Why?

— I am currently looking at real estate in Southwest Asia. The flow of tourists to Bali and Phuket is also not drying up, so it is profitable to have real estate there now. However, I would not consider the European market from an investment point of view, but it is interesting if you are planning to move there for retirement.

— What advice would you give to people who are just thinking about investing in overseas property? Where to start? What should they pay special attention to? What should they perhaps avoid?

— As trivial as it may sound, you need to clearly answer the question — why do you need this property? Because there are many other investment instruments with higher returns. After all, real estate is a very conservative market. If you cannot answer the question “why” you need real estate, it is better to consult an independent expert who does not have the task of selling you something.

Sometimes, a situation occurs when a person wants to buy and quickly resell an object in order to instantly make a good profit. But the object can be sold for a year, and all this time, it needs to be serviced. Therefore, it is very important to calculate whether you can afford such a tool at this stage. If not, then it is better to invest free money in other assets, save up, and then return to investment real estate.